Two planes, one overnight boat ride, one 2-hour boat ride, a three mile backpack walk, and a two hour car ride until we got to this village located on an island in Indonesia. People wonder a lot why there are people on this earth that have never heard the gospel, and that is just one example: because a plane will not take you directly to every people group. It requires a lot of walking and random car rides, after taking many planes, in order to share with someone about this entrusted gospel.
My team of three and our translator got out of the car and walked up to this hut built on stilts. We had just previously shared the gospel with this man who was so on fire for God afterwards that he wanted his family to hear also. So we went. We walked into the hut and were introduced to a family of two boys, a father, mother, aunt, and uncle. We were then introduced to a family in a neighboring hut that consisted of a mom and her daughter. We went into their hut and sat down while they were making food and that’s when I started sharing the gospel with her. I went through the whole story and then the food they prepared was ready, but I could see something in her face that led me to believe she gets it. So I prayed in that moment for The Holy Spirit to wreck her heart.
We ate rice and noodles, the typical food in Asia, and talked about everything else. When she started to collect the dishes from us, I asked her how she felt about my story and she responded: Saya percaya. I believe. She starts crying and hugging me saying again, “saya percaya, saya percaya.” Her mother then started doing the same thing right in behind her. The Holy Spirit was there. He had taken over her and her mother’s entire being and changed them right there in that moment.
Then all the men, four of them, sat down in the hut and our boys shared the gospel with them as well. They too responded, Saya percaya. I couldn’t handle it- the Holy Spirit was so heavy in that hut I just wanted to cry. Don’t worry, I did.
Later we shared the gospel with the other two women and they too believed! All eight people who were once identified as Muslims our now my brothers and sisters in Christ; are now spending eternity in heaven with Jesus.
We were sharing some more scripture with them, and as we read the Great Commission to them, one started crying and says, “Why has no one ever told me this before?” Why has no one ever told me this before.
This is reality. There are people on this earth that have not heard and will die without ever experiencing the true love of Christ. More than 70,000 people die every year without ever hearing the gospel. This is our responsibility as Christians to get the gospel to the ends of the earth- no matter what it takes. We should not live in anxiety about the persecution Christians face in these countries. “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power.” [2 Timothy 1:7] It’s time we grew a backbone and obeyed the calling of Christ on our lives, and let’s start with the people of countries in the 10/40 Window who have never even had a chance to believe.
-Moriah, 2016 Explorer & Evangelist Team
Layla Murphy
