Chapter 22 - John From Welder to Preacher

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature:

old things are passed away; behold, all things
are become new.”

—2 Corinthians 5:17

One day the assistant chief told me about a

welder named John Kyei. He had a little
shop close to town but lived outside of town, and
he needed to know the Lord Jesus Christ. This was
a great blessing, a friend telling me about a friend
who needed to be saved. This is what salvation is
all about, one person getting saved and being concerned
about the salvation of others!
    The very next day I headed toward John’s house,
a mud hut about a mile outside of town. Locating
his home, I saw a woman outside cooking, who I
later learned was John’s wife. I introduced myself
and asked if I could talk to John. She disappeared
into the hut for a while but then came back out and
said John did not want to talk to me. I thanked her
and left.
    The next day I went back, and again John’s
wife was in the yard cooking. Again I asked if John
would speak with me, and again she went inside to
ask, only to come back out and inform me that John
did not want to talk to me.
    I left but returned the next day and repeated the
routine, with the same predictable result. John would
not come out to talk to me. The very next day, the
third day, everything was the same, except this time
John’s wife did not even go inside before saying
that John would not talk to me. “But,” I protested,
“you didn’t even go in to ask him.” She replied that
John had told her that morning that if the white man
came by, she was to tell him that he did not want to
talk to him. I left again, somewhat discouraged, but
still determined to talk with John.
    I continued my daily visits. On my sixth visit,
John’s wife informed me, “My husband said he
does not want to talk to you, and he says for you,
the white man, to leave and never come back.” I
was taken aback a little by this unexpected hostility
because the assistant chief had told me that John
was a friendly person and I should have no problem
speaking with him. I thought the assistant chief
must not have known John as well as he pretended!
Nonetheless, by this time I knew the Lord wanted
me to talk to John, and I was not about to give up. I
prayed and told the Lord that I was going back one
more time, the seventh time.
    On my seventh trip, I tried a different approach. I
pulled up close to John’s house early in the morning,
and lo and behold, his wife was already outside
cooking. I remember thinking, John’s family sure
does eat a lot. All I ever saw his wife do was cook
food in the front yard.
    I parked the car so they could not see me from
their house, and then I sat there and waited and
waited and waited until finally John came out and
sat down in the yard. I drove up quickly, slammed
on the brakes, put my vehicle in park, and jumped
out. He looked so shocked but did not move as I
approached him. I walked over and introduced
myself and sat down beside him. He said, “Yes, I
know who you are.” He had a definite advantage
over me, for he had been looking out the window of
his mud hut each time I had visited and had already
sized me up.
    As the conversation progressed, I discovered
John was actually a friendly person, just as I had
been told. We talked about the weather, his family,
his friends, my family, my friends, and then he asked
me the question I had been waiting for. “Why have
you come to Africa, and why have you come to see
me?” he asked. He did not know it at the time, but
this one question would open up a whole new life
for him and his family. This was what I had been
waiting for all these days, the opportunity to present
the gospel of Jesus Christ to John. But now I did
not know what his reaction might be. Would he run
me off from his home? Would he say, “That is not
for me,” or “This is too easy?” Thoughts like these
raced through my mind.
    Pushing these thoughts aside, I related to John
the story of Jesus, how Jesus had died on the cross
for our sins, was buried, rose again the third day,
and is now sitting on the right hand of the Father
making intercession for us. John lit up like a light
bulb and said, “Tell me more.” I did tell him more
and showed him from the Bible things he had never
seen or heard before. After an hour, John said, “I
want this salvation you are talking about.” Boy, did
my light bulb light up! John bowed his head and in
his own humble way asked Jesus to forgive him of
his sins and to come into his heart and be his personal
Saviour.
    What a glorious time we had! I was praising the
Lord, John was praising the Lord, and the angels in
Heaven was rejoicing. Did John really get saved that
day? I believe he did and that his name was written
in the Book of Life. Why? Because I saw the change
in his life. John started coming to church faithfully.
He brought his wife and children to church, and they
all received Christ as their personal Saviour. John
and his family were all baptized in the river where it
runs through the town of Aboisso. John studied the
Bible with me for an entire year. Eventually, John
became the pastor of the local church in Aboisso,
and that church is still winning souls for Christ to
this day.
    Now all the things John did after he was saved
did not make him saved. But they were proof that
on that day in 1983, John opened his heart to Jesus
and Jesus changed his life forever!

(Copyright by Jay B Ayers)