天使在我们当中

陆西奥与太太叶蕊·戴亚斯徒从未想过会因为在东帝汶对非信徒传扬基督复临的信息而有人向他们扔石头，他们也从未想过会见到天使。

这两位复临教会全球布道先锋（Global Mission Pioneers）被安排到深山里向说法塔鲁库语（Fataluku）的族群传福音。这是该国人民所使用的三十个语言之一。 这对夫妇有一个优势，法塔鲁库语（Fataluku） 是陆西奥的母语。但他们不知要从哪里开始传道，于是他们每天在所负责的四个村庄边散步祷告。过了一段时间，就决定在他们的出租屋里提供英语和数学的课后辅导。

课后补习班非常受欢迎，从一开始的12位同学，在几个星期內就增加到了57位。每一堂课都以一则《圣经》的教训和祷告开始。两个月后，孩子们就开始告诉他们身边的朋友耶稣快来了，还会问他们是否愿意到天国去。有几位孩子甚至也想加入复临教会。陆西奥与葉蕊看到了希望。

但在第三个月，他们的情況有转变。沒有参加补习班的孩子开始扰乱上课的学生并且威胁那些去上课的学生, 还阻止他们上课。不久，学生人人数只剩下仅仅六位。

最后, 连租借他们房子的户主也不让他们再住下去了。

夫妻俩迫不得已搬进了比较小的房子，也没有办法继续给孩子辅导。

之后，陆西奥在得知有些村民想要受洗时，就组织一场布道会。布道会近尾声的时候几乎整个村庄的人都参与了。这让他们再次充满希望。

但有一天，陆西奥在附近水井装他们下周要用的水时，忽然有一位女士阻止他说，“你不要再用传单设法把我们的人抢走了。”

他疑惑地问：“请问你这话是什么意思呢？”

她说：“我知道你们的目的，你们企图用钱诱惑我们到你的教会去，你骗不了我。”

但他们没给任何人一分钱，她在诬告他们！ 

这位似乎是一名老师的女士忽然用手打了陆西奥，而站在她旁边的成年儿子也向陆西奥挥拳。母子俩后来拿起石头开始向他扔, 但都没打中，围观的人就愈来愈多，甚至有人跑回家拿步枪，威胁要杀死他。幸好有善良的村民保护着陸西奥让他逃离村庄。

两个月后，一名复临教会领袖到了他们那里其中一个村庄开始布道会，人数每天增长，陆西奥和太太再一次燃起希望。

但是有一天晚上, 几个人开始往布道会的大帐篷扔石头。其中一颗石头击中了一名志工护士的头部，导致他头破血流。那天晚上的布道会只好暂停一晚。

当他们开了教会租的小卡车送参加布道会的村民回山上时候，途中来了更多人朝他们石头，他们感到非常害怕。忽然，路边出现了七位身穿金光闪闪的高大男士。但只有三个年轻人看见这几位壮丁，他们都惊呆了！ 这些人往山上走，走到了山顶就消失无踪，丟掷的石头也停了下来。

村民得知关于这七位壮丁后，就肯定他们是上帝派来保护祂子民的天使。“耶和华的使者在敬畏他的人四围安营，搭救他们。” （诗34:7） 

第二周的安息日，有13位年轻人立志决定要受洗，其中两位年轻人就是当天看见了那群天使的。

陆西奥和叶蕊虽然每天要面临着特殊挑战，他们仍然抱有希望，因为知道上帝必定拯救他们。

来源：本文译自《圣工消息》（社会青年季刊）2022年第一季

Angels Among Us

Lusio and his wife, Yelri, never expected to see stones thrown at them for proclaiming Jesus’ soon coming to an unreached people group in Timor-Leste. They also never expected to see angels.

The Global Mission pioneers were dispatched to the mountains to reach out to speakers of the Fataluku language, one of 30 languages spoken by the 1.3 million people of country. The couple had an advantage: Fataluku was Lusio’s mother tongue. Not knowing where to start, the couple embarked on daily prayer walks in the four villages of their district. After some time, they decided to offer after-school tutoring in math and English in their rented house.

The after-school classes soared in popularity, with an initial 12 children swelling to 57 in weeks. Each afternoon, the classes opened with a Bible lesson and prayer. After two months, children began telling their friends that Jesus is coming soon and asking whether they wanted to go to heaven. Several children wanted to join the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Lusio and Yelri felt hopeful.

But things changed in the third month. Children who did not attend the classes began to disrupt the proceedings by threatening and interrogating the students. Before long, only four to six children were showing up for tutoring in the afternoons.

Finally, the landlord of the rented house told Lusio and Yelri that they had to leave.

The couple moved to a smaller house where they could no longer tutor children.

Later, Lusio organized evangelistic meetings in one of the four villages after several villagers expressed a desire for baptism. By the end of the meetings, nearly everyone in the village was attending. Lusio and Yelri felt hopeful.

But then Lusio was stopped by a woman as he went to the watering hole to fill his three-container limit for the week. “Don’t distribute your papers to my people and try to convert them,” she said.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“I know you and your motives,” she said. “Don’t you mess with me. You are trying to convince my people to go to your church by offering money.”

It was a false accusation. No money had been offered to anyone.

Abruptly, the teacher struck Lusio with her hand. Her adult son, who was standing nearby, punched Lusio. Then the mother and son picked up stones and threw them at the Global Mission pioneer. None of the stones hit him. As a crowd gathered, someone threatened to shoot Lusio and ran home to get a rifle. Friendly villagers shielded Lusio as he fled the village.

Two months later, an Adventist leader arrived to speak at evangelistic meetings in another of the four villages. The crowd grew daily, and Lusio and Yelri felt hopeful.

But one night, several men began hurling stones in the meeting tent. One stone struck the head of a volunteer nurse, causing blood to stream down his face. The meeting was suspended for the night.

More flying stones awaited people as they left in a church-rented truck for the ride up the mountain to their homes. The villagers were afraid. Suddenly, seven tall men in bright shining clothes appeared. The strangers were seen only by three astonished young men, who watched them walk away from the site, becoming smaller and smaller until they disappeared up the mountain. No more stones were thrown.

Upon hearing about the seven shining men, the villagers had no doubt that God sent His angels to protect His people. “The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them” (Ps. 34:7, NKJV).

The next Sabbath, 13 young people surrendered their lives to Jesus and were baptized. Among them were two young men who had seen the angels.

Despite extraordinary challenges, Lusio and Yelri remain hopeful. They know God saves.

Please find the original article at: https://am.adventistmission.org/mqa22q1-12