Did you know that missionaries in some of the poorest countries of the world are reaching out to neighboring countries?
Not too long ago we received a prayer letter from an Ethiopian couple who serves with Campus Crusade. Even though it’s difficult for them to minister to students in their own country, they felt called to trust God for an international missions trip.
Taking several Christian student leaders with them, they organized an outreach trip to nearby Rwanda. It provided a real step of faith for them and was an excellent opportunity to put evangelism training into practice.
As you may remember, Rwanda was the scene of one the world’s greatest genocides in 1994. A long standing conflict between the Hutus and Tutsis boiled over into a 100 day killing spree. Almost one in five Rwandans (20%) died – at least 800,000 total. Ethiopia was not involved in this conflict but at various times has experienced massive famine and internal strife – resulting in a 1,000,000 death toll in the 1980’s and huge waves of refugees.
That anyone in either of these two countries would look beyond themselves and open their hearts to others is a testimony to the goodness of God. He alone brings healing. Only an amazing Redeemer could take such devastation and expand a message of love, hope and full delight in His Name through it.
From what I picked up from reading Gima and Bethel’s letter (the Ethiopian couple), in some ways it is easier for Rwandans to trust outsiders than it is fellow countrymen. You’ll see what I mean in the following excerpt from their letter. Praise the Lord with us for this amazing report from 26 Ethiopian staff, students and businessmen volunteers who trusted the Lord to reach out to Rwanda:
“After the genocide the evangelical Churches are playing a significant role in supporting the efforts of the government to bring reconciliation among the people. The country is also showing progress economically. But there are one million orphans who lost their families during the genocide and there are 100,000 women living with HIV/AIDS. There is a very big opportunity for evangelism and discipleship. Rwanda is wide open for the massage of the gospel. Students listen to the gospel and a lot of them responded. I personally led 13 people to Christ in the campus. But one guy I met made me cry. His name is Fabian. I first met him at the get as we were processing permission to enter the campus. But we couldn’t finish our conversation because they harried us. But after three days as I was witnessing to another guy I met him again. He told me he was looking for me after we first met. Then he shared me his story. He lost all his families during the genocide. Now he is a second year literature student in the campus. He told me he couldn’t sleep in the night because the spirits of his dead families are bothering him every night. He also told me that he doesn’t have any one to share his problems. Because of this his grade is declining. I felt bad. I shared Christ with him. He prayed and received the lord then I took him to one of the class rooms and prayed for him for deliverance. Then I connected him to our Rwandese staff. But He said “I Wish You could stay longer so that I can share my heart more”. I saw he wasn’t happy when I connected him with another Rwandese person. But I had to leave Rwanda. I was wandering how many are like Fabian. The Need Is Huge, both the gospel and aid.”
If you would like to connect with our staff missionaries in either Rwanda or Ethiopia, we can help. Both have a huge need for financial and prayer support. As you can see from the letter above, they are being used by the Lord and they hearts tender to Him.