Santosh and Ishita had been working with the Korku people and were eager to work in a particular small village, which had only 25 families. They expected to be well received because of the medical help they could offer, but the reception was not good.
Rambabu was a young man in the village who was connected with a fanatical religious group. From childhood, he was against Christianity. When missionaries came to his town, Rambabu would mock and harass them. He was a born leader and very aggressive. He would gather a mob, encourage them to create trouble, and force the missionaries to leave.
Santosh and Ishita knew the difficulties of working with the Korku people. Other mission organizations had given up because of a lack of fruit for their labor. They encountered Rambabu’s harassment often, but continued to work in his village.
They began a fellowship, meeting in a home where they prayed for the town and continued sharing Jesus. Much to their surprise, Rambabu showed up for the meeting one day. Not only did he show up, he responded to the message and accepted Jesus as his Savior that very day!
The transformation in Rambabu was almost like that of the apostle Paul. He went from mocking and tormenting the missionaries to being a fervent follower of Jesus. His influence shifted from persecution of Christians to evangelizing his village people.
Rambabu attended the Bible School of the ministry that supported Santosh. After a year of training, Rambabu returned to his home village as a bachelor. Rambabu wanted a spouse, but knew she had to come from the Korku tribe, as he could not cross the government and marry outside of his culture. The problem was that there were few Christian women in his village!
The ministry leaders connected with Santosh attended a meeting in Rambabu’s small village, where he had established a fellowship. They were meeting in a home where only the daughter was a believer. There were many pictures of local gods in the room. The Christians were not dismayed and had wonderful worship, even though the conditions were crowded to the point they could not raise their hands or move from where they were seated on the floor.
The ministry leader’s brother was to speak, but he did not speak Korku, so two translators translated the message from English to Hindi and then to Korku. Rambabu was the Korku translator.
As the speaker was sharing and the message was being translated, one young lady, Urmila, suddenly shot up from her seat on the floor. She attacked the speakers! The crowd knew she was demon-possessed and grabbed her. She struggled and again attacked the speakers, prompting the Christians to hold her and pray for her deliverance. She was delivered from many demons that day.
Soon, Urmila became a follower of Jesus. Rambabu came to care for her, and they got married. God had supplied him with a wife in a most unexpected way. The one who was possessed by demons, God delivered utterly, and now she is in the ministry of delivering people from demons.
Urmila is an influencer like Rambabu, and she was elected to be the head of the village. Rambabu works with the government to aid the Korku people. They are both brilliant and have sought training to serve their Korku people better.
The persistence of the missionaries brought about significant changes for Rambabu’s village despite opposition. The first and most urgent request that ANM receives from ministry partners and missionaries like them is their need for prayer.
