O Ye of Little Faith
Sadly, even after so many years of the LORD showing Himself faithful and powerful to me in here in the DRC, and in Jordan, Israel, Brazil, and the US, I still find myself lacking in faith of what the LORD can accomplish. Just like the disciples of Jesus freaking out in a boat during a storm (I did that too this past year), sometimes I get reprimanded with “o ye of little faith.” I’d like to share one of my “o ye of little faith” situations.
Three years ago, two men from the US sent me back to the DRC with two portable DVD players that had nine-inch screens, and they gave me various versions of the Jesus Film in the languages that were needed here. For six-months, I daily saw these DVD players sit unused in my closet as we were busy getting the house, the property, and many programs up and running. Then, the conflict roared to life and for two more years the DVD players continued to sit in my closet unused as we struggled alongside of the local population to help the refugees, who were pouring into our area needing to be housed, fed, and clothed. “Two and a half years these DVD players have sat in my closet,” I kept complaining. “When are we going to use these, and when am I going to find someone local to partner with to minister spiritually to the people?”
Last February, a refugee named Aimable (Ah-ma-blay) knocked on our door; Aimable had just graduated from a Bible school in neighboring Rwanda. Aimable had wanted to return to his village just south of us, but his village had been overrun and burnt down by the rebels, so he moved from Rwanda directly to our village to be with his extended family who had fled here. Aimable was now my neighbor.
The Bible school Aimable attended in Rwanda was taught in English, so much to my surprise, standing at my front door was an English-speaking family man (33, wife and four kids) who was a mature believer, asking me if he could work with me to bring the Gospel and proper Biblical teaching to the local population. Michael… “O ye of little faith.”
I suggested that we get to know one another, and we began to weekly study the Bible together, starting in James and moving through the Peters, the Johns and Jude. By the time we got to 1st Peter I knew Aimable was a special man, so I suggested that he begin to use the DVD players to share the Jesus film with the local families in their homes.
Aimable quickly adapted to using the Jesus Film as a point of evangelism and teaching. I’m blessed to work with Aimable as he is a strong and confident teacher.
After we visited the States, I returned to the DRC with a projector and we rigged up a screen using PVC pipe. We began by showing 300 primary school students the hour-long version of the Jesus Film version called The Story of Jesus for Children.
Singing while waiting for the other students to arrive.
Our setup
The presentation.
We paused frequently for explanation, with Aimable and I also asking and taking questions. We broke the presentation up into two hour-long sessions spaced a week apart; the second one was just this past Friday. We'll now hope to take this presentation to all the other surrounding schools and churches. Here we go!
Somehow! – Michael