Jesus informed us that we will know them by their fruits. I often wonder when sharing the Gospel, through a translator, in another culture, if they get it. When you see the fruit you know they do!
Matt and I were frustrated to say the least. We were sorting out what appeared to be thousands of parts to a house church we were building in Haiti. It quickly became evident we did not have enough parts and some appeared to be miss- numbered. We finally decided the best way to redeem the time was to share Jesus with the twelve on lookers. These were high-school age boys. Why not? Nothing else seemed to be working at the moment.
The boys quickly got engaged. The translator seemed relieved that he wasn’t having to carry heavy medal anymore. Matt, our lead contractor on the project still looked bewildered. But God began to work. You could sense the hopefulness in the air. These boys were not only open but also eager to hear what we had to share. To the praise and glory of God, ten of the twelve turned from their sin and put their faith in Jesus.
What an awesome moment! However, it doesn’t stop there. The next day while I was sharing the gospel in their community, two of the boys followed along wherever I went. In the background, I noticed someone speaking broken English as I would share the gospel with people. It happened to be two of the young men who had given their lives to Christ the day before. I inquired as to what he and his friend were doing. They told me they were practicing so that one day in the future they could become translators to tell people about Jesus. They followed me for the next two days. Their names were Jackson and Louvin. A few posts ago I told you about giving up my translator so two guys could have the privilege of leading a woman to Christ. Now I was without a translator and standing before ten people. Struggling to communicate Jackson spoke up. “I will try to tell them”, he said. And that he did. As I spoke, Jackson translated the gospel and God did a work not only in him but also in the ten who heard.
The apostle John in his third epistle said, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.” Although these were not my birth children they were spiritual children walking in the truth of their newfound faith.
May God get all the glory! I can’t wait to see what He does with these two new young soldiers of His. In case you were wondering, we did finally figure out the numbering system and found all the parts to the home we were building. As we put first things first , somehow, God took care of the rest.
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