Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God. (Psalm 68:31)
With a church in establishment, and the Message being translated to the local languages, we cannot help but say that surely Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God. By God’s grace, we now have three brothers who are dedicating their time towards the translation of the Message. All of them are University graduates with untold abilities in dealing with language. Ethiopia has over 12 languages but currently the Message is being translated into the three major languages; Afaan Oromo, Amharic and Tigrinya. This covers the Central, Northern, and Southern regions. So far a total of 22 messages have been translated into these languages and printing is just beginning. We are under great expectation to see the effects of the Message of the Hour reaching the hands of the people in their language.
The translation office is now fully set up and equipped with a desktop and two laptops, as well as a Message Hub print station. With this in place, we see the Message getting into the hands of the people. Sister Helen (the sister who was baptized in Mekelle) has now moved further North to a place called Adigrat. This is a staunch Orthodox area, where you find rock-hewn Orthodox churches and barely any Protestant churches. Sister Helen has been so happy to hear that some messages are finished in her language of Tigrinya, and soon she will have it in her hands.
There are many things that have been happening recently, but we will share just a few.
In a past Believers Faith Challenge Report we mentioned Maritu, a former Muslim girl who left her family due to her Islamic faith but eventually came to the knowledge of Christ through the Message of the Hour. These past months have been very hard for this sister with her father cursing her and her other Orthodox relatives disowning her from the family, all because she believed the Message and now carries a Bible. She reached the verge of returning back to Islam due to the pressure, but the church here in Addis Ababa has been claiming her in the Friday night prayer meetings. Her life was miserable, going both to the mosque and at the same time coming to the church. But by God’s grace, Sunday September 11th was the day she could not leave church before being baptized. Since then, she has been one of the most joyful in the church.
Another testimony of a recent addition to the Body of Christ is that of Brother Tamrat. He has been attending service since we opened early this year but had not yet received the revelation of the Message. But recently, when he attended the Friday overnight service, the Word had so gripped him that he couldn’t escape. He asked for baptism that very night and it was conducted by Brother Bus at 3 in the morning. Brother Tamrat has since been enjoying the Message; he and Maritu are waiting for the full benefit of the Message to reach them in their language.
Lastly, please pray for the emerging work in Dukem, located an hour from Addis Ababa. There have been hindrances due to political reasons but we believe a church will be starting there soon as well.
It is your support that has enabled the Believers to have their own sanctuary for worship, as well as set up a translation center for the Message in Ethiopia that is currently working in three languages. The Lord has blessed the church with Believers that are able to translate from English to the local languages which is a miracle, considering that the nation in general does not speak English. Your giving has supported this work which has been used of God to the salvation of many souls and is reaching out to the entire nation of over 90 million souls with spiritual food in due season.
We ask that you offer special prayer for Ethiopia at this time as some areas of the country are in unrest, which makes it very difficult for the Brothers to reach out into the outlying areas. Some trips are planned as there are hungry souls crying out for the Truth in areas outside of the capital, but some are blocked by uncertain conditions. In addition, it is hard for the Believers to communicate their needs fully as there is no internet access in the country at the present time. We know the devil will try and stop God’s redemptive plan, but the Lord will always prevail. Our prayers are part of that prevailing.
