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Laos: Finding faith

Seng Li is part of a youth leadership training class for tribal believers in Southeast Asia. She’s from Laos, a country still under Communism, where Buddhism and Animism are widely practiced, meaning it  is very hard for Christians like her to live out their faith publicly. 

Seng Li was the first believer in her family. She was 15-years-old, at school where she first heard the Gospel and chose to believe in Jesus. She shared her newfound faith with her mother and two brothers who also became Christians.

But her father was not very happy about it, especially when they tried to witness to him. Her father was then a leader in their clan’s animistic rituals of tribal worship. If he were to become a Christian, he would lose this honor and reputation. He threatened to beat up his family because of their conversions. Nevertheless, the four of them faithfully prayed for his heart to open up to Jesus until he finally believed. Now, Seng Li and her whole family are Christians!

However, more opposition came. When her grandparents found out about the family’s conversion, they had them all arrested and detained by the authorities. Thankfully, they were released after an agreement “not to advertise” their faith.

It has been more than a year since that happened, and Seng Li is now in church leadership training. She admits to feeling threatened and worried about sharing her faith but even in the face of persecution she reflects: “It only made me stronger. It’s an honor to suffer for Christ.”

Pray now…

• Praise God for Seng Li’s faith. May she and her family have creative opportunities to share the Gospel with their clan and community.
• Pray for the knowledge she has gained from the trainings to be used by the Lord to continually strengthen her faith.
• Pray for God to raise her up as a strong Christian leader to serve the church and the people in her country.