Salvation is Here!!!

This past Sunday, March 4th, our Swahili teacher Josh (tall guy upper right corner of picture) made a decision that changed his eternal destiny. Josh accepted Jesus into his heart & life!!! Erica and I had taken Josh and his nine-year-old daughter, Sharon, to a Swahili church service. The sermon was on Christians being salt and light in this world and also talked about the parable of the weeds. It made for some good conversation on the way back to his house for sure. Once we got to Josh’s house we continued talking about God. Really he was just thinking about how his life had been changing ever since he began to learn more about God and read his Bible. As he talked, he said, “I can no longer call myself a pagan as I did when I first met you and Erica. I feel like I was walking in darkness before, but now I have made a turn in my life and I am walking in light.”

This totally blew us away, because Josh has not spoken like this before. I asked him if he considered himself a Christian now. “Yes, he said, but I can only hope to know God in heaven someday.” We went on to tell Josh that he could know today that he was a Christian for sure, that he will definitely see God in heaven one day and that he could have a new life with God today if he wanted. Josh replied, “You have gotten what I want to do.”

So we began walking Josh through the “ABC’s of salvation.”
(John 3:16, Romans 3:23, 5:8, 6:22-23, 10:9-10, Acts 3:19, Romans 10:13)
We explained to him that he must admit he is a sinner in need of a savior and accept that Jesus died on the cross for his sins, making it possible to live life with God. Then he must believe in his heart that Jesus is God’s Son and his personal savior. And finally, we explained that he must confess with his mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and commit his life completely to God. We prayed with him, and that day, Jesus gave us the precious gift of being able to witness one of His new children enter into His Kingdom! What an amazing privilege and honor that it was for us! Praise the Lord (Bwana asafiwe!) We are so honored that He included us in His work!

And last, but definitely not least, Josh finally promised to share with his daughter Sharon everything he had learned and experienced with God these past several weeks! God is so amazing and so good! And thank you all so much for praying for Josh and Sharon over this past month and a half. This is truly an answer to prayer, and we know that you have been faithfully lifting Josh up to Jesus! Praise the Lord!


(Here are some other random pictures from our time here in Uganda)