 |
| From Liberia to India to Marshfield, WI |
I became a follower of Christ around 1974 (my story is
here). I was 12 years
old. Born in a Hindu family, my exposure to Christianity until that time was
very limited. The circumstances that led to my accepting the Lord Jesus into my
life are these: My family lived in Monrovia, Liberia (W. Africa) at the time.
In 1972, at the age of 10, I was sent to a boarding school in Panchgani in India.
 |
| St. Peter's School, Panchgani, India |
 |
| Scripture Union -- the organization that organized the camp where I accepted Christ |
My mentor was another kid in the 6th grade, whose
dad was a pastor in Bombay. My understanding of who Jesus was, what he did and
said, what the church was about and what Christian life should look like, came
from the pages of the Bible. Having not grown up in a Christian home or in a Christian
country, the Bible was my source of information. In our sheltered boarding
school world, where we had limited interactions with people outside the school
campus, Christian fellowship took the form of a group of kids (from different
religious backgrounds) who had accepted Christ, meeting together once or twice
a week, praying, singing songs and reading the Bible.
 |
| St Peters School, Panchgani, India |
On Sundays, our school
allowed us to attend the St. Peter’s church – the school’s affiliated Presbyterian
Church. The congregation consisted mainly of residents of the boys’ and girls’
boarding schools and a few locals from the town.
While there, I attending a weekend camp held by Scripture Union – a UK-based
missionary organization that reaches children with the gospel. Around a camp
fire on the last night of the camp, I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. The
next day, we returned back to our boarding school in Panchgani. In that first
year of being a Christian, someone had given me a copy of the Living Bible and
I read it daily.
 |
| Spiritual Life Center, Nasrapur, India, where I accepted Christ |
 |
| Spiritual Life Center, Nasrapur, India, where I accepted Christ |
Panchgani is a small town located 4,200 feet above sea level
among the hills and mountains of western India. After I came to know the Lord,
one of my favorite things to do was go for long walks alone in the hills and
roads of the town, to worship and pray. I used to speak out my prayers aloud to
the Lord and sing hymns and songs I had learned in church. There were many
areas one could be alone in the mountains, and woods.
On Sunday afternoon while doing this, I was overwhelmed with
God’s greatness, goodness and His love for me. I was speaking out, singing out
songs I made up to praise Him and thank Him for His great love for me. At one
point, as I sang and spoke, it was as if English was just not expressive a
language enough to worship and describe how great He was and I suddenly broke
out speaking in a new language. It rushed out of me with passion and feeling (
Acts12:45,46). I stopped, wondering what had just happened. I had remembered reading
about something like this in the Bible and went back to my dorm to look it up.
I read
Acts chapter 2. I identified with the disciples in that chapter. I
believed I had been baptized in the Holy Spirit. From then onwards, I began to
speak in tongues and worship in tongues in my private prayer times and long
walks. After
this experience, I got courage to tell the other believing children in our
little group about what had happened to me. My mentor, Philip and myself began
to pray for others in our group to similarly be baptized in the Holy Spirit as
we had read the apostles had done (
Acts 8:15, 16;
Acts 19:6). Others began to
speak in tongues as well.
 |
| Road in Panchgani, India |
 |
| View from a hill in Panchgani, India |
My favorite part of the Bible at that time was the letters in the New
Testament. Living in a boarding school far away from home, letters were
important to us kids (these were the days before the internet and email). We
looked forward to mail call every Saturday afternoon, to see if we had got a
letter from home. So naturally, I gravitated towards the personal tone of the
letters in the NT. I read in the letter to the Corinthians (
I Cor. 14: 1-25) how speaking in tongues could be used for personal prayer and praise times.
 |
| St. Peter's Church, Panchgani, India |
 |
| St. Peter's church, Panchgani, India |
 |
| St. Peter's Church choir, circa 1975 |
I came to understand from Scriptures that God calls up to
keep on being filled with the Holy Spirit (
Eph. 5:18) and that we would manifest
His fruits (
Gal. 5:22) and gifts (
I Cor. 12:1;
I Cor. 14:1) and that He would teach
and remind us of Jesus’s words (
John 14:16-17,
26). I continue to pray in the
Spirit and seek daily to be filled with Him to show forth in my life, the love
and power of the Lord.
