Tchomia Eastern DRC

Sunday 18th January 2015 – Sunday 25th January 2015.

Tchomia is a town about seventy kilometres from Bunia, yet it took our truck and team five hours to get there. It is not for the faint hearted; the road winds through the steep mountains with their hairpin bends, loose gravel and deep gorges. The weight of the truck can make it skid off the edge very, very easily. The Lord helped Joseph and he managed extremely well.

Instability in the area was a real concern with many families in Tchomia. Shireen had previously asked for prayer requests to be handed in, and soon many were coming to ask for prayer, as a terrible fear had gripped many of them due to violent robberies. We were able to pray with some of the affected ones, and the Holy Spirit, who is the only one who can bring peace, touched their hearts.

Life in Tchomia

We stayed by the lakeside and watched the hard life of the locals. As soon as the sun began to rise over the water, a stream of people came down to the lake in order to fetch water or do the washing. Mothers, with huge piles of clothes on their heads, came down to the lake with their little children, and while she worked away at washing the clothing, bedding, pots or even plastic chairs, the children swam among the fishing boats.

Once the washing was done, they would load up the wet washing into huge bowls, balance them on their heads and walk back several kilometres to their homes.

Little Joshua’s Dad

In 2003, Little Joshua came to one of the meetings in Kisangani. He was unable to walk and had heavy metal callipers on his legs. That night, he said to his mother, “Take these off me; the Lord has healed me”. Joshua’s mom took them off and since that time he has never put them back on! Indeed Joshua was healed! His dad came eleven years later with a photograph and a publication that we had done in 2004. “Look”, he said, “I’m the father – Joshua is doing very well. He is in Kinshasa in high school and doing very well. He has never had a problem again”. In his gratitude, Joshua’s dad wanted to give us a chicken.

Saving Grace – chief gangster saved

The crowd gasped as they recognised a certain bandit, who had previously terrorised the whole area, come forward at the altar call to receive Jesus as his Saviour. The Gospel is powerful, converting even the toughest and hardest. A well-known devout Muslim bowed his knee to Jesus. One night, a besotted drunkard came to the altar; he was hardly able to stand. However, the next morning he was back, only now sober and in his right mind. He wanted to buy a Bible! We were able to sell over 700 Bibles – many to new believers.

Meetings in both Tchomia and Kasenye

Kasenye is a town about seven kilometres from Tchomia. The paramount chief asked us to hold a few meetings in Kasenye and not to forget them, and so, we speedily announced this new venue on the local radio station and arranged for two days of meetings in one of the big churches. It is such a joy to see people truly hungering for truth. There is a very definite openness to God’s Spirit, and I am sure that there will be much ongoing work for long-term follow-up.