I have yet to appreciate the visual depiction of the Jesus’ suffering in Mel Gibson’s film The Passion of the Christ. But this and the Jesus film both drew crowds according to the size of the Tokora subcounty where we were staying in Nakapiritpirit. I regret I do not have the ability to capture nighttime photos well. The Passion film is so gruesome I dislike exposing the children to such violence and yet the impact of realizing the suffering Christ went through on our behalf is tangible. In both films, the onlookers could be heard collectively gasping and tisk-tisk-tisking at the most poignant moments.
Following both films on two separate nights, we explained how Jesus suffering and death were necessary so that we could have eternal life and we invited onlookers to repent, believe, and have new lives in Christ. All the people raised their hands and accepted Jesus as their personal savior, both nights. While we understood that not all were unsaved to begin with, not all understood what they were doing, and not all experienced a true salvation we reveled at the opportunity to plant seeds and to start or continues something in their lives that might yield fruit in the future.