Faith of Eliel Script
From SPARK
One-sentence summary
This is the text of the book The Faith of Eliel who is an Indian boy from Brazil.
Description
Where he lives
Eliel is a Yanomami Indian boy. He is 9 years old, and he lives in the jungles of Brazil. Eliel and his people live in a roundhouse. A roundhouse is a large oval building made of poles and woven palm leaves. It looks a bit like a football stadium. The Yanomamis live just inside the outer wall.
The center of the roundhouse is open to the sky. Each family has its own cooking fire. There are no walls to separate the families, only poles. The people sleep around their fires in hammocks, strung from those poles.
Missionaries live in houses next to the roundhouse. They have learned the Yanomami language. The missionaries have told Eliel and the others in his tribe about Jesus. Eliel has believed that Jesus is his Savior, and he makes sure everyone knows that.
When he was sick
Eliel was 7, he was so sick he almost died. His mom said, “I was very scared. I was so sad and wanted to help him. I thought I should try taking him to the witch doctors in the village nearby.”
Eliel's mom had not become God's child, so she did not know the right way to help her son. She was going to take him to the witch doctors so they could try to heal him. But Eliel said, “It's all right, Mom. I'm not afraid to die. If God wants to take me home (to Heaven) now, that's OK. Don't be sad. But if He wants to make me well again, He will.”
Because of that, Eliel's mom thought, “I can't take him to the witch doctors. He's God's child now, so how could I take him to Satan? That would not be right.”
So she did not take him to the witch doctors.
The missionaries gave Eliel medicine. And God made Eliel completely well.
When he was hungry
Because Eliel's dad neglects the family, Eliel has to help provide food for his mother and sisters. But he knows that it is really God who takes care of them. When Eliel goes fishing, he says, “God made this fish and he allowed me to catch it to feed us. He cares for us and doesn't want us to go hungry, so He helped me catch this fish.”
Everyone in the village sees what Eliel does because they live in the roundhouse with him. They notice when he prays and thanks God for his food before he eats, because even some adult Yanomami Christians are not doing that.
Although Yanomami children greatly respect adults, Eliel is not afraid to share his faith with them. He tells everyone how Jesus saved him. He tells them they also need to believe on Jesus. And because of this, Eliel's mother now believes in Jesus too.
Are you like Eliel?
Eliel has put his faith in Jesus Christ. Eliel knows he is sinner, but that Jesus died to pay the price for his sin. Have you believed on Jesus?
Jesus told us He is the only way to Heaven. There is no other way. Just as the Yanomami, each of us must decide whether or not we want to put our trust in what Jesus has done for us.
Eliel makes sure everyone knows he believes on Jesus. He tells others about the things Jesus does every day for him. It can be hard to just start telling people about Jesus. A lot of adults are afraid to do that.
But we can all do what Eliel does—just begin by telling people some of the good things Jesus did for us today.
You don't live in a roundhouse like Eliel, do you? But people are watching the way you live for Jesus. Your life can lead others to Jesus too. You can be the kind of person in your neighborhood that Eliel is in his roundhouse.
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- by Gwen Hartman
Current copyright owner
This story is a gift from New Tribes Mission, made available through the mission’s web site. You may use it wherever it will be a blessing, and may freely distribute the story and photos as long as you include this notice in its entirety. For more children’s materials, visit Children’s Shelf at New Tribes Mission website.
