Meet Kester from the Philippines
When Kester was in primary school, he was bullied — mainly because he had a difficult time with reading and spelling. And he had a stutter. When he tried to read aloud, his classmates laughed at him. And many times, the bullies told him they just didn’t like his face. All the bullying and hurt quickly caused Kester shame and fear, and a lack of confidence and self-respect. Later, he began to defend himself and fight back. After being bullied for so long, he became a bully himself; always in trouble, always in the principal’s office.
But God was working in his life. Kester came to know the Lord when he was 12 years old, after a teacher shared the gospel with him. He began to grow in his faith, started reading God’s Word, and became more involved at church, especially in the student ministry.
He finished high school, and his dream was to teach children and to help them know their heavenly Father through His Word. But his parents couldn’t afford to send him to Bible college. During the Covid pandemic, Kester was trained virtually by Walk Thru the Bible’s children’s ministry team in the Philippines to teach otLIVE (the live event that teaches the big picture of the Old Testament).
“I wanted to serve as an inspiration to the students – that even though I was bullied and then became a bully myself – there is hope. The Lord can change a person. He changed me,” he said.
Kester still had a stutter, but he persisted throughout the training—and he mastered the Old Testament storyline, the teaching sessions, and the handsigns. During the otLIVE training, he shared his story of how God impacted his life, gave him hope, and grew his faith. And otLIVE helped him to learn God’s Word for himself and gave him the confidence to stand and teach in front of others.
Kester’s persistence paid off. His primary school principal allowed him to teach otLIVE to the Grade 6’s at the school. When the other teachers saw how the children loved otLIVE and how they really connected with Kester, they asked him to teach it to the kids in their grades too.
Kester, who is now 22, says that the otLIVE training definitely helped him grow in his walk with God, but also helped him overcome his fear of sharing the Word and teaching it to others. “God and His Word changed me,” he said, “and if He can change me, He can change others.”
Perhaps this story is a reminder to view the children around us a little differently…
We may, or may not, see smiles on the outside, but no one knows what pain or fear is hiding on the inside. In this world of confusion and deception, each child – and each one of us, too – need someone to give them hope, the hope that only God’s Word can give. Each one needs to hear of the One who loves them with an everlasting love. Each one needs to know they were made for a special purpose by a loving Creator.
Kester learned this through the work of God and His Word in his life. And now he’s sharing God’s Word with children in public schools in the Philippines. We praise God that Kester also experienced the hope of God’s Word through the ministry of Walk Thru the Bible – and his life will never be the same.
Please join us in prayer for the over a million children around the world that we aim to reach with the hope and truth of God’s Word.
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