Rebel tamed to bring love to others

Anil Mudliar. Photo: BS South Pacific (SPA06DJ-2.JPG)

SOUTH PACIFIC — Maika Bovoro, the first General Secretary of the Bible Society in the South Pacific, now heads the South Pacific Missionary Training College on the outskirts of Suva, Fiji. One of the students there is Anil Mudliar, a man whose heart is full of compassion for others. But he was once very different, as he readily admits.

“I want to thank the Lord with all my heart for the way he has changed my life. I am filled with great joy and peace.”

For more than 20 years Mr Mudliar actively sought out extreme experiences. “I was very rebellious,” he acknowledges. “I drank heavily and drugs were everything to me.” But one day in 2001, when partying with friends, he suddenly came face to face with his inner self and saw emptiness, brokenness and a desperate need for acceptance and love.

Love story

“I just wanted to go to church. I found a church and heard a love story that I’d never encountered before. It was the message of the Cross. God turned my life around that day.”

Welcomed warmly by the church, Mr Mudliar accepted Christ into his life. “I felt a huge burden lifted from my shoulders. I was free.”

He found a job as a hairdresser and worked until 2005, when he was involved in a car accident. In hospital, he met some very special people. “Pastor Iseu Tudreu of the Nadi Brethren Assembly Church and his family nurtured me back to life. After I had recovered, I began to really seek God’s direction in my life. I longed to know more about God and about the Bible and I began to pray about attending Bible College. I had very little money, but I knew that I could place my trust in God who was giving my life purpose and meaning.”

Scholarship

In March, Mr Mudliar’s prayers were answered. He was offered a scholarship to the South Pacific Missionary Training College, where he is now studying for a Diploma in Theology. At first, mixing with the other students was far more challenging than anything he had encountered during his rebellious years. “I wanted to run away! My greatest fear was whether my fellow students would accept me.”

Fears vanished

Now, though, his fears have vanished and he is excited about what God is doing in his life. Through his reaching out to others, four people have already given their lives to God. He believes that God saved him to work with people who are in most need of love and acceptance, as he was.