A Minister in a Minority Group

Wen

The car rambled slowly up a mountain dirt road. The car stalled and was being pushed many times. I thought we had finally arrived at the destination, but it was only half way through. Then, we had to walk the rest of the way. Walking up this terrain required a little technique: you have to find a hard ground to step on and then climb up carefully one step at a time. Your body weight would loosen the pebbles that would quickly crash downhill with a loud noise. I was uncertain whether I had not adjusted to the high altitude or due to my lack of exercise, after climbing up a mere 25 feet, I was already puffing and huffing. The temperature in December was pretty cool, but my body was reacting as if it were in the summer. Finally, the elder of the local church had to pull me along before I could reach the destination, a church of the minority group among the mountains.

This village is inhabited by a group of Gelao in the southwestern district. There are 44 families spread all over, of which 39 are Christian families. Since 1988, Elder Huang was the only servant to serve in
this area. In 1990, He started the outreach to its vicinity of 24 more village with 578 families, in total of 2,890 people. Of these 24 villages, 18 have not accepted Christ. Now, he is not only to shepherd this church, but also to minister another 5 churches.

Of the 39 Christian families, 6 are stationed at other villages further away. Since there is no church over there, they have to cross three mountains for 2-1/2 hours one way to come here to attend the fellowship (gathering). Some near-by believers need only to walk half an hour. For those who live at the foot of the mountain, they have to walk an hour and a half. There is also a family that lives on the other side of the valley, across a river. They are unable to come if the river floods.

Elder Huang spends most of his time in serving others. The family farming is left to Mrs. Huang. They have two sons and a daughter. The eldest son is 23 and has just graduated from a seminary school. The daughter is 21 and is working in the city. The youngest is 18 and he is in the first year of a technical school. In the minority society, it is unusual for the children to finish middle school, and many children do not even finish elementary school. This is one thing Elder Huang is thankful of. In contrast, the family has less helpers in the farm and thus less crops. In turn, the family financial situation cannot be improved.

Elder Huang has an old broken down ?ouse? with a very primitive kitchen and dining area. But Elder Huang is still content with what he has. When working with his co-workers, he is very serious. When dealing with children, he always smile like a child. Considering the illiteracy of the co-workers, elder Huang patiently read the Bible to them until they can memorize on every training session. The sound of the memorization will echo throughout the valleys in the early morning. We are blessed to have such a loyal and God-loving minister. In this broad mountainous area, there is a field waiting for us to plant seeds and to harvest. We pray that all the people here will someday accept Christ.

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