Pastor El Sim (middle) stands with a church member and a guest by the “miracle well.”

El Sim, our little 4 foot 6 inch apostle, has few Biblical miracles that cannot be attributed to her ministry. As far as I know, no one has seen her walk on water yet, although she does seem to make it. There are few wells on her island of 100,000 souls. The geology of the sub-soil is like a block of cheese, there is no lateral movement of subterranean water.  God told her to dig a well on her property. She asked, “Where?” and the Lord responded, “Anywhere on your property. Dig it eight meters deep and you’ll have water.”

So, El Sim called some laborers, bought some concrete rings and told them to dig. They protested, “We don’t want to take your money! There is no water here!” “Never mind!” insisted El Sim, “I’ll pay no matter what happens.” They not only got water, but enough water for the entire village. The town elders bought an electric pump and put in a plastic piping system to the community. When the water level goes down she prays, and it comes back up.

It’s stories like this that seem to abound in El Sim’s life as a follower of Jesus. She’s been pastoring a FCOP church home for a while now and ministry seems to be abounding wherever she goes. Some refer to the marshland where she pastors as an island because it’s inaccessible by land. It’s a 45 minute boat ride, plus or minus 30 minutes depending on the time of year. Even though transportation is limited and the people in her area historically very participatory in witchcraft and spiritual oppression, El Sim has seen the majority of a 100,000 plus district population come to know Jesus through her ministry.

When El Sim received Jesus for the first time she was illiterate but began to listen to the Bible on a “Proclaimer” solar powered audio listening device. She took a literal approach to her faith in God and expected God to show up as she put her faith to action and lived out what it meant to be a Jesus follower. She says she’s just like any other ordinary believer, that she struggles sometimes, but ultimately knows God has a purpose for everything.

Take, for example, the aforementioned miracle well. Most people had previously moved away from that immediate area because of the lack of well water in that area, also believing it was a spiritual curse on the land. El Sim and her husband, at the time, too poor to own land, were borrowing the land from El Sim’s in-law’s family. Eventually, they removed El Sim and her husband off the land to reclaim the well that now had water. El Sim prayed that God would not allow them to take the land from under them, but to no avail. At first, she was dismayed, but relied on her faith in God that always had a purpose. It was only a short time before El Sim found better land and had almost the exact same miracle of digging a bountiful water well in a proven dry area.

El Sim claims nothing has happened in her life that doesn’t have a reason, there’s always a purpose when following God.