Making Disciples – From Rwanda into Remote Area of Sudan

David has a bicycle that he uses for a taxi service and also an opportunity to share practical love and the gospel of Jesus Christ with his customers. One day one of his clients was a man named Sylvestre. By spending time and developing relationship with him, David influenced Sylvestre to become a follower of Jesus. Sylvestre has now shared with his family and many in his community, and is currently also a missionary to Sudan. Jesus changed his life and now he’s passionate that “all should know.” He has little, but what he has he wants to share with the world. Never having been outside of his province in Rwanda, here is just some of Sylvestre’s story as he traveled north about 1,000 miles, from his home all the way to Sudan.

“We prayed for a long time before going to Sudan, but we Rwandans felt God had given us a heart to reach outside of our nation. We believe that Africans must be the ones to reach Africans.

“We didn’t even know what to do or where to go. It took us so many days to reach Sudan. When we finally reached there, the people saw us as civilized people and took us to sit with them at the fire. They brought us food on a traditional plate with local bread. First the chief ate and then each one after. They use their hands to clean themselves, their noses and other body parts and then they eat with the same hands. Everyone is eating from the same plate. But we told ourselves, ‘We will have to just do what they do,’ so we ate the food, because all the time we were thinking at any moment we might be killed.

“We got up very early and talked with them and agreed on how much to pay for them to take us to an even more distant village. There were six mountains to climb. By the time we reached the seventh mountain, we put up our tents. We found people there. Their homes were built of mud and sticks. We were received and given the home to stay in where a witch doctor had lived. It was broken down so we used our tarps to put over it for a roof. All the witch doctors in that place came together for a meeting to discuss how to deal with us. They called on their gods to kill us and they sacrificed and killed chickens and threw them into our house. In the morning they were so shocked that we were still alive.

“There was no bathroom anywhere. We didn’t know what to do and we really suffered. Finally, we went into the bush but our team went together for safety and the people they watched us. To be like the people, we wore the same clothes for the whole time we were there. Their children wear no clothes and many of the women were wearing no clothes.

“Being a missionary is about praying. When we are on mission our total focus is on our mission. We are not thinking about our wives or our children. All we had on our minds was helping and sharing God’s love with people. We only had our Bibles. Those people they had so many guns and I told my fellow missionaries, ‘Are we going to die here?’ Even the chief said, ‘These people will die here.’

“Slowly we started sharing with them. We began with Mark 6. Some received our message and wanted to be baptized. There is very little water in that place, so we walked for three hours to find a hole of water. It was a small pool that brings water down from the mountain. We baptized 18 people that day, even some of them were witch doctors. They learned by seeing that our God is more powerful than their idols.

“Then we moved on. At the new place we were given an old abandoned house that the government had built as a youth center. The people would not allow us to leave that house even if we had to go into the bush to the toilet. We had to wait for the soldier carrying a gun to take us. Those people had so many spears and machetes and guns. The witch doctors use intestines of animals for their sacrifices to chase away our God. The following day there were 23 children baptized. They couldn’t read or write, so we used storytelling. Even one time I climbed a tree to tell the story of Zacchaeus. Many of the children don’t even know their own names or their birth dates. If there is any problem there, they will kill you. We kept telling them, ‘We always pray and do what our God tells us to do.’”

As Sylvestre gave his report, his compassion and love for the Sudanese was obvious. Right now he and another disciple are traveling back to Sudan for another three months. Finishing his presentation, he encouraged us, “Please pray for these people in Sudan. It was their very first time to hear anything about Jesus.”

Sylvestre:

Into remote area of Sudan: