Ethiopia: Finding Jesus at 93

Abuhay Tefera is a 93-year old man from Ethiopia with 19 children from three different wives. He was the former leader of the Agew tribe and practiced a version of animism that involved worshipping a tree god. Though Abuhay supported the worship of this idol for many years, he was never satisfied with his belief. He soon began looking outside of his tribe for answers. Unfortunately, what he found was not much better. He discovered and accepted the Orthodox religion and immediately abandoned his family to become a monk. He went on to live in an Orthodox monastery with no contact with his family for the next 31 years.

Three months ago, a native missionary from a ministry GCP supports went to evangelize at this same monastery. This is where he met Abuhay and shared the Gospel with him. Abuhay became interested in the message of Jesus and for the next few weeks, this missionary visited him at the monastery to teach him about the Bible. One day, Abuhay finally understood the truth about his salvation and confessed his faith in Jesus. He wept of sadness for all the years he felt he had wasted, but also of joy for finally having found the actual truth. After repentance, he decided to leave the monastery and continue growing in his faith from this native missionary. Abuhay soon after reunited with his family and met his grandchildren for the first time. He is now sharing the Good news with all of his children and grandchildren. It is the grace of God and your support to native missionaries that allows us to continue to spread God’s word to people like Abuhay.

Please pray that the native missionaries continue to reach out to remote areas with the power of the Gospel to break the spiritual bondages found in these ethnic groups.