Testimony of Conversion
This is my testimony of how the Lord looked after me since I was little. I heard the gospel when I was just a boy through my father and mother. I also heard the gospel through our Sunday school class teachers. They would regularly teach us about Jesus and what He did for sinners like me.
Pastor Moses Tibotai and Mrs. Sely Koirewa were very influential in my life as they introduced the gospel to us every week. I listened to the gospel stories weekly in the church, but even as a young boy understanding who Jesus is and what He did, I still was unrepentant. When I reached my teen years, I was highly active in the church but still had never repented of my sin and trusted Christ for saving faith.
When I reached my young adult years, I was still active in the church, and it was the year 2000 that I became extremely sick. I was so sick that I thought perhaps this was God’s way of getting my attention to heed His command to repent and believe in Jesus. God used this severe sickness to awaken me to the fact that I was not His child. I realized that he had not forgotten me because of His great love, but he remembered me even though I was a sinner.
After this sickness, while still in my village, Sikari, I genuinely believed God had brought me through this sickness to repent and believe that Jesus is Lord and Savior. The Lord used God’s servant ministering to the people of Sikari to minister to my heart the things of God and show me that I needed Jesus Christ to forgive m my sins. After spending time with this dear servant of God, I repented of my sins and desired to follow Christ Jesus with my life.
Immediately, the Lord showed me through this spiritual leader in the village that I must be baptized. I was baptized in the village as a sign of my new heart for Jesus and a new follower of Jesus.
Sometime after my conversion, the Lord gave me a desire to become an evangelist to my people to minister the Word of God. With this continuing desire within me, I became the church’s helper in any area that I could serve. However, I knew I needed training in theology. I wrestled with this knowledge for some time, and finally, one day, four years ago, I had the means to leave my village and enter Bible School in a coastal town. When I finished Bible School in Sentani, Papua, I had a genuine desire to return to Sikari, my village, and become the church’s permanent evangelist. Even though this is a challenging ministry and I sometimes lack material things, God does not forget what I need. Therefore, because of the richness of the Lord, He allowed Yuli Abaruda to become my earthly spiritual father. He counsels, teaches, encourages, and challenges me in the faith and in my ministry to the people of Sikari. I am thankful to the Lord for His goodness to me and making me a child of His own making, and making me an evangelist to the people of Sikari.