Update on the pump and God opening doors
I spent last week at Pissila teaching in our Bible Institute there. There is no electricity or running water in this small town. I sleep under the stars all week.
It is amazing to see how the three students have advanced in the last two years. One of them couldn’t read at all and the other two could barely read when we started. I am so proud of their effort and amazed at where God has brought them from.
While I was in Pissila, I took the time to visit Ying-Toako. I had three goals: (1) to see the water pump fully functional, (2) to get some more video, and (3) to preach the Gospel to the village. When we arrived at the area near the water pump, it was full of people. There was a woman washing her clothes. There were tons of 5 gallon buckets waiting to be filled. There were people gathered around pumping water, and the water was flowing nonstop. What a joy it was to see the miracle God has done.
We asked the people of the village to come, and we had more than 200 present. I wanted to get some video and pictures, but I also wanted use this opportunity to preach the Gospel. I preached out of John 4. I told them that I was grateful that they had water to drink. I said that physical water gives physical life, but that Jesus can give us Living Water. We didn’t have anybody make a decision to believe in Jesus, but many people heard the Word of God.
On our trip back to Pissila, Pastor Salif told me that we would visit a lady who has been coming to the church at Ying-Toako and was also baptized a few months back. She come from another village about 3 miles away. When we arrived at her hut in this town we had not yet visited, she had made a special meal for us. I was overwhelmed, as I often am, by her generosity. Then she asked us if we could visit the chief’s family. As we were approaching, I saw many people gathered around. I then realized that the lady had asked people to come and hear the Word of God. We sat down and exchanged the customary greetings. While we were being welcomed, more and more people came. There were probably over 90. Salif preached to them for the next 20 min and then let me have a turn. After we finished, we gave them an invitation to believe on Jesus for salvation. Many hands went up, and we took them to the side to explain salvation better. There were 17 adults and many children that prayed and trusted Christ as their Savior. God is so good.
Lord willing, we plan to to have church services there very soon.