"I believe! ... What took you so long?"
A prayer team was taken into a part of East Asia which is primarily populated by a minority people group. The terrain is very rough there and it is difficult to grow food. Often times the ground is more rock than dirt. The prayer team walked through a particular village and found a group of people sitting around talking.
In this group there was an older woman who just sat over on the side, putting in her two bits here and there. At the end of the night, the group returned to the guest house where they were staying and sat down for their end of the day meeting. The team members felt led to return to the village to talk with the older woman. The next day, one of the translators and one of the team members went to this woman’s house. They knocked on the door, but the person who answered was not the old woman, it was her younger sister.
"Oh," the sister said, "She isn’t here right now. She’s out checking on her field. But, please come in and wait for her." Eventually the old woman came home and sat down with the translator and the prayer walker.
"Tell me," She said, "about your God who is more powerful than the spirits."
The translator went through the entire chronological teaching (the 20 minute short version) which sums up biblical history from Adam to the death of Jesus.
"I believe!" The woman said as soon as the translator had finished. This was much quicker than normal.
"Let’s go through it again, to make sure that you understand it all." The translator said, so they did.
"I believe! I believe!" The old woman said emphatically.
This was very hard to believe. Usually this people group have many questions they want answered and in this particular area, they were known for being especially stubborn. Just to be sure, they went through the chronological teaching two more times.
"I believe," The old woman said, finally, "I’ve been waiting to hear this all my life, now I can die in peace. Why did it take you so long to come?"
This is just the story of one woman in one village; there are many more. There are many more people just like her. Who else might be waiting for someone to come with the gospel?
This summer, numerous Serve Asia teams will be forming to share the gospel with unreached peoples in East Asia. They may go to work with future business leaders, learn language, teach English or backpack on a prayer journey. Might God be asking you to be part of this by going, sending or praying? Maybe there's someone in your life who God is asking to be part of this.
