I apologize for the lack of updates as of late. Internet access has been more difficult to get to than I had originally thought, but nonetheless we are doing great. This will be the biggest update yet, so I hope you have some time to sit and read.
Last you heard we hadn't yet left for Bas Congo, that trip went very well. The area is largely a rural setting about 3 hours (120km) outside of Kinshasa. Kinshasa is a city of 10 million people and has an unemployment rate of aproximately 75%. A large number of people have fled there because of the wars that continue in the eastern part of the country. The one thing that stands out to me is that the people have the joy of the Lord that I don't see very often in the West. There is always a smile on their face and the conversation is rarely far from a good laugh among friends.
The area we visited in Bas Congo is becomming a major project for the Navigators of Kinshasa. They have brought together a team of people that are commited to four major areas of development of a rural community. The group is called "Action for Development"
1. Education
2. Farming
3. Pharmicuticals
4. Gospel
The picture above is of one of the farming areas in the Bas Congo with some of the local villagers working the fields. After they finished their days work we sat down with them for a meeting and the gospel was shared in their native tongue Kekongo by Navigator Vicky who grew up in that same area. Also in this area Unicef built a school for the local children, but currently there is no funding for them to attend. It only costs $15 per child, per year to attend school, but as of right now there is no money. So the school is locked up and the children do not attend. There is two school buildings, 10 class rooms in total. In each room there could be up to as many as 100 kids. This school if opened would service a wide area of families, as kids would travel long distances to attend.
Near the school there was a refugee camp which had aproximately 600 people living there that had fled the war in Brazzaville. At it's maximum capacity there would have been 3000 people there, many died while fleeing on foot due to starvation.
The vision that the Navigators have for this area is truly remarkable, and it was great to be involved in some of the early stages of their plans. As time progresses I believe this is going to be a major area of growth in all areas for this community. I would ask that you add this to your list of prayer items. That funding and growth would continue for the team and their vision.
Both Stephen and I have been involved in various teaching times through out the trip in many different places including a University Small group which I had the priviledge to lead. As Stephen has said in the past in the Congo you have to be prepared to preach, pray or die at any moment, and this was a moment of preaching for myself. I worked through a translater by the name of Jean-Claude, who I got to know very well. Personally my French has been coming back more and more everyday and has helped me in communicating with the people here and in helping Stephen get his message through. This was a key time for me as I was able to take part in the discipleship making that is going on here and felt a real priviledge in speaking to them.
Stephen has been doing a majority of the teaching times as you can see in this picture. This was one of the early meetings with the group in charge of developping the area in Bas Congo. This was where they shared their vision of what they would like to see happen in that area of the DRC. Vessey seeds has graciously donated over $2000 worth of seeds to this area. This donation will be a boost to their farming efforts in this area.
In this picture from left to right you have Vicky, Stephen, Francois, Mama, and myself. This was just outside of the village, and about a 2 minute walk from the farming area above. Mama is the mother of Vicky. They live in what is called the Kumbi village and are members of the Ndibu tribe.
We crossed the Congo river a motorized canoe Sunday morning and entered Brazzaville. We have joined with the Navigators country leader Jacque Bulabula. We had a great time of teaching and ministering in his home Sunday night with some of the local labourers. Since then we have flown to Pointe Noire where we are at the moment. Today we are going to visit local farms here to get an idea of how things are done in the coastal city. The city of Pointe Noire is aproximately 600,000 people, a large portion of the people that live here fled Brazzaville during the last war.
Another point of ministry has been the distribution of USB sticks with the program e-sword (A program that has 10+ Bible translations and 20+ commentaries and dictionaries) on it. This has allowed us to install the Bible and many other resources on at the moment 5 computers of key leaders. This has been a great tool, and Stephen has been lamenting the fact that he didn't have this tool earlier himself. We have used many times since arriving in our study of Acts. Pray that the people will continue to share and distribute this great program. A big thank you goes out to Bill MacPherson who prepared the sticks for us. We will be taking the two remaining sticks with us to Turkey.
This upcomming Saturday we will be having a meeting with the Navigator team leader from Ivory Coast, which will be key in continued developping relationships with other African leaders within the Navigators.
On Sunday night we fly out of Kinshasa and head for Turkey. A big point of prayer is a connection we have to make in Brussels. We have 55 minutes to get our baggage, go through customs, check back in, go through security and board our flight. The only way this will happen in that short of time frame will be a miracle from God. Our travel so far has gone extremely smoothly and I know it is because of the continued prayer from all our friends and family. Thank you so much.
I hope to have another update for you all later in the week. Stephen and I miss you all very much and look forward to speaking to you when we return.
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NOTE: The images might not work properly at the moment. We'll try our best to get them added.
Labels: Africa
