Witness Spring 2019

Spring 2019 multiply.net

together that the world may know

Witness

The Heart of a Multiplier

Perseverance

Witness Spring 2019 Contents Editorial: Perseverance..............................................2 Snowstorm....................................................................... 4 The Puzzle........................................................................ 6 Typhoon Baptism......................................................... 8 City of Darkness......................................................... 10

Perseverance Editorial by Randy Friesen

Behind the Locked Door.........................................12 Driving North................................................................ 14

Staff Editor-in-Chief..................................Randy Friesen Managing Editor........................Mark JH Klassen Layout & Design..............................Darcy Scholes Illustration & Design..........................Colton Floris Writing & Prayer Mobilization......... Nikki White Media Director.....................................Daniel Lichty Circulation & Administration............Ann Wiebe

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For more than thirty years, Gordon and Gwenyth Nickel have been patiently and lovingly helping Muslim seekers find Jesus. Several years ago, Gordon completed an important book called The Gentle Answer that engaged many of the classic claims against the Gospel that Muslims in India have held onto for the past 150 years. He wrote the book at the persistent urging of his Indian co-worker and friend, Ali, a gifted apologist and himself a former Muslim who found Jesus. Through this book project, Ali was given an opportunity to debate a prominent Muslim cleric named Shabir. These two held many public and private debates over a period of four years. They both spoke passionately about their beliefs in the identity of Jesus Christ: for Shabir, a mere prophet, and for Ali, the Son of God. Finally, after years of debating, the two met for a conversation that lasted eighteen hours, after which Shabir confessed Jesus as Lord of his life. Since then, Shabir has gone on to lead hundreds of Muslims to Jesus and has planted numerous jammats, which are gatherings of Christ followers that are culturally friendly to those coming out of Islam.

After an eighteen-hour conversation, Shabir confessed Jesus as Lord of his life.

On a recent trip to North India, I had the privilege of spending time with various former Muslims and witnessed the multiplying impact of the Gospel. Many of these young leaders are the fruit of the perseverance of faithful workers like Gordon and Gwenyth, Ali, and Shabir.

This summer, Gordon and Gwenyth will be retiring, but their legacy will certainly live on! In fact, through their ministry, there are hundreds of new Christ followers around the world who are being equipped to “give a reason for the hope that they have” and they are being trained to give it “with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15). Thank you, Gordon and Gwenyth, for your example of faithfulness and perseverance.

When I think of the friendship between Ali and Shabir, I reminded that it often takes perseverance in our Gospel witness for there to be fruit. Today’s debate opponents could become tomorrow’s disciples if we too are willing to persevere in love with our friends.

Jesus’ parable of the sower and the seed ends with these words: “But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop” (Luke 8:15). Which friendships are we being invited to persevere in?

When we first sent workers to places like India, Congo, and China over 100 years ago, it was not unusual to be working in communities where there was not a single Christ follower. Yet today, according to recent statistics, there are more Christians in Africa (599 million) than any other continent, including Europe and North America, and even more than in all of Latin America (597 million).

As well, nowhere in the world is the Church growing faster than in Asia. (For these and more statistics, see Todd Johnson’s article “Christianity 2018” in the International Bulletin of Mission Research, January 2018, pp.20-28.)

These statistics remind us that it takes perseverance to be fruitful and multiply. Many of the Gospel pioneers who planted and watered generations ago did not see much fruit in their lifetimes. But now we are seeing the results of their faithfulness. Today, God is causing those Gospel seeds to grow, and the spiritual descendants of those pioneers are flourishing as never before.

What about the mission challenges that are facing the post-Christian West, where today the religious category of “no religion” or the “nons”, as they are called, is the fastest growing religious affiliation in the census? We

need apologists, intercessors, and perseverance in Gospel friendships more than ever! We also need confidence that God will pour out his Spirit again.

I’m encouraged by some of the stories coming out of Winnipeg, Manitoba, where people like Akmal and Sarah are bringing new life and vision to the Church. They are recent immigrants from Pakistan who felt called of God to plant a church among the 25,000 Punjabi-speaking Sikhs in Winnipeg. So they focused on a neighborhood in the northwest part of the city and began going to door to door, inviting people to various events, and preaching the Gospel. Not long ago, a whole Sikh family approached Akmal and asked him plainly, “What will it take for us to become followers of Jesus? How do we join your church?”

Akmal told them that they give people an opportunity every Sunday to respond to the invitation of the Gospel. So the grandfather called the family together and they talked about what it meant to follow Jesus. The next Sunday, the entire family of ten came to the service and declared their faith in Jesus. Akmal said, “Now we have thirty-five Sikh people in our church, so only 24,965 to go!” Their church is committed to the multiplication of the Gospel in their neighborhood, and they are in it for the long haul.

Let’s pray for more stories like this in neighborhoods and cities across North America! Let’s pray for spiritual renewal and revival in our nations. We need a new generation of Gospel ambassadors to be bold in the universities, the marketplace, and our neighborhoods.

In this issue of Witness, we want to encourage you with stories of transformation and perseverance in Gospel witness. We are asking God for more multipliers who will persevere!

multiply.net | 3

Snowstorm CENTRAL ASIA

By Mark JH Klassen *All names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.

Tariq was on his way home when he got caught in the snowstorm. He and his son had traveled by car to share the Gospel in a very remote community in the mountains of Central Asia. They knew that they were risking their lives to bring the hope of Jesus to people who were without hope.

The two Gospel messengers found themselves stranded in the cold at 12,000 feet in a desolate mountain pass. Their little car was not able to get through the snow. With only a small amount of fuel, they were losing hope themselves. They knew that, without a miracle, it would not take long before they would both freeze to death.

Word about Tariq and his son first spread to Europe where our workers began to invite people to pray for the two men in the midst of the storm.

Very quickly, others in North America heard the urgent news and soon the Church around the world was praying.

Without a miracle, they knew that they would both freeze to death.

Tariq and his son huddled in their car beside the road as the snow continued to accumulate. They also prayed desperate prayers, asking God to send them help.

Finally, another vehicle approached them, fortunately with four-wheeldrive and a long rope. They attempted to pull the little car out of the snowdrift, but the rope was not strong enough. It ripped in half and the car remained stuck in the snow. It was decided that Tariq would stay with the car while his son was taken to safety in the other vehicle.

The road crews continued to work through the night to clear the road to the mountain pass. But the work went slowly and there were more setbacks due to an avalanche. The temperatures were cold and the winds were harsh.

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Around the world, more and more people were praying.

They gave thanks when they heard that Tariq’s son was safe, but they kept praying fervently that he would also be saved. Many of those praying were familiar with the story of Tariq’s dramatic conversion from Islamic background to faith in Jesus and his subsequent church-planting ministry in Central Asia. People knew that Tariq had sacrificed so much for the work of the Gospel in his homeland. Despite great risks and steady opposition, Tariq and his family had been faithful workers and effective partners for a church-planting movement that was gaining momentum across the region. It seemed unimaginable to those who knew him that Tariq’s life would be lost to a snowstorm.

Finally, word came to those who were praying that the road crews had reached Tariq. He was brought to safety and immediately began to give thanks to God not only for saving him and his son from the snowstorm but also for the effective ministry in the village before they became stranded. People were amazed at Tariq’s

passion for preaching the Gospel among his people. In fact, even after he was rescued, Tariq quickly took the opportunity to visit another village where he was able to share the Gospel of Jesus yet again.

Tariq has been a shining example of faith and perseverance. In his commitment to multiplying the message of the Gospel, he is willing to risk his own life.

Tariq is not living for himself, but for Jesus who said, “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it” (Mark 8:35).

GO Are you ready to lose your life for Jesus and for the Gospel?

Is God calling you to serve with Multiply?

Check out opportunities online at multiply.net/serve

“For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.”

Mark 8:35

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The Puzzle LITHUANIA

By April Klassen

I stood there in the grocery store, perplexed by what God seemed to be saying. A puzzle? I was supposed to buy a thousand-piece puzzle? Why? The lighthouse on the cover spoke to me. Just days earlier, my church in Canada had prayed over me, commissioning me for a season of service in Lithuania. As they prayed, I had closed my eyes and saw an image of a lighthouse. I hadn’t shared it with anyone, but I wrote it in my journal and wondered if God would speak more to me about it later.

Then, shortly after arriving in Lithuania, there I was in a grocery store looking at a lighthouse on the cover of a puzzle box.

Though at first I continued walking down the toy aisle, I could not ignore what seemed like a nudge from God to go back and buy the puzzle. As I left the store and trudged home with the large and rather expensive puzzle under my arm, I was less than enthusiastic.

It is in the darkness, I thought to myself, where the light is truly seen.

what I couldn’t yet see. I prayed for light in the darkness.

I prayed for Lithuania, for this country that I was starting to ache over, and for the Church, called to be full of the love and light of Christ and to illuminate an atmosphere so in need of hope. As I searched for edge pieces and for the right yellow pieces to fill in the gaps around the sun, I prayed for whomever this image was meant to reach.

Sometimes, as tears blocked my view, I had to stop.

A few days later, I prepared to host dinner for the first time at my apartment. I had invited three young women from the church, each of whom had expressed a desire to grow in prayer. I hoped this evening might lend itself to more conversation about prayer or, better yet, a time of listening to God together.

To clear the table for dinner, I broke apart the finished puzzle into a few large blocks of pieces, put it back into the box, and stored it carefully in the cupboard. I didn’t want to undo all of my hard work.

It was a wonderful dinner together with my three new friends. Later, as we cleared away the plates, I asked the girls how they were praying for their church community, their city and their country. What was stirring their hearts? What words of prophecy had they heard?

Later that night, I sat down to open the box and was overwhelmed by a thousand pieces of swirling lavender, forest green and sunset-yellow. The picture on the box showed the waves of the sea on one side and a lighthouse on the other, patiently waiting for the sun to fully retire so its work could begin. It is in the darkness, I thought to myself, where the light is truly seen.

One of the girls became emotional. “I’ve been holding onto a prophecy for two years,” she shared. “It is a picture that a lady from my former church shared with me.”

Night after night, I worked on the puzzle, and found myself beginning to pray into what I saw, and even into

As tears began to flow down my friend’s face, I could hardly restrain myself from interrupting her as she

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I leaned forward on my seat, eager to hear the prophecy.

“This woman,” my friend continued, “she saw that Lithuania was to be a lighthouse.”

continued to explain.

“The woman had seen this image while attending a conference in Mozambique and, during her stay, she had joined with others in praying over Lithuania.

God showed her a lighthouse. It was a call for Lithuania to be a light to the nations around it.

It’s hard for me to believe this word now, because things feel so dark here.

But I keep praying that this would be true of us, that there would be light, that we as a church would be light, and that our nation would become a lighthouse. I am holding on to this.”

Before my friend could finish, I burst out with joy, “I have something to show you!”

I rushed over to the cupboard, pulled out the blocks of puzzle pieces and began to connect them together on the table. All four of us stood in stunned silence. Then I explained to them, and to myself at the same time, why I had purchased the puzzle. We began to praise the Father, and then we began to pray. We prayed for the future of Lithuania. We prayed that this picture would come true.

PRAY Please pray for Lithuania, where many people are living in darkness. The country has the highest suicide rate in the world, but God’s light is shining in the midst of the darkness.

Our team in Lithuania believes that Jesus can bring hope and the Gospel can bring freedom.

Pray specifically for Multiply’s national leaders in Lithuania, Gediminas and Kristina Dailyde, as they invest in local churches through teaching, prayer and discipleship.

All four of us stood in stunned silence. Then I explained why I had purchased the puzzle.

It was an incredible night for me, increasing my joy at being with these sisters in their country, growing my faith and reminding me of just how big our God is. As we parted, we promised each other to start sharing more regularly what we were hearing from God. We also agreed to meet together for prayer and to invite others to join us.

We would pray for the puzzle pieces of Lithuania to come together, and for the lighthouse to become a reality.

Gediminas and Kristina Dailyde, church planters in Lithuania multiply.net | 7

Typhoon Baptism MYANMAR

By Louise Sinclair-Peters

As we were driving into the city with our local church planting team, Pastor Isaiah leaned over and quietly said to me, “Louise, I’m a little bit nervous about our baptism today. I don’t know what to do. Our new believers are afraid to be baptized.”

During the previous month in the city, a group of new believers had been attacked and severely beaten by another religious group. It was reported that neighbors had seen the new believers being baptized, and had organized the attack. Since then, a group of men had begun to gather in the place where the same believers met on Sunday mornings. The men would drink alcohol and disrupt the meetings, banging on the walls and shouting, “Stop singing!”

In view of all this, we were cautious. Pastor Isaiah began to pray about the baptism service that we were planning. Was it safe?

Where should it take place?

Still unsure, we nevertheless went ahead and spent the afternoon together with all of the new believers, teaching them from the Scriptures and singing together in preparation for the baptism.

It was typhoon season. Just as we were ready to proceed with the baptism, the

storm grew stronger and we hesitated. We decided to wait for the rains to subside, but the longer we waited the heavier the rains became. Should we cancel the baptism?

As we waited and prayed, suddenly, we began to think that God was perhaps presenting us with an opportunity. We realized that no one – no one – would be outside on a day like this! We smiled at God’s good plan and announced, “Let’s go to the river!”

Together with the new believers, we laughed as we stumbled down the steep, slippery mud path to the river. It felt crazy to be going out in the middle of a typhoon, but everyone was happy and praising God. We felt fearless and bold, experiencing the love of God and the strength and courage of the Holy Spirit. There was so much joy!

There in the river that day, with God as our witness, we sang and prayed and read the Word of God together. Then we professed our love and devotion to our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, by baptizing the new believers in blinding typhoon rains and amid the swirling, muddy waters of a turbulent river. It was a beautiful day for a baptism.

City of Darkness CENTRAL ASIA

By Mark JH Klassen *All names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.

“I had been praying for this area for so many years,” Salim said, “hoping for an opportunity to go there and preach the Gospel.”

Salim’s teammates told him that the man was oppressed by an evil spirit, so they should ignore him and continue on their way.

When he heard his co-worker talk about the short-term mission teams that were going regularly to a city in this remote region, Salim immediately asked if he could go along with her.

Instead, Salim stepped closer and looked into the eyes of the big man standing in front of him. He spoke softly, “Don’t talk to me like this. You know who I am.”

“It’s very remote and the conditions are very primitive,” she warned, “and the bus ride is very long – more than thirteen hours.”

Yet Salim was compelled to go. For him, it was the answer to his prayers.

“There are no churches in the city,” the co-worker explained further, “so we are only able to visit people in their homes. And it’s a very dark city, well known for witchcraft.”

Salim was even more intrigued and excited about joining the team on their next trip.

After several days of preparation and prayer, the team made the long journey to the city of darkness. “When I first arrived, I could feel it,” Salim said. “It was very heavy, very oppressive.”

After they settled into their hotel, the team went out into the streets. Almost immediately, a man approached Salim in the marketplace and spoke directly to him in a loud voice, saying, “Why are you here?”

Thinking that the man was possibly from the local police, Salim said, “Because I love this city!”

The man burst out in reply, “You are not welcome here!”

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“Yes, we know who you are!” the man declared. At this, some of the team members scurried away in fear.

“In the name of Jesus,” Salim said calmly, “be silent.” And the man became completely still and silent before him.

“When I first arrived, I could feel it,” Salim said. “It was very heavy, very oppressive.”

Salim could sense the presence of God with him as he prayed for the man. He took authority over the evil spirits in the name of Jesus and watched the man struggle and wince in pain. When Salim commanded the evil spirits to leave, the man fell to the ground and rolled in the dust of the street. Then Salim reached out his hand and asked him to stand up. He stood to his feet and looked at the crowd that had gathered. People were amazed at the look of peace on the man’s face.

From that time forward, the people in the city knew about Salim and his team. On that first trip, they had several dramatic encounters with people who were delivered from demonic oppression in the name of Jesus.

Several weeks later, when Salim joined the team for another trip to the city, he planned to stay for a full month.

The team rented an apartment and went from house to house visiting people, sharing the Gospel and praying for deliverance. Salim was even extended an invitation to speak in the local mosque about his ministry of peacemaking.

“The people are sick,” explained Salim, “and they just want to be well. They are oppressed, and they just want to be delivered. We don’t speak to them about Islam, we just speak to them about the peace that can be found in Jesus. They are desperate for peace.”

At least forty families in the city have welcomed teams into their homes and embraced the peace of Jesus in their hearts.

On the next trip to the city, Salim was surprised to receive an invitation to a private meeting with seven of the local tribal chiefs. He knew that these men controlled the region and he was very concerned that they would oppose the team’s ministry. At the meeting, the chiefs asked Salim why he kept visiting their region. He answered carefully, “God has given me a gift to help people find peace within their lives and with others.”

When the chiefs pressed him further, Salim said, “This peace is from God and it is available to anyone who needs to be freed from the heaviness of spiritual darkness.”

As Salim spoke with the chiefs, they were standing in a circle around him. As he looked into their eyes, he sensed that one of them was himself oppressed by spiritual darkness. Salim asked him directly, “Do you want to be free?”

“Who, me?” the chief replied.

When Salim answered, “Yes,” the man suddenly collapsed to the ground. Others rushed to help him, but Salim waved them off and began praying for the man in the name of Jesus. Within a few minutes, the man was delivered and exclaimed to the whole group, “I am free!”

The favor of these tribal chiefs gave Salim and his team renewed courage in their ministry. It was another big step forward in seeing this city of darkness experience the light of Jesus. The doors are wide open for the Gospel.

“They know we are Christians, but they don’t seem to care,” says Salim. “They don’t practice a very strict form of Islam. They have some knowledge that Jesus is a prophet, and now they are beginning to experience the power of his name.”

Salim says that the team’s next steps are critical in the discipleship process. As people are delivered from the powers of darkness, they need to understand what it takes to walk in freedom and remain protected from oppression.

Teams are visiting the city regularly, but in between visits the people are receiving teaching and leadership training through media ministry.

“These families gather in their homes and watch our Gospel programming by satellite,” says Salim. “It provides essential support. It’s the beginning of a church.”

GIVE Please consider giving financially to support the Oasis Media Ministry (C0482) as they share the Gospel with Arabic speakers around the world through television and radio programs. This ministry provides critical support to people who are hearing the Gospel for the first time and asking questions about Jesus.

The Oasis team also facilitates short-term mission teams and training initiatives for local church planters and national leaders in many Arabic-speaking countries. multiply.net | 11

Behind the Locked Door THAILAND

By Karen Huebert-Sanchez Her name was Gift, and she was born in a brothel. Her mother, a prostitute, abandoned her when she was only weeks old, leaving Gift without a birth certificate and without status in Thailand.

Her father’s name was Olay, and he was devastated when Gift’s mother ran away, leaving him alone with his infant daughter who was very sick and needed serious medical care. Olay was a construction worker with only a third grade education, and he survived by following construction projects around the country. His work required that he be gone from home for three to four days at a time, so he would leave Gift all alone in their tiny shack. Before leaving, he would prepare a big bowl of rice and a topping of meat and eggs, and place it on the floor for his daughter to eat while he was away at his job.

Olay’s heart was heavy each time he left their home and locked the door behind him. He only hoped that his daughter would be protected from danger.

Often, when he returned, Gift was even more sick.

Olay’s heart was heavy each time he left their home and locked the door behind him.

One day, as Olay looked at the sores all over Gift’s body, he decided that he could bear it no longer. Thinking that the two of them were better off dying together rather than living this way, he took Gift and walked into a river nearby. Olay could not swim. He believed that a double suicide was the best thing he could offer his daughter.

As Olay and Gift began to drown, some fishermen saw them and rushed over to pull them out of the water. Olay sat and wept. Even in this desperate act, he could not succeed.

The police and social services intervened and, a few days later, Gift was delivered to our doorstep at the Abundant Life Home. Her body was covered 12 | witness

in scabies and lesions. She was severely malnourished and every tooth in her mouth was black and decayed.

Now, after several months of nourishment and medical care, Gift is transformed. Everyone who sees her says that she has a magical quality about her that makes her the center of any group she is in. Gift knows that Jesus has given her a new life.

what are you doing next year?

Everyone who sees her says that she has a magical quality about her that makes her the center of any group she is in.

We are also caring for her father Olay and sharing the Gospel with him at every opportunity.

We feel privileged to care for children and their family members who are affected by HIV/AIDS. Would you consider joining our team by praying for Gift and considering a financial gift to the Abundant Life Home?

Thank you for joining us as we together help children like Gift not only survive but thrive.

GIVE To make a financial contribution to the ministry of the Abundant Life Home, go to multiply.net/alh

Go deeper with God and farther with others.

multiply.net/trek

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Driving North CANADA

By Mark JH Klassen

“Our lives were a mess, but we still had each other,” recalled Amanda Budzinski about her family. At the time, she and her husband Steve were living in Castlegar, British Columbia, where they had both become heavy drug users. “I quit when I had my kids,” said Amanda, “but then I started up again. It was really, really heavy, until I almost had my kids taken away from me.”

Then, one day Steve said to Amanda, “Let’s go. We need to go somewhere and start a new life.” So the couple put their two sons in the car, along with three cats and a dog, and they started driving north.

“We just knew we needed to head north,” Amanda said. “Our son, Xavier, had been saying for three years, ‘I want to move to the Yukon. I want to move to the Yukon.’ So as we were driving away from Castlegar, Steve looked at me and said, ‘Well, why don’t we go to the Yukon?’”

Amanda was scared. She told her husband again and again, “I’m scared of quitting. I’m scared of what I’m going to find out there.”

After more than thirty hours in the car, the family arrived in Whitehorse, Yukon. “We got here on a Saturday and spent the first night in our car,” Amanda recalled. “On Sunday morning, we drove into a church parking lot but we just couldn’t go in. We drove to another church and sat outside for about twenty minutes and we were like, ‘Nope, not this one either.’ Then we went to a third church, and we looked at each other and said, ‘Okay, let’s go in.’ So we walked in and met all these friendly people. We didn’t say much. We sang three songs with them, and then we left.”

The people they met were a part of a new church plant in Whitehorse called The Northern Collective. Harrison 14 | witness

Kwok and his wife Kaitlyn had been commissioned by Mountainview Church, another thriving church family in Whitehorse, to begin a new gathering in the small northern city. It was a strategy that Harrison was totally against only two years earlier. “I thought every new church plant was the result of a church split,” said Harrison. “I didn’t want to be a part of that.” But then he read an article that changed everything. It was called, “Why Plant Churches?”

by Tim Keller, and it simply outlined that a committed and consistent approach to church planting was the only way to grow and renew the body of Christ. Harrison was convinced, and he began a two-year journey to become a church planter. In 2018, they launched The Northern Collective.

“I’m scared of quitting. I’m scared of what I’m going to find out there.”

“When Steve and Amanda walked out of the meeting that Sunday, everyone noticed,” Harrison recalled. “We didn’t know what was all going on in their lives, but we cared about them. And when they walked out, we prayed for them.”

For Amanda especially, that first taste of authentic community was overwhelming. “I couldn’t handle it,” she said. “I cried when we left, and I told my husband I wanted to go back but I was scared to. I had trust issues, big time.

In my past, people had mistreated us. We had people steal from us. So I just wanted to keep everybody at arm’s length.

I didn’t want to let anybody get too close, in case they would hurt me, my husband or my kids.”

Three days later, Amanda and Steve were at a grocery store in Whitehorse. They were down to their last twenty dollars

and they were standing in line with a shopping cart full of groceries. “We knew we couldn’t afford it all,” said Amanda, “so we figured we’d have to put some of it back.”

It just so happened that Harrison and Kaitlyn were also in the line. When they noticed Steve and Amanda ahead of them, Kaitlyn had an idea. She leaned over and said to Harrison, “You should offer to pay for their groceries.”

So Harrison walked up to them in the line and paid for their groceries. “We were in awe,” Amanda said. “Nobody had ever taken the time to help us out before.”

After hearing more of their story and finding out that they were still living out of their car, Harrison offered them his tent trailer and also paid for a spot at a nearby campsite.

“It still wasn’t easy for me to receive from others,” Amanda said. “But these people, they just grabbed my heart.”

The next Sunday, Steve and Amanda showed up again at The Northern Collective, but this time they stayed. “It just felt like home. I had always felt so alone and ignored. It felt good to let people into our lives again. And as we prayed together, it made me feel wanted, I felt loved.”

Amanda’s newfound faith has not been without testing.

Two weeks after her baptism, she broke her ankle and was off work for three weeks. “I snapped,” Amanda recalled, “and I ended up in the hospital, upset and discouraged. But I remember Harrison visiting me and telling me that the devil would try to win me back and make me return to the evil. I know Steve could see it sometimes, that I was slowly going back to the person that I was before.” But Amanda persevered in her faith, and Steve stood by her, as did Harrison, Kaitlyn and others from The Northern Collective.

“Letting God into my life was the most amazing thing that ever happened to me,” Amanda said. “Our whole family has been transformed. I’ve noticed a difference with my kids too. We’re all finding ourselves on this incredible journey that we’re on with God.” Amanda paused and laughed as she remembered the long journey to Whitehorse. “It was quite a drive with everyone in that car, but in the end it’s been completely worth it, to see the beauty in my life now and to have these people around me who show nothing but love and kindness. It’s like, wow, I’m glad we drove north.”

Someone gave Amanda a Bible and she started reading.

“It was the first time I had ever read it. I kept saying to my husband, ‘This is amazing. What an amazing story!’

And he said, ‘Amanda, it’s not a story. That’s the thing – it’s real.’”

They started going every Sunday and quickly began to see change in other parts of their lives. They were able to get back on their feet financially. Steve started doing odd jobs for Harrison at his home and at the church building.

Eventually, they found a more permanent place to live.

For Amanda, the changes touched every part of her life: “I was reading my Bible, praying every night, and then I started to notice things, like I wasn’t afraid anymore, I wasn’t anxious or depressed. I didn’t want drugs. I didn’t want cigarettes. And I could actually smile. I just kept smiling.”

Harrison eventually talked to Amanda about baptism, and in October 2018 she was the first new believer to be baptized at The Northern Collective. She shared her story with the church family and testified to the work of God in her heart: “It’s amazing what God’s love will do for you. I never believed in a God and never thought that one God could do it all. But now I see the truth, and I cry every day because of the love I feel in my heart.”

PRAY Please pray for Amanda and Steve Budzinski and their children as they grow in their faith and participate in the life of The Northern Collective Church. Pray also for Harrison and Kaitlyn Kwok as they give leadership to this new church plant in Whitehorse, Yukon. multiply.net | 15

Jesus is the Messiah, the son of the living God In a world that needs Jesus more than ever, he is building his church

In the next two years, let’s plant 500 churches together, that 50,000 more people would know Jesus. “That the world may know�

Campaign launches in May, 2019 Find out more about events and initiatives at multiply.net/campaign