We are willing to pay the cost
"I am a Christian" What would it cost you if you said that?
Would you lose you job?
Would you be asked to leave the village?
Would you be stopped from drawing water from the common village well?
Would you be excommunicated from your family?
Would you be forced to lose government benefits?
To you the answers to these questions may be (most likely) in the negative, but that is not the case here in Malkangiri. Answers to the questions above are going to be a BIG resounding YES.
The following incident will further prove my point. Please take note the incident is true and I am an eyewitness to it. Names have been changed/withheld for safety concerns.
WE ARE WILLING TO PAY THE COST
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The sun was out after a week of rains. The village was getting up and people were getting ready to go to the fields to plough. There was great joy in Sonu's heart, as the much needed rains after two years of monsoon failure was here. He got his cows and the plough and as he was headed towards his fields when his wife gave him the news that that their neighbour Ramu had died. He rushes to Rabi's house.........
"Hey Rabi did you know Ramu died just before the cock crowed today morning?"
"Is that so Sonu? We need to get the news to all relatives and get to his house. It is sad just a few months back she lost her daughter who has been suffering from a disease for a long time. "
Son replies "I understand what you are trying to tell, there is no adult male in the family to handle the funeral, but how can we go and help. Have you forgotten that a few years back she became a Christian and the village panchayat excommunicated the family? Let us now get her relatives and go to the village panchayat and go to her house and see what the panchayat decides?
The relatives and the panchayat go to her house. There is Shanti sitting in the veranda beside her husband who covered in a white cloth. He daughter is huddled against the corner of the hut, her teenaged brother sitting next to her mother. All off them crying and upset at the loss that was staring at their face.
A lot of questions ran in their minds - Will my relatives and villages people help or will they stay away just like they did when my sister died thought the son. Who will help us carry my father to the grave and who will dig pit was the question that the daughter had. Will our missionary friends come in time (the son had sent message to the missionaries who work in the village (they stay in a village 15 kms from Ramu's village))?
Their worst fears were turned into reality. There was absolute silence broken occasionally by the crying of Shanti, her son or daughter. The relatives and panchayat gathered around the house. The missionaries along with other believers for nearby villages had also arrived.
The village headman spoke - "Shanti, leave the Jesu Mapru (Jesus God - a literal translation) and we will help otherwise no one will even touch the body of Ramu." A silence, what was Shanti going to answer. Shanti got up and moved into the open from the veranda of her house and said. "We as a family trusted Jesu Mapru and we will continue to hold on to him whatever the situation. If you do not help my Jesu Mapru will help"
"Look here Shanti" said the headman "This will be your last chance you stand to lose a lot if you continue to follow Jesu Mapru, your son will not get admission into free school, no one will marry your daughter, we will never come to your house not will invite you for any of our function.........."
"We are willing you pay the cost" said Shanti
That is all the missionaries had to hear and they got into action. A few of the believers from the nearby village went to the village graveyard to dig a pit (they had to dig outside the village graveyard as the village refused to give a place in the village graveyard). The rest of them washed the body of Ramu and got him ready for the funeral.
A funeral service was a quiet and solemn. They entire village looked on and were stunned at the defiance of Shanti and her family. The believers from the nearby villages along with the missionaries carried Ramu and laid his body to rest.
Note: A Panchayat is the village council. The missionaries mentioned in the incident are from another mission not RHS.
The incident that I have narrated above is only one of the many that happens daily in the various villages our missionaries work. I can write volumes on the various courageous stands that people take for the Lord. The various oppressive situations have not stopped people from listening to the Gospel and making it their own.
We here at RHS believe in taking time to teach a person the basic of the Bible very strongly and make the person save money (Rs. 100/-) to pay the lawyer to make the affidavit, which is a requirement under the anti-conversion legislation in force here in Orissa. This is a long drawn process. Usually takes a year or two.
I am thrilled to tell you that 30 people over the last two-years have been studying the Bible and saving the money (Rs. 100/-). PTL for the courage from the Holy Spirit that enables the people here to take a stand.
At Reaching Hand Society 8 families and 6 bachelors have answered the Lord's specific call to take the Gospel to the 1020 villages here in Malkangiri district. On a rough estimate there are still about 400 villages were the Gospel has never been preached. Work is hard, resources are stretched (sometime not there), but we are willing to walk the extra mile for the Lord's sake.
People here are willing to pay the cost. What is your response?
Closing with prayers
Remo