Thursday, Dec. 28 pm

Missionary Emmanuel Ndikumana appeared before the assembly with a strong voice and a serious message. He was born in Burundi, an East Central African country, and in 1982, during an ethnic war, nearly all the males in his family were killed and all of his family's possessions were taken. Only his mother and grandmother remained, as well as the heavy pain of this loss. This single event had an enormous impact on his life.

By the age of 15, Emmanuel was so overcome with sickness and emotional pain from this incident that he understood he would die if he did not accept the pain. While his contemporaries turned to alcoholism to deal with such pain, he realized that Jesus was the only one who could take it away.

The crowd was silent with expectation and clapped with admiration at the salvation of his soul in the depth of sorrow. God showed him that in order to deal properly with the pain he experienced, he must forgive his oppressors for the atrocities and genocide.

People asked Emmanuel why Christians could live with such pain and bitterness while still professing their faith. He provided the group with three reasons. First, the pain of the loss of loved ones can be so deep that to remove it is more painful, so people prefer to hold onto the pain. Second, bereaved people can identify the pain of their lost ones through their own pain. To let the pain go would mean forgetting them, while keeping the pain is to acknowledge love for them. Third, the church failed to help these people in pain because of cowardice.

He concluded that there is power in suffering. To help people in pain carries a price.

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