A Special Slip of Paper

A JFA Evening School Story

A student from one of our evening schools

Many years ago, a little Seventh-day Adventist church was built in a Hindu village. Over the years, the church members came from surrounding villages to worship each Sabbath, but the local villagers would not come. 

At the beginning of 2020, we were able to open an evening school in this church. Most of the parents refused to let their children enter the church, so only five kids came each night. 

The teacher tried her hardest to serve these five students well. She helped them with their schoolwork, like math and reading. She also taught them about the Living God, whose words could be found in the Bible. As part of these lessons, the teacher wrote the three angels' messages, and later the ten commandments, one verse at a time, on small pieces of paper. Every day she gave each child a new verse. She asked them to go home, memorize the verse, and then come back to recite it. The parents did not know their children were reading Bible verses. 

Darshan*, was one of the young students attending the evening school. Every day he took the Bible verses home with him and followed the teacher’s instructions.

One morning, Darshan’s mother saw him pull out the little piece of paper, read it, and then pray. She snatched the paper out of his hand.

“What is this?” she demanded. “What are you reading?” 

“I am reading the Bible verse my teacher gave me,” Darshan said, trembling.

Darshan’s mom read the words on the paper, but she didn’t understand them.

“What is the meaning of this?” she asked.

The boy explained the verse to her, as well as each new verse he received from his teacher. As Darshan’s mother learned about the BIble, little by little, God touched her heart. She decided that she wanted to learn more about Jesus. 

When she did, she knew she had to share what she had learned. She started to witness to her fellow villagers. One of our evening school coordinators shared that since this one lady has come forward, God is working miraculously in this village that was refusing to accept Jesus. Now, over 25 children are attending the evening school.

This is why we host our evening schools in local churches–so the villagers will associate the kindness of the evening schools with the church and barriers to the Gospel will be broken down.

Praise God for how He is moving in the hearts of these villagers. Please pray for Darshan and his mother as they grow in faith, and for more villagers to accept Jesus as their Savior. 

$7 a month will provide tutoring, spiritual lessons, and a healthy meal to a child in one of our evening schools. 

If God is leading you to support the ministry of evening schools like this one, please click the button below.

*Name has been changed.