Ethiopia & Sudan Part I

I saw people healed before my eyes, came face-to-face with a demon-possessed woman (and bull—yes, a bull), saw 412 people come to Christ, and 10 new churches planted—oh and I went into a cage with three cheetahs, took a pic and pet one. And, outside of the cheetah, that’s just in Ethiopia. Sudan is a whole ‘nother story. If it’s okay with you, I’ll send you a story each day this week of what the Lord did in East Africa. For various reasons, I had no access to the Internet.

Story One – Gato
Sitting in the shade of an enormous tree on a hill overlooking the village where we worked, I asked my translator and an Ethiopian “Disciple Maker” a question, “What will happen to the ones who accepted Christ this week?”

They replied: First, they will be assaulted. Second, their cows and goats may be stolen. If anyone dies, they won’t be allowed to bury their dead. Finally, they may have their homes and possessions burned.

With this as the context of the village I worked in, I want to tell you about Gato. Gato is a young guy, probably late teens who spends his day either weeding fields by hand or digging rocks out of the ground to sell for a pittance. His father died recently, so he and his mother look after his brothers and sisters.
Unfortunately, I didn't take a close-up pic of Gato. He's second from the right in the light green suit jacket.

In their village, Dire (Deer-ray), as we shared the gospel it was extremely rare for anyone to publicly pray to receive Christ. As we shared, small crowds would gather to see what the “Ferange” (white guy) was doing and saying. Because the cost of publicly following Christ was so high, many were afraid to pray out in the open. Instead, they’d tell my disciple maker (the man who would start the new church and do one-on-one follow up) that they wanted to receive Christ. He’d make a follow-up appointment with them to come to their home and pray with them privately.

Not Gato.

With a crowd around him, and with honest-to-goodness scoffers, he bowed his head and prayed to follow Jesus. The people around him were literally laughing out loud at him, and one woman yelled for him not to listen to us. He showed more courage than most of the physically strong, older men in that village.

Later that week, I saw him again at our follow-up appointment. I could barely talk as I fought back tears while I tried to encourage him. I told him that all the persecution he was about to face, our Lord faced also. All the while knowing I was going to return to comfort while he paid such a high price.

My disciple maker had his home burned down four months ago, and he saw how much Gato had affected me. He told me he’d personally look after him, but I remain heartbroken knowing what he may face even this week. The good news is, our Lord will reward his faith greatly in paradise.