These Are Sweet Words!
Dear Friends,
The amazing DEO Ethiopian missionary team flew home to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia this week, bringing to a conclusion this first chapter of joyful evangelistic outreach into the Doro Refugee Camp. What a wonderful two months of the sort of ‘great and mighty things’ Jeremiah (33:3) spoke about! Thousands heard the Gospel, many more received Scripture portions, and at last report this village-to-village effort among the refugees brought more than 2,400 individuals into a new relationship with their Creator and Savior.
Our fellow-worker Diana continues weekly Bible studies with some of the new believers, and reports family and friends have all noticed a change in their lives, and they are full of joy. They report an amazing peace they have never felt before and are eager to know Jesus more! Neil adds that “with this recognition they are now being rejected by their leaders and threatened with death. As the word of God spreads, so does the resistance.”
The next phase will incorporate discipleship for new believers and leaders, beginning with the January visit of Diana’s parents, veteran missionaries from Zambia. We pray that Getachew and Tibarek, along with Abera and Bizunesh, will receive the blessing and support of the Ethiopian church leadership to return for a year of ministry among the refugees. Another exciting possibility is the development of an audio collection of seventy stories from the Bible in the many refugee languages. Pray for Nancy and other Doro team members who are involved in these ventures.
As Christmas approaches and we look back on this eventful year, our thoughts return to words Sebsibe heard when he finished telling a crowd of refugees the story from Creation to Christ. The people were immediately animated, speaking excitedly among themselves in their own language. Sebsibe turned to his translator to understand what they were saying. “What words are these?!? These words are sweet!” he said. “Very sweet words!!” Many in those villages came to Christ that day. “How sweet are Your words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Psalm 119:103)
We remember Elizabeth, a woman who listened eagerly to Tibarek and shared, with tears, that out of desperation in the night she’d prayed that God would redeem her prodigal life of twelve long years. She joyfully embraced the Good News. Day after day, she followed Tibarek and Bizunesh with growing joy, listening and learning. When opportunity came, she asked if she could also tell how her own life had been transformed! When the translator was detained elsewhere, she herself became their translator! They prayed for Elizabeth’s ill grandfather, and his recovery brought her cousin to find the living Christ; then other family members trusted Christ as well.
We imagine that the gathering in Revelation 7:9 describes Christ on the throne, surrounded at the end of time by many of us from many lands… but we will be one among millions who speak our language. Imagine, though, that there might be a Zeriba speaker there, or a Beldugu, Como, or Regare, and they may be the one family in that tongue that came to Christ, this month!
Many of you have partnered with us financially and prayerfully to make this event possible, and we thank you. The ‘new car for Doro’ promises to be an investment which will last, and pay dividends for eternity.
Love from Rob and Nancy, with Robert, Stephen, James and Paul in Kenya… and as well from Thomas, Sarah, & Judah in Dallas, and Timothy with his fiancé, Darcy, in Portland.
Dec 2012