NEWSLETTERS

The Deaf-Mute preach the gospel in the Congo!

Dr Raymond Lombard, director of Wheels for God’s Word, undertook an outreach to Nia-Nia in the central area of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He led a team of three people, consisting of himself, Hardus Zevenster (CEO of Radio Tygerberg), and Johan Coetzee. In order to reach Nia-Nia for the training conference of Pygmy pastors and evangelists, they traveled 1018 kilometers in the forest on scramblers. After two days of flying from Cape Town to Butembo, via Entebbe, it took another two days to travel from Butembo to Nia-Nia with motorcycles. They encountered very heavy rain, as well as very difficult terrain. But praise be to God for the successful outreach and training in Nia-Nia!

Many people were led to Christ during the practical training session on the second day of the training conference in Nia-Nia. To their absolute astonishment and amazement, Pastor Raymond and his team trained a group of male and female evangelists who cannot speak or hear – they are “deaf-mute” people. It is the first time that the Wheels team has trained deaf people in Africa. It was an incredible experience to see how, while they were training the leaders, a lady, using sign language, taught these deaf people how to preach and present the Heart of Man chart to the lost. They received all the training, as well as taking part in the practical session on the second day. In the city of Butembo there is a school with more than 120 deaf-mute people. God will now use these people in an amazing way to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to their own people and the Pygmies in the rain forests of Africa.

A Wonderful Crusade and Outreach in Nia-Nia
On Friday afternoon, the 30th of April, Ray Lombard preached at a crusade in Nia-Nia. A wooden stage structure was erected for the occasion. More than 1500 people attended this crusade in the forest. Many people committed their lives to Jesus Christ during the altar call at the end of the service. To our surprize, the group of deaf evangelists sang a song on stage to the glory of God during the crusade! A lady interpreted their sign language to Lingala so that everybody could hear what they were singing, since there were no sounds coming from themselves. The interpreter sitting next to Pastor Raymond on stage interpreted from Lingala to English, so that the Wheels team could understand what these deaf believers were singing to the glory of God! The song they were singing talked about how grateful they are to Jesus Christ for the salvation of their souls. It was a song of salvation! There were members of the Wheels team on stage that sat there crying! What an amazing story – to think that in the heart of the rain forest, while the sun goes down in Africa on a late Friday afternoon, many, many people gathered to hear the Word of God preached to them and to witness first-hand how the deaf sing praises to the God of their salvation! For the members of the Wheels team, it will always remain a memorable experience.

Trumpets to Worship the Lord
Pastor Lombard and his team bought four trumpets for the Pygmies to make music for the glory of the Lord. Some of the Pygmy pastors and evangelists are wonderful musicians. As the first day of the conference started in a mud hut with a roof made of grass and reed, with the place filled with people, and as the Pygmy musicians started blowing the trumpets, and the people rose to sing the praises of the Lord, the presence of God came down from heaven and filled that place in a powerful way, while rain was pouring outside. We had an amazing experience of the presence of God in the heart of the rain forest!

Bicycles and Material Distributed
Altogether 55 Pygmy evangelists and pastors were trained at the conference in Nia-Nia. 25 bicycles were distributed to needy pastors for the work of evangelism, as well as 3 motorcycles. Also, 50 large Heart of Man charts, 80 Heart of Man pocket charts, and 300 Heart of Man booklets (in Lingala, Chiluba, Swahili, and French) were distributed. Moreover, 100 Lingala Bibles were distributed. 2500 packets of salt were also bought for the Pygmy villages.