This is the phone tower after Navy tore three quarters of it down. We'll straighten this last part out and probably make a guard tower out of it.
Mark
Friday, April 07, 2006
Thursday, April 06, 2006
April in Angola
Dynabyte April 2006
This month’s newsletter finds our missionaries basking in the warm glow of Angola’s sunny climate once again without electricity. If it weren’t for laptop batteries this newsletter would be arriving there at the end of the month, instead of the beginning.
Here’s what’s been happening on this side of the world:
USS EMORY S. LAND SAILORS VISIT MISSION
This U.S. Naval vessel, a “Submarine Tender,” has been a great help to us A/G missionaries. First they helped Gary and Jan Dickinson up in the Congo with some projects there, and then they came down to Luanda and helped us here.
This is no small thing. There hasn’t been a U.S. military vessel in an Angolan port for over 33 years because of the poor relationship between the U.S. and Angola. So, during this historic visit, for the Navy to choose to make us one of their community relations outreaches, it was a major blessing!
They helped work on the Activities Court that we’re building for handicapped children
They took our bathroom in the Children’s Ministries Training Center and made it handicap accessible
They cut down the “Tower of Terror,” that monstrosity of a health hazard that we had built several years ago for our telephones (and former home of the killer bees)
And,
They tried to help us get our burnt up generator going again.
On Saturday of last week we ran a big activity for the kids and had about 45 sailors out here helping us for that. It was great – we set up a big waterslide for the kids, ran games like volleyball and hand soccer, and did crafts before enjoying a nice, big lunch. The kids absolutely loved the sailors who came out and I believe that God seriously touched the hearts of the sailors who paired up with the kids. The kids’ choir in turn sang for the sailors,
“Hurry, hurry, hurry, my brother, run to Jesus.
“Hurry, hurry, hurry, my brother, run to Jesus.
“Hurry, hurry, my brother, Jesus Christ, calls you
“Don’t waste time now, Jesus is calls you.”
And
“Move in me, Holy Spirit, move in me.
Take my mind and my heart; I put my life into Your hands,
Move in me, Holy Spirit, move in me.”
The love of Christ was demonstrated in great ways and both the sailors and the kids were impacted in such a way that they’ll remember it for the rest of their lives.
On the lighter side, something I’ll remember for the rest of my life was the Sunday morning service which followed the activity. I had to preach in a remote church in Capiri. There was a miscommunication and the pastor thought that I would be bringing a group of sailors out to visit, so they prepared, “Ginginga,” a special dish as the main course.
When they placed it on my plate, the pastor asked me, “Do you know what that is?”
I replied, “It looks like GOAT GENITALIA.”
He responded, “Yup, certainly not a food for children.”
I thought, “YEAAAHH, not a food for children or missionaries. Or any person for that matter. What a horrid sin against the entire male species!”
What do you do in a case like this?
First, Pray to God for a Word of Wisdom.
Second, look at what else is on the table and load up your plate with that stuff.
Third, eat the stuff until you’re full and can’t eat any more, and then with a great look of remorse declare, “Oh my eyes were so much bigger than my stomach! How unfortunate that I have absolutely no more room for this wonderful delicacy.”
Then, if your host seems put out in any way, ask that you might be able to take the culinary wonder home to share with your family. When you get home, give it to the dog. Is he not part of your family?
BIG FIRE AT BIBLE SCHOOL
Please be in prayer for the Assemblies of God Bible School here in Luanda. Yesterday as I was at home the Bible School Director pulled up in his car and asked if I had a fire extinguisher to put out a fire in the school. I told him that I had one in my car and I’d get it for him, and that was when I saw the huge plume of black smoke coming from the Bible School. I gave him my extinguisher and then I quickly gathered up every other extinguisher I could get my hands on from the houses and vehicles and drove up to the school. When I saw the inferno I realized that our little extinguishers weren’t going to cut it.
It was total mayhem. A few people were running back and forth with buckets, some running into rooms to retrieve personal effects, but most people were just standing, watching the student dorm rooms burn down. I saw some hoses on the ground, but nobody using them.
“Why isn’t anyone using these hoses?” I asked.
“There’s no water pressure.” The students responded. I followed the hoses to the spigots and they weren’t attached. “Of course there’s no pressure, the hoses aren’t attached. Why aren’t they attached?”
“They’re too big for the faucets.”
I grabbed a couple workers, “Go get some strips of rubber fast, and let’s attach these hoses!”
Within about 15 minutes we had the fires under control and then 10 minutes later when the fire was completely out, the fire company showed up. We saved about two thirds of the dorms, but as you can see on the pictures at our website, the damage was quite considerable.
Upon investigation, it was determined that the fire was caused by an electrical short in a room where mattresses were being stored. By the grace of God, nobody got injured or killed and we were able to put the fire out and not lose all the dorm rooms.
3. MINISTRY IN THE SPIRIT
A woman came to my office on Saturday wanting to work directly with me on the weekends in children's ministries, and the Holy Spirit opened up her life before me. I perceived that the primary reason she came to work with me wasn't to learn children's ministries, but to revive her life spiritually. Her experience had been that she had felt the manifestation of the presence of the Holy Spirit most while she was ministering to children, and was most happy during this time. As time went on she felt less and less of the manifestation of the Spirit's presence and was becoming dry. Unhappy.
Her real reason for visiting and wanting to work with us was therefore based on her desire to recapture that happiness, that joy and presence of the Holy Spirit in her life again. When I declared this to her, she broke down and confessed that it was true.
So I told her that this was not bad or anything to be ashamed of, for the Word says that we are supposed to seek first the Kingdom of God.
The Lord then showed me a mind picture of a bird in the nest that was waiting for the mother to come and give food. This was the type of relationship the woman had with God. A life of the Spirit coming and going. God however, wants us to be able to leave our spiritual infancy and abide with Him. A life that has a continued focus to practicing His presence, disciplining one’s attention towards constant prayer, attentive to His voice. Easier said then done obviously, and only accomplished through brokenness. Touch and go is good, but as we grow the spirit yearns for more, and that’s when we begin to realize how much that treasure (Matt 13:44) really costs.
4. WHAT’S NOT HAPPENING
Here’s what’s not been happening: This week we were supposed to take some motorcycles into the mountains of Gabela to share the gospel with people in remote mountain villages, however, my guide, Pastor Isaac called the night before we were supposed to leave and told me that his wife was having labor pains and that we couldn’t go.
This desire to share the gospel in these remote mountain villages has been thwarted for so long now. Each time we plan the trip, something breaks down or a physical ailment causes us to delay our plans. I’m to leave for the U.S. for furlough this summer and time is running out. Sooooo…
PLEASE PRAY FOR
God’s help to do this “MOTO-EVANGELISM”
Help for the Bible School to rebuild the student dorms
Financial Grace to get a generator for the missions compound
Guidance in setting up services for our upcoming furlough
and most important, greater yieldedness to the person of the Holy Spirit
This month’s newsletter finds our missionaries basking in the warm glow of Angola’s sunny climate once again without electricity. If it weren’t for laptop batteries this newsletter would be arriving there at the end of the month, instead of the beginning.
Here’s what’s been happening on this side of the world:
USS EMORY S. LAND SAILORS VISIT MISSION
This U.S. Naval vessel, a “Submarine Tender,” has been a great help to us A/G missionaries. First they helped Gary and Jan Dickinson up in the Congo with some projects there, and then they came down to Luanda and helped us here.
This is no small thing. There hasn’t been a U.S. military vessel in an Angolan port for over 33 years because of the poor relationship between the U.S. and Angola. So, during this historic visit, for the Navy to choose to make us one of their community relations outreaches, it was a major blessing!
They helped work on the Activities Court that we’re building for handicapped children
They took our bathroom in the Children’s Ministries Training Center and made it handicap accessible
They cut down the “Tower of Terror,” that monstrosity of a health hazard that we had built several years ago for our telephones (and former home of the killer bees)
And,
They tried to help us get our burnt up generator going again.
On Saturday of last week we ran a big activity for the kids and had about 45 sailors out here helping us for that. It was great – we set up a big waterslide for the kids, ran games like volleyball and hand soccer, and did crafts before enjoying a nice, big lunch. The kids absolutely loved the sailors who came out and I believe that God seriously touched the hearts of the sailors who paired up with the kids. The kids’ choir in turn sang for the sailors,
“Hurry, hurry, hurry, my brother, run to Jesus.
“Hurry, hurry, hurry, my brother, run to Jesus.
“Hurry, hurry, my brother, Jesus Christ, calls you
“Don’t waste time now, Jesus is calls you.”
And
“Move in me, Holy Spirit, move in me.
Take my mind and my heart; I put my life into Your hands,
Move in me, Holy Spirit, move in me.”
The love of Christ was demonstrated in great ways and both the sailors and the kids were impacted in such a way that they’ll remember it for the rest of their lives.
On the lighter side, something I’ll remember for the rest of my life was the Sunday morning service which followed the activity. I had to preach in a remote church in Capiri. There was a miscommunication and the pastor thought that I would be bringing a group of sailors out to visit, so they prepared, “Ginginga,” a special dish as the main course.
When they placed it on my plate, the pastor asked me, “Do you know what that is?”
I replied, “It looks like GOAT GENITALIA.”
He responded, “Yup, certainly not a food for children.”
I thought, “YEAAAHH, not a food for children or missionaries. Or any person for that matter. What a horrid sin against the entire male species!”
What do you do in a case like this?
First, Pray to God for a Word of Wisdom.
Second, look at what else is on the table and load up your plate with that stuff.
Third, eat the stuff until you’re full and can’t eat any more, and then with a great look of remorse declare, “Oh my eyes were so much bigger than my stomach! How unfortunate that I have absolutely no more room for this wonderful delicacy.”
Then, if your host seems put out in any way, ask that you might be able to take the culinary wonder home to share with your family. When you get home, give it to the dog. Is he not part of your family?
BIG FIRE AT BIBLE SCHOOL
Please be in prayer for the Assemblies of God Bible School here in Luanda. Yesterday as I was at home the Bible School Director pulled up in his car and asked if I had a fire extinguisher to put out a fire in the school. I told him that I had one in my car and I’d get it for him, and that was when I saw the huge plume of black smoke coming from the Bible School. I gave him my extinguisher and then I quickly gathered up every other extinguisher I could get my hands on from the houses and vehicles and drove up to the school. When I saw the inferno I realized that our little extinguishers weren’t going to cut it.
It was total mayhem. A few people were running back and forth with buckets, some running into rooms to retrieve personal effects, but most people were just standing, watching the student dorm rooms burn down. I saw some hoses on the ground, but nobody using them.
“Why isn’t anyone using these hoses?” I asked.
“There’s no water pressure.” The students responded. I followed the hoses to the spigots and they weren’t attached. “Of course there’s no pressure, the hoses aren’t attached. Why aren’t they attached?”
“They’re too big for the faucets.”
I grabbed a couple workers, “Go get some strips of rubber fast, and let’s attach these hoses!”
Within about 15 minutes we had the fires under control and then 10 minutes later when the fire was completely out, the fire company showed up. We saved about two thirds of the dorms, but as you can see on the pictures at our website, the damage was quite considerable.
Upon investigation, it was determined that the fire was caused by an electrical short in a room where mattresses were being stored. By the grace of God, nobody got injured or killed and we were able to put the fire out and not lose all the dorm rooms.
3. MINISTRY IN THE SPIRIT
A woman came to my office on Saturday wanting to work directly with me on the weekends in children's ministries, and the Holy Spirit opened up her life before me. I perceived that the primary reason she came to work with me wasn't to learn children's ministries, but to revive her life spiritually. Her experience had been that she had felt the manifestation of the presence of the Holy Spirit most while she was ministering to children, and was most happy during this time. As time went on she felt less and less of the manifestation of the Spirit's presence and was becoming dry. Unhappy.
Her real reason for visiting and wanting to work with us was therefore based on her desire to recapture that happiness, that joy and presence of the Holy Spirit in her life again. When I declared this to her, she broke down and confessed that it was true.
So I told her that this was not bad or anything to be ashamed of, for the Word says that we are supposed to seek first the Kingdom of God.
The Lord then showed me a mind picture of a bird in the nest that was waiting for the mother to come and give food. This was the type of relationship the woman had with God. A life of the Spirit coming and going. God however, wants us to be able to leave our spiritual infancy and abide with Him. A life that has a continued focus to practicing His presence, disciplining one’s attention towards constant prayer, attentive to His voice. Easier said then done obviously, and only accomplished through brokenness. Touch and go is good, but as we grow the spirit yearns for more, and that’s when we begin to realize how much that treasure (Matt 13:44) really costs.
4. WHAT’S NOT HAPPENING
Here’s what’s not been happening: This week we were supposed to take some motorcycles into the mountains of Gabela to share the gospel with people in remote mountain villages, however, my guide, Pastor Isaac called the night before we were supposed to leave and told me that his wife was having labor pains and that we couldn’t go.
This desire to share the gospel in these remote mountain villages has been thwarted for so long now. Each time we plan the trip, something breaks down or a physical ailment causes us to delay our plans. I’m to leave for the U.S. for furlough this summer and time is running out. Sooooo…
PLEASE PRAY FOR
God’s help to do this “MOTO-EVANGELISM”
Help for the Bible School to rebuild the student dorms
Financial Grace to get a generator for the missions compound
Guidance in setting up services for our upcoming furlough
and most important, greater yieldedness to the person of the Holy Spirit
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