August 9, 2009, Sunday
Last night when I went to bed the loud talking from the men at the bar next to our tents kept me awake. They continued for a couple of hours. Then when they were finally getting quiet the dogs started howling. There are two female, one male and about 10 pups and all howled like coyotes! They were close to our tents! Some men started yelling at the dogs and laughing.
I don’t know why the dogs barked but they settled down after a while. I finally went to sleep.
Then about 3:30 a.m. a thunder storm came. I am thankful we are in tents with all of our things and not on the boat during the storm. It seemed like it stormed about an hour. As the storm diminished, I went back to sleep. Before sunrise the people were talking again, especially the drunks, along with the crowing roosters next to the tents. I’ll be so glad to get a good night sleep in a real bed!
I’m journaling in my tent and there are no children outside chattering, only adults talking in the village. Now it is starting to rain a little again.
We had chappati, tea and some trail mix for breakfast and then started talking down the tents. The little rain hadn’t lasted long and the sky was clearing. The ground was muddy and the tents were still wet but we will set them up and clean them in Namongongo Village on Sigulu Island later today. The acting pastor never returned neither did the real pastor. There wasn’t any church service happening under the trees as the team carried things down to the boat. Pius bought a small pig from Michael and I watched him and some children chasing the pig. They finally caught it and put it into the boat. Pius also took two of the puppies. On Sigulu Island where the team lives there are lots of monkeys. They eat the people’s crops but barking dogs keep the monkeys away. Pius will use the dogs to guard his crops of matooke, tomatoes and maize.
Michael came to talk to me as I sat with the baby while the team was carrying things to the boat. I asked him if he wanted to be saved and stop drinking alcohol. At first he just laughed and walked a little ways off but then he came back. I asked him again. He said yes so I told him I would pray for him after the boat was loaded.
We gave the Books of Hope to the LC man and asked him to give one to each family. They people were excited to get some magazines about God and Jesus. Then Patrick and I accompanied Michael to his bar which had several people inside, already drinking/drunk. I preached salvation and freedom from being a slave to alcohol. Michael prayed the prayer of salvation in front of these people! Glory! The Lord impressed me to anoint him for God’s service as a pastor of this new church because God already had him preaching to the people last night and this morning! I anointed him with oil and told him that in the Bible God would send a prophet to anoint a priest or a king for his service and that God told me to anoint him as pastor of this new church. As I prayed for Michael and gave him words from God, his eyes filled with tears and his countenance changed! He is a new creation. The old man is gone. He is a new creation in Christ! Hallelujah! I prayed for the bar to be the new church and for Michael as the new pastor. Several people inside then said they wanted to be saved too, so I invited them outside. Two men and three ladies got saved! One of the men asked me to pray for him so he would stop drinking, which I did. Glory to God! The man is set free. He was so happy. He was praising God with his hands up and joy on his face! Michael came to the shore with us and Patrick got the two Bibles that we would have given to the other pastor and I wrote the name of the new church inside, Simwe Church, and gave them to Pastor Michael. I told him to start teaching the people with the book of John, so we marked that place and Pastor Michael said he would. He said he needs us to come back and check on him. He needs discipling and encouragement.
As we pulled away from the shore, I was overcome with joy! A very small island with one small very poor village now has a church, a pastor, Bibles, the Book of Hope and the people have seen the Jesus film. Glory to God! What an awesome Sunday morning. I was singing praised to God for the 1.5 hour boat ride back to Sigulu Island.
These past two weeks have been very difficult, but so rewarding. Thank you, Jesus, for allowing us to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the people.
At Namogongo Village, Pius, Patrick and Mary washed the tents, cots, dishes and plastic boxes while Grace took care of the baby and cooked lunch. I helped with the baby and greeted children and adults. Since I’ve been in this village many times, lots of people come by to say hello to me. I visited with Silas, the teenage boy who helped us last time. I gave him a team t-shirt and some pictures. He was very proud and happy. I visited with Ruth, Patrick’s first wife and also gave her a t-shirt. She has to stay at home with the children and run the store while Patrick is with the team. I’m sure it’s difficult for her since Grace is the second wife and she has Patrick’s new baby girl. I brought all three ladies: Grace, Ruth and Mary, small bottles of shampoo from the US. They were happy to get it and I know Ruth appreciated me including her.
We had lunch of posho, spaghetti and eggplant. I was able to take a shower with the wash basin in a vacant room and I felt like a new person to be clean again. I had hoped to take a nap but the baby was sleeping on the single bed in the room with several large sacks of corn and most of our things, so there was no room on the bed or the floor for a nap. At least there is an outhouse close to the area where the room is and where we were eating. Grace smoked the fish we bought on Simwe Island for Susan.
We showed the Jesus film outside of the Baptist Church where Pastor John is still pasturing. About 250 people came to see it in Swahili. I enjoyed the brilliant starlight with lightening in the distance as I worshiped and prayed. The Lord, gave me another shooting star, a little kiss from My Lord and Savior. I’ve shown the film in this village about 6 times now and people still want to see it again. After the film we had supper of rice and chicken. Patrick got us a chicken for supper which was a welcome change from fish. Grace and the baby slept on the floor in the small room while I slept on the bed. I went to sleep quickly since it was dark, quiet and comfortable. Thank you, Lord for an awesome day!
