M Stories

Stories written by missionary personnel serving in South Asia.

FIRST PERSON: The whisper of God

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By Gene Yaussy

BANGLADESH — She sits next to me with virtually all her earthly possessions on her frail body. Her weak voice tells of a husband’s death, a son’s desertion, and a daughter’s distance. She has come to speak with the people who gave her hope.

She shares the atrocities of her life with calm resolve and acceptance. She has virtually no food and no means of providing for herself. The community she lives in offers her no help because she has denied their religion and believed in Jesus to save her from the death of her sin. This faith has brought her the security of a future with her Lord. Beyond her faith she has nothing. She is reduced to a few articles of clothing and a shelter for a home. She is more than 80 years old and knows that she will soon die. She could renounce her faith and be welcomed back into society, be reunited with her son, and receive proper care in the final years of her life.

She cannot read and has no Bible to go to for encouragement. She has only the simple faith that was taught to her many years ago by faithful servants of God. I imagine that as she sits in her home over the next months, as her food diminishes, her body weakens, and her life slips away that her Lord will whisper something in her ears that I will never hear because I have never trusted Him like this. She has something far more valuable than the money for food, clothing, anything. She has the whisper of God.

Tonight she will return to her village home. She will go there joyful that she has had one last opportunity to see her spiritual parents. The next time they are together will be in the glories of heaven. Now she will return to the shelter she calls home and wait. She will wait until the food is gone. She will wait because that is all she can do. She knows God’s promise of salvation and now without words she will testify to the community around her that her faith is more important to her than life itself.

Can you see her? Can you imagine the shelter where she is sleeping? Can you imagine the hunger pains and the sickness she will endure over the remaining months or years of her life? Now, can you imagine the comfort that our Lord is giving her? Every time someone derides her faith and scoffs at her condition God is there speaking to her with words that cannot be uttered. He is holding her with arms that cannot be seen. He is covering her better than any clothing and protecting her better than any home.

Her faith is strong because it is the only thing she has. Her testimony is strong because she values it more than life itself. Her legacy of faith will speak to generations. She will die with nothing except that which is everything. Tonight I will go to sleep to the sounds of my iPod but she may be listening to the chorus of the saints.

There are millions of people here in Bangladesh who have never had the opportunity to hear about this wonderful faith. Although IMB representatives Tom and Gloria Thurman served here for 35 years and saw this woman come to faith there are still more that need to hear. They would rather their names not mentioned here, but were it not for them I would not be here. It is my desire that through this story that you are moved to greater involvement in the lives of the peoples of Bangladesh. Today, please say a prayer for this woman, for the Thurmans, for me, and for the place God would have you serve in reaching the peoples of Bangladesh with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Can you hear God’s whisper?

—30—

Gene Yaussy is an IMB representative in Bangladesh.

My two birthdays

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By Goldie Frances*

I have two birthdays. My favorite way to celebrate my physical birthday is with my family, and I was blessed to do just that a little early while in the states this July. On my actual birthday, I was flying back to South Asia. Later that day, I rode several hours across the country, quietly wishing all the while that my birthday would be topped off by a visit with my closest neighbors, precious Muslims friends. I didn’t plan to tell them it was my birthday; I just wanted to reconnect and catch up with them. I never really prayed specifically for that to happen, but praise God that He hears even our wishes!

I hadn’t even turned the key in the door when “Jazz” appeared. Right away, she and her older brother were sitting in my apartment chatting. When they realized I had not eaten, they brought dinner to me on a tray. Then Jazz just happened to ask when my birthday was. I hesitated before confessing, “It’s today.” They sprang into action and soon all four children and their mother there with birthday cake singing Happy Birthday!

They couldn’t find candles on such short notice, but they told me to close my eyes and make a wish anyway. “But my wish already has come true,” I said. “My wish was to spend the evening with you.” They insisted that make another, so I closed my eyes and prayed for the salvation of this dear Muslim family.

Everyone left, and I had begun to clean up smeared icing and spilled water – laying books out to dry – when the doorbell rang. Jazz, 16, had lost her ring. We searched but could not find it. Then she noticed a book on the table. “Is this a book about Jesus Christ?” “Yes.” “Can I borrow it?” “Yes.” “He’s one of our prophets you know.” “Yes.” Incredible! God had heard the wish I prayed only an hour earlier and already was at work!

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*Name changed.

FIRST PERSON: For those who are giving, you are changing lives

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By Allen Yearsley*

Because of our God’s tender mercy, the Dawn from heaven will visit us to shine on those who live in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace. (Luke 1:78-79)

Stories like the ones I’m about to tell you will help you understand the importance of prayer and giving. These are stories about brothers from South Asia, brothers who live in places where it is difficult to share about Jesus, but where Jesus has changed their lives.

I visited the village of my friend and language helper, Prem.* His family is one of 300, who are living in shadow, on the north side of a mountain, which is steep enough to block the sun for much of the day. Some, like my friend’s father, work on a cinchona tree plantation, the bark of which was once used as anti-malarial medicine.

Until this generation, the village was lost in spiritual shadow. Bhutan is a place of great spiritual darkness, and its reputation kept many away.

Then, in the 1970s two foreign workers visited the village, changing the shadow into light. The few families that welcomed Christ into their lives have stood faithful in adversity, but not without harvest.

Today, the village has undergone great transformation, even establishing a church and the majority boasts of new life in Christ. Would you pray they too would enter new villages with the Good News?

Another brother I work with was formerly a monk. His home is in Bhutan, a place of deep shadow, and closed off to us. Among his brothers, his parents chose him to study at a Buddhist monastery.

He once underwent solitary meditation for three years, after which he remained unsettled with spiritual questions. He received Christian literature from a foreign worker.

Later, he considered the message and concluded Christ alone could save. Now, he shares his story of peace in Christ at Buddhist places. He even shares with Westerners who come to Bhutan on spiritual searches.

Please pray for the growth of these believers and remember the “foreigners,” those entering new places.

Every dark place is in need of that first person coming to them.

Thank you for your giving.

*Name changed.

Allen Yearsley is an IMB representative serving among South Asian peoples.