GENOA :: Persecution and Prayer

Hey All-
Today half of our group went out at 5am to go distribute bibles before the gates to the port opened. On our way over we prayed for strength and courage for the day. We needed those prayers later on. The morning went well and we even had some people come up to us and ask for Bibles! This was a specific answer to prayer for me because earlier I had prayed for two such people. The next groups started at 11am and we went all the way to 5pm. Two things really were evident today. First was that we had prayed for the Bibles to find the right people- the people whose hearts are ready- and they did! Almost every person that accepted a Bible was genuinely grateful or even excited! The second characteristic about today was the spiritual battle going on that we got to witness. We had much opposition to what we were doing. There were many in depth discussions, and also stubborn authorities. Our team ended up being removed from multiple places and relocated to others, and eventually ended up having to leave early. Al (our host) and I had the chance to witness to a group of men, one of which tried to disprove the Bible. Thank the Lord that He gave Al the wisdom to talk to the man and others took the Bibles.

The day, at first, looked like it would end in a discouraging mess. Thankfully, after a lot of prayer and worship, everyone's attitudes turned to that of praise! Here is a verse that was helpful for me:

"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed." 2 Corinthians 4:7-9

The great encouragement from the day was the host of answered prayers. Many specific prayers were answered from the day. Also even with all the troubles we still were able to pass out over 120 Bibles. Praise God! We are safe and our spirits are up. Keep up your prayers because we definitely need it.

-Joe Duncan and Genoa Site