On their way to play soccer, he and some friends had hitched a ride on top of a truck’s roof—as is common in this part of the world—when the vehicle’s brakes failed while climbing a hill. The truck collided into other cars, throwing an untethered Aakash into the air.
Two friends drove him to a nearby hospital, but the staff, unable to treat his injuries, transported Aakash to an ABWE medical facility that could.
Over the next 12 weeks, Aakash underwent eight operations to reconstruct and stabilize his bone fractures. But the biggest obstacle to his recovery wasn’t his injuries.
“Because of all the medicine I was taking and the pain of my injuries, I didn’t have an appetite,” said Aakash.
The staff tried their best to feed him through a feeding tube, but they had little success. Then, Aakash fell into a depressed state. Because his father had died when Aakash was young, he was the sole provider for his mother and four siblings. Now they were without his support. Dejected, battered, and weak from refusing to eat, Aakash needed healing—and hope.
But God had been working behind the scenes long before Aakash’s accident. ABWE missionaries had been trying to reach Aakash’s predominantly Buddhist people since 1978. In 2013, the team began translating the New Testament into Aakash’s language. As of 2021, five books are currently complete, including the Gospels.
One day, a translator read Aakash a passage from John’s Gospel and prayed for him.
“I was struck by the fact,” said Aakash, “that through Jesus we can have forgiveness of sins and the part of the verse that says, ‘whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.’”
Aakash placed his trust in Jesus Christ—but silently, for fear of being shunned by his people. Or worse.
Aakash regained his appetite, and a few months later he returned to his village, his fractures repaired. Still, he remained silent about his faith since he was afraid his conversion would put his and his family’s lives at risk.
When evangelists and a local pastor followed up with a visit with Aakash , he finally announced his conversion and asked to be baptized.
Convicted by Aakash’s boldness, six other secret believers in the village also came forward to publicly proclaim their faith in Christ through baptism.
The village noticed and soon Aakash and his family began receiving threats. Yet, God has protected them. Today, Aakash is pursuing training at a nearby Bible school.
Through ministries of healthcare, compassion, Bible translation, and bold evangelism, God is using ABWE workers across the globe to equip future leaders like Aakash in some of the most hostile places on earth.
*Name has been changed for security reasons.
