Nuritu’s Story Reveals Why Jesus Came at Christmas

A letter from Steve and Brenda Stelle serving in Ethiopia

January 2016

Nuritu Ebirahim is Steve’s best student in his Diploma One class.  She also comes to Gidada Theological College from the farthest distance.  Her husband, David, an evangelist, and her 5-year-old son, Amanuel, live 500 miles to the east in the Arsi region.  Yet neither of these facts reveals her unique story.

Nuritu grew up in a traditional Muslim home reading the Koran and attending the mosque.  She lived with her father and mother, her two sisters and her two brothers.  Also living in the home were her father’s second wife and their three daughters.  When her three older half-sisters turned 13 they were married to much older men.  Likewise when Nuritu finished the sixth grade, her father arranged for her to marry a 40-year-old man.  However, Nuritu refused to marry this man and ran away from home.

A few months later, Nuritu returned home.  By this time the older man had married another young girl.  But Nuritu’s father refused to let her enter his home because she had disobeyed him.  Nuritu had brought shame upon him, so he cut her out of his life.  Over the next two years Nuritu bounced around relatives’ homes, but without the support of her father she faced many problems and difficulties.  So Nuritu decided to commit suicide and escape her troubles by jumping in front of a large truck.

On a Sunday morning as she went looking for a big truck to end her life, she went by a Christian church.   The guard (all churches, businesses, and even homes in Ethiopia have a guard to protect the premises) invited her to come to worship and hear the Word of God.  Nuritu entered the church and heard the gospel of Jesus for the very first time.  Near the end of the sermon the pastor said, “Some of you here today are running.  You are trying to escape your problems.  Come and let me pray for you.”  Nuritu went forward and told the pastor about her situation.  He explained the gospel to her and prayed for her.  Immediately Nuritu accepted Jesus as her Savior and began a new life of following Jesus.

For the next two years Nuritu grew in her Christian faith.  After completing tenth grade, she began teaching at a private school, where she met David, who eventually became her husband.  David helped her finish high school and attend a three-year technical school.  Nuritu also joined David’s church, which is a Bethel congregation of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekene Yesus.  She volunteered at the church and soon felt God calling her to become a pastor.  The church agreed with her call and sent her to Gidada Theological College.  After pursuing the three-year diploma program, she will return to her church, which is in an area of Ethiopia where 90 percent of the population is Muslim.  The Bethel churches are making great strides in sharing the gospel of Jesus with Muslims in the Arsi area.  David helped reconcile Nuritu with her father, and he now allows her to come to his home as a visitor and bring his grandson.  During these visits Nuritu has been able to witness to her family.  Her mother and two brothers have accepted Jesus as their Savior.

This past Christmas we celebrated the gospel message of Luke: “For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”  Nuritu is a woman our Lord has saved twice.  First, Jesus saved her from taking her own life at the age of 14.  Second, He saved her by forgiving all her sins as she put her faith in Him as her Savior and Lord.  Now Nuritu is studying at Gidada Theological College so she is better trained to explain to others how and why Jesus came at Christmas to save them.

WE LIVE IN AFRICA MOMENT!

The arrival of the bagag (small three-wheeled motorized vehicles) in Dembi Dollo has made transportation around town much easier.  A bagag driver takes Steve back and forth to Gidada on his teaching days.  One Friday on his way home to BESS the driver stopped the bagag due to construction vehicles blocking the road.  A large backhoe was digging a trench along the side of the road and putting the dirt in the dump truck.   When this occurs we usually wait for the dump truck to be filled and drive away.  But this day the backhoe operator emptied the dirt into the dump truck, raised his bucket and motioned for us to come under.  The driver took the bagag beneath the bucket and then made a sharp turn to maneuver the three-foot-wide bagag through the four-foot space between the front of the backhoe and the back of the truck.  As he pulled through, the corner of the dump truck caught the canvas top of the bagag six inches above Steve’s head.  Fortunately, the driver stopped, backed up, and then pulled ahead without any damage.  But Steve has a new appreciation for the PA department of transportation workers with their stop signs at roadwork construction sites, and thought once again…We live in Africa.

PRAYER REQUESTS:

• Pray for peace in Ethiopia throughout the New Year.

• Pray for the safety of the SERVE work team coning to Dembi Dollo from Jan. 27 through Feb. 8.  And for the completion of the new roofs on the classroom building and boys’ dormitory during their trip.

• Praise for the bagag—they have made transportation around town easier.   Plus we now have our first half-mile of paved road!

We wish you a very blessed New Year!  We also want to thank you for your prayers and financial support of our ministry, which allows us to teach students like Nuritu both at Gidada Theological College and the Bethel Evangelical Secondary School.  As in the past, gifts can be sent to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)—see below. Funds can be sent through your local presbytery office or make the check out to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and send it to:  Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), P.O. Box 643700, Pittsburgh, PA  15264-3700.   Again, we praise God for your partnership with us in serving in Dembi Dollo, Ethiopia.

In Christ’s service,
Rev. Steve & Brenda Stelle

Bethel Evangelical Secondary School
Box 186, Dembi Dollo, Ethiopia

brendastelle813@yahoo.com
stevestelle826@gmail.com