DEATH BRINGS NEW BIRTH

Many times while living in the jungles in Venezuela among the Yanomamo we witnessed miracles. But none ever top the miracle of new birth. It is a story you can never tire of hearing. It is what Steve is anxious to be a part of again and what he feels God leading him to do in 2010.

Here is such a story sent back to us by Steve's brother, Mike.

A BABY DIES. PARENTS ARE REBORN!

"From Ashes to triumph!

Today, Sunday, the 3rd of January the Lord allowed us to witness a huge miracle. But on the 28th of December, a miracle had been denied and hopes were crushed. We had been called to come up and pray for Sergio and Dada's little three year old boy, well, he would have been 3 on the 24th of February. but it was not to be. He died shortly after we finished. Malaria had claimed another victim here and we were of course crushed. Deaths are so hard, especially for a young couple, and this little boy was their first death. The funeral fire was made and we stood around with tears in our eyes watching the poor couple wail their grief. I further grieved with the couple knowing that in spite of the fact that they were both born and raised here in a Christian village neither one of them had ever made a personal confession of faith in Christ.

So I was shocked when on Sunday morning, Sergio and Dada stood up in front of the church and asked to be allowed to say something to the congregation. Sergio's nervousness was obvious, but griping the microphone he started. "My friends," he began, swallowing hard to keep from breaking down, "I am very sad. My wife and I are really suffering, but we have been talking. We know our little boy is in heaven with God, and we also know that if we died now, we would not go to heaven to be with him. We have decided that we want to ask Jesus to forgive us our sins and clean our hearts and make us HIS. We want to make sure if we die, we go to heaven to be with God and with our son. I want the elders to come up here and pray for my wife and I and then we are going to pray and ask God to save us."

Well, you could have knocked me over with a feather. I stared and I am sure my mouth was hanging open. I suddenly realized they were waiting for me to get up and go up with the elders to pray for them. I was choked up as i prayed for them remembering my own grief, and wondering how in the world they had found the peace needed to go through this so soon. For a Yanomamö, to even be seen in public this soon after their loss is unheard of, and here, not only were they in church, but were talking openly about their son. My eyes were filled with tears when after the elders prayed for them, he prayed a simple prayer of repentance and asked God to save him. His wife then made her own public profession of faith.

After they finished, I sit there deep in my own thoughts. This work has grown increasingly difficult and if i might say, "less fun." Not that we are to be looking for fun and excitement, but up till this last couple of years, i have always loved working with the Yanomamö and have enjoyed the time i have spent with them. Now however, many of them are getting into politics and being the novices that they are, are extremely prone to manipulation and what not. Authorities in town, both mil and civil use many of these wannabe politicians to put pressure on us and have succeeded in making life very difficult. So to be honest, there have been times when i have wondered why we have stayed. It is easier to get discouraged and harder to keep our eyes focused on HIM. Praise God, HE showed us again this morning that HE will build HIS church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it."


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