One day during my work as a Gospel Outreach evangelist in Sundar Nagar, Himachal Pradesh, in northern India, I received a phone call from Adventist World Radio (AWR) about a listener named Mahinder.
The AWR representative asked me to try to find Mahinder’s village and indicated that Mahinder was a prisoner.
I had no address for Mahinder, but I prayed to God and started out on my motorbike in search of this young man. After asking about 50 people but finding none who knew of him, I sat down under a tree. Just then a man came up to me and asked if he could help. I explained my mission.
He didn’t know Mahinder, but he suggested I try in Dadour, a village about 10 kilometers away.
When I tried to turn my bike to go toward Dadour, its handles turned the other way. I rode about 1 kilometer in the direction my motorbike wanted to go and stopped to ask a shopkeeper about Mahinder. He told me that he knew Mahinder, who was a prisoner in Kanda Jail in Shimla, the state capital, more than 100 kilometers away.
He also knew Mahinder’s home address, which was only a kilometer away. I went to Mahinder’s home, where I met his mother. She was happy to learn I was a church pastor. She told me about the problems she and her family were suffering and confided that her husband and two sons were in prison accused of murder.
She explained that Mahinder, the younger son, was sitting in jail one day, listening to an AWR program. His hope revived when he heard that Jesus Christ, the only Savior, can forgive our sins. He started listening daily and wrote a letter to AWR explaining that he wanted to know more about Jesus Christ.
When he received a short leave to visit his home, he told his mother about AWR and encouraged her to listen. Soon they started believing in Christ and wanted to give their lives into His hands.
And so, thanks to a stubborn motorbike refusing to go the direction I wanted, I found Mahinder’s mother. I started visiting her house and giving Bible studies. After three months, her son came home from prison and was ready for baptism.
Today, Mahinder’s whole family has been baptized, and 40 neighbors have been baptized as well. Every Sabbath 40 to 50 members in this village gather to worship and share their joy about the Savior who forgives our sins.