Testimonies
Lakpo
If you are looking to meet someone who has come out of darkness to light and has passed through serious trials all while claiming Jesus is Lord, then I encourage you to take the time to read Lakpo’s story.
I met Lakpo in September of 2018. I remember going to his house to find him sitting on the ground on a mat. He had a cloth covering his foot. I came for the purpose to see his wound because I had heard there was an elderly man in the village with a serious wound infection causing him to be extremely ill. I remember seeing such a look of desperation in his eyes for help. When he removed the cloth for me to see his wound, I was overwhelmed with both shock and pain for him knowing he had suffered a lot from this wound. I had never seen anything like it!
The backstory is that 2 years prior to that time, he scraped the top of his foot with a piece of metal. He never got it treated due to not having the finances to seek medical care, so the wound got infected and got worse and worse as time went by. The afternoon I met Lakpo, it seemed that he had given up and was ready to die from this infection. His body was weak, he was not eating well, and was also suffering from mysterious wounds on his chest and back of his shoulder! But, God had a plan. With the financial help from donations we were able to immediately take him to seek medical care.
When we brought him to the hospital, the nurses only stared at his wounds in shock and disgust. They did not want to help him. After one long and miserable week in the local hospital he was released to go, but there was no sign of progress. The wounds on his chest and shoulder had even become worse! We decided to take him to see a specialist in Ho, which is almost 3 hours away. In the midst of all the panic of his wounds getting worse and his illness making him weaker, it was amazing to see how God was providing strength for those of us helping, finances to pay medical bills and transportation, and a group of people to encourage and pray for Lakpo through this challenging and scary time. While in Ho, we found out he needed a surgery. After the surgery, it was a long recovery road which demanded frequent wound dressings. God provided a nurse from one of the local health care centers in our village that was willing to come and dress his wounds every 3 days. It was a long and detailed commitment. Every three days, I have witnessed a nurse, a pastor, and a few other encouraging brothers and sisters in Christ come alongside Lakpo on this wound care journey.
We are now going on 2 full years of consistent wound care. The chest and shoulder wound completely healed up! Now it is left with the foot wound, which now has only a small wound, but is still fleshy. He has battled blood pressure issues which has hindered the full recovery, but Lakpo is a fighter. Through this whole journey, he has shown nothing but resilience and a strong faith! Even in the darkest and most frightening of times, he kept praising Jesus. Lakpo knows what it means to not have Christ. He has lived in complete darkness and done some evil practices as he was once a Fetish Priest.
I have had the privilege to hear Lakpo’s testimony of how he came to faith in Christ out of idol worship and Fetish practices. When he was struggling from illness from these wounds, his former priest brothers from the Fetish temple kept telling him he must recant his faith in Jesus, or the evil spirits would kill him with these wounds. Lakpo refused and kept worshiping Jesus as Lord! Today, he praises God for all things he has passed through and sings a new song! His family is struggling to get by, but he praises Jesus every day with joy.
I just recently discovered that Lakpo is the father of 27 children from his days as a Fetish Priest. All of these children are scattered in different places, and he doesn’t even know where some of them are. He has two sons that live with him now. They are both in junior high school. His prayer is that these two boys will grow in the Lord and not make the same mistakes he did. He talks about how he hopes they can finish their education, because he himself never went to school, and that they will be god-fearing men one day. Each day Lakpo is closer to a fully healed foot wound which he has had for almost 4 years. I know that today, Lakpo is a stronger man of faith than he was 4 years ago because of the wounds he endured.
And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. -1 Peter 2:24