Today the team went to Gbalin (Bay-leen) today – about 45 min north of our headquarters in Glazoue. The road to Gbalin was an off-road adventure. The rainy season ended here at the end of August and the road was severely washed apparently much worse then the team experienced in April. Our four-wheel drive vehicle was moving slow and creeping up and down gullies made by the rains and over washboard places that rattled us and shook the car so much we thought pieces might fall off.
We reached Gbalin and began the day with prayer with the local church members. We met in the home they are using as a church – it is a mud hut with a metal roof about 8X10 in size. We had at least 20 people inside! Afterward the team visited King Tofa - King of the Mahi People. King Tofa welcomed us and said we were welcome to bring peace to his village. We gave the king a statue of a bald eagle holding an American flag as a gift and he was very happy to receive it. We had to take special care to explain to him that it was only a symbol of America and not an idol to be worshiped. Voodoo is very prevalent here and there are many idols worshiped by the Mahi.
After visiting with the king the team visited with a husband and wife of the local church who lost their 17-year-old daughter this week. The funeral was today. We prayed with them and encouraged them.
The team next met with the local church members and others and had a time of training. We taught the Demoniac story and shared with them how they can use the story to evangelize in the village. Afterward the divided into groups again and walked through the village sharing on the street and in homes and shops along the way.
God was working again here in Gbalin. Six people prayed to receive Christ here today! The local members were very excited and committed to follow up and disciple these new believers. One woman was a member of the Celeste church – a “christian” church that is actually a combination of some Christian teachings with voodoo and other religions. The team explained to her that the Bible is God’s Word and she understood and committed to attend the local Baptist church.
We ended the day playing soccer with about 45 kids in the schoolyard. Our “soccer” fields were rutted, full of rocks, had a four-foot high pile of gravel as one sideline and a gully for the other with a small telephone pole in the middle. The kids loved it! We played “shirts” and “skins” for the teams and one boy, about seven years old took off his shirt and that was all he was wearing! He played an hour of soccer in a totally “skin” uniform. Squeaky said this was a first for him in all his years of coaching youth soccer!
Tomorrow we have a planning meeting with all the pastors in the region. We will be putting together a strategy to help them evangelize and reach the lost people in their communities.
As a sign of outrsach and international relations Kathy has moved into another phase of ministry opening the Gbalin, Benin division of Kinney Realty and already has her first listing.
On another note we have started keeping track of the vehicles we have seen stopped on the side of the road with either mechanical problems or flat tires as well as accidents – as of this afternoon 112 broken-down and 42 accidents! The driving adventure continues…
My goodness, you guys have been very busy! We are praying for you here and are so encouraged to hear about the many people praying to receive Christ. We also pray for your safety and are so grateful to hear that our prayers are being heard as you are not one of the 42 accidents! Unbelieveable! We will certainly continue to pray for your safety, health and stamina! Tell Kathy that next we want to see Charlotte in Benin! She should have taken her along!
ReplyDeleteWe love you guys and are praying...