Stories from the Field

April 2005

U-Pin and Oom

By a Christian worker in the Pacific Rim

I walked to a sidewalk cafe in one of our countries in the Pacific Rim with a student volunteers from America. A national believer named Oom* came to meet us with his friend, U-Pin* who had recently said she believed what she had heard about God and Jesus at an English Conversation class. She wanted to know how she could become a Christian.

We went from there to the home of another Christian worker where these two nationals engaged in a conversation in their heart language. U-Pin read from the Bible and shared her understanding of what God was saying to her through His Word. I observed a miracle that day, as she joyfully committed her life to Christ acknowledging her need for Him and her belief that salvation is in Him alone!

U-Pin was precious as she carefully pressed her hands together in “praying hands” fashion, then paused about a minute into her prayer to ask whether she was holding her hands correctly. It took a few minutes to help her understand that the position of her hands didn’t matter, but what mattered was that she was speaking from her heart directly to God. With a new Bible in her hand, she left the house in excited anticipation of going home to tell her mom what had happened, already praying that her mom would also believe!

That day I learned that Oom has led more than 60 people to the Lord since he accepted Christ just one year ago. Praise God for his gift of evangelism and commitment to share! The Lord is alive and moving in this country while the government denies His very existence. Praise Him for His faithfulness! Pray for the Persecuted Church in many countries like this one. Pray for the persecuted and the persecutors, that God's amazing grace will continue to touch and transform them both.

*Oom and U-Pin are not their real names.