young man who got saved at the Doumpa Baptist AWANA club recently shared
this story with his leader who led him to Christ.
Jerome Siakor – Liberia
j.siakor@Awana.org
At the tail-end of the third phase of the just ended
Liberian civil war in 2003 commonly called “third world
war,” the village of Doumpa was totally a ghost town
as nearly all of its residents fled from their homes.
Homes were looted and newly roofed houses were deroofed. It was especially a time when most men and
young men were afraid to openly walk the village for
fear of being linked with rebels.
Anthony Dokie and his mother had gone to inspect their home that
was broken into by robbers the night before.
Suddenly, a pickup truck full of armed men drove by and parked
before their house. “Who is in there? Come out!” yelled one of the
men. As his mother came out to answer the men, Anthony was afraid
and began to escape the building. “Halt!” shouted a soldier as he
pointed his M-16 rifle at him. But Anthony kept running. “Bang!
Bang!” Another armed man began to shoot at Anthony from the front
but missing target.
He ran between houses and plunged into the swamp which slowed
down his speed.
His heart pounded heavily as he convinced himself that the time of his
death has finally come. He whispered his last prayer and decided to
surrender to the militias. Coming out of the mud they encircled him
with pointed rifles, ordering him to take off his clothes and get in the
pickup truck. He stood motionless and almost lifeless. His mother
realizing that he was still alive after the shooting, and seeing her son’s
plight, quickly and fearlessly ran amongst the armed men pleading for
her son’s life.
“He is my son, please let him go. Don’t take him away,” she said
begging with outstretched arms. “He is a rebel; put him in the pickup
truck and let’s take him away,” shouted another armed man. “No! You
cannot take him away, he’s not a rebel. He’s just afraid; he is my
son,” cried his mother moving from one armed man to another
grabbing their rifles.
When the commander saw the bravery and persistency of his mother,
he ordered his men to search the house for evidence that Anthony
was truly her son. Convinced by what he saw, he said to his mother,
“I have fought rebels for the past nine years and had never missed
target but your son. Therefore, you must pay the price for my two
wasted bullets to let your son go free.” His mother quickly rushed into
their house and returned with the last $20.00 Liberian Dollars she had
in her possession and gave it to the commander as a ransom for her
son. They left the young man, took the money and drove away.
As Anthony was taken through the simple plan of salvation, it was
pointed to him that just as his mother intervened on his behalf to
spare him from physical death, so did Jesus Christ to save him from
eternal death.
Let me tell you a bit about our ministry.
In spite of the post-war challenges posed to us, the Lord continues to show Himself very
strong on our behalf. From February of this year to date, we have been able to register
13 new churches and re-registered 3 pre-war AWANA churches. Nine of these new
churches are located in the interior of Liberia nearly 300 miles away from Monrovia, the
capital. The area in which these churches are situated is what used to be referred to as
"no go" area three years ago because of security concerns.
Travel to such places poses great challenge as the roads are nearly non-existent while
public transport are scarce and some time unreliable.
We have managed to conduct Basic Training for leaders of five of these newly registered
churches while plans to conduct similar training for leaders of the four most recent ones
are far advanced.
God, in His own wisdom, is bringing lot of children to saving faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ through AWANA. This is our joy and consolation. Seeing boys and girls come to
know, love and serve the Lord through AWANA is the encouragement that helps keeps
us continuing to put in spite of the challenges.
We cannot thank you enough for remaining an integral part of the Lord's ministry He has
entrusted to our care in Liberia.
Liberia has been out of electricity and pipe-borne water since 1989. However in July of
this year, the newly elected Government of Liberia managed to restore partial electricity
to parts of the streets, public buildings (ministries)and hospitals only in Monrovia but not
to private homes given the low output of the generator.
Since no one can be definitely sure when electricity would be restored to private homes
in Monrovia and subsequently to Liberia, we are considering an alternative source of
power-solar energy for our office instead of generator. The cost of running generator and
maintenance is so huge. Please pray with us in this direction.
We wish you knew how much your prayer
and financial support means to us!
God bless.
Jerome & Cece
Your generous donation is greatly appreciated.
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