This is Dorothy Choongo

This is Dorothy Choongo. I first wrote about Dorothy last year when I met her at camp. She was reclusive, she wouldn’t talk to me. She never smiled, she often wandered off alone away from the group. She has a pretty severe stuttering problem.

She lives with her grandmother who is a witch doctor, and who Dorothy fears to no end. Dorothy believes that her grandmother’s magic is responsible for killing many of her family members. She lives in constant fear of the woman. Although she did accept Christ last year, sanctification is a process and her faith is not quite strong yet. I’ve tried to reinforce that Jesus is the perfect love and He casts out all fear, and that because she is a child of God nothing can separate her from the love of God. We’ve talked about how Jesus is all-powerful and how He created everything and has the power to conquer evil, but I’m not quite sure she understands it. Dorothy has been praying, but grandmother tells her that her praying will do no good because she already belongs to Satan. The grandmother chases her out of the house and tells Dorothy that she needs to find somewhere else to live because she doesn’t want her anymore. She has been told the same by both her mom and dad. Can you imagine?

She says all of the kids at school make fun of her because of the stuttering. They tell her she is stupid and was born to be stupid because she can’t even talk. It seems that no matter how much I encourage her, I fail. She says that she would just rather die. At the end of our discussion today she told me that she was finished talking to me and she wanted me to leave her alone, and so I honored her in that. I am praying for a changed heart, mind and soul. I am encouraged by the changes I’ve seen, but I know that the pit she is in is quite deep, and only the love of a Savior can help her out of it.

When I see her laugh, I thank God for the joy I see in her and know that it is a little blessing for me in a lesson of perseverance. Today while we were coloring, she just started singing, singing praises to God and that was a small miracle for me to see. It’s times such as these that I think God is revealing small changes for me to see His glory in Dorothy. She said she would want me to come and be with her always because I have helped her so much. What she doesn’t know is that I really had nothing to do with it, for it is the love of a King and a Great Rescuer that has encouraged her in such a way.

Please continue praying for her. She lives in a place of darkness and witchcraft, with no one to love her, but I know because Zephaniah 3:17 says that we have a God who is mighty to save, and I trust that He will do this too, for Dorothy.