On one of our many daily trips to the market, we stumbled upon Tony. He was causing a scene and we soon found out that this was the norm. As we talked to many of the civilians they informed us that Tony was the town-drunk and that he would fish all week and then come back to the market with his catch and use that money solely on alcohol. This broke our hearts and immediately we sparked a conversation up with Tony. It was amazing that our translators could not comprehend anything he was saying because his speech was so slurred, but as soon as we asked to pray for him Tony got on his knees for prayer.
After this we continued to find Tony in the market in this state for the next week and we prayed for him and his condition. After one of these days we followed him home and found out where he lived. It was very humbling to see his living conditions and that night we prayed that we would get a chance to share the Gospel with him when he was coherent and could actually talk. We got this opportunity the next morning.
It was unreal to see how the Lord had been working in his life. We stayed at his house for a little over two hours just sharing the Word and our testimonies. With every minute Tony became more and more open with us and he shared how he wanted to be freed from the vices of his alcoholism. You could see the Spirit moving in his life as at the end he accepted and believed the Gospel and repented of his sins. Tony’s life has been an inspiration to us all and more importantly has showed us the power of the Holy Spirit.
We just ask that you lift Tony up in your prayers because it is a still a struggle for him but to just see his conviction about his situation and to see him crying out to God for help because he realizes that God is his only answer out of his addiction. We just envision Tony going from the town-drunk and getting mocked to proclaiming the Gospel all around the market and everyone seeing the power of Christ through his life. We have fallen in love with Tony and hope and pray that his life with continue to transform as well as ours through his influence on us all for the glory of Christ.
God answered our prayers today. We went back for Bible study and when we got there Tony was no where to be found. Out of nowhere he came running, just dying to hear God’s Word. He had been at the beach so we just told him we would just do the study down by the ocean. The study began with Matthew 8, fishers of men, and we finished it with Acts 8 with Phillip and the Ethiopian talking about baptism. As in Acts 8, Tony basically asked, "What prevents me from getting baptized now?" We were all amazed to see his responsiveness and how instead of just being a fisherman, he finally understood that he was now a ‘fisher of men’. We baptized Tony twenty yards from where we had our Bible study. His life is just a testament of the power and glory of the Holy Spirit and how only through Christ our lives can be resurrected. We just ask again that you continue to pray for his growth and his walk with Christ.
Tony's Baptism