The urinators are back. I don’t know why but after months of not having to deal with people peeing on my house it has become an issue again. I heard it a few days ago and thought just as I had before surely it is just someone emptying a water bottle. But then the smell of fresh urine fills my nostrils and I realize the urinators have returned. I don’t know why they pick my house when there are so many other houses around. Even as I sit here now the smell of urine lingers… disgusting. The battle continues
My parents came with 2 men from the US who started Global Orphan Relief. It was a wonderful time being able to speak English for days. For the most part we had no problems and everything went smoothly. Congo is not as nice as Zambia. The guest house they stayed in which is one of the best in Likasi didn’t have running water. The men washed out of buckets didn’t have a sink or a toilet seat. When they complained about needing a toilet seat the owner said “no one in Congo has a toilet seat.” I do but I brought it from Zambia. We arrived to no electricity but thankfully at 10pm it came on which helped because we could use fans since it is so hot here. Sunday morning the electricity went out again so I got a fire going and we cooked breakfast and made coffee just a little behind schedule.
Everyone endured the difficulties with joy. Probably the biggest difficulty was the language barrier. Even the Congolese with the best English here are about half as good as the average educated Zambian. We sat in the mayor’s office and he explained to us his socialistic ideals but even though someone translated it into English no one but me had any idea what the interpreter was trying to say. He talked about how the cell phone companies in Congo make millions of dollars off of the poor Congolese so he wants the phone companies to give their profits to him so he can set up a health care system. Just one of his brilliant ideas.
We went to a church with true Congolese style traditional music and dancing. It was great. Sunday evening we went to Shituru where I am planting a church. It was incredible. More than 50 people packed into the little room. We prayed for people and saw God do some incredible things. I will include some testimonies soon. There are so many people in need there both spiritually and physically. We are trying to figure out what more we can do to help. Please pray that we have wisdom and are able to get the necessary information.
On Monday I went to Chingola, right across the border in Zambia. It was incredible to “be back in civilization”. I took a shower, washed my hands in a sink, brushed my teeth in a sink, watched CNN, ate ice cream, and spoke in English. It is hard to explain but Zambia just makes me happy. I spent so many formative years in that country so I truly get it. I loved talking to my taxi driver about life, love, politics, religion, agriculture, economics, and everything else. I loved being able to use kwacha (their currency) and being able to fit money in my pocket instead of needing stacks of money.
On Tuesday I came back to Congo. I caught public transportation just right and actually got decent seats and didn’t have to wait too long. There was no water for the last 2 days my parents were here so I was out of water. I saw the water was on at our communal tap and started to fill my containers but then saw the water was coffee brown. Thankfully the next day we had clear water though. I started washing my clothes and just as I finished the clothes line broke and so I had to rewash everything. The normal trials of life in Congo.
25 September 2009
15 September 2009
God Is up to Something Good!
It has been incredible. Before my Northern Katanga adventure I did a crazy 2 weeks of 8 sermons in 9 days. I was really praying God would give me revelation and he did. First off I’ve been teaching on intercession to a group who feel called to pray more. It has been so incredible. Every time I see the people from my group they are explaining concepts to their friends and encouraging their communities to pray. A hunger for prayer has been birthed and it is growing! Not only are people praying more but we are seeing God answer more than ever before!
Pastor Kabamba decided we would do 3 days on meetings at Shituru. We arrived early and met with people to talk about their needs, problems and questions. The Holy Spirit was with us powerfully and he would immediately speak to us and give us the perfect solution from the Word of God and we encouraged so many. People we had never even seen before heard about us and came. People are hurting so much but God is so big!
The Lord told me to preach a three part message on how the devil uses fear to kill steal and destroy us. It was awesome. I surprised myself with how well it went. People’s eyes were opened and were discouragement had reigned supreme encouragement took the throne, where fear had held them captive love and faith set them free. I could tell people were changing and looked forward to seeing the results.
Here are a few of their testimonies. Gisele has been fighting TB for a while and the pain in her lungs was so intense she could barely move. She is skin and bones and told her she thought she was going to die. The first day some people practically carried her to the meeting. The second day she hobbled on her on. The third day she walked as normally as I did. I asked her about it and she told me that whenever she walks to church God takes away all of her pain! I met with her again after that and she told me the Lord has spoken to her and told her she I supposed to go around visiting with people in her community using her testimony and the Word of God to encourage those who are discouraged!
A lady named Irene has been sick for months is also skin and bones no doctor knows what is wrong with her and she also thought she would die. Her husband has been out of work and they have no money left. By Tuesday she told her she felt her strength coming back and the pain diminishing. After the service a friend went to their house and told her husband a mining company would be looking for workers the next morning. Her husband woke up early to pray and then went to apply for the job. There were maybe 100 or more people there all looking for work. He recognized some of them as having been his previous bosses and knew they had more experience than he did. But he refused to be afraid or discouraged. The company only selected 10 people and he was one of them! His old boss was passed up for him, what a miracle! They are not keeping silent about how God has blessed them and through their testimony we are already seeing more people understanding that God loves them and is provider.
Another man named David has been out of work for over 6 months. He got word the day after the final meeting that someone wants to hire him! God is putting it all together. We even started the process of getting land for our church because of building is once again getting too small! Every time we go there people beg us to please talk with them. They tell us they have given up hope and are afraid but decided to give it one more try by asking us for help. A lady named Maria has been demon possessed for years with a demon that causes her to feel snakes crawling through her body and she scratches so much trying to make them stop she is covered head to toe in scabs. She is so afraid she can’t even sleep at night. Her family has disowned her saying she is a curse. We were able to tell her the truth of God’s word and she is changing. She slept soundly.
God is moving and I’m so excited to be apart of it. My parents and 2 men form the US are coming on Friday. Please pray for safe travel and a great trip here.
Pastor Kabamba decided we would do 3 days on meetings at Shituru. We arrived early and met with people to talk about their needs, problems and questions. The Holy Spirit was with us powerfully and he would immediately speak to us and give us the perfect solution from the Word of God and we encouraged so many. People we had never even seen before heard about us and came. People are hurting so much but God is so big!
The Lord told me to preach a three part message on how the devil uses fear to kill steal and destroy us. It was awesome. I surprised myself with how well it went. People’s eyes were opened and were discouragement had reigned supreme encouragement took the throne, where fear had held them captive love and faith set them free. I could tell people were changing and looked forward to seeing the results.
Here are a few of their testimonies. Gisele has been fighting TB for a while and the pain in her lungs was so intense she could barely move. She is skin and bones and told her she thought she was going to die. The first day some people practically carried her to the meeting. The second day she hobbled on her on. The third day she walked as normally as I did. I asked her about it and she told me that whenever she walks to church God takes away all of her pain! I met with her again after that and she told me the Lord has spoken to her and told her she I supposed to go around visiting with people in her community using her testimony and the Word of God to encourage those who are discouraged!
A lady named Irene has been sick for months is also skin and bones no doctor knows what is wrong with her and she also thought she would die. Her husband has been out of work and they have no money left. By Tuesday she told her she felt her strength coming back and the pain diminishing. After the service a friend went to their house and told her husband a mining company would be looking for workers the next morning. Her husband woke up early to pray and then went to apply for the job. There were maybe 100 or more people there all looking for work. He recognized some of them as having been his previous bosses and knew they had more experience than he did. But he refused to be afraid or discouraged. The company only selected 10 people and he was one of them! His old boss was passed up for him, what a miracle! They are not keeping silent about how God has blessed them and through their testimony we are already seeing more people understanding that God loves them and is provider.
Another man named David has been out of work for over 6 months. He got word the day after the final meeting that someone wants to hire him! God is putting it all together. We even started the process of getting land for our church because of building is once again getting too small! Every time we go there people beg us to please talk with them. They tell us they have given up hope and are afraid but decided to give it one more try by asking us for help. A lady named Maria has been demon possessed for years with a demon that causes her to feel snakes crawling through her body and she scratches so much trying to make them stop she is covered head to toe in scabs. She is so afraid she can’t even sleep at night. Her family has disowned her saying she is a curse. We were able to tell her the truth of God’s word and she is changing. She slept soundly.
God is moving and I’m so excited to be apart of it. My parents and 2 men form the US are coming on Friday. Please pray for safe travel and a great trip here.
12 September 2009
The Craziest Trip of My Life
We actually went to Molongo which is right on Lac Kabamba and at least 500 kilometers away but one man claimed it was 630. Our odometer was broken so we don’t know.
We left around 4:30 in the morning. Only half an hour late what an accomplishment. I was shocked to see that my interpreter had chosen not to come at the last minute. I also had been told we would take a different vehicle. This car had no seat belts none of the gauges worked and it looked in less than great shape. I decided to just trust the church and go. They told me the road had been fixed and we would make it in 12 hours.
The road went from bad to worse and then right when you were certain there was no chance the road could get any worse it got worse. Every bad thing you can imagine for a road and vehicle took place. Sand, rocks, mud, water, mountains, caved in sections, poor bridges, break downs, car running hot, broken shocks, broken transmit ion, leaking fuel tank, seriously everything you could imagine all packed into this one trip with an extra helping of poor driving. We reached one sunk in place full of water. I saw vehicle stopped just after and inquired about it. They said “inakufwa” It is dead. No doubt it has been a gas engine and the water had killed it and they had to wait for it to dry out before they could use it again. I asked the 2 important questions “Does the truck have 4 wheel drive and is it a diesel engine?” To both they replied “Apana” no. I was ready to turn back but the driver was already gunning it. He got stuck but thankfully the water didn’t kill our truck and after cutting some branches and plenty of pushing we made it out.
It took us 33 hours to make it there. We were completely exhausted, sore, and dehydrated when we arrived only to parade around for an hour while the church showed off their visitors dancing and singing around us one of their traditions to honor guests but considering the circumstances it was pretty miserable. I was sore and couldn’t feel my backside at all. I was so thirsty but the only water to drink was river water cloudy and disgusting but I drank tons of it. Mulongo is on Lac Kabamba so it was crazy hot and humid all the time. It was nearly impossible to sleep because the house was 95 degrees at night. I went to sleep and woke up drenched in sweat.
The next day was better. I preached but my interpreter backed out at the last minute from coming so it was tricky. The singing was the best part. The Baluba cut down huge trees maybe 3 feet wide and 6 feet long then hollow it out with a line down the middle the long way and two holes. They make them with all different sizes and sounds and use them as drums. They have a unique and wonderful sound. They also use the normal Congo instrument of clanging metal together and using plastic funnels to sing into and hit with sticks to make more noise. The people were so excited to have visitors. After the service we ate leaves and maize meal as usual took a rest and then went back to church. In the afternoon from 3 until 7 we talked about questions and problems in the churches and defined some of the basic doctrinal problems like what the differences are between our church and the Jehovah’s Witnesses. The people loved it and thanked us so much for coming and helping them.
The next morning we were off at 3:30. With 2 goats the church had given us. I would never have taken the goats because there already wasn’t a lot of space but they also peed and pooped everywhere. It was disgusting. We had more break downs than on the way there and I really started to pray we would make it back. At 9pm the truck flipped over. Five people were sitting in the back of the truck and there were no seat belts inside the cab either. Someone could have easily died or at least been injured but there was barely a scratch on any of us. The roof rack on the truck really saved us to. It prevented us from flipping upside down. Even the goats survived and all of our fuel. I began to think we would be there for days but we were able to flip the car back over and miraculously kept going.
We stopped at Kubo to help a church there facing a lot of difficulties. After a few hours we were off. With only 60 kilometers left it got dark again. This time on a road with traffic so each time a car passed us the dust was so bad we had to stop because we couldn’t see at all. It took us 3 hours to do those last 60 kilometer. God was with us. We saw a car stopped because it had hit a man that the bus wasn’t able to see in the dust. God protected us. We finally arrived 42 hours later at 9:30. We prayed and then went to our homes. I arrived at 10:30 at my house and by the time I washed the dirt caked on me and made something to eat and got into bed it was midnight. I am exhausted and still a little sore but I guess I have something to write home about.
We left around 4:30 in the morning. Only half an hour late what an accomplishment. I was shocked to see that my interpreter had chosen not to come at the last minute. I also had been told we would take a different vehicle. This car had no seat belts none of the gauges worked and it looked in less than great shape. I decided to just trust the church and go. They told me the road had been fixed and we would make it in 12 hours.
The road went from bad to worse and then right when you were certain there was no chance the road could get any worse it got worse. Every bad thing you can imagine for a road and vehicle took place. Sand, rocks, mud, water, mountains, caved in sections, poor bridges, break downs, car running hot, broken shocks, broken transmit ion, leaking fuel tank, seriously everything you could imagine all packed into this one trip with an extra helping of poor driving. We reached one sunk in place full of water. I saw vehicle stopped just after and inquired about it. They said “inakufwa” It is dead. No doubt it has been a gas engine and the water had killed it and they had to wait for it to dry out before they could use it again. I asked the 2 important questions “Does the truck have 4 wheel drive and is it a diesel engine?” To both they replied “Apana” no. I was ready to turn back but the driver was already gunning it. He got stuck but thankfully the water didn’t kill our truck and after cutting some branches and plenty of pushing we made it out.
It took us 33 hours to make it there. We were completely exhausted, sore, and dehydrated when we arrived only to parade around for an hour while the church showed off their visitors dancing and singing around us one of their traditions to honor guests but considering the circumstances it was pretty miserable. I was sore and couldn’t feel my backside at all. I was so thirsty but the only water to drink was river water cloudy and disgusting but I drank tons of it. Mulongo is on Lac Kabamba so it was crazy hot and humid all the time. It was nearly impossible to sleep because the house was 95 degrees at night. I went to sleep and woke up drenched in sweat.
The next day was better. I preached but my interpreter backed out at the last minute from coming so it was tricky. The singing was the best part. The Baluba cut down huge trees maybe 3 feet wide and 6 feet long then hollow it out with a line down the middle the long way and two holes. They make them with all different sizes and sounds and use them as drums. They have a unique and wonderful sound. They also use the normal Congo instrument of clanging metal together and using plastic funnels to sing into and hit with sticks to make more noise. The people were so excited to have visitors. After the service we ate leaves and maize meal as usual took a rest and then went back to church. In the afternoon from 3 until 7 we talked about questions and problems in the churches and defined some of the basic doctrinal problems like what the differences are between our church and the Jehovah’s Witnesses. The people loved it and thanked us so much for coming and helping them.
The next morning we were off at 3:30. With 2 goats the church had given us. I would never have taken the goats because there already wasn’t a lot of space but they also peed and pooped everywhere. It was disgusting. We had more break downs than on the way there and I really started to pray we would make it back. At 9pm the truck flipped over. Five people were sitting in the back of the truck and there were no seat belts inside the cab either. Someone could have easily died or at least been injured but there was barely a scratch on any of us. The roof rack on the truck really saved us to. It prevented us from flipping upside down. Even the goats survived and all of our fuel. I began to think we would be there for days but we were able to flip the car back over and miraculously kept going.
We stopped at Kubo to help a church there facing a lot of difficulties. After a few hours we were off. With only 60 kilometers left it got dark again. This time on a road with traffic so each time a car passed us the dust was so bad we had to stop because we couldn’t see at all. It took us 3 hours to do those last 60 kilometer. God was with us. We saw a car stopped because it had hit a man that the bus wasn’t able to see in the dust. God protected us. We finally arrived 42 hours later at 9:30. We prayed and then went to our homes. I arrived at 10:30 at my house and by the time I washed the dirt caked on me and made something to eat and got into bed it was midnight. I am exhausted and still a little sore but I guess I have something to write home about.
04 September 2009
Going North
I live in Congo, but I live extremely close to the Zambian border. Not by road but by air. All the places I’ve gone have been along the border. The people are extremely different to have lived in such close proximity but that is the result of colonization I guess. I have always understood that this would be the perfect first place to live in Congo for me because of its close proximity, friends, similar tribes, and most of all peace. But the thing is I live in this huge country the size of the US from the Mississippi river east, but I have barely seen any of it. There are very few roads in Congo most are impassable and beyond what the UN just helped them with, none are paved. It makes traveling difficult and expensive.
I was talking to some church leaders about how I wanted to travel. They told me they had planned a trip for September but it was falling through. They have a vehicle they can use and I’m guessing we’re sleeping in the church and will be fed by the people so the only problem was gas money. I agreed to provide the gas money and all of a sudden we are going to Northern Katanga and I don’t think any of us have ever been there before.
Apparently we will travel about 400 kilometers north to Malemba-nkulu. Supposedly they have fixed the road but I’m sure it’s horrible no matter what they tried to do. We will leave at sun rise (6AM it’s nice to be back in a country where the sun rises and sets at 6 America really confused me) and drive until we get there. The estimates for arrival times have ranged from 6PM to 11PM so we will see what happens.
North Katanga is in the same province I live in, but Katanga is the largest province in Congo and even tried to secede at the time of independence from Belgium but after 2 years gave in. According to the law Katanga is supposed to be broken up into smaller provinces in 2009 but no one seems to expect that to happen or maybe it already has but nobody knows about it (classic Congolese situation). Where I live is the traditional home to the Basanga people but North Katanga is the home to the Baluba people. The Baluba is the largest tribe in Katanga province and in fact it is out of the Baluba that the Basanga came and the Babemba in both Congo and Zambia and probably even the Batonga whom I grew up with.
According to what I have read the Baluba people were not treated well throughout Congo history. I believe the conflict has existed for quite some time even before colonization. The Belgians didn’t prefer the Baluba and treated them poorly. All of this animosity helped fuel the civil war in the 1960’s following independence. Like most wars in Congo it had nothing to do with the Baluba but because they were angry about how they had been treated they were used to provide angry soldiers with vengeance on their minds even though the people they fought with were just as at fault for hurting them as the ones they fought against.
Congo isn’t very tribal any more. Lots of Baluba live here in Likasi and they harbor no hostility. In fact I bet I know more about the conflicts than most of the young Baluba do. History doesn’t seem very important here that’s probably why it keeps repeating itself. I’ve been told that although most people where we are going speak Kiluba they also speak Swahili and tend to use it more often. This is very good news for me.
So this should be quite the adventure. Me with like 8 other Congolese men crammed into an SUV for only God knows how long on terrible roads going to a place we’ve never been. We shouldn’t have to worry about getting lost there is only one road. I’ll be eating plenty of leaves and hearing oowing and aawing and getting touched by all the children and a few curious adults who have never seen a white person before. Hopefully I’ll have some good stories for you guys. Pray we make it.
I was talking to some church leaders about how I wanted to travel. They told me they had planned a trip for September but it was falling through. They have a vehicle they can use and I’m guessing we’re sleeping in the church and will be fed by the people so the only problem was gas money. I agreed to provide the gas money and all of a sudden we are going to Northern Katanga and I don’t think any of us have ever been there before.
Apparently we will travel about 400 kilometers north to Malemba-nkulu. Supposedly they have fixed the road but I’m sure it’s horrible no matter what they tried to do. We will leave at sun rise (6AM it’s nice to be back in a country where the sun rises and sets at 6 America really confused me) and drive until we get there. The estimates for arrival times have ranged from 6PM to 11PM so we will see what happens.
North Katanga is in the same province I live in, but Katanga is the largest province in Congo and even tried to secede at the time of independence from Belgium but after 2 years gave in. According to the law Katanga is supposed to be broken up into smaller provinces in 2009 but no one seems to expect that to happen or maybe it already has but nobody knows about it (classic Congolese situation). Where I live is the traditional home to the Basanga people but North Katanga is the home to the Baluba people. The Baluba is the largest tribe in Katanga province and in fact it is out of the Baluba that the Basanga came and the Babemba in both Congo and Zambia and probably even the Batonga whom I grew up with.
According to what I have read the Baluba people were not treated well throughout Congo history. I believe the conflict has existed for quite some time even before colonization. The Belgians didn’t prefer the Baluba and treated them poorly. All of this animosity helped fuel the civil war in the 1960’s following independence. Like most wars in Congo it had nothing to do with the Baluba but because they were angry about how they had been treated they were used to provide angry soldiers with vengeance on their minds even though the people they fought with were just as at fault for hurting them as the ones they fought against.
Congo isn’t very tribal any more. Lots of Baluba live here in Likasi and they harbor no hostility. In fact I bet I know more about the conflicts than most of the young Baluba do. History doesn’t seem very important here that’s probably why it keeps repeating itself. I’ve been told that although most people where we are going speak Kiluba they also speak Swahili and tend to use it more often. This is very good news for me.
So this should be quite the adventure. Me with like 8 other Congolese men crammed into an SUV for only God knows how long on terrible roads going to a place we’ve never been. We shouldn’t have to worry about getting lost there is only one road. I’ll be eating plenty of leaves and hearing oowing and aawing and getting touched by all the children and a few curious adults who have never seen a white person before. Hopefully I’ll have some good stories for you guys. Pray we make it.
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