Repost from August 10, 2015
The first area we worked in was the Apollo area close to the Triechville Baptist Church. It would take 20 to 30 minutes to walk there from the church and about 5 to 10 minutes to get there by car. We worked in this area Monday and Tuesday and over 160 people heard the story. About 50% of this area is Muslim so to share the story of Creation to Christ with over 160 people is incredible and believe it or not about 30 to 35 people accepted Christ as their personal savior. We have a small group in this area that meets every Sunday night at 6 pm. One of our interpreters and workers in our office in the mission leads this small group every week. We are praying that they will eventually have enough people to support it as a small church.
The second area we worked in is called "Attecoube 3." This area is also about 50% Muslim and about 40% catholic. We have already started a church in this area, however it has met with difficulty. We had a lady that let us use her courtyard for the church and she also let us install a tent so that the Sun and the rain would not bother us. However, due to so strange circumstances she asked us to leave and the church which had about 60 to 70 members did not have any place to go. The church tried to meet in a local members house, but only about 10 people were coming to the church. We have been dealing with where the church could meet for several months now and the church dwindling down to almost nothing has really pained my heart.
When we arrived in this area Wednesday morning I was informed that there was an area the local government was thinking about letting us use as a place to worship. It was just a field with grass growing in it. Part of the field belonged to a member of the church but the government would not let him build on it because they were thinking about using it to build a road in that area. After we arrived we gathered at this members house. God impressed upon me that we needed to change our program for this area. God impressed upon me that we should prayer walk from the members house all the way through the market area of this quartier or subdivision and then all the way to the area the government was thinking about letting the church use for this church plant. I explained the plan to everyone and we started out on our prayer walk. As we were prayer walking people started coming up to us in droves asking us what we were doing. We started sharing the story with those that came up to us. Muslims, Catholics and those that practice African Tribal Religion were coming up and hearing the story. This is really not normal. Normally we have to go ask them if we could tell them the story. But this time they came out and asked us to tell the story.
When we finally arrived at the area we wanted to use to worship God laid it on my heart that we should continue to prayer march but we should prayer march around the area. We were to march around the area 7 times as Joshua did when he went up and battled Jericho. We marched around this area 7 times. On the 5th time around I started singing in French even though I didn't know all the words to the songs. However as I started singing it was weird as God just gave me the words as I was singing. The other people who were walking with us picked up on the singing and joined me in praising God for the final two laps around the area. After we walked around seven times we formed a circle and kept on singing and praising God. You could just feel the power of God on that place. After we finished singing I explained to those who were with us, about 25 people, that the church is not a building, it is the people of God singing and praising God together.
It had become late in the afternoon and we still had not eaten lunch so we decided to march out in prayer. As we started walking out droves of people came and were asking us why we were praying and what we were praying about. I turned around and noticed that Bamba (one of our interpreters and also one of my Urban Team Members), Wanda (A member of Valley Baptist Church) and Jan (another member of Valley Baptist Church) had about 25 people surrounding them asking them what was happening. Wanda and Bamba started telling them the story of Creation to Christ. They spent the next 30 to 45 minutes with this large group of people. I do not have the total numbers, but somewhere around 5 to 10 people accepted Christ right there. We finally got to eat and then we went out for a few hours just after lunch.
After lunch Bamba and I were together with out teams in another area of Attecoube 3. There was a young lady that accepted Christ and told us we needed to pray for her dad. He was Muslim and someone had put a curse on him and he had not been able to walk for 5 months. He had visited all the doctors he could visit. He had spent over $1000 US dollars on doctors. He had visited the local Imam and the local Charlatan/Tribal Medicine Man yet no one could help him and he could not go back to work. I told Bamba we had to visit this man and his family. We went to his home and he was laying on his couch. His wife met us outside and asked us to talk with her first. She was a former Catholic that had turned to Islam because of her husband. We shared the story with her and her family. Both of her daughters accepted Christ right there. She said she had accepted Christ before, but she prayed again to receive Christ because she could not give us her testimony of how she accepted Christ.
We then asked her to ask her husband if we could pray for him. He agreed to let us in to his house even though he was Muslim. I told him the story of the woman in the Bible who had done the same thing he had done. She had been bleeding for 12 years. She had visited all the doctors and all the local medicine men but they couldn't help her. She saw Jesus coming and she reached out and touch the hem of Jesus cloak and she was healed. I told him if he would put his faith in Christ that the same could be done for him. He did not want to do that at this time. I asked if we could pray for him and he agreed. Paul, a member of Valley baptist Church, prayed in English and then I prayed for him in French and then Bamba prayed for him. Nothing happened immediately. I was not disappointed because I know God is faithful and he has his own timing for working miracles in peoples lives. For that day we witnessed to almost 100 people. We have never witnessed to that many people in one day before. Needless to say we were all exhausted when we got home.
I really want to sleep well Wednesday night. However, God kept waking me up about every 2 hours and the Muslim man we had prayed for (Sidibe Daouda is his name). Daouda if Jula for David. I woke up at midnight, 2, 4 and 6 o'clock on the dot and prayed for this man. We went back to Attecoube 3 Thursday and I told Bamba I wanted to go visit this man and his family again. When we arrived at his house he was outside of his house walking with a wood cane. He said he was not entirely healed but he was a lot better than before. He did not stay with us long as he wanted to walk around. That gave us the opportunity to talk with his wife. She really wanted to follow Christ but because her husband was Muslim it was very difficult for her. She had a lot of questions for us and we spent all afternoon with her answering her questions and praying with her. Bamba even told her how her family resembled his family and that he felt like he was a part of their family. In the two days in Attecoube 3 over 170 people heard the Good News.
Sunday came and we all wanted to worship in Attecoube 3 under the tent. Paul preached and for the first time I decided that I would translate for him. Below are a the pictures of our worship service Sunday and a few more incredible short stories.
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| This is the tent we rented for Sunday. It costs about $25 dollars every week to rent a tent like this to have church. |
Mike.
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