Pastor Martin is a dear brother and incredibly gifted evangelist. His heart to see all people come to know Christ as Savior and Lord is infectious to those around him. He speaks multiple languages including Acholi, Arabic, and English. He hopes to pastor a new church in Pogee, South Sudan. Please read his testimony in his own words.......
Hello my name is Martin Loum Balmoi. I was born February 3, 1981 in Southern Sudan in the place call Pogee, we were five in number, three girls and two boys. I was the third born. My dad divorced my mom. In 1986 when the war broke out between Khartoum government and Southerners we went as refugees to Uganda. My mom got married to another man, that man was very hard on us. We went back to our dad, and he had another wife, she was also very hard on us. One time a group of missionaries came in our camp preaching Jesus, I was afraid to come to the front. I called one of the church members away to tell me more about Jesus. I was asking how much money will it cost to become a Christian? The guy said it's FREE, then I said you can now pray for me and he did. One day my mom came back to take care of us, but she was staying alone, she fell very sick, some of her relatives came and took her for witchcraft, but the sickness kept increasing until they gave up. I told mom that, mom why can’t you try Jesus? She said all the same, I told her just believe in him. I went and call some women from the Church, they came and prayed for her, then I went to get some water from the well, but the line was so long as I was waiting someone came and said Martin you go home, your mom is dead.
Right after her funeral we didn’t know where our dad had gone, I and my brother and sister, we had nowhere to go and stay, we lived in the street, most of the time we spent in the market collecting the remnants of the food from the hotel.
In 1999 June I joined the army chaplaincy training, after one year I fell in love with one of the girls called Suzan and we got married. I was taken to preach the word to the army. I was with the soldiers for three years.
Suzan I have four biological children and my niece is also staying with me. The names of my children are Esau, Jacob, Missy and Sunday. My niece called Joyce she has been staying with me since 1997 and I take care of her.
My heart is to be a missionary and to preach the Word to my people in Pogee, South Sudan and to all people.