People in this region hold to traditional beliefs and superstitions.
If a person dies, the people in the community often blame a widow or an
older woman for the death, accusing her of witchcraft. Sometimes they
will even kill people over such matters.
Last August, a local newspaper
reported that nine people took part in murdering a 56-year-old woman. A
pregnant young woman in their village had died, and they suspected the
older lady had committed witchcraft against her.
Although this woman was falsely accused, Munda knows from
personal experience that people in his area do practice witchcraft. When
he was a young man, he followed the traditional religion of this
region.
One day, he had a stroke that left him paralyzed. His wife
consulted a magician who told them that if they did not offer goats to
their deities, Munda would die. Because he could not afford to
sacrifice goats, Munda went to a doctor instead. He took the medicines
prescribed by the doctor and experienced complete physical restoration.
As a result, Munda abandoned his traditional faith and started
exploring Christianity. During this time, he met a believer who shared
the good news with him. Munda and his family chose to give their lives
to Jesus! After sensing God’s calling to reach out to those alienated
from Christ, he enrolled in a GFA-supported Bible college.
Now, Munda and his wife, Banhi, are sharing God’s love in their
village through various ministries—including home prayer meetings,
Sunday school and distributing gospel tracts. In spite of the
superstitious beliefs in this area, Munda leads a growing
congregation of 56 people.
Munda is not the only one touching lives in this region. Many
other GFA-supported missionaries are spreading the good news. In the
past three months, they were able to hand out over 46,450 gospel tracts,
12 Bibles and 95 New Testaments altogether. They also witnessed 84
people choose to follow Jesus.
Munda and the other missionaries desire prayer that God will
open the eyes of people in his area to who Jesus is, and that many will
decide to follow Christ. Also pray God will bless Munda and his
family with good health and continue to use his ministry in powerful
ways.
