September 28

JESUS, SUFFERER with HIS PEOPLE: “…if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together” (Rom 8:17). Wandaro, whose father was a witch doctor among the Wolayto people in southern Ethiopia, was invited one day to take shelter in a clinic from a sudden downpour. Earl Lewis, recently arrived missionary, began to read from a strange book. The words fascinated Wandaro. Was this what the Ethiopian prophet, Asa, had spoken of? A foreigner would bring a book telling of the Creator, whom people should worship instead of Satan! The next week he returned to hear more and soon declared, “I renounce Satan to follow Jesus.” He was one of the first eight Wolaytos baptised. The missionaries were expelled during WWII, leaving about 48 believers. Suffering grew intense. But after the war, when the missionaries returned, they found over ten thousand believers, Wandaro among them—his body covered with scars, but his face wreathed in smiles.

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