It started with onions...!

One Monday morning Royd woke up to find that someone had stolen the onions that he had been growing outside his house. In his own words, this is what happened next...

“I prayed with my wife and then she went to the nearby market to see if she could find our onions there. It didn’t take long. She discovered that some children were selling our onions of behalf of a man who brought them to market that morning. About an hour later we received a phone call from the authorities to say they had arrested the thief. He had admitted what he had done and signed the paperwork required of him.

"As we thought about it, we decided we didn’t want him to be imprisoned so we went to speak to the authorities. While we were there we saw the man. He began pleading with us and told us about himself. His name was Martin and he had been in prison before. He said he has been living a bad life and nothing has changed in his life. now, once again, he’s about to go to prison. I explained to him the decision my wife and I had already made and then said to him, “Ok what we are going to do is this. You live in the Namandwa area and we’ve got Life Groups there. I want you to be part of those Life Groups”.

"Something in Martin’s situation really touched my heart. Before I had moved to Mansa I was part of the prison fellowship. I used to be a friend and a “brother” to inmates in the prison and as Martin told me his story I began to consider him as a friend and brother.

"When I used to be part of the prison fellowship we never had enough discipleship material to use with the inmates. I thought, “There is discipleship material in my hands*. Why should I not start a Life Group in the prisons and be doing something with the inmates”. I am going to see if I can start Life Groups in prisons near me. As I reflected on this I wondered if God had allowed Martin to steal my onions so that I may be reminded that I used to be a friend of this type of community. I had been neglecting them. If we can start something with those people, maybe it will even help when they get out and they go back to their places where they came from. This is something that is really upon my heart; if I see Martin grow I will be working with him there. I’m asking for you prayers.”