"We did not know from where this evil spirit came. When the daylight had gone and the dark came, we were unable to go outside our home because we felt so much fear."
He was a fierce-looking man, the kind you would not want to run into in a dark alley. The war between the two tribes was everywhere and he and his wife and little children had to leave their home and their land and run away in fear for their lives. They came to the refugee camp with hundreds of other desperate families. They had nothing; no money, no clothing, not even any firewood to cook their food. And then their real ordeal began. Spirits began to torment them unceasingly."
"We did not know from where this evil spirit came. When the daylight had gone and the dark came, we were unable to go outside our home because we felt so much fear. Even in our dreams, we were seeing so many bongas that were coming. Some did not have any head, legs or eyes, and they had big teeth. There were so many of these bongas in our dreams. Other bongas were sticking their big tongues out, showing their tongues to us."
Tragically, a few days later Bill's young wife became desperately ill and then died in childbirth. The baby also died. Bill was left with his two young daughters, Sohagini, and Sonamuni.
One day a tribal witch doctor came by: "What’s going on with you?" he asked. "Your grandmother and grandfather worshipped these goddesses, the bongas. But you are not worshipping them. That is why your wife died. And it’s not over; they are still coming -- they’re on their way! You have to worship them, or else you will all die."
Bill asked him, "What do I have to do?" The witch doctor replied, "You must give them a sacrifice and satisfy them or they are going to finish you off." Bill became very frightened. How could he appease these horrible spirits? Suddenly he remembered something his father had told him when he was a boy: “My grandmother had told my father, ‘You see all these bongas? They are very strong. Through them you can do many great things. But if you are not able to control them, they may finish you off. So if you find you cannot control them, you must become a Christian.’ ”
My father asked, "Then why, Mommy, have you not become a Christian?" She said, "You see, I am able to control them. That's why."
Fear filled Bill’s heart. Now he knew that it was these bongas who were destroying them, and that his wife had died because of them. But he didn’t know what to do. Then he remembered some Bible stories that a pastor had told him.
Suddenly he made a decision and cried out to God.
"O Lord God, I don't know anything. I only know that you are there, a Creator and I know of Jesus Christ. But I don't know what to do. So help me. Should I serve all these bongas or what should I do? I don't know. You tell me."
For two or three days Bill wept and cried out to God. He didn’t know how to pray, but simply from a broken heart and in faith that God would hear him. Suddenly light came into his heart and he felt peace and release. That was when he gave his life to Jesus Christ and was baptized. He started living a good Christian life, full of joy and attending church.
Bill says, “Since that day, there has not been any kind of disturbance or bad dream in my family or my home. Nothing bad has happened to us.” Soon after, Bill enrolled in the storyteller training: “I had never learned the word of God, I did not even have a Bible, I did not know how to pray. But when I enrolled in the Bible storytelling program, suddenly I could learn so many Bible stories--so many wonderful stories from the Bible.”
His life was touched and deeply changed by those stories and he became a storyteller of the Bible. Even while still learning the stories, he started telling them to others. He was highly motivated because the stories had helped him in his own life: “Through the stories I could explain the answer of the living God. Jesus is really there, always with me, and He wants everybody to know Him.” Bill faithfully attended all of the training events and was diligent to complete his field assignments. He graduated second in his class.
Then an opportunity came that he had been longing for, the chance to pastor a church. Every week he would get on his beat-up old bicycle and ride 20 miles each
way to the village of Matiapara.
There were a few backslidden Christians in that village, but they were helpless. When Bill started telling them the Bible stories then their faith revived.
"“We told them the healing stories, the powerful stories. And they believed.”"
In the evening Bill would call the people together to tell them the stories, and also to sing the story-songs in their own tribal language. He said, “I was never able to go to Bible School to learn how to preach. All I knew was how to tell a story. So instead of preaching, I just simply told the stories whenever I got a chance. I told stories about the lives of Old Testament people, and how God was in the Old Testament. And how Jesus came to this world, and what he did for all of us. We told them the healing stories, the powerful stories. And they believed."
Now many people have believed in Jesus Christ and there is a good church of 14 families there.
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