Laos
Agents of GodAbout four years ago, Sarah, not her real name, felt God’s call to reach the nations to share His message of salvation.Sarah is a Filipino missionary who has served on mission trips to India and Thailand. Towards the end of her year-long mission trip to Thailand, she felt that God was pointing her in a new direction. Sarah shares, “In both countries, I strongly felt the people’s need for God. But even though I found great joy in sharing the gospel in India and Thailand, my desire to reach out to the people in another nation not open to the gospel grew stronger.” Laos CallingLaos is one of the poorest countries in the world and about 60% of its more than 6 million people practice Buddhism. It is also a communist state and sharing the gospel is prohibited. In 2006, Sarah went to Laos to help in the work that had been started there by a Filipino couple from her local church in Manila. Similar to other nations where sharing the gospel is prohibited, our missionaries in Laos have to use creative strategies to reach out to the people. Our missionaries took the opportunity to get to know the students through free English classes, as most of the students in Laos are interested to learn the English language. Now, around 20-30 students attend their free English class and their numbers are growing. Sarah shares, “We teach English to the students to eventually be able to reach out and share the gospel to them. We slowly see the fruits of our labor. Among the regular attendees of our Sunday class, 10 already gave their lives to Christ.” Impacting LivesLeah (not her real name) got saved when she was in high school through a Filipino friend who invited her to church while they were studying in Singapore. Sarah recounts, “Leah grew up in Laos and was a Buddhist all her life. She didn’t know Jesus at all. But she told us about a dream she once had of a man taking her Buddha pendant and sitting on a tomb. It did not mean anything to her at first until, while in Singapore, she saw the picture of the same man in a frame and asked her Filipino friend who he was. Her friend said, “He’s Jesus.” Her Filipino friend invited her to church and eventually she accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior. When she went back to Laos, she attended a registered Christian church but was forced to go back to Buddhist worship when her parents found out. Our missionaries in Laos met Leah and continued to reach out to her, prayed for her and strengthened their relationship with her -- until she decided to go back to God. Leah is now one of the first local leaders of our church in Laos boldly serving God and faithfully believing for the salvation of her family, friends and the people of Laos. The Peril versus the Power of GodBeing a missionary in a country far from home is not easy, let alone, facing the perils in a nation that prohibits sharing the word of God. “The poor living conditions and the Malaria outbreaks in the area where we stay and minister makes the work tougher,” Sarah adds. But, despite that, our missionaries continue to work fully confident in the power of God and keeping the end goal in mind: the church that God is building in the nation of Laos. Sarah shares, “The danger I face each day is very real but I wipe the fear away with the truth that there is no safer place in the world than to be in the middle of God's will. God has prepared the victory and it will take forceful men to reap the harvest in this nation.” |
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Laos
