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 Janet Oyende |
Sweeter Than Honey (Sladtko Kato Medt)
December 3 2007 / ShareHim in Bulgaria, Oct. 19 - Nov. 3 '07 #229by Janet Oyende
Personal Testimony of Janet Oyende.
A lady, approximately fifty years old, had been praying for over ten years for a revival in her church in a small city in Samokov, Bulgaria. Little did she know that her prayer was being answered as a young lady left Kenya for further studies in Manchester University. I was that young lady. I was in Manchester for just over a little than a year and was to head back to Kenya by September 2007, but the Lord had a high calling for me. Halfway through 2007, I continuously had the impression to share the love of Jesus and bear testimony of Him. Having heard a sermon from one of previous ShareHim participants, I inquired more about the program and was pointed to ShareHim’s website. After much prayer, contemplation and encouragement from Pastor Dobias and a friend from Manchester South SDA, I was impressed to go to Bulgaria as a main speaker. Truth be told, never had I thought I could stand before a multitude to preach. Yet the Lord was able to turn my weakness into strength. I was assigned Samokov SDA Church in Samokov City, located near the highest Balkan mountains.
Night after night, come sunshine, come rain, come snow, the Lord had a message for His people. Indeed, the promise from the Lord that I shall be with thy mouth and thy speaking came true. The other promise that we shall receive power was also another testimony of God’s faithfulness. The toughest part was the first weekend—preaching Friday evening, Sabbath morning and evening, and Sunday evening. Having gone through orientation, moving from one location to another, I was exhausted by Sunday morning. Come Sunday evening, I was weighed down by unknown fatigue and totally weak, but after prayer, I stood up to preach and “Slava na Mboga” (Praise the Lord), the Holy Ghost’s power was seen. By the time the sermon was over, I was more energized than ever before. The messages were not only a sweeter than honey (Sladtko kato medt) and better than Chopska Salad, but I felt it cut through my heart and felt the Holy Spirit knocking on my heart too.
As message after message was given, the Holy Spirit as promised in the Word, convicted the listeners in Samokov of sin, of righteousness, and judgment. The facial expressions revealed a hunger for truth and praise be to His name, the ratio of church members was always equal with that of the visitors. The children also had the privilege of hearing the word and a special story during the weekends. Four teenagers purposed to join the baptismal class. After the first appeal made during the message about salvation, two of them asked me I could influence their parents so that they could allow them to be baptized. The pastor of the church promised to have a special baptismal class for them.
This experienced opened my eyes to God’s power to be able to provide exceedingly much more than I could ever ask or imagine. I went to Bulgaria having saved my scholarship stipend month after month for one year. Bearing in mind that I was to come back to Kenya to look for a job, I needed the savings, but I instead gave it all for the Lord’s work. A few friends from Manchester gave a little donation just before I took off to Bulgaria. The purse never ran dry throughout the weeks in Bulgaria. At the end of campaign on the last Sabbath, the church elder gave me an envelope. On opening it, there lay cash amounting to much more than I had spent for Bulgaria. This particular church elder had been so inspired by the sacrifice I had made to evangelize in Bulgaria that he called up other church members and told them about it. They all agreed to refund the money I had spent towards Bulgaria and the collection was “a good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over… poured into [my] lap” Luke 6:38.
Much more than that, the joy, contentment, and peace I experienced day after day of sharing Jesus is incomparable to any other joy I have ever felt. Try it! Hearing it or reading about it is one thing, but experiencing it personally is another thing altogether. Taste it for yourself. It is pure joy indeed. Heaven and sharing Jesus is worth every investment of time, finance, skill, and everything else you have and will make.
Night after night, come sunshine, come rain, come snow, the Lord had a message for His people. Indeed, the promise from the Lord that I shall be with thy mouth and thy speaking came true. The other promise that we shall receive power was also another testimony of God’s faithfulness. The toughest part was the first weekend—preaching Friday evening, Sabbath morning and evening, and Sunday evening. Having gone through orientation, moving from one location to another, I was exhausted by Sunday morning. Come Sunday evening, I was weighed down by unknown fatigue and totally weak, but after prayer, I stood up to preach and “Slava na Mboga” (Praise the Lord), the Holy Ghost’s power was seen. By the time the sermon was over, I was more energized than ever before. The messages were not only a sweeter than honey (Sladtko kato medt) and better than Chopska Salad, but I felt it cut through my heart and felt the Holy Spirit knocking on my heart too.
As message after message was given, the Holy Spirit as promised in the Word, convicted the listeners in Samokov of sin, of righteousness, and judgment. The facial expressions revealed a hunger for truth and praise be to His name, the ratio of church members was always equal with that of the visitors. The children also had the privilege of hearing the word and a special story during the weekends. Four teenagers purposed to join the baptismal class. After the first appeal made during the message about salvation, two of them asked me I could influence their parents so that they could allow them to be baptized. The pastor of the church promised to have a special baptismal class for them.
This experienced opened my eyes to God’s power to be able to provide exceedingly much more than I could ever ask or imagine. I went to Bulgaria having saved my scholarship stipend month after month for one year. Bearing in mind that I was to come back to Kenya to look for a job, I needed the savings, but I instead gave it all for the Lord’s work. A few friends from Manchester gave a little donation just before I took off to Bulgaria. The purse never ran dry throughout the weeks in Bulgaria. At the end of campaign on the last Sabbath, the church elder gave me an envelope. On opening it, there lay cash amounting to much more than I had spent for Bulgaria. This particular church elder had been so inspired by the sacrifice I had made to evangelize in Bulgaria that he called up other church members and told them about it. They all agreed to refund the money I had spent towards Bulgaria and the collection was “a good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over… poured into [my] lap” Luke 6:38.
Much more than that, the joy, contentment, and peace I experienced day after day of sharing Jesus is incomparable to any other joy I have ever felt. Try it! Hearing it or reading about it is one thing, but experiencing it personally is another thing altogether. Taste it for yourself. It is pure joy indeed. Heaven and sharing Jesus is worth every investment of time, finance, skill, and everything else you have and will make.