Things have been going truly well around here. It seems like we went a long time without having regular prayer meetings. There is a problem right now with rain. If it is raining people don’t come and church gets canceled. Also our pastor was super busy and things just kept conflicting. We finally started again last week and there was only me the Pastor and one other lady, Phani. So pastor Kabamba started asking us why we thought people weren’t coming. I said probably the most important thing that we can do is keep coming pray for laborers and share the testimonies of how much God is answering our prayers. I had a sermon prepared but changed it at the last minute (usually a really bad idea when you’re preaching in a foreign language you don’t know very well). The Holy Spirit was awesome and it went great.
So the next prayer meeting people randomly came out of the woodwork. We didn’t remind them or invite them but they just came. The pastor started laughing and Phani asked him why he said “Where did they come from?” God is so able to answer prayers! So we are really trying to rally the troops right now to be in prayer. We know God has a lot in store for us in 2010.
We were also praying for a woman named Alice. She has had a rough couple of years. A bunch of their money was stolen and her husband lost his job and everyone was sick. It just seemed like hard time after hard time for their family. Her husband hadn’t gone to church in 4 years. He was just discouraged about the whole thing. I remember sitting in their house about a year ago and telling the story of Joseph. I encouraged them to keep trusting in God and not allow themselves to fall into the temptations of stealing and cheating to get ahead as so many do here. I told them God hadn’t forgotten them and he promises to work things together for good. Now less than a year later her husband is employed again and making more money than before. The whole family is doing well. We went to see their new much larger house last week. Alice’s husband, Banza, was there and told us he believed all the good things that had come into their lives were blessings from God. He said he was flabbergasted by it all. He isn’t well educated and didn’t think he would ever achieve the salary he now has. He knows its God’s love and favor on their lives and said he was determined to start going to church again. After 4 years of not entering a church he showed up on Sunday with the biggest smile. He stood up with the visitors and said he had been absent for 4 years but he was turning his life around and fully committing himself to the church so we should expect to see him every Sunday. My heart rejoiced, especially for his wife. What a victory for her and an example of the fact that God does answer prayers.
Things are moving here. God just shows up and reveals Himself to those who are seeking Him. I would appreciate your prayers. Many people are sick this time of year. Also the harvest is about to come in but in the mean time people are running out of food and the price of food in at an all time high because of supply and demand. People are facing many trials but I’m confident as we pray God will supply all of our needs according to His riches and glory.
09 March 2010
02 March 2010
Justice
It has been an interesting couple of weeks here. I’ve actually been sick which doesn’t happen to me very often. I think I caught a parasite from drinking some bad water and it has manifested in all kinds of stomach issues. It’s been pretty inconvenient but I’ve found ways to continue ministering. Of course God is always faithful He gives me the ability to do all the things I’m called to do.
My recent illness is hardly why I am writing today. Something far more tragic occurred to a member of my church. A police officer who was 36 years old and a husband and father of 2 was brutally beaten to death in the Shituru section of Likasi. Gecca Mines, the government owned mining company here in Katanga province mining mostly copper, uses police or military for their security at the mines and the factories. Kalombo had been working security for a while at the Shituru factory where the copper is processed. One night a group of men came to steal from the factory and when Kalombo refused to allow them to steal they beat him until he died and left him there to be found the next morning.
It is a demonstration of how morally bankrupt people are here in Congo. Of course not all people are so heartless but there just seem to be far too many people who lack a moral conscience. Greed seems to be the driving motivator. Perhaps the hardest part for me is Kalombo is one of the few Congolese people who would actually stand for righteousness and justice. Most individuals in his position would have gladly been in on the thievery. He keeps his mouth shut and helps you break into the factor in exchange for a few hundred dollars. The difficulty is he won’t be given any respect for what he did and the lesson most people will learn from his death is doing the right thing kills so you might as well be corrupt and line your pockets.
The justice system in Congo is swift. They caught people they believe murdered Kalombo and those men will be executed. The government can’t afford to run prison facilities. They exist but hundreds and thousands die regularly because of lack of food and unsanitary living conditions. A prison sentence is usually a death sentence just in a much more painful manner. Another issue is the justice system is obviously corrupt like all of Congo. What if these aren’t even the right people? There is no drawn out trial with a jury of your peers or the possibility of establishing reasonable doubt as a means to protect the innocent. I’m not even sure if there is a trial at all. Where is the example or even existence of justice here?
Church on Wedneasday and Thursday was canceled. People here are very communal so instead of meeting at the church all members were encouraged to visit the homes of family members of Kalombo to encourage them or distract them or just be there as a form of comfort. The Bible instructs us to rejoice with those who are rejoicing and mourn with those who are mourning. Some times going over to Kalombo’s sister’s house and distracting the whole family with a game of dodgeball where we laugh together and afterward pray together for God’s strength and peace looks way more like the church. There are certain things Congolese people do really well and community is one of them.
My recent illness is hardly why I am writing today. Something far more tragic occurred to a member of my church. A police officer who was 36 years old and a husband and father of 2 was brutally beaten to death in the Shituru section of Likasi. Gecca Mines, the government owned mining company here in Katanga province mining mostly copper, uses police or military for their security at the mines and the factories. Kalombo had been working security for a while at the Shituru factory where the copper is processed. One night a group of men came to steal from the factory and when Kalombo refused to allow them to steal they beat him until he died and left him there to be found the next morning.
It is a demonstration of how morally bankrupt people are here in Congo. Of course not all people are so heartless but there just seem to be far too many people who lack a moral conscience. Greed seems to be the driving motivator. Perhaps the hardest part for me is Kalombo is one of the few Congolese people who would actually stand for righteousness and justice. Most individuals in his position would have gladly been in on the thievery. He keeps his mouth shut and helps you break into the factor in exchange for a few hundred dollars. The difficulty is he won’t be given any respect for what he did and the lesson most people will learn from his death is doing the right thing kills so you might as well be corrupt and line your pockets.
The justice system in Congo is swift. They caught people they believe murdered Kalombo and those men will be executed. The government can’t afford to run prison facilities. They exist but hundreds and thousands die regularly because of lack of food and unsanitary living conditions. A prison sentence is usually a death sentence just in a much more painful manner. Another issue is the justice system is obviously corrupt like all of Congo. What if these aren’t even the right people? There is no drawn out trial with a jury of your peers or the possibility of establishing reasonable doubt as a means to protect the innocent. I’m not even sure if there is a trial at all. Where is the example or even existence of justice here?
Church on Wedneasday and Thursday was canceled. People here are very communal so instead of meeting at the church all members were encouraged to visit the homes of family members of Kalombo to encourage them or distract them or just be there as a form of comfort. The Bible instructs us to rejoice with those who are rejoicing and mourn with those who are mourning. Some times going over to Kalombo’s sister’s house and distracting the whole family with a game of dodgeball where we laugh together and afterward pray together for God’s strength and peace looks way more like the church. There are certain things Congolese people do really well and community is one of them.
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