“We prayed and left; the seed was planted” – a missionary moment

For many years I have been teaching the women in church and this year we began going out to evangelize in the very poor community where they live. In most houses we were well received. We encountered a believer, a Christian woman who was praying to God for people to visit her. She married a Muslim man who beats her if she wants to go to church. We went to the house of a witch doctor who was welcoming, as well as women who sell traditional beers and so forth. We were not allowed in some houses where owners are Muslims, but with other visits we found that some Muslims welcomed us and we were able to preach to them, even though they are still so blinded by the teachings of their religion. We went into one house and found a young man in his early twenties sweeping the yard. He was almost at the end of his sweeping session, as if clearing the dirt for us to arrive. As we presented ourselves, he gave us chairs. We said to him, “We are messengers of the gospel of Jesus” and he told us, “I have been waiting for this message for a long time.” My heart jumped with joy; we shared the gospel and read scriptures for him, gave him All Nations gospel pamphlets and scriptures to read and he told us his aunt has a Bible. At the end of our talk, he told us that he is actually a Muslim but he needed to hear the message of Jesus. We prayed and left; the seed was planted and we pray that the Holy Spirit will work in the hearts of those who heard the word, even those who refused it.

-Connie Arão, South African missionary to Mozambique

Read more about Connie’s work in our article https://afrigo.org/articles/connies-cultural-trials-and-triumphs/