Missionary profile – Assefa Darebo

By Mercy Kambura

X* village is approximately 249km from where we live, and to get to the bush villages, we travelled another 40 km by foot. I stayed with the evangelism team for a week, praying and discussing how to reach the people. On the first day, we sought the consent of the traditional ruler/king before we started the outreach. We waited for his permission the whole day while we prayed and kept trusting God. Finally, we got permission to preach in the area. We started preaching the Gospel to leaders, beginning with six leaders, including the king. When we reach out, we meet with the people, join them in their work, and preach as we help. We met some women at the borehole fetching water, and after assisting them, they heard the message of salvation. We preached the gospel home-to-home and in the bush villages on the second day. In one day, nine people surrendered and received Jesus as their Saviour—seven men and two women. We continued preaching village-to-village in the bush on the third day to the Muslim people. Fifteen people received Jesus. They were filled with joy after receiving the Lord Jesus. As the Bible says, “And he brought them into his house and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, having believed in God with his whole household”. Acts 16:34 On the fourth day, three men received Jesus as their personal Saviour. We gave those believers to the nearest church ministers to follow up, encourage, and strengthen them through their spiritual teaching. We preached the Gospel to 188 people. From these, 27 people were born again. All glory be to Almighty God. One tribe, however, heard the Gospel but didn’t receive it. Let’s continue to pray for their salvation. We encouraged and prayed for those who were already believers and helped different needy people financially.

For one day, I gave evangelism training at a local church. The focus of my training was the Great Commission. The trainees learned to preach the Gospel to the unsaved people groups and how to live exemplary lives by obeying God. I also preached the Gospel to six Muslim people in the bush. They had a great desire for the Gospel. I preached the Gospel to them repeatedly. They said: “This is the first time we’re hearing about Jesus.” When I returned home, I heard good things about them. They said, “One Ethiopian man came to us to tell us the Gospel; we didn’t accept him at that time”, and they regretted failing to do so. Now, I hear those people are learning the word of God from the church pastor. We are amazed at how the Holy Spirit works in the unbelievers’ lives. We decided to visit them after Christmas.

#pray:

For the new converts’ spiritual life and growth.
For Nigerian mission work.
For my family’s health.
For protection against attacks of the enemy and all his strategies.
For school fees for my children who have started university this year.
For me and my wife’s language learning.