About noon, Wednesday, we along with our team piled into the truck to head out to the village. After about forty minutes of driving, we reached the end of the road and unloaded the truck. We had still not arrived at our destination, but we had to make the rest of the journey up the mountain on foot. Each of us grabbed some of our baggage, and we began hiking the rest of the way. At points the trail was steep, and our load seemed to grow heavier with each step. Finally, just ahead, we could see the gate to the village.
We entered the village and were greeted by the villagers. They were happy to see us and guided us to the room where we would be spending the night. They brought us oranges to eat, and we spent the afternoon visiting. At one point, we took the opportunity to have a story time for the children. They heard the story of the creation and Adam and Eve.
As the sun began to go down, we set up our video projection equipment outdoors. We hung a sheet to serve as a screen. However, we nervously eyed the foreboding clouds in the distance. When our host told us the rains were on the way, we hurriedly took down all the equipment we had just set up and moved it indoors into the largest room we could find in the village. We used a generator for power. We tested the equipment and were grateful that it all worked properly. Then, we had a quick meal of rice and meat and then waited for the people to arrive.
Little by little the room filled up. The children sat on the floor in the front and the adults sat in the rear on chairs and stools. Before long, the rooms was packed full and a crowd was gathered around the doorway and in the hallway. We counted over seventy-five people in that one little room that probably measured about 15 x 20 feet. It was time to start the film.
A national believer gave a brief introduction and we started the film called “Jesus”. It was dubbed into the Pular language. It is a retelling of the life of Jesus, mostly drawn from the Gospel of Luke. The people watched very attentively. I watched the film and the people both. When the nails were driven into Jesus hands, the older women cringed. I could tell, the story of Jesus was greatly affecting them.
When the film was over, it was very late. The people quickly cleared out to head home to go to bed. We, too, went back to our host home to sleep.
The next morning, we arose early. We had breakfast and then headed to a neighboring village for a baby-naming ceremony. We carried in our backpacks copies of Scripture portions in the Pular language. When we arrived at the village, we greeted the people there. There were many people gathered for the celebration.
At an opportune time, we announced ourselves as teachers of The Book and offered Scripture for sale. We had copies of Genesis 1 to 4 and the Gospel of Matthew. People began to buy up what we had. Little boys came to us and took the Scripture we had around to the crowds and sold more of it. Before long, we sold all we had brought. Yet, the people still wanted more. We hope to return to the area before long with more Scripture.
After a while, we headed back to the first village and had lunch. We said goodbye and thank you to our gracious hosts. We packed up our things and headed back down the mountain. This time, the village children helped us carry all our baggage. One strong young man carried our fifty pound generator on his head all the way down the mountain, an impressive feat since he himself probably weighed no more than a hundred pounds.
By God’s grace, he has opened a door for us in this village. We intend to follow up that open door until we see people put their faith in Jesus the Messiah.
