|
It
all started with quail eggs. The Royal Rangers (a scouting
program for children based on Biblical principles) hatched
quail eggs and raised quail as one of their projects.
Sabina, our neighbor who practices the occult, found
out that we had quail hens. (Their eggs are thought
to have medicinal properties here in the Balkans.) She
told us she wanted eggs for her husband who was sick
in bed for many weeks with various health problems.
We agreed to collect the eggs and put
them aside for her. A few days later she came to get
them. When she arrived at the door, she wanted to pay
us for them. However, we told her that she could have
the eggs for free in exchange for letting us come to
her house and pray for her husband. Surprised but very
agreeable, she told us to come the next day.
We
asked David and Heather, staff of the local Teen Challenge
Center (a Christ-centered drug rehabilitation program),
and the guys from that program to join us as we went
to pray. The TC boys gave testimonies of healing and
encouraged the father. After prayer, Dave felt the Lord
impressing on him that the husband would soon feel well
again. A few days later we saw Sabina, who said, "He's
healed and doing much better. Thanks for praying and
freeing him from the hex." We also saw Sabina's
husband in the yard playing checkers with some other
men. He was able to walk again with the use of his crutches,
something he had not been able to do for many weeks.
During all this time, their son, Dragi,
was in and out of the Royal Ranger office with a thousand
questions. He also accepted much Christian literature.
(The office is only 4 houses away from his so he stops
by often.) On one occasion Dragi announced that he wanted
to be a follower of Christ, too, so Andy took him to
church the next Sunday. Dragi eagerly went forward to
accept Christ into his heart at the end of the service.
A national pastor led him through the sinners prayer
of repentance, inviting Christ to come into his life.
Dragi wept the entire time and thanked us for bringing
him to Christ. On the way home, Dragi told Andy that
he felt different and knew that this was what he needed
for a long time.
Dragi is at every service and last
Thursday invited a young woman who rents a room in his
parent's home, and his mother, Sabina, to go to church
with him. The young woman, Biljana, takes drugs, has
been sexual abused, and thrown out of her house by an
alcoholic father. She went forward for prayer at the
end of the church service. The women of the church told
Biljana how much God loved her and that they, too, loved
her. She broke down in tears and said, "I didn't
think anyone loved me. People have never been interested
in helping me; only taking from me."
We continue to pray for Sabina. Although
she is interested in what she is hearing in church,
she is reluctant to give up her lifestyle of fortunetelling
and helping people talk with their dead relatives. This
is her way to earn money. Even though she went forward
in church and asked for prayer, to her this was just
another form of magic. The Lord is working in that house
and will
reveal truth and His love to all.
From Andy and Stacey Whitman
AGWM Personnel in Macedonia
|