Why Mozambique?

23/08/2021 3:23:11 PM | Cam

Most Yawo people of Northern Mozambique identify as Muslim, and while they respect Jesus as a prophet, they don’t know Jesus as He presents Himself in the Bible.

The chance that a Yawo person will encounter Jesus as He is found in the Bible, in their context, is very low. There is very little access to Bibles, literacy rates are low and there are only a handful of Yawo followers of Jesus in the Yawo population.

My friend Rachid spent his life farming and seeking God through his Muslim faith. His life story contains hard work and dislocation due to living through two wars.

He started noticing me as I rode my motorbike past his house and became curious. One day he stopped me and asked me who I was and why I was here in Mozambique. This was the start of our friendship and soon we were meeting every week to share Bible stories and talk about life. We met in his home, out at his farm or as we visited people in the area.

Through relationship, opportunities opened up to share who Jesus is and the freedom that comes with knowing Him. After learning who Jesus is, Rachid decided that he wanted to follow the Jesus path. He saw through God’s Word that Jesus is the doorway to being in relationship with God.

Would Rachid have ever discovered Jesus if we didn’t encounter each other in the Mozambican bush? I can’t say for sure. Maybe God would have worked out another story. But what is apparent, is that God had a plan when He called us, an Australian family, to Mozambique. The plan involved Rachid hearing the stories of the Bible in a way and language he could understand.

This unlikely friendship between an Aussie and Yawo man resulted in Rachid being introduced to Jesus despite being part of a community where very few know Him.

The story of Yawo people encountering Jesus is only just beginning. There is continuing need for Jesus followers to be here so that many more may discover what following Jesus means for them. Could God be prompting you?
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