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Stories
from the Field
October 2004
Summer
Missionary Sees Fruits of Obedience
By Erica Harms
A
Buddhist Thai student is studying the Bible, and it all
began with a letter. Kelly Sheets, a junior
at East Tennessee
State Univ., sent a note of encouragement to her friend
Travis Eisenbise, who is currently serving as a summer
missionary in Thailand. At the bottom of the letter,
she wrote “Acts 20:24,” where Paul
states, “I
consider my life worth nothing to me if only I may finish
the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given
me—the task of testifying to the Gospel of God’s
grace (NIV).”
Eisenbise
wrote out the verse on an index card and placed it on
his dorm room door. Primarily teaching
English in
a university, his main goal is to begin a student Bible
study on the campus.
“The
best way for him to reach the Buddhists there is not
to simply tell them about the Gospel but to get them
to
ask questions,” Sheets said. And that’s
exactly what happened.
When
a female student read the index card, her curiosity led
her to further research on the subject. She began
to ask those “key questions” and even asked
for a Bible of her own.
“Moments
like that are good and rare,” Sheets said.
Sheets’ team in the Philippines has been memorizing
scripture together throughout the summer, and Acts 20:24
was one of those verses.
“Just
memorizing scripture produced fruit we might never have
seen. I realized that our small acts of
obedience can be so far-reaching,” Sheets said when she received
the news from Eisenbise.
Both
astonished and encouraged, the duo of missionaries has
experienced the power of obedience. One summer
missionary being faithful to memorize a Bible
verse could mean the
salvation of an unbeliever she’ll never
meet.
More
stories from the Philippines Nehemiah Teams “News
and Updates” on http://peopleteams.org/agusanriverministries/
Agusan%20River%20(E)/learn/summer_missions_teams.htm
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