I want to thank everyone for their prayers concerning my recent trip to Democratic Republic of Congo. It was evident that many were praying us. Many events that happened on this trip will forever be etched into my memory. I will do my best to give you a small taste of what happened.
We have been meeting with a man named Luka Omari from time to time at our church in Uvira, DRC. Bro. Omari comes from the village of Sebele, near the town of Baraka which is about seven hours away. A few years ago bro. Omari became disenchanted with the church he was in, realizing that there was some deep doctrinal problems and set off on a journey to find the truth. He eventually ended up in Mwanza, Tz, a two days journey from his house, at an independent Baptist Church pastored by our good friend, Greg Wagoner. Time was taken to thoroughly talk to him about salvation, doctrine and etc. Omari made the decision at that time that the Baptist Church was indeed the correct church. He was biblically baptized and then began a time of much prayer that God would somehow work out a way for a church to be started in his village and people to receive the correct training.
Not long after this time God in a way that only God could do, began to move and lead the Grace Bible Baptist Church to reach out into the "regions beyond", into the DR Congo. When hearing of this Bro. Wagoner contacted us with the information regarding bro. Omari. We made contact and then slowly began building a relationship with him as we studied the bible together. After a time we were quite confident that Omari was a man of integrity who greatly desires a true biblical church to be started in his village. Ten days ago, pastor Isaac Mungai and I set off on an unforgettable journey to preach and then baptized converts in this village. We did not know what to expect but as we look back at it now we know that God had every step planned.
We left Uvira at about 11:00 am and made it to the town of Baraka at 6:00 pm. We covered about 60 miles but it took us seven hours to do it. I can honestly say I have never been on roads quite like that road. We met Omari in Baraka, found a place to spend the night, had supper, a time of fellowship and went to bed. Sometime in the middle of the night Omari heard a scream from a mother that her baby had been taken. A search was made but the baby could not immediately be found. Finally as the morning light was beginning to show the baby was found on the trail leading to the lake, its stomach cut open and insides removed. If we did not realize it before it was evident to us now that we were in Satan's territory.
That morning we jumped on the back of a motorcycle and headed out to the village of Sebele where bro. Omari lives. Sebele sits right along the shore of lake Tanganyika about an hours distance from Baraka. We were met in the street by many of the people as they were eager to meet the visitors from Kenya. It ended up that we arrived a day earlier than anticipated and the people decided that they would like to take advantage of the time and asked us to preach to them. Word went out over a considerable distance that there would be a preaching service on the hillside that afternoon at 4:00. When it was time to preach there was well over 200 people standing in the hot sun listening as Pastor Isaac preached a simple plan of salvation. Later when an invitation was give 15 people responded and accepted Christ.
That evening as we were preparing for bed, one by one people started coming to see us. They all had questions concerning the bible, doctrine, salvation etc. It was not long before the little hut we were in could not hold everyone and they were standing outside the door and windows listening to us talk. Some of the questions were so outrageous that it was hard to believe they were being asked but it was obvious that they were being asked out of sincerity. As we were speaking I asked everyone if they had a bible, not one could answer yes. Not only did they not have a bible, no one in their family had a bible and most had not even had the opportunity to hold a bible. I then understood why the questions were so outrageous. It was one of the most emotionally moving moments in my life and I determined then that the next time I went to that village I would carry a chest full of bibles.
One man by the name of Fidel seemed to take the lead in asking questions. It soon came out that he was a "pastor" of one of the area churches. While talking it became evident that God was working in his heart and I began to slowly go through the plan of salvation with him. Because he was so mixed up it was necessary to start at the creation story and finally end up at the cross. What a wondrous moment when he bowed his head and accepted Christ. Fidel then said, "I have deceived my family and a lot of people, I will do my best to see that they know the truth." The next morning he stood before his "church" and resigned and told the people that from that day forward he was going to be a Baptist. He came to the preaching service with his family and that afternoon I baptized him! We stayed up until the middle of the night answering questions and teaching the bible and seeing a number of people accepting Christ. I am sure that I have never had an evening and night that was as fulfilling as that night.
On Sunday morning we had a crowd of nearly 500 people stand on the hillside as I preached to them the truth of God's Word. For most of them it was the first time to ever hear the true way of salvation. When I gave the invitation 18 people came forward to accept Christ.
We took a good amount of time speaking to those who received Christ concerning baptism. When we were sure of who had the right understanding of baptism we began an hours long walk to lake Tanganyika to baptize them. The whole way there we were singing the praises of God, I have never seen such joy as those who were about to be baptize were showing. We began to have a number of people follow us and by the time we reached the lake our crowd had grown significantly. That afternoon we baptized 17 people who had made a public profession of accepting Christ.
When we began our trip back to Uvira it was necessary to again spend the night in Baraka. That night very late we received a knock on the door by "security" people telling us we needed to pay some money. They were looking for a bribe. It happens often in Congo and it is something that we have grown to expect. However we do not pay bribes and are determined that we never will, certainly not when we are about the Lord's business. It was not taken very well that we would not give them anything. They finally left but with a stern warning that first thing in the morning we were to be in their office ready to pay or we would be sorry.
The next morning we were up early to catch a vehicle for the long journey back to Uvira. It was about 6:30 am and as the vehicle was just starting to leave, the "security" people showed up, pulled us off the vehicle and marched us to their office. We were told that we had been arrested and this began hours of "games" as they threatened us, tried to scare us, talked about the chains that they said they were going to lock us in, and finally separating us into different rooms to go at us individually. When none of this got them the money they were after they took a different approach. They asked to see our letter of invitation allowing us to preach in their zone. Now technically we have not yet been given permission to preach in the Fizi zone, which is where we were. We have only been given permission to start churches in the South Kivu zone. Since we did not have this letter they decided that we were not really preachers but spies sent to stir up politics. This started the whole process of threats and intimidation all over again. As we were beginning to think that we were going to spend a whole lot of time in those cells, abruptly the "officer" stood up and looked at me and pastor Isaac and said you can go. We did not stick around long knowing that they could just as quickly change their mind.
I have only given some of the highlights of this trip, skipping over some amazing and funny stories.
God sure has been good to us and I am having the time of my life as we serve Him taking Grace to the Regions Beyond.
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| Luka Omari and wife |
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| Sign for new church |
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| Our vehicle needed a little help up the hill |
