Beyond Words

Among the many stories of changed lives, we’d like to share as best we can the story of our friend Joseph.

Joseph's First Day

Joseph had significant barriers to the Gospel and was wrestling with the questions of how a good God could allow people to suffer.  We were able to speak with him one afternoon. We spoke briefly about the true nature of God and why suffering exists in the world.  Here is a glimpse of the conversation…

(In the best English he could muster) “I have many questions about God. I sink [think] I do believe in him, but I have many questions about God. You see, I wonder why he make people suffer? People born with no arms or no eyes, why people are very poor and good and some people are very rich and handsome and bad”

It was a difficult conversation to have in broken English.  We longed to be able to share more, but felt limited by our ability to communicate with words.

Later in the week, Joseph approached us to have another conversation.  With butterflies in our stomach, we wondered how we would be able to tackle more difficult conversations when it was so hard to communicate.  This is how the conversation went…

“I have spent a lot of time sinking [thinking].  I laid in my bed all free time.  I sought [thought] about God and then I sought [thought] about you.  I see you Americans come here to my country for no pay and you wash our floors and you teach us very much.   I wonder…I sink [think] it has to be a bigger strength in why you are here. It has to be love…it has to be God’s love.  I see that you have the love of God.  So I decide to give my life to God because I want to experience dis [this] love you guys have.”

The last night of camp Joseph stood up with the leaders and staff and shared his story in the form of what we call “cardboard signs,” Which visually shows the before and after of their life in Christ. He was given the English name “Joseph” that night after he gave his life to God as a symbol of his transformation.

We are blessed to worship God who allows us to participate in His work of revealing himself.  We are humbled that he is able to use us despite our ability to communicate.  When unable to understand pain and brokenness in the world, Joseph was able to see Christ in the lives of his followers and that was enough to put his trust in and his life into the hands of our savior.