“And they overcame him [the devil] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives unto the death.” (Revelation 12:11)
There’s nothing quite like the power of our testimonies. Sharing what our lives were like before we heard the life-altering message of Jesus, how God entered into our stories, and the amazing change that is occurring in, through, and around us since that first encounter with Christ – all of this shakes the foundations of hell and causes heaven to rejoice! As you read this handful of testimonies, we hope you will be inspired to continue to passionately pray and invest to see more lives transformed by the knowledge of Christ.
Pastor Abraham had the heart to reach his own NiVan villagers with the Gospel, but the dense jungle brush and extreme distances between people groups in Vanuatu caused outreach to be slow until… “God helped me reach more of my people through Friends in Action. They built a road that made sharing the Gospel in other villages much easier. More than 100 villagers came to know Christ. Friends in Action also helped build my church in a village on top of a hill in Big Bay. This wouldn’t have been possible without God. Fifty people got saved, the church grew, and it became a local church where I pastor.”
Construction projects cause tribal chiefs to open their villages to pastors like Abraham to share the Good News. $225,000 is still needed toward ongoing cyclone recovery efforts and for equipment essential for a clean water project. Help Pastor Abraham tell the NiVan villagers about Jesus, The Living Water!
Juan lived in a very remote village along the Amazon River Basin. For generations, his people had lived in relative isolation from the outside world surviving off subsistence gardens and participating in a works-based religious system to appease an angry god. Feeling condemnation, Juan carried shame and guilt over his sins until…“Pastor Iver and his team came so far on their motorbikes. We were surprised and grateful for the medicine and provisions they carried. When they told us about Jesus, I knew I needed a Savior. The next time they visited, two of my friends came to know Jesus too!”
FIA receives dozens, if not hundreds, of testimonies of Bolivians like Juan responding to the Gospel! $40,000 will help us with a solar project, church construction, radio broadcasting, and supporting the efforts of pastors, like Iver, who are so effectively reaching his people for Christ!
Brad, one of the dozens of missionary partners FIA supports in Papua New Guinea, was in a pickle! The Lord had provided tons of supplies essential to his ministry, but the rugged terrain and recent mudslides made travel almost impossible until… “There I was stranded in the middle of nowhere with the lug nuts snapped off the rear wheel of my truck. I was heavily loaded with building and medical supplies for a clinic five hours up the Sepik River. FIA’s team leader had me up and running in less than 20 minutes! What a God-send!
Providing technical skills, supply delivery, machinery maintenance, and vehicle repairs are just a few practical ways FIA empowers missionaries like Brad in PNG. $55,000 is still needed to support base camp rehab, student scholarships, and a solar project.
Jose, like many other Rama villagers, lived in depression and hopelessness. Ethnic prejudice and poverty, coupled with feeling defeated in his attempts to please a perfect God, overshadowed any hope for a better life until…“ I came to learn some trade skills and help build a bridge, but I ended up learning about Jesus during a Bible training session. I kept coming to the teaching and trusting what I heard. So today, I am going to be baptized. I am thinking about all that Jesus did for me and how He was put on that cross where His blood drained out for my forgiveness. My life is now in Jesus.”
Community transformation projects create opportunities for Rama villagers, like Jose, to learn valuable trade skills and attend Bible teaching. $55,000 is still needed to construct four more hurricane-resistant homes and a kitchen/dining facility to host volunteer work teams and feed the villagers after Bible sessions.
Pastor Issaka – West Africa
Pastor Issaka knelt in prayer, crying out to God to bring water to West Africa. In a predominantly Muslim region where less than .2% have heard the Name of Jesus, two previous well-drilling attempts ended only in dust, until… “When no water came, the villagers thought FIA workers could not overcome the curse of the land. But when you kept going? They didn’t expect that. They learned that just like you didn’t give up on striking water, Jesus didn’t give up on them either. Even when they were chasing after their idols.”
Clean water in Africa allows local pastors and missionaries to put Jesus’s great love and power on display. $125,000 is still needed toward six more wells, basecamp development, and a village water distribution project.
DOUBLE YOUR DONATIONS UNTIL NOVEMBER 15! Although many of these requested amounts are large, God multiplies and blesses many small gifts to meet the needs! We trust that even more testimonies to God’s goodness are being written on the hearts of the last, the least, and the lost as we pray and give together!
