BANG'WISE GOOD NEWS MINISTRIES

September 2009

To Bang'wise Australia Committee and all our supporters

Greetings from Tanzania

We came back from Congo earlier than expected as our vehicle needed servicing and repairs before starting our annual evangelistic outreach into the villages of Sukumaland.

Alembe, the man from the Congo refugee camp at Kigoma, who invited us to go to Congo didn't show up, and to this day I have not been able to contact him anywhere! He went ahead of us to the Congo then sent me a letter saying he was there and that things had all been organized and were ready. We traveled from Tanzania through Burundi to the border with Congo only to find there was no one prepared by Alembe to meet us. At the Congo/Burundi border we met a man who said he is a pastor in one of the local churches in that area, i.e. Uvira and he directed us to a fellow pastor.

Soon we discovered God had prepared the most unexpected surprise for us! This second pastor was ready to allow us to sleep in his church for the night, but one young man (Amini by name) said no to the idea of us sleeping in a church. He said he knew of a family that could give us accommodation, so he took us to that family, whose owner is one of the top Majors in the Congo Army. In fact at that time he was (and still is) with the troops, hundreds of kilometres away from his home, fighting rebel troops! His house is well secured. Firstly the man is a high official soldier, no one goes to a soldier's home at random! Second, the house is fenced with a very high strong concrete wall, even our car was safe. And one of the young soldiers was ordered to watch over us and our vehicle during the night.

By the time we got to that home it was about 8:30pm. The young man went in to speak to the Major's wife about us, and she came out to greet us. She said we could stay but first she must speak (by phone) to her husband. To our surprise he wholeheartedly agreed to our staying at his house. The reason we discovered two days later; the lady told us an amazing story that three days before our arrival, her husband (a believer in Jesus) had a dream in which he had seen a car coming with preachers of God's word, who needed accommodation. It stopped in front of the gate of the wall that surrounds his house, and he was instructed to take them in. When he woke up from that sleep he rang his wife and told her about the car of preachers that will stop in front of the gate of their house, and that she should take them in. So when we came and stopped literally in front of the gate, all she did was only to say to her husband, "It seems the dream has come true; a car of preachers of God's word has come from Tanzania with eight men." Her husband encouraged her to allow us in. Inviting us she showed us a big room in which we all slept on mattresses and mats, for all the time we were in Congo. The most noticeable thing I saw about the lady is that, she actually did things herself; cooking, bringing food at the table, heating water for our bath, and going to the market to buy things we needed. This is unusual in Africa because all ladies whose husbands are financially able use their house girls for all house duties; but this one worked with her own hands!!

"How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" Romans 10.15

Government security officers in the District wanted to know what we were doing in the Congo but upon seeing we were guests at the Major's house we were allowed to continue. We really saw God at work for us. Eventually a group of pastors (more than eight) accepted us, and pledged to look after us for food and fellowship; really glory to God for that! As for preaching, we did not have many days for that work, the Sunday we were there four of their churches invited us to preach; we had one morning of a blessed time of seminar; then we had three days of outside evangelism. God in His mercy set free some people from demon possession, and some believed in Jesus. It is probably safe to say this trip was for making connections and friendship with these people, and getting to know them. Indeed we now have many friends in that part of Congo who have expressed their sincere love for us. All pastors who spent time with us are ready for us to go there again, saying next time we go, we must be ready to spend at least a month with them, preaching the good news in their villages, something we were not able to do this time.

Unfortunately our evangelism mission to Congo ended up being very costly; SUS850.00 above the budgeted amount due to unforeseen costs. I felt really crushed until we realized that God had actually been ahead of us preparing things and people to take care of us. So if God's people can see it that way and replenish that money (for we still have work in Sukumaland), then it will be for His glory. Truly God did some unbelievable things on our behalf.

The day of our departure came up as the best moment of our time there; an icing on the cake! On our way out of Uvira District, the traffic police stopped us, claiming we had too many people in the car, (actually one person too many - one pastor had volunteered to show us the way out, and to give us help while we were still in Uvira town). This we explained to the police, but they chose not to listen, wanting us to give them something, but I refused. At this, one of them took us to their District headquarters to stand before their boss. The office has two rooms for a number of officers who deal with traffic offenses; their boss occupies a separate room deeper inside by himself. The junior officer at the front agreed with our accuser, insisting that we give money in order to let us go. But I said we have no money, not even a single cent above what we needed to buy diesel for our vehicle. After trying hard to persuade me to no avail, he rose up and went to his boss (the District Traffic Superintendent). Having explained about the offense we were being accused of, I was ushered in to face that man. As soon as I got in, he extended his hand to greet me in Swahili (the others had trouble with Swahili - they used French). Having greeted me he went on to say, "Our country needs people who can pray, are you alone?" I said I had friends outside, so he ordered his juniors to bring in all members of the Team. As soon as they were in, he said, "Pray for me," then he did something none of us had expected or imagined; he rose from his chair and came forward in front of his desk, then knelt down asking us to pray for him! Most of us had tears in our eyes as we prayed for this man. After prayer he proceeded to tell us, "God sent you here because He knows I need people to pray for me." Then he gave us his address and said, "Go in peace, and please come again another time!"

Can I finish by saying that as things unfolded before our eyes step by step we started to see afresh what is meant by,

"Be still, and know that I am God,

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth." (Ps 46:10)

And what St Paul says,

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." (Rom 8:28)

God bless Masanja Ngweso

"How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" Romans 10.15