For the past few days we have been ministering in the small rural village of Matooma. We partnered with the local Ugandan church and a church from Virginia, USA. The crusade was extremely powerful. . . We saw at least 300 people make a commitment to Jesus, 250+ people got filled with the Holy Spirit (with the evidence of speaking in tongues), and we saw at least a hundred physical healings. Those few days were jam packed with teaching, door to door ministry (in the village, going door to door means climbing up and down many mountains) and crusade meetings at night with dancing, singing, loud music, shouting and passionate preaching.

For once, Andrew and I weren’t the only muzungus (white people) so we weren’t obligated to constantly be sharing messages from the pulpit. Instead we were able to serve with our other talents and passions. One particular day, we did a kids crusade where we preached and Andrew split all the children into teams and refereed an intense soccer game.

After I finished sharing a short message with the children, a young girl named Daisy approached me, “I’m sick, will you pray for me?” When I clasped my hands around her shoulders and began to pray, I was startled to realize that her upper arms were about the same circumference as my wrists. As I continued to pray I clasped down on her arms to realize that this girl was nothing but skin and bones. After praying with her I discovered that she was so sick that she couldn’t walk because she was so weak, she had severe chest pains, a horrible cough. Daisy was 9 years old and had the body of a 5 or 6 year old. She has been sick for 3 years.  Her eyes were tired and desperate…

I had Daisy sit beside me until the end of the kids’ crusade, when Bob (our translator) began lining the children up to give toys and candy. Daisy was so sick that she couldn’t even move to get treats, she didn’t even care; she just shivered and coughed…  She was hopeless. Almost overwhelmed by emotion, I got up and got her treats for her. It was at that time, I was reminded of the principle Jesus presented to us in the Bible of taking the time for the one sheep.

I let Andrew, Bob and the other kids helpers leave the building for the soccer game and found a girl who knew enough English to get me around. We took turns holding Daisy as we tried to find whoever she came with. It was obvious that she hadn’t walked there alone. After nearly an hour of walking through the village, looking, we figured out that an ‘auntie’ brought Daisy to the crusade and left her there. We also found out that Daisy had a father that worked in Kampala (a city that was at least 7-8 hours away) and her mother was a mentally troubled woman with absolutely no reception to the Gospel.

“I would like to go to her home,” I told the villagers, “bring me to Daisy’s home.” The villagers told me that mom would not be home and she hardly ever was. “I would like to talk to the auntie,” I said. The village girls told me they would arrange this for me and that they would get Daisy’s auntie to come to the night time crusade. Sadly, when the night crusade started a village girl came to tell me that the auntie might come, but didn’t want to talk to me about Daisy. We found a way to get Daisy home, but that was all I could do. I had to let a little girl on the brink of death just go home. The family was too troubled, the auntie didn’t care and the nearby hospital was not accepting patients because they had no drugs. There was nothing I could do but pray . . .

Unfortunately, this situation is all too common in Africa. Any seasoned missionary could probably tell you what Daisy probably had: HIV. Her symptoms showed she was in the last stages, the longevity of the sickness and the hopelessness of her loved ones were major clues to the puzzle. The sad thing is that there was hope. . . Jesus is the healer and maybe if her family would take the time to believe, they would see Daisy be healed along with the many, many people who healed in Matooma that week.

Furthermore, ARV’s can extend the life of a person up to 20+ years. Andrew and I had decided that if we could find someone who was in charge of her, we would take her to the hospital in the city and have WOMF (the organization we were with) get her on the treatment. We also agreed that if God opened this door for Daisy, that we would pay for the treatment. I told the pastor of the local church about Daisy and about our willingness to help, but he said that there was a good chance her guardians didn’t even want us to help. . . They had given up in their hearts, in their spirit and in their minds.

Daisy is an example of the many children who have been given a chance to be treated in Africa, but have been neglected treatment because of a fatalistic mindset. Andrew and I were more than willing to help, but the people with authority over her (her guardians) didn’t want it. What if someone had shared the love of Jesus with them? What if their minds were changed? What if they fought for this little girl? Would she be in the city right now, receiving treatment? Would she be healed by the family’s confession of faith? Probably . . . These are some of the harsh realities of life as a missionary. You can do what you can, but if a heart is hardened, then it’s hardened. This is why the church must pray and fast for the fields that missionaries work in. . . We need not hard ground, but soft fertile soil to plant seeds of the Word in. This is the one way to produce life in a dry and thirsty land…
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This is Daisy. We sat together on a bench watching children shout, yell and play. All she could do was watch.
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The Kids' Crusade at Matooma village . . . Dedicating their lives to Jesus.
 
In the Bible, God is very specific about ministering to the overlooked and ignored. Actually, he warns greatly about those who do not visit the hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, and in prison. Prisoners in the United States often suffer in poor conditions. But, as prisoners of the State, the State is responsible for their safekeeping, health and welfare. 

Now, remove all preconceived notions about these mandatory liberties. Ugandans are not given such luxury when in prison. A prisoner once captured does not even get a phone call to let them know where they are. Often times someone may be imprisoned wrongly on a false charge but have to sit in prison before they see the judge. In a country where the justice system is logged with more pressing cases, a person may be wrongly held without anyone even knowing it. It’s as if they just disappeared off the earth.

If the prisoner was lucky enough for their family member to find out they are in prison, sometimes the family may not even visit because they don’t want to be associated with them. This presents a major problem because if the prisoner is not given food, water, blankets, soap or other provisions they are at the mercy of “the system.” Prison guards barely have enough for themselves…

World Outreach Ministry Fellowship in conjunction with their Ugandan ministry called Ugandan Christian Outreach Ministries has developed a special ministry outreach designed specifically to reach these prisoners. A western missionary, Mike and his wife lead it with a veteran nurse (a Ugandan lady with over 20 years experience), nurse assistant and any other help they can get.

They visit over 60 prisons on a regular schedule ranging from small prisons with short-term sentences of one day to 12 months all the way to large prisons with maximum security and life sentences. When they arrive all the prisoners are lined up in a large group while the team sets up. Ministry begins with a few songs of praise and worship. After, those most in need of medical care are called forward to receive attention ranging from deworming pills to malaria medication to receiving advanced wound care. While the most needy prisoners are being called forward, the other team members give an encouraging message, share their testimonies and give a gospel message. This is all well received.

As time nears to an end, we distribute encouraging gospel tracts in their local language as well as give everyone food, soap, clothes, blankets and other needs. These might be the only assistance in addition to what “the system” provides until the next time visited by the prison ministry team.

A major goal of the prison ministry team is to visit each prison at least once a month because some of the medications are complex and need to be monitored on a monthly basis. Also, it is good in order to disciple the believers. One can quickly see there are 60 prisons they visit and only 30 days in a month. That means they visit an average of two to three prisons a day! Some prisons are a three hour drive from the city. This makes for some long days…

But, the ministry is effective despite the hard work. Usually that’s the way it is, the harder the work the more rewarding. How great it is to see prisoners physically set free from the spiritual prison of sin and Satan. These prisoners when released become church leaders and thriving ministers of the gospel! If it weren’t for their time in prison they may have never been transformed physically but more importantly spiritually!

It was encouraging to be the hands and feet of Jesus when going to these prisons. We were reminded about what Jesus said in Matthew 25:35-36, “For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.”

These men and women are hungry, thirsty, strangers (to us), naked (well half naked at least), sick and in prison. When reading that verse before our several trips out to visit prisons we were struck at the weight of this verse. Because later in Matthew 25 it says, “To the extent you did not do it to the least of these you did not do it to me! These will go away to eternal punishment… “

We were privileged by the honor of serving these prisoners with physical assistance but it does not profit them a thing if we don’t give them the true assistance they need, that is sharing the gospel and giving them the word of God. Like any humanitarian aid or assistance, it does no good to keep someone alive physically if will eventually die spiritually. All that is being done is prolonging death. It sounds negative but really should be a wakeup call! We all will die but as sure as we can’t cheat death and taxes one day we will either go to heaven or hell. God has given us a permanent pardon of a guilty charge from the condemnation of eternal imprisonment in hell, forever.

Praise God for the three days we had the opportunity to minister with the prison team (that goes out everyday including some Sundays!) Over fifty people accepted Christ and more than three hundred prisoners were touched physically, encouraged emotionally and moreover spiritually. We look forward to future times of ministry with Mike and his dedicated team.

We are so anxious to see God everywhere on this continent… We want to be the hands of feet to everyone we can… especially to the most overlooked, despised and neglected.
 
We’ve made it to Uganda safe and sound. We really miss Congo, but we know that we need to come to Uganda. Our spiritual covering (Calvary Christian Center) has a relationship with a ministry call World Outreach Ministry Foundation (WOMF). Their main base is out of Uganda and they’ve been here for about 25 years. Congo and Uganda are not the same, but twenty-five years ago Uganda was in a similar situation that Congo is in now. They felt that it’s in our best interest to come and see the work going on, create relationships and learn how some of their logistics are done.

Since we’ve been here, we’ve met more muzungus (whites) than what we have met in the last three months and have seen that Uganda and Congo are almost like night and day. Here in Uganda, you can go out at night without many worries, the people speak English, there isn’t a war going on and the level of development is far more advanced… Oh how we long to see the DRC in such conditions!

Since we’ve been here we have met a few other missionaries who have been here, but the most important people we came to meet are not on the base. One of them is staying out in the villages and the others are coming to Uganda within the next week. Since we don’t have a specific duty at this time, we have been helping wherever we can, watching, listening and learning….

Recently, we went with two of the pastors past the town Mityana to a small village where WOMF built a church and a school almost 15 years ago. We greeted the children, the pastor and teachers and brought them a quick word of encouragement.

We also went out to another village nearby to learn some of the logistics of buying land for a church plant. WOMF is planting a new church and they sent the pastors to negotiate the land and write up an agreement. We witnessed how it was done and learned a lot about logistics of how to plant a church. Some may figure, it can’t be that hard… just teach the word of God and dedicate some land. But there are a lot of details involved with such a thing. What land do you dedicate? Is the organization responsible for building or buying property? How involved will it be? Etc . . . These are all fine tune details that can get hairy if a system is not in place. Andrew and I really took the time to learn a lot from these Ugandan pastors and we appreciated it.

After the visiting the pastors and buying the land . . . We stopped at a local farmer’s property and they taught Andrew how to plant and harvest Cassava. These are valuable things that we need to know as missionaries and Bible College just won’t be enough for that.

On the way back we heard stories from the pastor of how he began his ministry over 25 years ago in underground churches. We asked him, what are the biggest pieces of advice you can give to us? The pastor thought about it.

“Patience,” he responded, “there are few in this world willing to work at something for a long time. They stay for three or four years and then they leave everything they had before they even saw any fruit.”

The second piece of advice he gave us was, “faith, you need to do everything you do in faith, because things won’t always seem wise or in your favor,” he said, “but do it in faith.”

We are not sure what God has in store for us in Uganda, but our goal is to serve, create relationships and learn. The missionaries who started this base are much older than us (actually they are in their 70’s now) and they have successfully transferred the key duties of the base onto the local Ugandans and now those Ugandans are passing it on to the younger generation of Ugandans. This is an example of a healthy, effective ministry, something we want to have in the future. The only way to do this is to humble ourselves and learn from elders. WOMF is an elder; pray that this time in Uganda will be fruitful… There are lots of plans ahead. Stay updated . . .

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Amethyst and Pastor Kaweesa sitting outside of WOMF's new church plant. The price has already been negotiated and now the community leaders are writing up an agreement to sell the land.
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This is the Pastor Annette, the leader of the new church.
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Andrew sharing a message of encouragement with the children at the school/church WOMF around 15 years ago.
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Andrew had the students repeat 'I am the future of this nation and God has great plans ahead for me!'
 
As we left Congo, the people said to us, “Why are you leaving us, don’t you love us? Don’t you love Congo?” but I responded, “Yes, we do and that’s why we must go. We can stay, but then we will be no good to anyone. We need to go away in order to truly be of help to the Congolese people. We need to learn, we need to raise money, we need to go…So that when we return, the will of God can be done.”

One of them responded, “These sound like the parting words of Jesus Christ,” and the others nodded their heads and said that they thought the same thing. They assured us that they knew we would be back and that they believed in us.

That night Andrew and I prayed and marveled on our times in Africa and how much we’ve always loved every moment we’ve spent on this wonderful continent. At that time Andrew said “I feel like the few good friends we’ve made in the past four years are better friends then some of the ones we have known in America for 10 years,” The reason is this. . .

In Africa, if we needed help no matter what was happening our friends there would drop anything they were doing to help us, even at their own expense. In America, most of the time we’ve really needed our long-term friendships… All we’ve ever heard was “we have to work, we don’t have the money or I’m sorry we’re busy.” Sadly, it has been the case more times than not, especially since we've been married… That night we made a pact that we would never propel this western way of thinking in our own lives and that this was one of the good qualities we will take from Africa… Their hospitality, friendship and faithfulness, it’s something the west can learn a lot from. . .

Western culture is often very isolated, formal and polite and shallow. African's find this terribly strange and this is the reason alot of them theat visit Europe and America will sometimes say, "I'd rather go back to Africa... Maybe that’s why," the Africans say, "these rich muzungus are cutting themselves and committing suicide…"

I think they may have a point  . . .
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Amethyst and Elizabeth. Elizabeth is Philippe’s fiancée; he is currently paying a dowry of 10 goats and 2 cows for her. Elizabeth is a mighty woman of God with exceptional English for being a Congolese woman and also a very good friend to Amethyst.
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Amethyst, Phillipe, Elizabeth and Andrew. Friends, translators and annointned ministers of God.
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Andrew and Phillipe. One of our close friends and annointed translators. Phillipe teaches English at the Brother English Center and desires to be a missionary in the Middle East, ministering to Muslims.
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Amethyst with Pastor Euclide’s wife, Lillian. Whenever Andrew taught how husbands should not beat their wives, Lillian would say “sona,” out loud. ‘Sona’ means “very much so in Swahili,” she is a very smart woman with a University degree and revolutionary way of thinking.
 
How unoriginal for a title name. But, alas our stay in Congo has come to an end and we are traveling to Kampala, Uganda to catch up with a ministry that Calvary Christian Center has highly recommended called World Outreach Ministry Foundation. We will be leaving at 19:00 today. Pray for a safe trip and that ministry will be abundant in Uganda. 


We hope to connect with them and help them in any way possible. They have a desire to enter into the Congo so we hope we can work together to see their vision become a reality and also to help further ours in Congo. 


Pray for us and more info to come!
 
God is good! As Amethyst and I finished our last speaking engagement at Baraka Church (the church who gave us our invite to DR Congo, a necessary letter to receive our visas) we came home and started reflecting on our trip. We started to laugh about funny moments that happened while in Congo. That will be an upcoming blog entry. But we began to recount the many different things the Lord has done. Also, we began to ponder future ministry and what the Lord will have us do in the upcoming years.

One part of our vision is to create long-term sustainability. This is absolutely essential to establish God’s Kingdom. In Congolese culture it is hard for the general population to accept a pastor who also does business. Culture says that a businessman is a businessman and a pastor is a pastor and that’s final! But then I start to ask some questions…

I ask, “So a pastor can’t be a businessman because of fear that he will become corrupt?” They answer emphatically and enthusiastically, “YES, of course!” (almost in a well, duh! type of attitude.)

Then I respond, “Okay so when a pastor opens up a church and steals from the offering and expects that the congregation give him food, to work his fields and do everything for him… is that right?”

The answers then become faint with silent murmurs and puzzled looks with the final conclusion: that isn’t right either.

So then I suggest, “Why can’t a pastor be a businessman and also a pastor? Why can’t he do business in such a righteous manner that he will shame the corrupt businessmen and government officials? Why can’t a pastor do business and through his righteous dealings, he will be blessed? This is an opportunity for the ministry to be fruitful through generating income!”

Eyes light up and they start thinking to themselves and wonder why hadn’t anyone done this previously. But then I continue and tell them that if they do business in an unrighteous manner they are no better than any other businessmen and in fact will be judged harsher because they know the word of God, are a pastor but also act in an unrighteous manner. I show them this through several scripture verses, particularly Deut 25:15, Prov 11:1-8, and Prov 20:10, 23 as well as many others.

So sustainability is the way forward. If a ministry lacks funding then a ministry will be limited in outreach, but if ministry is well funded then ministry can prosper. Funds aren’t the end all for ministry but rather money is strategic for achieving success. Also with money comes a great responsibility that few Africans are able to fully handle. From a western perspective, give $100,000 USD to an impoverished pastor who may not have a college education and tell him to develop a fruitful business with it and not use a single dime for his personal use but rather only for ministry.

This is our first year experimenting with micro finance and sustainable community development. We are assisting some pastors and individuals who have demonstrated themselves to being faithful. I sat down with one pastor to develop several small business plans that can be fruitful. His ministry has been devastated by several unfortunate circumstances, morale is extremely low and poverty prevents them from moving forward from their untimely losses.

Some of our partners in America raised some funds to help, just in time not a moment too early and not a moment too late. I sat the pastor down and taught him Accounting 101, Business Principles 101, Christian Business Ethics 212, and Advanced Entrepreneurial  Problem Solving 690 in a matter of a week. But I love this kind of challenge because the success of my teaching will be reflected in the success of the project. The success of the project will reflect the success of how well the leader implements the material learned.

I have great confidence in this one pastor that he will be completely successful and will be able to build his ministry in a quick time. The profit of the businesses will be used to fund the ministry for rebuilding their church, programs and outreach as well as paying some small salaries to the pastoral staff. Also, these businesses will allow unemployed, orphans and widows and opportunity to learn about business and provide them with a small salary.

As I was going through the information with this one pastor, another pastor overheard the many things I was teaching. So I began to teach him about how to operate some small businesses and showed him how much profit can be made. He was so surprised and impressed with the thoroughness and detail of the analysis I prepared. A light bulb went on. He began to inquire more and more about business principles. In less than a day I went from wearing only a “partner in ministry” hat to having been given to wear a “chief financial advisor” hat, “small business consultant” hat, “Christian business counselor” hat, and “sustainable ministry developer” hat amongst a few others.

I am happy to wear these hats because they empower Africa. Africa has suffered from a lack of foreign direct investment. Africa has suffered from unfavorable business practices by the west. Africa has suffered from corruption within their own local, provincial and national governments. 


We have preached from the pulpit time and again that if we give a fish we are not doing anything. In fact by giving unconditionally we are harming them by fostering paternalism. But, if we teach them how to fish then I will gladly take the time to teach and develop. I said that if someone wants to take the time to learn then I will gladly help them start a business if they follow the principles I teach. So far, I have yet to have anyone come forward besides a few people who are most hungry to learn.

I am fine with starting out on a small scale with few people. I told many that I will be more likely to give $100 to someone who I can teach deep Christian principles than giving a simple biscuit to someone unwilling to learn a biblical principle. After a while those who have will increase and the have-nots will want a slice of the pie. AMEN for that day! A small business enterprise will be birthed implementing Christian principles. I am all about empowering Africa. The Bible is rich with principles how to grow financially, physically, emotionally and of course spiritually. It teaches how to receive blessing and the consequences of sin. As a missionary it will be a feather in my cap to teach how to receive the blessings of God so that Africans can take hold of their own continent and abolish western paternalistic, financial and development principles forever!

Amethyst and I get very excited to see pastors passionately seek the deep mysteries (which are actually plain as day truths) of the Bible. We can’t wait to see over the next few months how the seed money sown will show the beginning shoots of long-term prosperous growth.

Please pray that the pastors don’t get overwhelmed with the accounting and business principles but rather will see the favor and blessing that comes from Godly principles. Pray that these men will establish fruitful ministries from simple Biblical principles on faith, righteousness and business. We pray that much fruit will bear so that similar projects can be implemented. If these first projects succeed then a door can be opened for future projects. 
 
 
Since I (Amethyst) have been taking university courses online while here in DRC, I have been doing much research on the issues like the refugee crisis. As a student, I have had a chance to get detailed accounts, not just conceptual knowledge of the international politics of Afrca.

I have decided to share on my projects with you. It's a PowerPoint photo essay about the refugee in DRC. For those who are interested at taking a deeper look into the situation, I think it will be incredibly beneficial. Remember this was originally a project done for academic purposes, so it may not be as exciting as some of our blog posts.You may need to download a converter in order to view the whole PowerPoint accurately.
refugee_crisis_in_the_drc.pptx
File Size: 1312 kb
File Type: pptx
Download File

 
The last week Sam Klimmek our faithful and trusted friend was here we did ministry in Mugunga 3 IDP camp. This is one of the last remaining IDP camps near Goma as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Congolese government has told thousands of IDPs to return to their home villages. Only the most desperate (handicapped, disabled, sick, widowed, elderly and their children) have been allowed to stay in this IDP camp.

Last time, Amethyst and I visited the pastors and other believers were so happy to see us.  They were simply astounded that a missionary has come to greet them. Many thought they were forgotten by society and yes even forgotten by God. Everyone’s spirits were uplifted by our presence. Upon our departure, all of the believers and especially the pastors insisted that we come back soon, but the next time with a church choir.
  
Brilliant idea! Many of you remember CEPAC Baraka (the church that wrote our official letter of invitation to the DRC) and how much they have been a blessing to us. We have enjoyed spending much time ministering with them. Philip one of our best friends and most faithful translators suggested that Baraka’s choir (which he is a part of) visit on our next visit to Mugunga. Actually, they have been planning to go do a crusade in Mugunga but otherwise lacked the opportunity.
  
We spent two days in the IDP camp; the first was to reconnect and renew our friendships and make others aware there was to be a crusade. How exciting it was for these pastors and believers to have a crusade! Having a choir visit in Congolese culture is a big deal, especially if you have not had a church to worship in for more than five years and lack even a Bible as a pastor. (These believers have come from the rural bush where the fighting is most intense. Many of them had to flee in the night without even having a chance to grab their Bible in their haste of running.)

Jesus was there. The choir sang a few songs in beautiful Swahili and then Sam and Amethyst sang a few songs in English that the choir so happened to know, namely “I’m Trading My Sorrows.” The choir musicians can play that song very well, obviously with an African twang which basically it’s Darrell Evans gone tribal, especially the baseline parts!

After some more songs from the choir we had introductions where we recognized the IDP admin leaders, church leaders and those from the surrounding community as the crusade was just outside the camp. The IDP ministry leaders were very happy to be recognized. It may have been the first time they were formally recognized before a body of believers since leaving their home villages several years ago.

Over 500 people turned out for the crusade and all eyes and ears were tuned in, listening to the message. I preached a message about enduring through hardship and God has a plan for everyone, the more one goes through, the more they are being raised up for something in the future. The righteous are never forsaken and God never forgets us though we may forget about Him. Jesus started to move on the hearts of everyone there. After the message we gave an alter call where over 70 people gave their lives to Christ (most everyone else was a believer already.) Praise God!

Also, we had an opportunity to bless the ministry leaders in Mugunga with a Bible. Normally we don’t give out Bibles even to those desperately in need but we felt right about this. It would be difficult to find a Bible amongst the IDPs. This was our opportunity to spread the Word of God in a mighty way. These pastors and leaders were so happy, they were ecstatic!  Words cannot describe this experience; it was humbling to give the Word of God to people who have been without a Bible for many years. Everyone had a new zeal for the Lord.


Please pray that these leaders would be faithful to teaching the Word and minister with power. Pray that they will be encouraged and read the Bible continually and glean from the wisdom contained within. 
 


Yesterday was a long day for me. I woke up at 5:00am to go to an early morning church service where I gave the message. The message was about not doubting and staying strong until the finish even if it might not be favorable to us as we see it. God’s ways are higher than our ways. We know He exists and we’ve all had encounters with Him. I gave the message about John the Baptist when he was imprisoned and doubted who Jesus was by saying, “Are you the one to come or should we expect another.”

After the early morning church service, I came home and got ready to go to Sake to visit the Pygmies. Sake is a 27KM trip one-way. Amethyst had to stay home so I got on the motorbike myself and continued on. Upon arriving, the orphaned children were in church service and everyone stopped singing. I heard shouts, “The visitor has arrived by moto (motorbike).”  “He is on a motorbike!” (translated from Swahili.)

All of the kids came running out of the church. They came and hugged me, each one of them and they took my hand and escorted me back into the church. Church service resumed with them singing two songs which they say as well as any children’s choir in the world.

Many of the pygmies had been waiting for two hours for my arrival and some returned home. Slowly slowly the church began to fill up with more and more people as the service went on and they found out that the visitor had come. Truthfully I had not prepared a specific message for the group but because there were so many orphans I began to tell them about having child like faith from Matt 18:2-6. My message began to evolve as more people arrived, widows! So then I went to James 1:27 about what is pleasing before God is to look out for the orphan and widow.

I began to develop the topic about orphans and widows being considered the downcast of society and they are often those most in need. Many heads nodded and murmurs of “sana” came in waves. (Sana in Swahili means very much so.) I went on to say that blessed are the poor in spirit because theirs is the kingdom of God from Matt 5:3. Those who don’t have much must rely on God more and they will seek the kingdom of God more than those with all the possessions in the world.

After the message, I opened the time up for some questions. This was kind of a new teaching where they could ask questions rather than the teacher just speaking. One of the questions that came up was how can they be blessed if nobody blesses them? How can their voice be heard if nobody listens? These are all difficult questions but I responded with this. Actions speak louder than words. You don’t need to have an advocate, you can be your own advocate. Instead of praying for money or a voice, pray for opportunities and ideas to make money and for ways to let your voice be heard by your actions.

I developed this topic further about creating small businesses where they can create income. They can sew cloths, make carpentry, wash clothes, sell food, etc. One business can help develop the other business and each small business will make income. Also, the testimony will be loud and clear that the orphans and widows are productive members of society. I encouraged them to do the best they can and avoid corruption for a testimony to others and to God. This has been a reoccurring topic about creating business instead of just begging for money.

The last question of the day surprised me. One of the orphans stood up and asked, “How can we have justice though it seems that no one will be our advocate?” What a wise and bold question!

I responded, “Thanks for your question, that is a really good question. Seek justice and righteousness through prayer and God will be advocate or raise up someone to be your advocate. But also if you pray for justice, you yourself can’t be stealing food from a street vendor or else you are praying for your own judgment when praying for justice.”

The orphans understood very well and they we all encouraged. Each of the grownups were also encouraged because they heard the word of God, especially the pygmy widows. Afterward, I had the opportunity to visit the property to see how the orphanage was run. God has great things in store for these orphans. I know they will be able to use sewing, carpentry and other types of business to make income and to be successful.

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Miriam’s village was ransacked by rebels and her husband was killed. She was captured by the militia and brought to their camp along with many other women. Every day, soldiers would line up the women and kill them one by one with a machete. When it was Miriam’s day to be killed, she was 37th in line. She began to pray out loud to God as passionately as she could.

When the soldiers noticed her and walked toward her, “Stop praying to this foreign God or we will kill you first,” they said.Miriam continued to pray, so soldiers came back to threaten her again,

“This is not a foreign God, he is my God and he is more powerful than any of your gods,” said Miriam.

One soldier immediately grabbed her and took her to their commander “We will surely kill you,” he said.

Little did the soldier know that the commander’s mother and father were Christians, so when Miriam was brought before the commander, he had compassion on her.

“If you truly know God, than prepare a message for us from the bible tomorrow, if the message does not apply to our situation. . . We will kill you,” the commander said.

So that night, Miriam prayed bitterly to God and went through the small bible she had (her only possession). And she prepared a message. When she went before the militia the next day, she read the verses about the judgment to come for those who shed blood on the innocent.  

“You have shed innocent blood to prove your cause, and God will judge you for that and you will not enter the kingdom of God,” she said.

When the commander heard her message, told her to pray with them and she was free to leave the camp to preach the Gospel.

Since then, Miriam has gone into the mountains ministering to pigmies and orphans, creating opportunities for them and trying to find clothing for them (Pigmies do not wear clothes). . .

One of our translators introduced us to Miriam last week and we spent most of the day with her. People from all over the city know who she is, they call her “Mamma Pigmy” which is the mother of pigmies and she has been granted favor from the government. As a matter of fact, three years ago she was gifted with a large piece of land just outside of Goma.

She brought us to the land and gave us a very generous proposal for it. The land is at least 1 kilometer squared in a small village about 17 km from the city of Goma. It’s at the bottom of Mount Nyiragongo, (the volcano). It possesses many specific traits Andrew and I have been praying for… When Andrew and I saw the land, something inside of our bellies leapt for joy. But we have been very careful and reserved about it. We scheduled a meeting with the headman of the village and will schedule a meeting with the governor of that area (In Africa, you really have to know the right people before even thinking of doing something like this). We saw the paperwork for the land (the land was so large it required three different documents) that were all certified and sealed by the DRC government.

We don’t know Miriam very well and it’s very tempting to just right up a few contracts and start going through the process to build on this land, but we are going to wait. We need to get to know this lady better and we need to give this relationship time. We are scheduling for her to meet the pastors we work with (and trust).  For the next week we will be going out to the mountains and ministering to with her to the pigmies. This is VERY rural ground where people don’t wear clothes and live as Africans did BEFORE the colonial period. We have several prayer requests. . .

1.       Pray for ME (Amethyst), I have been having a hard time climbing the mountains since we’ve been here… And this trip is going to be VERY hard on me. Pray that I don’t pass out (seriously).

2.       Pray that we’ll be safe. Pigmies aren’t very violent people, but they are SUPER primitive and can do just about anything. We are going to be one of the first (or maybe even the first) white missionaries they see. Pray that we don’t get mugged or anything.

3.       Pray about this land. We REALLY need God to completely shut this door if it isn’t from Him. Pray that God will be done and that we would not be hasty or anxious for anything.

4.       Pray for our relationship with this lady, Miriam. We like her, but we don’t know her well enough. Andrew and I know too much about Africa to jump into this quickly. So, we’re going to wait and give this relationship the TEST OF TIME. Pray that we have wisdom, discernment and that God will guide us and guide her.


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