I am a refugee, but well known by God
This is my story. My name is Steve and I am from Ghana. I was born in 1994 in a small family where nobody was Christian. As I was growing up, I never heard anyone talk about Jesus and never thought much about God. I used to think that when you die, you simply stop existing. When I was 15, my father died and soon after I became ill, I had sores all over my body.
I left Ghana when I was 17, because my mother couldn't take care of me. I went to Libia and I found a job over there. While we were travelling in the desert, I lost many companions on the journey, they died because of sickness or from hypothermia. In Libia, I worked trying to make money to pay my trip to Europe. In the meanwhile, a war started in Libia (the one that led to the killing of Gheddafi) so I decided to come to Italy. I took a barge that brought me to Lampedusa. Then to Bari. Then to Rome. My asylum seeker path began.
In 2012, I arrived in Rome and God started to work in my life. A friend from the refugee camp introduced me to an Evangelical Christian. I wanted to learn English so I started to attend his English classes. For many weeks this friend shared the Gospel with me. He told me that men try to reach God through good works but they cannot succeed. It is only through Jesus Christ that we find the bridge that can reconcile us with God and the Bible is the Word of God. At the same time, I met a couple of Mormon missionaries who gave me the book of Mormon. They told me that Jesus Christ had appeared to Joseph Smith, saying that all religions are false. Then he gave him the book of Mormon. So one night I asked God to show me which book was His. When I fell asleep I had a dream and God spoke to me. He said that the Bible is His book and that whoever adds or removes any of the words from the Bible, will not partake from the tree of life. At that point I decided not to meet the Mormons anymore. In the meantime I had met other Evangelical friends. They invited me for coffee in the Summer 2013 and asked me if I was ready to follow and give my life to Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior. I was ready and that was it. I understood that I was a sinner who needed the gift of Salvation that comes through Christ. From that day I started to study the Bible with a friend and then the Gospel of John with a pastor of an evangelical church. In fact I started to attend an evangelical church in Rome where I asked to be baptized and of which I am now a member. God has helped me to understand the Bible even though Italian and English are not my mother tongues.
I saw God change my life, giving me above all, patience to control my reactions, especially in the life I was living in the camp I desire to tell everybody that I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I have believed and believe that Jesus is the Son of God, who died and was raised again for me. I want to live in obedience to the Word of God and in fellowship with the church. Thank God I have received my residence permit, therefore I could get a passport. I went to school and got my lower secondary school graduation certificate. Now I am attending High School. There are many difficulties: work, housing, the future. But I have seen God at work in me and I have faith in Him. When I started this journey, I didn't know Him, neither where I'd end up. Now I know that God is my Father and He has a plan for my life.
Steve
Roma, 21 marzo 2015