A Changed Life

The people of my village are very poor—they are living their lives hand to mouth.

I am Swapon, and I come from the Khulna district of Bangladesh. I was born into a Hindu family, and our entire community is Hindu.

When I was a child, some Christian people came to our village. They offered many things to us and asked us to accept the Christian religion. Most of the people are poor, so they became Christians in order to receive the goods. After a few months they returned to Hinduism.

Some years passed and one day some men came again to our village. They started preaching, and it was really interesting. They talked about a man named Jesus, who loved and died for us. They also told about some of the things Jesus did while on Earth. Their preaching touched my heart.

The people stayed for a while and visited our homes. Even though we are poor, they showed their love to us. Their preaching and the way they behaved influenced me. At their final meeting, I expressed my desire to learn more about Jesus and to become a Seventh-day Adventist. I still remember how the pastor’s preaching changed my life. I’m happy to know Jesus and to be a member of the Adventist family.

I Have God’s Love

The people of my village are very poor—they are living their lives hand to mouth. There is no one who can help them with their needs, so I try my best to help them. I teach the poor children of the village who are not able to go to school. I don’t have money to reduce their poverty, but what I do have is God’s love. If anyone gets sick or is having a problem I visit and pray for them and tell them about Jesus, who loves and takes care of us. The people are happy to hear about Jesus—it gives them light and a hope to live for.

In 2012 after graduating from the 1000 Missionary program, my friend Amol and I were planning to travel back home. Suddenly he got sick. I didn’t know what to do, so I started praying silently. After some time Amol felt a little better, so we went to the bus station. When we arrived, we saw that the bus left without us. We were very upset because we missed the bus, and we didn’t have extra money to buy new tickets. So we started praying to God to help us find a way home. After a few minutes the people from the bus counter came to us and said that another bus was coming, so they put us on that bus. On the way home, we thanked God, and our faith grew stronger after this incident.

Power of Prayer

My friends in the village and I were often involved with wrong activities, but after I became a Christian, they would often ridicule me. One day they came to my house and threatened me. They told me to stop preaching in the village, and then they left. I started thinking about what I could do for them, so I started praying for them. I remembered one verse in the Bible about continually praying, so I kept praying that God would change their hearts and they would start doing good things. A few days later they came back and apologized. I was so happy to hear that and was thankful to God for answering my prayers. Now they are doing a good work and helping others in the village. Our God is mighty; He listens to our prayers and I am very thankful to Him!

I worship God all the time because He loves me and protects me from evil. Once I became very sick, so my mother took me to the doctor, but he wasn’t able to help me. Then my mother become very worried and wanted to take me to the witch doctor. I told her that I didn’t believe in that, and that only God could heal me and we should pray to Him. So my mother started praying, and a few days later I was well again. The first thing I did was to praise Him for his care for me.

My favorite chapter in the Bible is Psalm 23. Every time I read it, I can feel God’s love more. What a promise he has given to us. The chapter inspires me more deeply toward God rather than to worldly things. He provides everything I need. This text encourages us to put our faith in God, and that’s why I love it so much.

As I mentioned earlier, most of the people in our village are Hindu. I share with them about Jesus, His love for us, and how he gave His life on the cross. They are very surprised to hear this and are interested to learn more. I invite them to church, and they often come. I continue to preach and share the good news with them. Please pray for me so that I can win these souls for Christ.