Our God is mighty to save

Team B (nicknamed Billygoat for how far we hiked up the mountain) had a week of ups & downs. Our team consists of Erica Penick, Erin Donner, Vicky Nguyen, Joel Sherman & myself (Tim Coblentz). Our mission site required us to park the van & walk one hour up the mountain outside of Assela. I have included below a day by day account of how we & Christ were received in the village.
MONDAY- Our first day in the village went well as the people were surprised to see us. We played soccer & volleyball with the kids & blew bubbles which they had never seen before. Our plan the 1st day was just to build a foundation of trust so they would feel comfortable with us. The people in the village are either Orthodox or Muslim with one family who are Christians & they are the ones who are the “disciple-makers” & have committed to do follow-up with new believers. Later in the afternoon we shared Christ with the group of young men & women who joined us on the soccer fields. None professed Christ but they asked some great questions.
TUESDAY- We shared Christ many times with groups of young people & adults. Several people accepted Christ but the mood of the village had changed significantly. People in general were not as open to talking with us & we even found one of our bibles we had given out torn up & scattered in the main street almost as if they wanted us to see what they had done. We met with the “chief” of the village who is Muslim & he made it clear that he was upset that we had not come to see him on Monday. He made a veiled threat that he could have us arrested but admitted that he wouldn’t know what to do with us if he did that. He asked us questions about why we were there & we made the decision to make an appointment with him on Thursday since he could thwart our efforts to share Christ if he wanted to. We also met with a very influential man named Fecadu who is the doctor in the village. He is Orthodox & felt that in order to get into heaven he would have to do “good things”. We shared with him for over an hour about God’s free gift of salvation & he admitted that he thought this message was true but he was not ready to make a decision. We made an appointment to come back tomorrow to talk with Fecadu more.
WEDNESDAY- The attitude in the village changed completely. Fecadu, whom we made an appointment to talk with today said he was too busy to meet with us. The kids stole our soccer ball & volley ball. The people walking on the street wouldn’t even greet us & several people yelled at us & told us to leave or that we would be beaten. We obviously were disappointed by the response but were encouraged that hearts in the village must be open to Christ if Satan was stirring up such opposition.
THURSDAY- Another dramatic turn of events. We met with the muslim chief of the village 1st thing. He was excited to meet with us & I shared my testimony about how a personal relationship with Christ had changed my heart. He was moved as men in this culture don’t share their weaknesses. Our meeting was cut short as they had a village meeting that he needed to be involved in. We spent the rest of the morning sharing Christ with several groups & 1 man & 2 women accepted Christ, what an answer to prayer! We then had a 1 hour walk to the top of the mountain where we had lunch with a Christian family. The young girl of the house took off our shoes & washed our feet in what was a very humbling experience. We then walked down the mountain & had a follow-up meeting with the Muslim chief of the village. Because there were other men in the room & the chief had to maintain his “reputation” we decided not to share Christ with him at that time but to wait until our disciplemakers could talk with him one on one. We gave him several gifts for the village & his face lit up & he begged us to come back & share with him & his village in the future. Our team was so excited to see how our reception in the village changed each day & how Christ had moved in the hearts of 8 people.
Our plan for the rest of the week is to work ½ day on Friday & then start the 4 hour drive back to Addis Abbaba. Saturday morning we will get up & visit an orphanage & then spend a little time shopping before we do our trip debrief & re-entry message. Pray for the hearts of the 145 people who accepted Christ this week & for the disciplemakers who will shepherd & encourage them.