Many of you probably don’t know that I (Amethyst) am taking two university courses online from the DR Congo. This hasn’t been an easy task. If it weren’t for my husband’s help and support, I don’t know that I could do well. He’s always made it a priority to get me to a reliable internet café when I need and has sacrificed having me by his side to let me stay home and study. I’m proud to say that this week is my last week of the webcourses and my final exams are on Thursday and Friday. So far, I have maintained steady A’s in almost everything I’ve done. Please pray that I will get nothing lower than a 90% (A-) on exams this week.

As I have mentioned in former updates, the church we partner with for orphans ministry has been burnt to the ground. The fire started because a woman left her children at home to look for work. She was member of the church and her husband had left her. After the children finished cooking, they left the charcoal from the fire burning. When the wind blew, fire spread, the children immediately ran to the church for help. There was one prayer warrior praying in the church overnight when they came. They cried to him, saying that a fire started. By then, there was nothing he could do to stop it. They grabbed what they could from the church and ran away…

 We visited Pastor Euclide and his family a day after the fire for consolation. He brought us to the ruins of the church and there was nothing left standing, except for a wall of rocks the orphans began to build right after the fire.

“Pastor, will we be meeting today?” the orphans asked.

“We have nowhere to meet,” Pastor Euclide replied.

The orphans began picking up all stones around the area to try and rebuild. . .  They didn’t care if they had a building or not. They wanted to meet for the Word of God and prayers.

After talking it over with Pastor and the church staff we have decided to do our first sustainability project in Congo and we are starting with that church. We created an immediate assistance budget of what they would need to build a simple structure with a tarp roof that can hold at 100 people which would be a little over $300. . . The cost to rebuild a proper building would be over $1,000 which is more than any of us have.  Our vision clearly states that it’s up to the local population to finance their own church buildings, but our goal is to create ways for them to be self-sustaining. So we are helping this church to create a small business.

We sat down to do some numbers to see which business would have the best rate of return and the most sustainable given little means. After some discussion it was decided that selling basic cooking necessities for most meals would have a quick turnover but yet also high profitability. Our plan goes like this, we have told them to inquire how much it costs to buy 20kgs of rice, maize, beans, flour; 5kgs of sugar and 20l of cooking oil. Then we asked several church members to go from street vendor to street vendor to inquire about how much a small amount might be such as .50kgs of rice, .25l of oil, etc. After completing the sampling and comparing the lowest and highest vendor prices, an average price can be determined.

Then this average price will be used to determine how much profit they should make off of each item. For example in just discussing we determined that beans could potentially produce a net profit of $8.00 and oil would produce $10.00 but a precise amount couldn’t be determined without going to the streets. So right now the ladies are going throughout the city to find the best prices for the initial purchase of items and then the best price they could resell for.

Monday or Tuesday we will be able to develop a more solidified business plan. But just in talking we estimated that they could net $60 a week from selling all of the items. This means every week they can sustainably make $60 a week to fund the ministry. Not only that, this employs some of the orphans and widows from the church who can make a little money. Considering the average person lives on a dollar a day, this is a pretty good alternative and they have a vested interest: the sustainability of the church and to slowly build on to the church.

We’ll let you know more details but as it stands the whole churches is getting pretty energized and are anxious to see how the church can develop a sustainable business to help fund the ministry. This is obviously going to be a bit of an investment for us, but some of our supporters took the initiative to ask us what they can do to help… Thanks to that initiative this church will be on the road to a sustainable income and employment of their widows and orphans. .  .

If anyone else would like to help contact [email protected] :)

Words can’t describe everything that happened tonight: spiritually, physically, and emotionally. Tonight was a night where the true inner self of people was shown. In times of panic and chaos, people react—they become another person… They fight, fly or they shut down entirely. Tonight I’ve seen all three of these happen. For a few hours, I understood what it was like to be a Congolese, living the life they’ve lived their entire lives . . .

Andrew and I spent much time in the presence of the Lord is the morning, asking for his guidance, asking Him to show us his glory, asking him to do what he may with us but especially asking him to bind us together in one accord. The whole day didn’t go as planned, everything we were supposed to do was postponed for one reason or another. But we still wanted to do SOMETHING, so we called Pastor Paul and his family (which consists of a wife a 6 children) and said “bring all the children,” we are going to make all of you dinner. Pastor brought his family, we had Phillip (our dear friend and translator) help us prepare a large meal and we began to eat, dance and have a good time.  . .

It was past 8 o’clock when suddenly, the power went out completely. This is something common in DRC (the power cutting unexpectedly) but what we heard afterward was something I’ll never forget. We heard the sound of people screaming. There’s a certain kind of scream that transcends all languages, it’s the guttural scream that God gave us to communicate one word with the rest of humanity: danger. When we opened the windows and saw, immediately smoke filled our eyes and we saw flames building from the other side of our compound.

We stay in a large (4 floors high) compound which is holds about 100+ people who are mostly MONUC staff (MONUC stands for the military operations of the United Nations in the Congo). Both INSIDE and surrounding the entire compound are petrol (gasoline) stations. As soon as we saw the fire, the pastor gathered all the children and began to run downstairs to the van. Andrew and I immediately grabbed flashlights and started grabbing our most precious belongings. Within, 3 minutes we were also running out of our compound with Phillip. DURING THAT VERY SAME TIME, Phillip received a text message from the CEPAC Barackas Church prayer meeting (Phillip was missing a prayer meeting to spend time with us). The text message said they saw a vision of Phillip and us fleeing toward the border with extreme chaos surrounding us and that they were praying for us.

When we got out of our apartment, we saw chaos. UN staff (a lot of them were foreigners like Indians, Uruguayans and Europeans) Running out of their homes in their sleeping wear grabbing everything they could in there hands. Furthermore, there was a mass panic in the compound because no one was able to get the keys to the UN cars. People were screaming, I saw some European girls (maybe a few years older than me) standing and sobbing in terror.  One man who was able to get the keys to the UN vehicles began to try  distributing, as Andrew struggled to get our motorbike (which happened to be blocked in by other motorbikes), I watched this grown man trembling so terribly he couldn’t even hold the keys trying to distribute keys that he had gotten the vehicles.

We got our things and got out of the compound with the motorbike, but there was even more chaos outside the compound. Everyone knew that MONUC was in the compound and street children and bandits were on the prowl to rob everyone as they ran away with their belongings. It was dark and we were very much in a catch 22 situation where we could stay with a compound surrounded by gasoline or take our chances by running through the streets at night with all of our belongings (this is something EXTREMELY dangerous in this city, people die all the time from being hijacked and there is no justice system).

After Pastor took his wife and children far enough away to find refuge, he came back for us. The guys insisted I get into the van, while Andrew followed behind. It's really tough to seperate from you're only loved one in a situation like that. It was even harder when Andrew, Paul and Phillip left me and Solang (Paul's wife) alone with 6 children at hotel near the border to go back and help rescue our belongings.
 
Through a series of events, we got away… Thanks to Andrew and Pastor Paul (if it wasn’t for him being there, its likely we could have been hijacked right off of our motor bike as we attempted to flee the fire in the darkness).

Since the UN had a vested interest in the compound, the United Nations eventually brought a large fire truck to put out the fire. Had that not happened… The whole city of Goma would be in flames right now. We had SOOOO much gasoline where we were. It would have been tragic.

I don’t know why things happened the way they did, but I know God was with us. He made sure Pastor Paul was there, He told the intercessors to pray…. He was there. Our compound is full of smoke and without power, but the fire is out. We  are staying at a hotel to prevent from bandits looting us in the midst of the post-chaos.

Paul's wife, Solange said it perfectly when we talked about how God's hand is on us.

"God is binding us into a close family. He put us through this together, because that's what families do. You're problems are our problems and our problems are your problems. We are truly becoming a family. God has destined it."

Thank you for your prayers.

Words can’t describe everything that happened tonight: spiritually, physically, and emotionally. Tonight was a night where the true inner self of people was shown. In times of panic and chaos, people react—they become another person… They fight, fly or they shut down entirely. Tonight I’ve seen all three of these happen. For a few hours, I understood what it was like to be a Congolese, living the life they’ve lived their entire lives . . .

Andrew and I spent much time in the presence of the Lord is the morning, asking for his guidance, asking Him to show us his glory, asking him to do what he may with us but especially asking him to bind us together in one accord. The whole day didn’t go as planned, everything we were supposed to do was postponed for one reason or another. But we still wanted to do SOMETHING, so we called Pastor Paul and his family (which consists of a wife a 6 children) and said “bring all the children,” we are going to make all of you dinner. Pastor brought his family, we had Phillip (our dear friend and translator) help us prepare a large meal and we began to eat, dance and have a good time.  . .

It was past 8 o’clock when suddenly, the power went out completely. This is something common in DRC (the power cutting unexpectedly) but what we heard afterward was something I’ll never forget. We heard the sound of people screaming. There’s a certain kind of scream that transcends all languages, it’s the guttural scream that God gave us to communicate one word with the rest of humanity: danger. When we opened the windows and saw, immediately smoke filled our eyes and we saw flames building from the other side of our compound.

We stay in a large (4 floors high) compound which is holds about 100+ people who are mostly MONUC staff (MONUC stands for the military operations of the United Nations in the Congo). Both INSIDE and surrounding the entire compound are petrol (gasoline) stations. As soon as we saw the fire, the pastor gathered all the children and began to run downstairs to the van. Andrew and I immediately grabbed flashlights and started grabbing our most precious belongings. Within, 3 minutes we were also running out of our compound with Phillip. DURING THAT VERY SAME TIME, Phillip received a text message from the CEPAC Barackas Church prayer meeting (Phillip was missing a prayer meeting to spend time with us). The text message said they saw a vision of Phillip and us fleeing toward the border with extreme chaos surrounding us and that they were praying for us.

When we got out of our apartment, we saw chaos. UN staff (a lot of them were foreigners like Indians, Uruguayans and Europeans) Running out of their homes in their sleeping wear grabbing everything they could in there hands. Furthermore, their was a mass panic in the compound because no one was able to get the keys the UN cars. People were screaming, I saw some European girls (maybe a few years older than me) standing and sobbing in terror.  One man who was able to get the keys to the UN vehicles began to try  distributing, as Andrew struggled to get our motorbike (which happened to be block), I watched this grown man trembling so terribly he couldn’t even hold the keys.

We got our things and got out of the compound with the bike, but there was even more chaos outside the compound. Everyone knew that MONUC was in the compound and street children and bandits were on the prowl to rob everyone as they ran away with their belongings.  

Through a series of events, we got away… Thanks to Andrew and Pastor Paul (if it wasn’t for him being there, its likely we could have been hijacked right off of our motor bike as we attempted to flee the fire in the darkness).

Since the UN had a vested interest in the compound, the United nations eventually brought a large fire truck to put out the fire. Had that not happened… The whole city of Goma would be in flames right now. We had SOOOO much gasoline where we were. It would have been tragic.

I don’t know why things happened the way they did, but I know God was with us. He made sure Pastor Paul was there, he told the intercessors to pray…. He was there. Our compound is full of smoke and without power, but the fire is out. We  are staying at a hotel to prevent from bandits looting us in the midst of the post-chaos.

Thank you for your prayers.

This afternoon we found out that around 1 AM this morning, Pastor Euclide's fellowship (Partners in Harvest Church) was completely burnt to the ground. This is the church you have seen in pictures with the orphans ministry. It is also the church we do hospital visits with. This area in town has suffered much loss due to uncontrollable fires that start unexpectedly. The pastor of the church suffered the loss of his home and everything in it less than a year ago (because of fires). Now the church has been demolished. This church needs your prayers. Pray for pastor Euclide and his wife, for the fellowship and for the whole neighborhood around it. Two entire blocks were completely swallowed by the flames. . . This is the poorest neighborhood in Goma, they have nothing to build with again. Pray for these people, pray.

We will go to see Pastor Euclide tomorrow. Pray that the Lord will give us words of consolation and compassion. In my heart, I wish so badly we had a large well-funded organization that can assist this body of believers (which consists of many, many orphans). But for now, we can only give what we have and that's sincere love, compassion and wisdom from the word. Maybe one day, God will entrust us with more . . .

Sam, Amethyst and I visited the village of Nyangoma. You may remember a previous post about a trip where I went to prepare the ground with Pastor Paul. (This village is Pastor Paul’s home village.) We set out for a three day trip doing ministry in this area. From the previous trip we gathered that the church leaders would like seminars on topics addressing issues with leaders, couples, youth, women and the general congregation. They also wanted topics to be addressed such as false teachings, how to minister without having financial means, unity/universal church, eschatology/end times and a few other topics.

When I came home from the preparation trip before this visit I was thinking to myself that there are way too many topics to talk about and not enough time! Before the trip we sat down with Pastor Paul to prepare the speaking times and to finalize content for the speaking topics. We scheduled for ministry from 9:00am to 4:00pm each day. That is a lot of ministry!

The preparations necessary for a trip like this can be tiresome. We had to arrange to rent vehicle as we’re still waiting on the Lord for a capable 4WD. Well after a full morning of negotiating the day before we arranged and finalized an agreeable price. Whew! Three hours of discussing felt like a full day of work!

Well it was time to leave and Amethyst wasn’t feeling well in her back and both she and Sam were suffering from eating or drinking something. But they pressed on knowing that their small personal sufferings we worth overcoming for the sake of ministering to these people. We ended up leaving two hours late and didn’t arrive until three hours after we had planned. A quick team meeting determined we would talk on the same subjects but cut the time in half which worked out for God’s glory.

Each person ministered on their subject and then we offered time after for discussion and/or questions. Everyone greatly appreciated the time of ministry and enjoyed the time of discussion. It seemed that each message somewhat corresponded or built upon the previous subject despite having such diverse speaking topics. The amazing thing was that none of us really spent time collaborating with another.

After spending time in ministry we found out something even more amazing. Each of the topics we spoke on addressed a current issue within the church. All of this occurred without our prior knowledge. Of course we were given speaking topics but the delivery and content of each topic was God ordained and Holy Spirit directed.

On the second day of ministry some of the church leadership approached Pastor Paul and wondered if we had been talking to some of the villagers about the current village health. Pastor Paul didn’t even know the details of the current spiritual climate and it was his own village. The church leadership was so impressed with the work God was doing. When we found out all of the issues we concluded that only God could allow us to minister at such a time as this.

It was told to us that one of the main church leaders was considering joining the Branhamist Church which teaches that if one does not worship at  Branhamist Church that they are not saved, they also teach that polygamy is acceptable and that a variety of other sinful practices are okay so long as they attend the Branhamist Church. Furthermore, they deny the Trinity and maintain that only Branhamist followers will go to heaven.

This leader is very influential within the community and the church. He could potentially cause the church to split and also the village. The people were very happy to hear our messages about unity, following after God, humbleness, leading by example, considering others greater than ourselves and the many other topics discussed. God allowed us to minister words of encouragement that spoke directly to the issues. Pastor Paul was amazed at how powerful the ministry was and he suggested that we possibly saved the church and the village from spiritual decay.

We also found out that the church leader considering breaking away and joining the Branhamist Church had a wife that fell very ill. She was suffering from a sickness where she had barely any strength to walk or stand. As an opportunity to show the love of God to him, we went down the side of the mountain to his house to pray over his wife. He and his wife were very happy to have us pray. After leaving his house Sam, Amethyst and I felt that he was allowing his wife to be sick because of his decisions to not follow Christ. It wasn’t the wrath of God that was making his wife sick but because of his invitation of evil, we felt that might be why she became sick.

Together we are all believing for a rapid recovery of his wife and that his soul would be restored from his sinful ways. We are praying that God preserves the church and that the members would follow God and not a man. Our parting message was, “No matter what, God is the provider of all things not man. If they follow God’s word and seek His kingdom first, all things will be added unto them. We also left them with the teaching that God will only use those who pursue righteousness and humility.

Everyone was greatly blessed and we felt the presence of the Lord. God visits at the right time. We need to be faithful to position ourselves to hear from God. There is nothing extraordinary or amazing about our time. The only thing that really mattered was making ourselves available to minister and being faithful to follow God. Jesus did the rest. God move in a mighty way and we are blessed to be a part of what God is doing in the remote villages of the DR Congo. 

Amethyst and I have been ministering in many remote villages outside of Goma. These places have dynamic churches capable of ministering the Word of God but often times there are some elements of tradition and culture that work their way into the church, causing deep problems in the church and in society. One such issue is with marriage.

Recently, we held different training and equipping seminars in several villages. These seminars addressed issues amongst the whole body, leaders, women, intercessors, youth (anyone not married) and couples. We know that marriage is a hot topic and many issues surround it.

It is not that uncommon for a pastor to preach a fiery sermon but then come home and beat his wife. In fact some pastors constantly make their wife stay home from church to take care of the home and cook. The wife silently dies inside, so as not to disrupt "the work of God."

Well, Amethyst and I started to preach from Ephesians 5 about how in marriage the relationship between a man and a woman is to reflect the relationship between Christ and the church. I would give illustrations questioning societal issues and misconceptions about marriage.  For example, it is not uncommon for the man to be unemployed and sit around all day long. All the while, the wife is expected to take care of the kids, take care of the crops, gather food, find firewood, fetch water, take care of the kids, amongst a variety of other tasks… On top of this, if the man is hungry and the food is not served yet, he’ll get mad and kick over the boiling pot of beans. Then he may even begin to beat his wife. After all that, his wife is expected to give him sex whenever he wants.

After saying this, the women all sort of looked at each other, snickered and all together nodded with agreement. Some even said, “This is exactly what happens!” Others shouted, “Very much so!”

The men all began to blush and I asked the men, “If your best friend saw you cooking and even as a joke he kicked over the beans, you would punch them.” Then I asked the men, “If you treat your wife like this, should you expect them to love you?”

Then I gave an example of the men who are great providers and take care of their family but the wife might have lots of disrespect. I asked the women, “Do you think it is very respectful to completely harass and show contempt for your husband when he is a good provider and trying to do everything right?”

It is a new revelation for many of the men and women. We are careful to use examples that are common with both men and women so as to not paint the other gender in the wrong light. It is like a light bulb goes on and many people question themselves to see if they are treating their spouse in the right way.

Then we give a time of question and answer for both the men and women. One time a man stood up and asked, “Is it ever okay to beat your wife?” I hesitated and thought about it and said, sure you can beat your wife but don’t expect to be treated very well by your wife. If you treat your wife like a donkey don’t be upset when she behaves like one back to you. Then I went on to say in a serious voice, “Well let me ask you this… would you like to be beaten by your wife for being late making the food after a long, hard day of work?” The man looked at me and then shook his head and I think he answered his own question by my question back to him.

It was a blessed time to be able to challenge culture and to make many of the Congolese begin to see how culture must be changed. After the marriage seminar many of the Congolese were appreciative and happy to hear a new Biblical teaching. We left them with the verse in 1 Peter 3:7 that Husbands must show honor to their wives so that their prayers won’t be hindered. The Congo will experience revival when the prayers of husbands are no longer hindered. 

We have continued to visit the Heal Africa hospital with Pastor Euclide and his staff. One day we all separated into groups with other Congolese ministers. Sam went to one part of the hospital, Andrew to another, and I (Amethyst) went to the ward for the rape/gender violence victims. It was timely, because a few of the women were about to undergo surgery just before I came in.

Again, I read the Psalms to them and prayed over them. Some were in so much pain, they could hardly walk. When I began to pray for the women who came to me, the other women slowly (and painfully) began to get out of bed and come for prayer. When I noticed, I immediately told them that I would come to them, but one woman did not listen. She came and got on her knees in front of me. As I prayed over her, she clutched my skirt. . . I immediately thought about the woman with the issue of blood, how she touched part of Jesus’ clothes and she was healed by her faith.  

Andrew went to a place with AIDS patients. He prayed over them and gave them encouragement. It was very difficult for him to see some people in the last stages of their life.

Sam saw five people come to Jesus after he shared the Gospel with them.

After ministering to the women, I went to the newborn baby ward. I spoke to the mothers about how there is life and death in what they speak over their children, afterward I prayed a prayer of dedication over the babies. It was a great joy to hold the newborn babies and speak scripture over them.
 
Many things went on as we ministered at the hospital and although Sam, Andrew and I were not together, the Lord was working through all of us and our local Congolese brothers and sisters. . .

So much have been happening that it has been difficult to write it all down, so the accounts I give are sparse and sometimes out of chronological order.

One particular group of people we have been ministering to are the internally displaced people. These are people from the rural bush areas who have fled as a result of the war. As I have mentioned earlier, most IDPs have been forced to return back to their villages, but the ones who have stayed are the handicapped. These include the mentally handicapped, the blind, the lame etc . . . It also include their families which can consist anywhere from 3-12 children.  These people are in an especially difficult situation because most of them are physically unable to make the journey back to their home villages (or whatever’s left of them).

When we first went into the camp, people were suspicious. Police officers insisted they follow us around.  “What would these white people want with these IDPs,” they wondered. Immediately we spoke with the camp officials. In Africa and specifically DRC, power is achieved by ‘personal rule’ which has a lot more to do with loyalty and relationship with people in power than actual skills and knowledge. The most important thing we can do is talk to village headmen and officials before we preach the Gospel. It’s a way of showing humility and respect.  These long (and sometimes tiresome) formalities are what matter in the long run.

Afterward, we gathered all of the pastors of the camp. There weren’t many of them and a lot of them no longer had a congregation anymore. There was an extreme sense of hopelessness in the camp. Members of the churches were no longer attending and the pastors had lost everything including their bibles due to war or robbery.  As soon as we introduced ourselves to them, the pastors immediately asked for us to share a word from God with them.

“We are hungry and thirsty for the word,” they said.

Andrew and I both shared a message with them of hope and read from the book of Psalms to them. Andrew really brought the ministry to another level, when he sat down and sympathized with them and their sufferings. He constantly repeated how he knows they are suffering and that he can’t imagine how strong they must be. This is something they needed to hear. . . They needed to hear that someone knew about what they were going through. . .

We began to pray over the pastors and leaders. As we ministered the presence of God began to enter the room. Even the police officers quietly began to observe, people began to gather around. We prayed over everyone who came to us. One pastor who was paralyzed from the hips down asked for prayer. As Andrew and our translator (Phillip) began to pray, the pastor’s legs began to move, the pastor began to lift himself out of his seat and start to stand. People in the room were extremely touched, crowds were gathering all around the building. Andrew and Phillip escorted the pastor outside of the building as he prayed and cried, moving his legs for the first time in years. The ministry was powerful.

After about 2 hours of praying over people, we finished and began to make plans for the upcoming trips. The pastors asked for us to bring a choir next time we come. They also asked for bibles. We told them, we didn’t have much, but God would provide. After the meeting with the pastors, we visited their tents and met their families. We also went to other peoples tents and prayed over them and their children.

I believe God sent us to that camp just to tell the people not to give up.

“No one comes to visit us, but we know that God has truly come among us, because you came,”

Further stories about what is going in this camp are coming soon . . . Stay posted.

NOTE: This post is by our teammate, Sam.

This is my first time in Africa.  I like it.  The African cities I’ve been to so far are much different from America.  There are people EVERYWHERE.  It’s different in the U.S. because everyone travels in their cars, so you don’t actually get to see the people who are doing the traveling.  Not so in the city of Goma where we are staying; you can see people everywhere.  Motorbike is our primary mode of travel. 

Everywhere we hear “Muzungu,” which means rich white man.  As we ride on the motorbike, “Eh, muzungu!”  As we enter a store, people say to each other, “Muzungu.”  The children flock behind us as we walk through the slums shouting, “Muzungu!”  I’m not really sure whether to take this as a negative or a positive thing, but it is what it is.  It is shocking for them to see a muzungu riding a motorbike or walking through their poor neighborhood because it disrupts the stereotypical ‘white man’ image they have in their minds.  Despite this heightened attention that we attract, I already feel normal staying here.  After only two full days in Goma, it doesn’t feel like a foreign place anymore.  I attribute this to the warm welcome I have received from the local Body of Christ.  I have family in this city.

My purpose here is to help Andrew and Amethyst in whatever way they need to further God’s vision for them in the DRC.  We have a full schedule for the time that I’m here since it was so expensive to get me over to Africa.  I’ve already given the Word of God on several occasions.  Most of the time, I did not have anything prepared when I was asked to share.  I just opened my Bible and asked the Holy Spirit to guide me; after all, that’s what He’s there for.  This naturally makes me nervous because I’m most comfortable when I’ve had time to prepare, but God is pushing my comfort zone and teaching me further to rely on His strength and wisdom instead of my own.  Praise the Lord! 

Some people just need a little push to get them to step out of the boat.  I’m grateful for my time here.  I’ve realized that God has multiple purposes for me on this trip: my strengthening, Andrew and Amethyst’s strengthening, and the strengthening of the church in the DRC.  Lord Jesus, have your way in us.  Amen.