A few years ago, Joel* and his team of local disciple-makers entered a Himalayan village. They looked for people with whom they could pray prayers of blessing, and perhaps find someone interested in hearing a story or two from the Bible.
Soon a young man named Gaden* approached them. “Are you guys Christians?”
“Okay,” Joel thought, “This could be really great, or we could get asked to leave.”
“I had a friend who was a Christian teacher here,” Gaden continued. “He told me some things, and I have a lot of questions.”
The team listened to his questions. They answered some, but quickly said, “Can we just tell you a story? We’d love for you to hear directly from Scripture what it means to be a follower of Christ.”
Gaden was excited to hear the Scripture in his own language, not just in the national language. He gathered two other young couples together to study the Bible.
Since this village is a multi-day trek into the mountains, Joel and his team can’t visit often. So they gave the group a Bible app preloaded with Bible stories. After listening to a Scripture passage, the group would answer questions to help them apply the Scripture and obey what they learned.
Since that first visit, the team has been back multiple times. Some challenges have arisen, but we can be assured God will use this study. He declares that His word “always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.” (Isaiah 55:11)
*pseudonym