God Fills in the Gaps

Our team had split into 2 smaller teams to preach the Gospel in a small village on a mountain. In this part of Asia, every village or region has their own language. We needed two translators. One translator spoke both the national language and the village language. The other translator spoke the national language and English. Confusing, I know! 

In this part of Asia, women should not speak to men that aren’t their husbands, teach men, or hand things to men. I happened to be a woman, and both translators were as well. To be honest, we were planning on reaching more women than men that day.

Instead, we ended up on the porch of an old man with cataracts. He invited us to sit with him on his porch, and immediately began asking our male teammate about himself. He told the man a little about God and asked if he wanted to know more. “Yes!” said the old man, “What is the story of your God?” My teammate nodded to me. I jumped at the chance to preach the gospel. As I talked about God, the man asked me questions, and I began to notice a large group forming around us- all were men! 

They slowly opened up, and each man asked me questions. I realized that 15 men were listening to me! One of my translators was a twelve year old girl. We couldn’t understand why these men were willing to listen to three women- especially a girl so young. 

The older man wanted a Bible, but he couldn’t read it. I asked who would read to him and two people raised their hands. I took the Bible out and offered it to one of the volunteers. He hesitated. He wasn’t sure what to do. He looked down at the Bible, looked at his friends, looked at me…and grabbed it from me. All the men glanced around at each other as I asked who else wanted a Bible. Another man stepped forward and accepted one for him and his friends. 

Nine men accepted a Bible from me, and all listened to us preach the Gospel. Later on that week, the entire village came to church and over 100 people came to know Christ! Our team wasn’t sure what impact we could make, but God filled in our gaps.  What a privilege to work together with Him! ​

About the Author ~

​Erin Baird did her DTS in Townsville, Australia in 2017. Since then her love for missions has grown, along with ending Bible poverty. She enjoys traveling, baking, studying the Bible, and teaching others how to study the Bible for themselves. She currently lives in Texas with her husband, Carl as they serve on staff at YWAM Ships Corpus Christi. ​