ABOUT THE MOTHER WHO GOT A PHONE CALL
Missionary work is diverse and proves to be challenging. Every day we have to look for starting points and ways to connect. Today I share one recent experience as an encouragement for mothers.
Something I personally always love is to make someone happy with a Bible. How beautiful and important it is to be able to hand someone the eternal Word of God. Knowing that God’s Spirit uses His Word to seek and save lost sinners.
Sometimes you have unexpected encounters. For example, one day I meet a couple of soldiers in Hammanskraal. They work at an army base nearby. I get into a conversation with Gunther* - a sturdy soldier, I estimate him to be in his early 40s. The other listens in. The war in Ukraine seems like a good starting point for the conversation. ‘Aren’t you afraid of being involved in this war?’, I ask him. ‘No,’ says the tough soldier, ‘I’m a player in war.’
South Africa is known for its wildlife (big five). That morning I had done a meditation on the creation of the animals and the creation of man. The animals ‘after their kind’. Man ‘in God’s image’. ‘What is the difference between a man and an animal?’, I ask him.
He begins. ‘Well...an animal hunts...an animal is looking for food...an animal has four legs...but, yes...basically they are just like us.’
Using the five colors Green-Black-Red-White-Yellow, I explain the Biblical message to them. I also explain that a person has a lost soul that needs to be saved. Finally I ask, ‘Do you read the Bible?’ Gunther replies, ‘No, I don’t have a Bible.’ His comrade does, by the way. ‘Do you want a Bible?’ I ask. ‘Yes, today I’m very blessed.’ I give him a Bible with the booklet about the five colors. He thanks me warmly.
And do you know what this tough soldier who is not afraid of war says at the end?
‘Now I’m going to call my mother first to tell her about this...’
Georg Lindhoud
P.S. Three weeks later, out of the blue, he sends me a message: ‘Pastor, I’m still reading the Bible’. May the Lord bless His Word.
*Fictitious name
