V* is a 22-year-old young man. He grew up hearing curses from his parents every day. Each had said “I wish you weren’t born in our family.” They saw him as a burden on the family. His parents viewed him as unwanted, and so they neglected him. His only comfort was his grandmother, but when he was 12 years old she passed away. This broke his heart.
He was forced to cook, clean, and do the household chores. He did his best to please his parents, but they never said a kind word to him; instead, they beat him and yelled at him whenever he made a mistake. As the years went by, he became more and more desperate; he thought about committing suicide or running away from home. At 22, he was full of hatred towards his parents.
One day, hope finally came when he answered a knock on the door and met two brothers from our house church leader training. They shared the Gospel with him, and gave him a New Testament.
The second time our bothers visited the village, he was waiting for them, eager to hear more about Jesus. As they shared, his eyes welled up with tears as he listened. On their third visit, V* came to a small prayer meeting our brothers started. That day in front of the village he repented from his hatred, and invited Jesus into his heart.
Along with the prayer group he started praying to Jesus about his situation at home, and for his parents. For
him, their cursing words did not matter anymore. He was happy with his newfound love for Jesus and His Word. Slowly, he noticed a change in his parent’s behavior towards him; his parents stopped cursing at him and abusing him.
V*’s heart swelled with joy. He saw his family transforming and Jesus answering his prayers. He shared the Gospel with his family regularly. His parents were angry at first, but over time they began to listen to him and sit with him in prayer. A couple of times his parents attended the prayer groups.
He joined our house church leader training program. After the 40 days of training, he slowly took the lead in the prayer group in his village. Over the past three years he has led hundreds of people to the Lord. The house church in his village has grown to a “full-grown” church with over 120 baptized believers (including his parents!). Last month we had a baptism service in that church, and 19 people were baptized!