USEFUL IN OLD AGE
Pu Pago with the children and youth that he is teaching.
In 2020, Pu Pago was led by God to visit some Christian workers at Maela Akee, Karen State, which was about 2 hours drive from the refugee camp where he stayed. Upon his visit, he developed a good relationship with the villagers. Here is his testimony:
“I am known in this camp as Pu Pago. I am 67 years old, and I thank the Lord for giving me good health so I can live to glorify His name. I came here in 2020 just for a visit. But I fell in love with the people, especially the youth. After a few visits, I decided to stay longer and built a house here.
People in this camp are mostly Buddhists and Animists. The gospel has been shared, but there are only a few Christians, but at first, they did not have regular Sunday worship. I started to build a good relationship with the villagers. They accepted my friendship and respected me. I noticed that young people love music. I have a guitar, keyboard and a violin, which I could use to teach them. So I gave them music lessons and taught them Christian worship songs. Even though they have not accepted Christ, they love to sing those worship songs and would do the “Don” traditional dance as we sang. They came and practiced the songs every evening, and we just sang together. Through this, I was able to share the gospel with them. Some young people wanted to become believers in God, but when they asked permission from their parents, they would not allow them to follow Jesus, but others did and brought their families to Christ. Praise God!
I thank God that the Lord allowed me to serve in this place even at my age. He used me to be a blessing to these young people. Now we have about 20 to 30 people gathering every Sunday evening to worship the Lord. The children love to come, so their parents had to accompany them to the school where we worship. Five to six families have already been water baptized. I believe that there will be more families who will come to the Lord. The children are very open to the gospel. They are just waiting to be old enough to follow Christ freely.
Revival is coming to this place. I know that Satan is not happy about it. I fast once a week. It helps me to overcome the powers of darkness. I thank the Lord for the favor that He has given me. The people here love and respect me. Parents allow their children to come to my house. They feel secure to let their children visit me. Sometimes I had to tell them to go home when they stayed late at my house.
I am getting older now. Sometimes these young people ask me to accompany them to other places of worship, which can be up to an hour’s walk. Sometimes I feel tired, but I am strengthened when I see these young people eager to hear the gospel. I know that, as the seed of God’s Word is planted in their hearts, it will bear fruit one day. Please pray for these young people and me as I lead them to Christ. I would love to see them bring their families to Christ and be used by God to make Christ known to others.”
Let us pray for strength upon Pu Pago as he labors for God’s Kingdom. Pray for these young people to remain hungry for God. May the Lord touch their parents to allow them to become Christians. May they influence other young people in their village to follow Christ. Pray also that God will send someone to pastor the fellowship that Pu Pago has started.
“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.”