Hope 4 Congo

March 2016 Report for Congo Leadership Support Network

12809600_10153843128619473_7049182184678160524_n — Baking Bread for Hungry Souls

Charles Buller arrived in Congo earlier this month. He and Congolese leaders hoped to print 150 copies for the seminars. Two printers ran non-stop for hours along with other machinery to get the job done. Unfortunately they were only able to make 75 books before they ran out of toner.

Afterward he and two others took the bus from Kinshasa to Kikwit (9 hour ride). The bus was packed as evidenced in the photo. The ride went well except for the time when the bus driver with a cell phone to this ear, headed straight into oncoming traffic so he could get onto the other side of the boulevard. Size does matter when it comes to driving in Congo.

Mputu and Charles along with 75+ passengers

They tried sleeping overnight in the bus along with most of the other passengers, but temperatures inside soared to well over 100 degrees. They had a short night.

Charles has been able to communicate via short phone calls almost daily with family. The first seminar went very well. They appreciate everyone’s prayers. More people showed up than expected. Traditionally, mostly men attend church leadership events, but this time their spouses also attended. Having many pastoral couples attend is a breakthrough for Congo. Leonard did all of the translating. Together, he and Charles sensed the Holy Spirit leading the flow of the seminar.

Please pray for the requests on their Prayer Calendar
The Kikwit Seminar is from March 21 – 24 (Monday – Thursday evening)
March 24 – For deep hunger to engage the peer coaching process as they prepare to take the principles and practices of coaching home
March 25 – For good closure to the seminar and adequate time for the team to debrief this second seminar
March 26 – For safe travel as several team members head back by bus to Kinshasa
March 27 – Preach @ Mbanza Lemba
March 28 – March 29 – Wrap up administrative details and expectations for coaching team
March 30 – Travel back to the U.S.
March 31 – Arrive home

In addition, please pray for Charles’ health. He’s been suffering from a very bad bout of gastro-intestinal distress, which often comes with traveling.

* * *

We’ll return to the testimonies of our Congolese youth after translations are completed. Meanwhile, we need to make a correction to Naomie’s Testimony (the previous post dated Thursday, March 17, 2016).

Naomie’s name was translated incorrectly. Her name is: Naomie Tite Kangu Kangu.
Corrections have been made to that post as of this writing.

Naomie’s Testimony

Naomie Tite Kangu Kangu is another one of the youth Hope4Congo has been supporting. She was born at the Kalonda (an old missionary station), Tshikapa on December 2, 1994. Today we share her testimony:

“I began to serve God when I was very young under the supervision of Dr. David. I was a chorister in the choir. His wife, Bebesh was our director. I am a born again Christian. I continue to serve my God in worship and praise.

“My family situation is the sad page in my life; I do not know my biological father. My parents divorced while I was still in my mother’s womb. My father took my older brother and I, of course, stayed with my mother. So I have a brother and a biological father I do not know.

“I finished my primary education at the Ndjoko Punda primary school and started school at the secondary institute of Ndjoko Punda. From there I went to Kinshasa to finish my education.

“I thank my God that he put Dr. David alongside me. Through his guidance and support I was able to complete my primary and secondary studies. As I came to embrace the university studies, I had great financial difficulties. Dr. David was trying to support me financially, but the money did not make it because of the crisis in Angola.

“My goal is to complete my university studies in computer management in order to help our community. My studies are in translating literature, especially in translating English into the various African dialects and vice versa. I had to stop my spoken English classes on the second level. I still have one level to finish.

“I am so grateful for the enormous service you men (Stan and Brad) have provided to us and the other youth you plan to support. May God continue to protect you.”

* * *
Your continued support of Hope4Congo allows us to help these youth financially so that this next generation will receive the necessary training to carry forward the work of God’s kingdom. Please help us multiply the ministry.

Ways you can help:
1. Please click here to follow us and fill in your email address in the appropriate box on the right side of the page that opens. By doing this small thing you will regularly receive our blog posts in your inbox. The more followers we have the better our ratings. Ratings are important in this world of the internet. Boosted ratings ensure that more people will see this blog and have the opportunity to hear about this ministry.

2. Support us financially through AIMM. Click here for directions.

3. Pray regularly for these young people. Who knows what God longs to do through their lives?
Your prayers could have a dynamic role in their current training and future ministry.

4. Pray also for Dr. David and his wife. It is through their faithful commitment and heart for the youth
that we have received discernment regarding which youth to support.

Daniel’s Testimony

The past two weeks you heard from Brad about Hope4Congo’s goal to multiply the ministry through the discipling and training of Congolese youth. Today we’ll introduce you to the first of these young people we’ve been supporting. His photo is below followed by his testimony.
My name is Daniel Ngalamulume. I was born at Ndjoko Punda, the historic first Mennonite mission in Congo where I spent my childhood. I completed my primary and secondary studies there. My father was a deacon in the local Mennonite church. I was orphaned when both my parents died. My life became very difficult as I was practically rejected by my paternal family.

I was a chorister in an independent evangelical choir, but I still was not converted. I led a life of debauchery, drugs, and delinquency.

Thankfully, Dr. David Ishingu Matala arrived to be the doctor and director of the General Hospital at Ndjoko Punda. At that time the local Mennonite church there was failing.

Dr. David initiated an evangelical movement through Youth for Christ of our Mennonite church in North Kasai near Ndjoko Punda station. Through his teaching, guidance, preaching, and leadership, I decided to give my life to the Lord Jesus Christ and I was baptized at the Mennonite church. I made the decision to serve my God for my whole life.

After my conversion Dr. David recruited me to be a leader of the youth group he had established. I was responsible for evangelism within the youth ministry. During my time of leadership the doctor helped me see I had a gift and call to pastoral service.

My activities at Ndjoko Punda included two Bible camps and many evangelization campaigns among the youth. These different projects were supported by our coach (Dr. David) and by the Graber brothers.

After four years of service to the Lord as a youth, Dr. David decided to take me with him to Kinshasa to look for ways and means for me to pursue university studies. We were confronted with various difficulties: financial and logistical. None of this was easy to overcome. Spiritual warfare was especially strong against Dr. David. This also made it very difficult for me, but the doctor stood by me. He continued to help me and the difficulties were finally cleared away for me to attend university.

I give thanks to my God for touching the hearts of our Christian brothers, Stan Graber and Brad Graber. The Graber Missionary family once lived at Ndjoko Punda station. Their sons, Stan and Brad, in agreement with our coach, Dr. David came alongside to help and support me in my studies. They benefited me and other youth morally, spiritually, and financially.

The Graber brothers supported many projects for the whole Mennonite Church in general by providing Bibles and Song Books. They supported the Ndjoko Punda station in particular through the water project, and by providing the hospital with much-needed new equipment and supplies.

My desire is to finish strong my final year of university. There is much to memorize this year and it is difficult for me. I would appreciate prayers for my memory skills.

When I graduate my prayer is that God, Stan, Brad, and Dr. David will be present.

After university I wish to get married before entering my professional life. This would be the best way to minister and would be more acceptable in the community.

My primary goal for my professional life is to work with youth through evangelism and coaching. All of my training: through Youth for Christ, through university theological studies, and through the missionary team led by Charles Buller has prepared me for this moment.

Thank you for your prayers and support.

A Spiritual Tsunami: The Redirection of a Life, Part 2

by Brad Graber

God has chosen, since the beginning of time, to work through people committed to him. Jesus gave the great commission saying, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, Go and make disciples of all nations…and be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” What a commission, what power, what a promise, what a guarantee of success on investment of things eternal.

It was during the time of Hudson Taylor, D.L. Moody and C.T. Studd that mission work began to take place in Africa by many individuals and different missions from various parts of Europe, England and America. AIMM was one of those mission agencies.

With every missionary effort there are untold stories of individuals who have persevered in their faith and been used mightily by God. Individuals whose redirection of their life through the power of the Holy Spirit had a magnitude of impact that could not have been predicted.

Many of the AIMM stories recorded in the book entitled “The Jesus Tribe”, serve to illustrate this far reaching impact. (Grace Stories from Congo’s Mennonites 1912 – 2012). A compilation of stories that cover a 100 year period. The titles often are descriptive of the individual’s strong faith. They include:
• A Mennonite evangelist tied to a corpse
• I just did what Jesus said
• Please send us that lady with the book
• He sold corn at ten cents a bushel to raise boat fare
• An open Bible at rebel headquarters; From houseboy to great leader
• A good and faithful steward; A great pastor who turned the other cheek.

God will use any life willing to seek him out and join Him in His work. The lives of Mathieu Kazadi and Maurice Stahly, two brief examples taken from the “Jesus Tribe”, attest to this truth and reveal that God uses a variety of events, resources and people.

Mathieu Kazadi was a man whose life spanned a large portion of the first 100 years of work in Congo. He arrived at Ndjoko Punda, the first mission station, in 1912. Mathieu was only a few years old. This little boy would become the founder of the Evangelical Mennonite Church of Congo. This body of believers came into being during the tumultuous years surrounding Congo’s independence when the believing body was split by tribal warfare and a mass exodus to a new regional location. A long and painful journey as refugees to the South Kasai. He also became one of the early teacher-evangelists. Mathieu was known for the way he proclaimed the gospel everywhere he went: in airplanes, hospitals, restaurants and in church gatherings. His main preoccupation throughout his life remained the preaching of the Good News of salvation. He was fair, generous, hospitable, a defender of the rights of others and adept at linking deeds to the Word of God. Mathieu Kazadi came face to face with his Saviour in 1994.

Maurice Stahly was a child of a farming couple, Ali and Anna Stahly, in central Illinois. Maurice witnessed the commitment of his parents to God when they sold 1,000 bushels of corn during the depression in order to provide a young missionary couple the $100 needed for their boat fare from New York City to Matadi, the seaport of Congo. Missionary work in distant Africa was extremely important to his parents. Memories of that ten-cent-a bushel corn stayed with Maurice throughout his life. Maurice later commented: “We felt God saying to us, ‘some I send out. Others I call to stay at home and support the work of the kingdom.”’

Maurice started a trucking business with a fleet of trucks and his business flourished. “I started out by saying, ‘God, I want to use you in my business.’ But I found out God says, ‘It’s my business and I want to use you.’” Over the remainder of his life he continued to be involved in God’s work in Congo through his faithful support. He maintained a lifelong relationship with Congo Inland Mission/ Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission. He served as a board member from 1956 – 1975. He passed away in 2012.

Partner with us!!!

Jesus said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added onto you.” What better way to seek his kingdom than to invest in the lives of people who, led by God through the power of the Holy Spirit, will become the C.T. Studds, D.L. Moodys and Hudson Taylors of current and future generations.

Hope for Congo will continue, with your prayers and support, to invest in the lives of God’s people in Congo. Over the next several weeks we would like to provide you with some stories of individuals God has placed in our path to support by way of education. Young people with integrity, a heart for God and ability to serve others with the gifts God has given to them.

Spiritual Tsunami: The Redirection of a Life, Part 1

by Brad Graber

A tsunami generally consists of a series of waves, creating a “displacement (redirection) of a substantial volume of water, of which the magnitude and volume cannot always be predicted.”

The greatest tsunami of all time was when God raised Jesus from the dead. Triumphant over sin, death and the grave, the book of Acts is a witness to the power of the “Great Commission” and the additional waves that followed resulting in a world turned upside down.

God continues to “redirect lives” creating tsunamis within each successive generation. We often think of the ripple effect that takes place when we throw a pebble in the water. I like to think of the ripple effect being that of man’s efforts while the tsunami effect is that of God.

Hudson Taylor, Missionary to China and founder of the China Inland Mission, was born into a God fearing family and is the product of a praying sister and mother. Thus was the humble beginnings of a great tsunami.
Hudson Taylor was the first to penetrate all of China with the Gospel believing that “faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it”. I Thessalonians 5:24 The redirection of a life through the power of the Holy Spirit whose magnitude of impact could not have been predicted.

D.L. Moody was brought to Christ by an unknown Sunday school teacher. Dwight L. Moody was used by God to lead thousands of people, in England and United States, to Christ. He was founder of Moody Church and Moody Bible Institute both of which continue to this day. The redirection of a life through the power of the Holy Spirit whose magnitude of impact could not have been predicted.

C.T. Studd, missionary to China, India, Africa and founder of what later would become known as Worldwide Evangelization for Christ Mission or WEC International. The redirection of a life through the power of the Holy Spirit whose magnitude of impact could not have been predicted.

C.T. Studd was brought to Christ under the ministry of D.L. Moody and C.T. Studd went to China under the leadership of Hudson Taylor. All three lives intersected to create one of the largest spiritual tsunamis of all time as it relates to missions and lives changed for eternity. These individuals are but a few examples of thousands God has used down through history to accomplish His will and to build His Church.

Part of our work through Hope for Congo is assisting the younger generation of Congolese with their educational development and pursuits. Our goal is to assist a wide range of students with interests in pastoral studies, medical profession, technical skills, education and business. An investment in the redirection of a life through the power of the Holy Spirit is an investment whose magnitude of impact is yet to be seen.

Follow our blog as we share some stories of the lives God has directed us to and pray that God will use them to help build His Church. Please fill out the information requested so that you’ll receive our updates regularly in your inbox.

Bamboo Bicycles, Part 3

Today we finish our series on the Congo Transport to Market Bicycle Project. As noted previously Chuck Regier and Craig Calfee traveled to Congo in July 2015. The excerpts taken from their report have been edited for clarity on our website.

Below their report we’ve included a series of photos to illustrate part of the production process. All are labeled.

Next Steps:
1. Work on a more comprehensive business plan. Under consideration are options for a larger production facility in Kinshasa, a number of smaller local producers, and a combination of these.
2. Improve the supply chain for both locally available and imported parts. Ease of communication for key contacts is critical. A smart phone was purchased for UPDAP allowing better and more frequent communication.
3. A return trip to Khoma by Chuck and Craig is needed within six months.
4. Shipping another set of parts to the Congo soon is important to maintain project momentum and meet the greater project goals.
5. Engineering and sourcing an improved shifter design.

Your Support is Essential
Although the goal of the Congo Transport to Market Bicycle Project is to create a profitable self-sustaining enterprise, it still relies on contributions as the concept is tested and refined. To reduce overhead and keep the project nimble and simple they have not created a new organization, but are working with existing ones already involved in Congo: Hope International Development Agency and African Inter-Mennonite Mission.

For more information about the project including how to donate, click on this link to their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/CongoTransportBikeProject

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