The Kingdom Advances

Thank you for all your prayers.  I’m not exaggerating when I say that I could ‘feel’ them.  When I was preaching I had a ‘calm’ on me that is hard to describe, but words like confidence, creativity and peace come to mind.  My one desire for myself is that I would preach from my heart, and that is exactly what I did.

This is the best traslator that I have had for my whole time here. I have such a respect for people that can move between languages quickly.

Before I left for the crusade, I had a request from one of my South African friends for him to accompany me on the voyage because he was curious what God was going to do.  His name is Peter and he is a great mixture of English, Australian and South African.  He was great company for the ride up and down to Muyinga, and also took great photos while I was there.

When we arrived at the soccer field where the crusade was to take place I met a man who I believe was demon possessed.  He spoke a language that was unknown to everybody there and it was not one of the normal 4 (English, French, Kiswahili, Kirundi).  I got a weird feeling from him but I thought little of it because people like this are everywhere…especially at places where God is planning to move.

Every time I see this picture I crack up because: 1) I am wearing a suit 2) I am playing guitar 3) I am on stage 4) I am in Africa

I practiced guitar for an hour and a half or so and felt quite comfortable playing all the songs through.  The reason I had such a peace about the guitar is because the worship leader that is leading us was awesome.  By the time that we actually played on stage in front of the people, he had such a fluidity and spirit about him that was essential for leading worship in this context.  In fact, all the songs that we had chosen were not effective at all.  He actually invited a bunch of Burundians up on stage from the crowd and then the worship got kicked into high gear.  It goes to show…if you want to worship in a North American context, bring a guitar….and if you want to worship in an African context, bring a synthesizer.

My friend Tim went up and preached first, preaching the story of Joseph out of Exodus, and touching on other passages from the New Testament.  It was very good and I appreciate his preaching style…probably because he comes from the Reformed tradition where exegesis is very important.  After he was done we had a short worship set and then I went up and preached my sermon on forgiveness.  I told a few different stories from my own life and other stories from people in Burundi that illustrated my points.  Overall I was more than pleased with the way that things turned out and I know I can attribute all of that to the Holy Spirit.

Many of these children decided to give their lives to Christ.

After I was finished preaching I facilitated a ministry time that invited people up to the front who wanted to accept Jesus into their hearts as both Lord and Saviour.  It was mostly children that came forward, which was very interesting to me.  I led them all through a prayer of repentance and after that the various local pastors also prayed with them one-on-one.  I had never done anything like that before and I felt surprisingly comfortable.  Some people after the crusade told me that I am a gifted evangelist.  Maybe I am…I have never thought about that.

There were way less people than expected…kind of a blessing for me, but kind of disappointing too

I arrived home safely, but the drive was far from safe.  Overall I see this trip as a success and I am excited to head out again tomorrow to do the same thing in another province.  Please pray that this would go well as well.

We started with 19 numbers, representing 19 days until Mom and Dad Neufeld come to visit

I have actually been looking forward to this day for a long time.  In 5 hours I get to go and pick up Danica’s parents from the airport here.  This will be the first time that any of our family has come to visit us and I am really excited to host them.  It is one thing to hear the stories and read the blogs from Africa, and it is a totally different thing to actually be here and see it for yourself.  Thank you again for your prayers…be encouraged that they are really working!