一个部落教会

       我每个安息日都是打出租车到教会，因为我没有车，也不会骑摩托车或自行车。

       安息日去教会这件事情对我的婚姻造成了很大的问题。我的丈夫不是复临信徒，他会因为我每周回家乡去聚会而生气。

       我们生活在台湾北部的一个城市，但那里没有复临教会，而我的家乡教会在山里，离城市有一段距离。我的丈夫身体不是特别好，既不愿意跟我一起上教堂，还不想独自一人在家。有一次安息日，我在聚会之后带了午餐回家，他生气地把食物扔在地上。

       他大喊说：“你根本不管我的死活，只知道每周去教堂！”

       我确实很爱教会，但我也爱我的丈夫，这让我不知所措。因为每当我想要忠于上帝的时候，敌人就会来攻击我。

       后来，我的儿子在服兵役时发生意外，受了很严重的伤，我便离开家去照顾儿子。但是我丈夫在我离家的那段时间忽然去世，这令我感到自责又内疚，若我在家也许他就不会出事了。我心里悲伤悔恨不已，一个月内都不能读经祷告。渐渐地，我也开始察觉上帝确实掌管一切，祂为我预备了一个非常美好的计划。

       我同时也看到了上帝也为我的教会预备了非常美好的计划。教堂需要整修，我们预估需要大约新台币10万元的资金。对我们这个泰雅族的部落而言，这是一笔不小的费用。

       我们的装修工程也遇到了不少的难题。首先，一位女教友忽然出意外被送到医院去；因此我们在同一天就失去了两个宝贵的人力——这位女士和她得丈夫。然后教会聘请的唯一一位建筑工人（他不是复临信徒），突然中暑昏倒。所幸他几分钟后就醒过来，说自己不要紧，并且继续工作。这一系列的事情发生使我哥哥感到很气馁，担心我们起初预估的费用太少了。

       他沮丧地说：“我们可能永远付不起整修所需的费用！”

       我便鼓励他要对上帝有信心，只管继续工作。

       就在最低潮的时刻，一位不同教派的弟兄正好经过了我们的教堂。他停了下来，说他希望能帮助我们。

       “人生如此短暂，何必阻止其他教派的人来完成上帝的工作呢？”他说。

       到了晚上，他递给了我一个信封。

       他说：“我要奉献给教会。”

       我打开了信封，发现里面竟然有新台币6千元现金。

       那位教会聘请的建筑工人在听到捐款的事情后大受感动，他愿意免费完成后续的工作。他说：“我也要为教会做义工。”

       在见证这一切的事后，我哥哥也受到了很大的鼓励，将荣耀和赞美都归给上帝。

       六年后，虽然教会的工程还未完成，但我相信上帝始终照顾祂的教会和子民的需要，因为祂的话语从不落空。

来源：本文译自《圣工消息》（社会青年季刊）2021年第四季

A Village Church

       I don’t own a car. I don’t know how to ride a motorcycle or even a bicycle. The only way to get to church on Sabbath is by taxi.

       My Sabbath outings caused big problems in my marriage. My husband, who was not a Seventh-day Adventist, got upset when I left him in order to worship at the church in my home village.

       We lived in a big city without an Adventist church in northern Taiwan. My home village was located on a mountain some distance away. My husband was sickly and did not want to go with me. He also did not want to be left at home. One Sabbath when I returned home and offered him lunch, he threw the food on the floor.

       “You only care about the church!” he roared. “You do not care whether I live or die!”

       I did care about the church, but I also cared for my husband. I did not know what to do. It seemed that whenever I sought to be faithful to the Lord, I came under attack from the enemy.

       My son was seriously injured in an accident while in mandatory military service. I left home to care for him and, while I was gone, my husband died suddenly. I felt responsible for his death because I might have been able to help him if I had stayed at home. Grief overcame me, and I felt like I could not pray or read the Bible for a month. Slowly, however, I realized that God was in control and had a beautiful plan for me.

       I also saw that God had a wonderful plan for our village church. We needed to carry out renovations on the church, and we estimated the cost at 100,000 New Taiwan dollars (about U.S.$3,550). It was a huge sum for us villagers, members of the Atayal indigenous people group.

       Our repair work ran into many problems. First, a female church member was rushed to the hospital after an accident, and we lost two valuable volunteer workers — her and her husband — in a single day. Then our sole hired worker, who was not a church member, fainted from heat stroke. Fortunately, he awoke after a few minutes and, saying he was all right, returned to work. After that, my brother became discouraged, worrying that we had miscalculated the cost of the repairs.

       “We will never be able to cover the costs,” he said.

       I encouraged him to trust God and to keep working.

       At that low point, a man who attended another Christian church in our village passed by our church building. He stopped and offered to help with the repair work.

       “Life is too short to stop a Christian from another denomination from working for God,” he said.

       As night fell, he handed me a package.

       “I want to make a donation,” he said.

       Opening it up, I was surprised to find a pile of bills amounting to the enormous sum of 6,000 New Taiwan dollars (about U.S.$215).

       When the hired worker heard about the donation, he was so touched that announced that he no longer wanted to be paid for his work. “I want to work for the church for free,” he said.

       Witnessing all this, my brother gained confidence in our efforts and praised the Lord.

       After six years, the renovation of the church has not been completed, but I believe that God will take care of His church and the needs of His people. He always does. Keep praying for us!

Please find the original article at: https://am.adventistmission.org/mqa21q4-26?