Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Trip to Kolwesi

Loadin' up
A few weeks ago we had our first outing—Kolwesi, a large city about 4 hours away from Lubum where a
brother named Jonathan had his ministry base.  Frère Jonathan runs a distribution relief deal.  Local churches in Lubum and Kolwesi donate clothes and food to give to the poor in rural villages, widows, orphans, old folks, and handicapped. 

Here’s a few accounts of what happened.  The first village we went to was about 20 minutes’ drive outside the city.  African countryside on the way there.  Nothing like it.  While riding in the back of Bill’s Land Cruiser, I talked with one of Jonathan’s assistants, Patient.  Patient was the first orphan that Jonathan raised in his ministry, and now he’s finishing up his missiological studies in preparation to be a missionary towards businesspeople in China.  Yeah… young people are being trained to be missionaries here in Africa!  I am not sure how good the training is, however, since he didn’t seem to have the most realistic view of how evangelism would work in China, but there it is!


Maman Sonia giving some clothes to a woman
in the first village
The distribution.  We arrive at the village to see a tarp on the ground surrounded by neat lines of mamans, papas, and children.  Jonathan’s wife sang a few traditional songs, then Michelle, Hannah and I sang a few songs in Swahili.  Bill preached the gospel after that with Pasteur Ezechiel translating.  Oh the village had a Bible study going but no church, by the way.  Jonathan then encouraged the people to believe in Christ, and about 7 people responded to the call. 

I doubted if they actually got saved.  I don’t know why.  I don’t think it was good that I did that. 

But after that we dropped down the clothes and food and started the distribution.  The process was that they gave out tickets and spread the word to people in the village a couple weeks beforehand, then they come with their tickets to receive the donations.  Everyone seemed pretty satisfied… even though it didn’t seem like they needed clothes.  Bill did say that they dressed up from the last time he passed by the village.  Then we took a ton of pictures UGH we got so tired of taking pictures and rolled out.

Talking to an "mzee," an elder
at the old folks' home
We followed about the same procedure for the old folks’ home and handicapped distributions, except the old folks gave us plenty of African-style wisdom parable stories and we showed the handicapped people the testimony of this evangelist dude with no arms and legs.  Again, not sure of the complete need of clothes for these people, but Jonathan has plans for farms and technical schools to help these people get further out of poverty with income-producing skills. 

And then there was the final village.  It was about an hour out of Kolwesi in a smaller city called Fugurume.  This place was wow.  The countryside here was picturesque Africa.  After about a 45 minute drive through the bush, we’re welcomed into the village church with Swahili songs.  Then we and the about 60 villagers gather underneath a big tree in the middle of the village to sing songs, hear preaching, and receive donations. 

The normal distribution process went well for a while… but eventually the neat line turned into a big huddle around the piles of clothes.  I noticed a lot of activity around one pile and saw Patient throwing clothes around like it was Mardi Gras.  That triggered a mad scramble to grab whatever, and when the dust settled there were no more clothes and no more human dignity.  The same thing happened with a nearby pile of shoes.  I noticed I was standing guard around the last pile of shoes, but soon after Sonia tapped me on the shoulder and told me we were leaving.  We took a few more pictures, the villagers gave us some bananas, potatoes, and a chicken, and we left.  Needless to say by us, this distribution was poorly maintained.  I do hope and pray that the Lord would continue to move through Jonathan and that this ministry now would be guided in faithfulness and wisdom.

No matter how the trip went or whatever happens, one of the greatest things I admire about Congolese is how much their faith is integrated in their outward life.  Their speech is full of faith, vision, and assurance in the grace and power of God. 

Hannah holding Excellence
Oh… and this.  Jonathan always had a bunch of little ones running around his house whenever we came to eat his generous meals or meet with the team.  The youngest, his baby named Excellence, quickly became a part of our hearts.  The girls loved holding and playing with him during the journeys.  He always seemed happy.  But suddenly, only a few days after we got back, we were told that he got sick.

Excellence died that day.

The smallest illnesses can take the smallest lives and make the biggest mourning.  Too often Africa becomes a very cold place.

Bottom line from the whole trip is this, though.  Even though things don’t always go the best and things can always be improved, God still moves, He is still moving, and He will accomplish His purposes in Congo, those things that are more that we can ever ask or imagine according to His power that works through us. 
 



Meeting the mayor of Kolwesi
This is how the Congolese welcome guests:
Lots of food and lots of fufu.  J'aime le fufu!
The chicken and bananas the second village
gave us.  The village church pastor is on the right.






1 comment:

  1. Great report Zach. I'm glad you are seeing first hand the joys and sorrows of Africa. Your summary is right on - God is sovereign! The experiences you are enjoying are teaching you and will strengthen and solidify God's calling in your life.

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