Participants:
Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY018085A
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00:01 I want to spend my life
00:07 Mending broken people 00:12 I want to spend my life 00:18 Removing pain 00:23 Lord, let my words 00:29 Heal a heart that hurts 00:34 I want to spend my life 00:39 Mending broken people 00:45 I want to spend my life 00:51 Mending broken people 01:10 Hello, I'm Shelley Quinn, and welcome once again 01:12 to 3ABN Today program! This is the Mending 01:16 Broken People Network. You make it possible. 01:18 Thank you for your love, your prayers, and 01:20 your financial support. We have an inspirational 01:24 interview today to share with you- actually, 01:27 we'll be looking at two different ministries: 01:30 one is the Congo Frontline Mission, and then the 01:33 other is the Desert Tree Ministry. It's 01:36 interesting, because there's a strong family 01:39 connection between these two. Let me just read 01:44 this scripture-something that is not anything 01:48 new to you, but it is very special in the 01:53 relation to today's program. It is the 01:56 Great Commission! Not a suggestion; it's actually 02:00 a command. Jesus said in Matthew 28:19-20, 02:06 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the 02:09 nations." Not just your next-door neighbor. 02:13 "Baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, 02:16 and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe 02:20 all things that I have commanded you." Then 02:23 He says, "Lo, I am with you always, even to the 02:26 ends of the earth." We have wonderful guests 02:30 with us today! Let me introduce them. All of 02:33 their last names are Mosier, so we'll 02:36 just start with Keith. Keith, you are the 02:39 president of Congo Frontline Mission, right? 02:43 - That's correct. - And then you married the 02:45 beautiful Tammy who is a nurse. Tammy is with 02:48 Congo Frontline Mission. Then, Papa Mosier, Barry, 02:54 you are the treasurer of the Frontline Congo Mission. 02:57 - Correct. - Let me just get a little backstory. 03:00 Tell us how you grew up. I know your father was 03:04 a missionary. How did you get the call to 03:08 mission work? - As a teenager, moving to 03:12 Tanzania with my family, learning the language, 03:15 starting to preach, I felt very clearly within 03:18 the first couple of years that we were working 03:19 there, that God was calling me to be a full-time 03:22 missionary. Because of the interaction we had, 03:26 leaders in the Congo, church leaders, found out 03:30 about what we were doing, and they met us at a 03:32 meeting there at the division and said, "Why 03:33 don't you come to Congo?" I said, "Well, let me 03:37 pray about that." I went to college and realized 03:39 that's where God wanted me to go. So, after I 03:42 got out of college with my theology degree, I 03:44 could've taken a pastoral position in Central 03:46 California with Pastor Jerry Page, or I could've 03:49 stayed, but I felt that God was very clear with 03:52 me. He wanted me to go to Congo, so that's where 03:54 I've been for over 10 years. - When did all 03:58 the civil unrest begin in Congo? - There's been 04:01 civil unrest for decades. When we got there, 04:04 it was at the tail end of a decade of war. 04:07 That claimed the lives of around 5 and a half 04:10 million people. A lot of people from bullets, 04:13 then a lot of people from diseases and starvation. 04:16 Just the people in Congo have gone through such 04:18 terrible trauma, and they really need the 04:21 hope and the healing that comes from the Word 04:23 of God. - Amen. But Tammy, you graduated as a 04:26 nurse; you and your sister graduated together. 04:29 We'll meet her sister in the second half of the 04:31 program. You were not married to Keith when 04:34 you first went over, were you? - No. I was 17 when 04:37 I went to Tanzania, not to Congo. But I 04:41 loved missionary work there. I helped Keith's 04:44 mom deliver babies, I did some bush clinics, 04:48 and I really enjoyed that, so I went back 04:50 to the States and I got my nursing. I was really 04:53 praying about where God would want me to go as 04:56 as a missionary. I read different books about 05:00 different African countries. I wanted to go to the 05:04 worst country, because I wanted to help people 05:06 who were really hurting; the place where nobody 05:09 else wanted to go. I really wanted to go there, 05:12 and I saw that that was Congo, so that's where 05:16 I wanted to go. I didn't know that Keith wanted 05:18 to go there. I thought I would end up going 05:20 there by myself, but then I found out he 05:23 wanted to go there. We both got married and 05:26 went there together. - So you married before 05:29 you went? I remember you were here on your 05:30 honeymoon. - That's correct. - You came to 05:33 3ABN the first time; just been married a 05:35 couple of weeks. Aren't you impressed when 05:40 someone- well, you know, when the Lord says, "Be of 05:44 good courage," and He calls you, you have to 05:46 trust in God. I know you've had some rough 05:49 times; we'll be talking about that. God has 05:52 protected you. So, Barry, you have been a missionary 05:56 for how many years? - Well, I was in Tanzania 06:00 for 8 years as a volunteer missionary. Originally, 06:04 I was a CPA living in America, but the Lord 06:07 said, "I have some other work for you to do." 06:09 So, we moved to Tanzania in 2000. Then it was 06:15 after Keith finished his college, he called us 06:18 to come help him get Congo Frontline Mission 06:21 started. I'll tell you. At first, we weren't 06:24 very excited. That country's got a poor reputation 06:28 for all the trouble it's had, but we thought 06:30 about how much need there was. So, Marybeth 06:33 and I decided to move there. We lived there 06:36 for three years, helping to get Congo Frontline 06:39 Missions going. - And it's been now, what? 06:42 11 years? - Yes. - Okay. Tell us a little bit about 06:45 what you're doing in the Congo. - Well, we have 06:47 65 church planters working in dark villages, 06:52 opening churches. - And explain what you mean 06:55 by "dark villages." - I consider a "dark village" 06:59 a place where they don't know the truths of the 07:01 Word of God. - Where the light of the Lord has yet 07:03 to shine. - So, they need to hear the beautiful 07:06 promises that God has given us. They need to 07:09 hear the messages-the three angels' messages. 07:11 They need to hear the beautiful promises of 07:13 the Ten Commandments. They need to hear these 07:15 things that are going to point them to Jesus 07:16 and help them understand He's coming soon. He 07:20 wants to take us home. I just cannot wait to 07:23 be there with all the people. I thank our 07:25 viewers for the help that they've given to us 07:29 to spread the message these last 11 years, 07:33 now, in Congo. We're excited! - Tell us a little 07:37 bit about the people and their beliefs. If 07:41 they're living in a dark village, are they animist? 07:44 Are they... What is their spiritual background? 07:48 Are the people friendly? I mean, they've been 07:50 going through so much war and strife. - They've 07:53 gone through a lot of challenges. It seems 07:54 that as the years go by, we realize that the 07:57 smallest incident can ignite quite a large 08:01 disturbance or an event. At the heart of things, 08:05 people are people around the world, and they all 08:07 have the same needs. They need Jesus, they 08:10 need hope for the future. We have a lot of variety 08:14 of people who claim Christianity. Oftentimes, 08:17 yet, they don't know what the Bible says. At the 08:21 root of a lot of people's culture is this animistic 08:25 background and spirit and demon worship that 08:29 pervades their fears and their lives in general. 08:34 I think about the way we've been able to start. 08:37 We knew we were too small of a team to really get 08:39 very far by ourselves, but we knew that if we 08:43 train the local church members and we train 08:46 people to go out and share, then we can get 08:48 a small army together. That's been what our 08:51 experience has been in the last 11 years. I 08:55 remember we started off with the first year 08:57 doing our training and sending people out into 08:59 this harvest, and we had a small number of baptisms 09:02 comparatively. That year, we had 270 people baptized 09:05 the first year. - That's wonderful. - And yet, 09:07 that's amazing, because every soul brings joy 09:10 in heaven. There are songs up there from that. 09:12 A couple of years ago, we baptized over 1,200. 09:15 Last year, it was over 1,300. This year, we 09:18 project we'll probably baptize close to 1,800 09:20 people from the work that's happening there. 09:24 God has just been so good to us. - Amen and amen! 09:27 So, you're part of the Outpost Centers International, 09:31 which makes them a 501(c)(3) ministry. It's the people 09:35 who support you. The Bible workers- are they paid 09:40 a stipend? - Yeah. We raise about $105 each 09:45 month for all of the people planting churches 09:49 in dark areas. We've had some exciting stories 09:53 from those. I think about my friend Ramazani Atindi 09:57 when he first heard about the message. It 10:00 was through one of our evangelists. Within a 10:02 week, he said, "I never heard the truths of the 10:04 Bible before." He was unhappy when we first 10:06 came to his village, but when he heard the 10:08 truths of the Bible, he wanted to be baptized 10:10 together with his wife and their children, then 10:13 he came to our school and has headed out as a 10:16 church planter himself and has had two very 10:20 successful church plants that he's organized and 10:24 managed, so we're just excited. As we look back 10:26 at 11 years, we see 8,000 baptisms, we see 10:31 the radio station that we've partnered with- 10:33 Adventist World Radio, to start, which has a 10:38 listener base at over 3 million. We look at the 10:41 dental and medical work that we've been able 10:44 to do, the training; we look at all the churches 10:48 that we've built. We've built over 80 churches, 10:50 and a number of those are one-day churches. 10:51 We just have so many positive things that we 10:55 can look back and praise God about, but probably 10:58 what touches my heart more than anything else 11:00 is the training. We hold the training each year 11:02 on our campus. We also go to more remote areas 11:09 where people can't come to us; we'll go to them. 11:11 We've trained 1,100 people-a little bit more 11:15 than that number-in the last 11 years. It's these 11:19 people that we can go out and visit and see 11:21 the work that they've done. Like with Ramazani, I remember 11:24 going there not too long ago with my family, and we 11:27 got to see him and his family serving there. 11:29 My dad was actually with us at that time. - I think 11:33 we got a picture of the day I was there visiting 11:36 you in Congo this last year-late last year. I came, and we have 11:43 our meetings to kind of make plans for the future, 11:46 and there they are! I never miss the chance 11:49 to show my grandkids. - I know; they're beautiful! 11:51 4 little blonde-headed babies. - So we were 11:54 making plans for the upcoming year, and it 11:57 was on the last day of our meetings there that 12:00 a tragedy happened right on our campus. We were 12:05 in our meeting. I saw people running around 12:07 outside, and I didn't know what had happened. 12:10 We have a flatbed truck that does our road 12:13 maintenance on our road (we're out about 5 miles 12:16 from the city of Kisangani which is a million people). 12:21 That truck was headed out. It has some folding 12:25 up sides on each side of the bed of the truck. 12:31 Although our workers are all instructed, "Don't 12:34 ever sit on the sides," we had a new driver, 12:37 a Congolese driver, driving the truck out 12:39 the driveway that day, and one of the young men 12:41 disobeyed the instructions, sat on the edge of that, 12:44 lost his balance, fell over, and was killed 12:47 instantly when he made contact with the truck. 12:51 We had a doctor on campus. He raced out there and 12:54 said, "There's really nothing we can do for 12:55 this young man. He's gone." It was just so 12:58 tragic, but the local people came and said, 13:00 "Please." The people from his village are 13:05 only a mile away, and when they come, they're going 13:08 to start- we don't know what they'll do, but 13:10 it could be a mob here. "Get out of here as fast 13:13 as you can; all you white people. Please, leave. 13:16 Go to the city immediately. Leave this campus right 13:19 now. Your lives are in danger." So one 13:22 vehicle left quite quickly. I ran over to get Tammy 13:26 and the children. Well, Keith finished up a 13:29 couple things, locking up some things... 13:31 - Well, when he came to the house, he told me 13:34 what happened and I knew right away that our 13:36 lives were in danger. To get four children 13:40 out the door is a task, but one of my girls 13:43 had just taken a bath. She didn't have any 13:46 clothes on. My mom helped me get her 13:47 dressed quickly, I grabbed all of our 13:49 passports, a change of clothes for all the kids, 13:52 and I was out the door carrying the youngest 13:55 and the others were following me within 3 13:57 minutes. We were running to the car. We got in the 14:01 car and we left. - I remember coming up and 14:05 locking our house and getting out of there as 14:07 quickly as we could, throwing the things in 14:09 the back of our land cruiser pickup. Pastor 14:11 Entenzi? said, "Just leave as quickly as you 14:13 possibly can." So driving out, we had to skirt 14:16 around the body of the man who was laying 14:18 right there at the edge of our property. I remember 14:20 covering my kids' eyes so they wouldn't see 14:22 that, and already, there were people pointing 14:25 their finger at me. They were very angry. We 14:27 took off for town as quickly as we could. I 14:31 got to a place where the road was blocked with 14:33 somebody stuck in the road. I had to put it down in 14:35 four-wheel drive (low). We went around and went 14:38 through a big rut that was draining the hole 14:40 from that road, then we came up to another 14:43 spot where it was just a total impasse: just a big 14:45 mud hole on one side, and this man was pushing 14:47 his bicycle up the hill with a large load of 14:49 charcoal. I remember thinking, "How are we 14:52 going to get through?" So I stopped, and my 14:54 dad jumped out to help him. - I helped him push 14:57 his bicycle, Shelley, to the side of the road, 15:01 and Keith drove by. Just before I could run back 15:06 to the vehicle... You have to understand. One 15:09 of the common taxi of that whole area is a 15:12 motorcycle, so two of the brothers of the man 15:16 who had died came on these motorcycle taxis 15:22 and had caught up to us by that time. So, 15:25 I jumped in the vehicle; we continued on into 15:27 the outskirts of the city. The road is always filled 15:30 with people. Most people are just walking, so 15:33 you couldn't go super fast. Unfortunately, 15:37 these young taxi drivers, not related to the young 15:43 man who died, started yelling as they went, 15:47 "These people killed somebody! Don't let 15:49 them get away!" - Oh, my goodness. - Well, you 15:52 can imagine what that did. It was like striking a 15:55 match to dynamite. As we went, the mob just grew 15:59 behind us, chasing us, and there was no 16:03 reasoning with anybody to stop and explain anything. 16:06 As we started in toward the city, the motorcycles 16:11 started to overtake us and pass us. We came 16:17 to- of course, people were even grabbing gasoline 16:20 so they could catch us to burn us. It developed 16:25 into a horrible situation right away. - The Lord 16:29 certainly put His hedge of protection around you 16:33 to get you out of there. That's a miracle! - We 16:35 were just all praying. My little girl in the back 16:37 was telling Grandma, "I'm scared but I'm praying." 16:40 I've never been so scared in my life! With my 16:43 mother-in-law, my father, my wife and four kids 16:47 right there with me in the car... As these motorcycles- 16:50 some of them got past us. I couldn't drive very 16:53 fast, because there's all sorts of people in the 16:55 road and I don't want to bump into anybody, 'cause 16:58 that's the exact problem that they're thinking of. 17:03 I didn't know what to do. They got in front of us, 17:07 then there was another road, so I took that other 17:08 road and we're going to go into the main police 17:10 station. Pretty soon, they're right behind 17:12 me again. I slow down as there's a couple of police 17:14 officers on the side of the road, but as I look 17:17 back, I see there's just this huge mass-probably 17:19 100 motorcycles are following us by this 17:21 time, and I don't know what to do. I take off 17:25 to go to the main station. Just down the road, 17:28 they totally blocked off the road for road work, 17:32 so we are stuck. Literally, within seconds, our car 17:36 is surrounded by all these people just banging 17:39 on our windows and trying to get into our 17:41 car, trying to steal things and burn the 17:43 vehicle, and everything else. - In that moment, 17:48 I knew that there was absolutely no hope unless 17:51 God saved us, so I just prayed, "Lord, we're 17:55 in Your hands." My little girl in the back 17:57 seat told my mom who was with us- she said 18:00 that she was thinking about John Huss. The 18:03 kids just sat there quietly. - Explain who 18:08 John Huss is the martyr. Some people may not 18:12 know. - Back in the Dark Ages, John Huss 18:14 was a martyr for his faith. He burned at 18:16 the stake, and that was a very special story 18:20 to my daughter. - Yes. A special story to me, 18:25 too, because I always remember, in the story, 18:28 I've read where the night before he knew he 18:31 was to be burned that he tried to put his hand 18:34 over a candle flame and he couldn't- you know, 18:37 tried to see if he could endure. He just 18:40 prayed and said, "Lord, give me the strength." 18:42 He sang while he was being burned at the 18:46 stake. That tells me that God had to have 18:51 taken the pain from him, because no one could 18:54 be burning alive and sing. I mean, that's 18:57 impossible. So, what happened? Here you are 19:00 surrounded, people are banging on the... 19:02 What happened? - Well, I praise the Lord for 19:05 my mother-in-law. Even the stories that our 19:07 kids know is because my mother-in-law 19:09 reads the Great Controversy to them regularly, so 19:12 they've been reading out of these stories. They 19:14 knew what happens and they knew that we have 19:16 to put Jesus first always. My mother-in-law was 19:20 right there in the back seat. She's looking out 19:22 the windows-these angry people that are banging 19:25 on the window-and she just smiles at them. 19:28 As she smiles, the person who is standing there 19:31 at the window, they couldn't handle it, so 19:32 they turned away and left. Then that happened 19:35 three times! - Then the policeman came up to 19:41 our car and they were trying to get in, so 19:44 we opened the door, let him in, and they 19:47 grabbed Barry's phone but they didn't take 19:49 any of us out. I tried to help shut the door 19:53 with him, not that I can do anything. There's 19:55 6 guys on the outside pulling, but somehow, 19:58 the Lord helped us to shut that door. The 20:01 policeman got in the driver's seat and drove 20:04 us to the police station. - That's amazing. So, it 20:07 is really a tinderbox situation. All it takes 20:12 is an accusation, and obviously, you had nothing 20:15 to do with the death of that young man. It just 20:17 takes an accusation, and your lives were in danger, 20:20 but God certainly, CERTAINLY delivered you. 20:25 - He is faithful. - Amen. - He has answered our 20:27 prayers so many times. Just like it says in 20:30 Psalm 91, He tells of His protection, and we 20:34 can trust that He is there with us. When 20:36 that policeman got into the driver's seat, I put 20:38 it in super low because I was afraid he was 20:40 going to kill the car. He just fearlessly 20:43 backed up into this crowd, and people just 20:45 parted right in front of him. They tried to 20:48 stop the vehicle, but he just revved the engine 20:49 again and showed that he was going to keep going, 20:51 so they got out of the way and he drove us 20:52 to the police station with all these guys 20:54 following us. When we finally got there, they 20:57 took us in and there's this big mob outside. They 20:59 finally let the family members of the man who 21:02 died in there. When I went out to meet them, I just 21:06 started crying because I knew one of the men. 21:09 He was a friend of mine from the village. 21:10 I just was so sad. Actually, the family 21:12 members were quite understanding of the 21:15 painful situation. They came and said, "We're 21:17 so sorry that people were angry with you 21:20 and broke into your homes and created a 21:22 riot on campus. We're so sorry about the way 21:24 this happened." And we were really sorry for 21:26 them, too. We were grieving together through 21:29 the pain. - Wow, that's just amazing. - Yeah, 21:34 we actually built a house for them. It's kind 21:36 of a little help for their loss. It was just 21:41 heartbreaking. - Did you return to the village 21:43 after this or did you come on home? - From 21:46 the police station, we ended up going to a hotel 21:48 where we waited for a few days. Tammy and I 21:51 did go back to our property, but the situation was very 21:54 tense for a little while. Our family needed 21:57 a break, so we went to get our things, then we 21:59 exited the country after that. - That was very 22:03 wise. Tell us a little bit about the current 22:06 status of the Republic of the Congo. - When we were 22:10 planning to go back into the country, the political 22:13 situation had gotten more tense and worse. 22:16 There's been plans for an election and how the 22:19 leadership change will happen is very tense, 22:23 so we've realized that we don't have an open 22:27 door to go back into the country at this 22:28 time. We're staying on the outside. Continue 22:31 to send the resources into the Congo for Pastor 22:35 Entenzi? my chief assistant. He's been my right-hand 22:37 man, really, since the beginning. When we 22:39 started this project back in 2008, he's helped me. 22:41 And now, he's able to- - So the work continues. 22:43 - Be there and keep it going. That's why they're 22:46 able to be baptizing more this year than 22:48 we ever have-because he and his evangelistic 22:50 team are focusing on the task. When the going 22:53 gets tough in the country, people also find that as 22:57 a call to look for Jesus. - Amen. Amen. How beautiful 23:02 it is. Sometimes, I think people forget. We 23:05 feel like it's up to us if God makes a call. 23:07 Anytime that God puts a call on your heart, He 23:12 wants you to share and to train others. That's 23:14 why Jesus said, "Teaching them to observe all things 23:18 that I've commanded," because if God needs to 23:21 move you out of the situation, the work can 23:23 continue. That's really exciting to think-that 23:27 the training you've done with this gentleman 23:31 who served as your chief assistant-that he is 23:34 able, after 11 years of you mentoring him, 23:38 he's able to then watch over the rest of these 23:41 Bible workers. You brought some pictures, didn't you? 23:44 - Yeah. I'd like to actually show one of 23:46 the things that happened this year. You'll see 23:48 a training of some ladies. We've done two evangelism 23:51 trainings this year. Mama Mwangachuchu is 23:55 right in the center. She's our union president there. 23:57 We also have a lot of our ladies that are 24:01 helping their husbands plant churches out in 24:03 these remote areas. Tammy'll tell a little 24:05 bit more about that. - I'm really excited that 24:08 they had training for ladies, because Congo is 24:12 the worst place in the worst to be a mother. 24:16 These ladies are just hungry to be able to 24:20 learn and to have hope. At this training, they 24:24 also gave the materials for Sabbath schools. 24:28 - Are they schooled? Excuse me, but what is 24:29 the literacy rate? - Very low, especially with the 24:32 ladies. They read one word at a time, very 24:35 slowly, but they still want to learn. We created, 24:40 with the Lord's help, a Sabbath school program, 24:43 too, that's simple in their own language. We 24:48 gave that to them so that they can go back and 24:51 help the churches have children Sabbath schools. 24:55 - Glory to God. - I just wanted to tell about the 24:57 youngest girl who went through. When she was 25:01 12 years old, her father was drinking with a 25:04 couple of his buddies under a mango tree. 25:07 One of our evangelists went to her village 25:10 Zabilama? and told him that he had a message 25:15 from the King of Kings for them for that village 25:19 and that he wanted to talk to the chief about 25:21 this message. Her father said, "Well, I am the 25:26 chief's son, so you can tell me the message." 25:29 He opened his Bible right then and started 25:32 sharing the gospel message with them. He also asked 25:39 if he would be able to share with the whole 25:41 village this message, and he said that that was 25:44 okay. He came and he stayed there for two 25:48 weeks, doing an evangelistic series. Her father and his 25:52 two friends were baptized, then they went to 25:56 our evangelism training school and became evangelists 25:59 themselves. As he was an evangelist, she would go 26:03 out-her father-she would go with him and do 26:06 witnessing. When she was 12 years old, her little 26:12 sister got bit by a poisonous snake, so she 26:16 started crying and her brother said, "Why don't 26:19 we pray instead of cry?" So they prayed, and 26:24 miraculously, her sister did not die! - Woo! 26:28 That's a miracle story, isn't it? - Yeah! Now, 26:32 she's 16. She was this young lady. She was able 26:36 to go to the school herself. - How precious. - She's 26:40 excited about continuing sharing her faith. - Now, 26:43 you said that the Congo is the worst place in the 26:46 world to be a mother. Why? - If you can imagine, 26:50 you want all your children to be able to go to school. 26:54 The culture is to have as many as you can. 26:57 Everybody has large, large families. They're 27:00 poor; they can hardly feed their kids. They 27:02 don't even have enough money. They're all 27:04 malnourished. They have different diseases like 27:08 dysentery, malaria... - Can you imagine being 27:12 a mother and not being able to take your child 27:14 to the doctor when they get sick? - Often, your 27:16 husband is drinking; not all the time. Sometimes, 27:19 he's a hard-working man; but often, he's drinking, 27:22 and as a mother, you're the one working in the 27:26 garden. You're the one working all day long, 27:29 trying to have enough money just to feed your 27:32 kids and enough money for their school tuition. 27:37 The abuse against women there is terrible, as well. 27:39 - That's so sad. Tell us about the church 27:43 planters, 'cause we're going to have to- 27:46 - There's a picture of a boat that can be 27:48 shown on the screen. Two of our church planters 27:51 were coming to our quarterly meeting where 27:53 they tell stories, give reports, and things. 27:58 This boat capsized with them and 300-400 people 28:03 on that boat. 90% of them drowned, but our two 28:07 church planters and their wives and one baby all 28:10 survived that by God's grace. The baby was thrown 28:15 into the river and came up and surfaced right 28:17 in the arms of the mother in the middle of 28:20 the night; couldn't see. God takes care of our 28:24 church planters. They're in remote areas under 28:27 the most difficult circumstances, winning 28:31 souls for Christ. I think that I had a friend who 28:35 said, "All I ever hear is bad news when I hear 28:37 the news from Congo," and I'm sorry to say that 28:39 people are accustomed to bad news. I think that's 28:42 why the message of hope is so precious to them. 28:46 - Amen. Amen. I have to just say one thing: 28:49 it is so amazing, 'cause we're hearing miracle 28:53 after miracle after miracle. Some people in the States 28:56 say, "Well, where are the miracles of God? 28:59 Does He still work miracles?" Because these people 29:02 there are absolutely, totally dependent upon 29:07 God and they trust in Him, He performs miracles. 29:10 Here, we're busy trying to work our own way 29:13 out. I know we've got the others to bring on. 29:18 Keith, if you could, just summarize for us 29:21 what you believe the future is for the work 29:27 in the Congo. - I've seen the Lord work miracles 29:30 in the past. The biggest miracle is that He's 29:33 saving lives for the kingdom, and we expect to see 29:36 that continue. He's opened the doors for the work 29:39 to go forward even in our absence. We've 29:42 chosen, as a family, to continue supporting the 29:46 work in Congo with our donations and sending 29:52 those donations over even if we can't be 29:54 there. We can't sit here in America forever. We 29:57 want to go back to Africa as missionaries, so we're 29:58 going to be doing some work in Chad (where my 30:02 wife's sister and her husband are). - We 30:06 will meet in a moment. - We're excited about 30:08 that. We want to say thank you to all the 30:09 people who've been helpful throughout these 30:12 amazing years. As we thank them for their 30:15 prayers, I want to close with a story about a 30:18 man named Amboyo. This section-we'll close off 30:21 this part of the thing. Amboyo was very angry 30:27 with God because of things that had happened. 30:30 People in his church said, "It's God's will 30:32 that all these things are happening," even 30:34 very negative things, sometimes like family, 30:38 where the parents died and the children were 30:41 orphaned years ago at a similar boat accident- 30:43 the one my dad described. He was very negative 30:46 about God because of these experiences, but when 30:49 our evangelistic team came to the village, he 30:51 came just kind of to heckle them and to give 30:53 them a hard time. But after Amboyo heard the 30:56 message of the origin of evil and realized the 30:59 devil is responsible for all these evil things 31:02 in the world and he realizes that God is 31:05 working to help us make the right choices, to 31:07 help us have a better life, and to save us 31:10 eternally, he found joy. He said, "This makes 31:15 me excited." He became a Christian right then 31:17 and there. - Praise the Lord. - After he'd given 31:20 his life to Jesus and shared that with his 31:22 family, he started going to the villages around 31:24 him. He's started two churches since that 31:27 time, and he hasn't even come to our training 31:28 program yet! He plans to come next year to 31:31 our training program. When I see that happening, 31:35 I see the joy that people have as they find 31:37 salvation, I just want to say thank you to our 31:40 donors-to the people who've been praying 31:42 for us and helped us through the years to 31:44 take this message to the jungle of Congo- 31:49 the Congo River Basin. We continue to appreciate 31:52 the prayers and support that is helping this 31:55 work go forward. - I think that that's what 31:58 we'd like to do right now, because I just 32:00 believe that as you're hearing what the Lord 32:02 is doing through the Congo Frontline Missions, which 32:05 is- this is a 501(c)(3) organization, which means 32:10 it's a non-profit organization. It's 32:13 under the umbrella of Outpost Centers 32:15 International. I just believe that God is 32:18 stirring hearts to help support this mission. If 32:22 you would like to get in touch with Mosier, so 32:25 if you'd like to support this mission, here's 32:27 how you may do so. 32:30 - Congo Frontline Missions 32:32 is dedicated to bringing a message of hope and 32:35 salvation to the worn, torn, Democratic Republic 32:38 of Congo. If you would like to support this 32:40 important work in the heart of the African 32:42 continent, please visit their website. 32:45 CongoFrontlineMissions.org. 32:51 You may call them at area code (507) 884-7246. 32:57 That's (507) 884-7246. Or, write to Outpost 33:03 Centers International Congo Frontline Missions 33:07 5132 Layton Lane in Apison, Tennessee 37302. 33:16 Well, it is so exciting to see what God is doing 33:18 in the Congo-but we're not through yet, because 33:21 we're just going to... We've actually swapped 33:23 out some family members. Keith is still with us, 33:26 but let me introduce- this is Tammy's sister, 33:30 Melody. You're also a nurse, and your husband, 33:34 Jonathan. I started to say John, but it's Jonathan 33:39 Dietrich. Before we jump into the Desert Tree 33:44 Ministry, tell us... Tammy, I know that you 33:48 went to nursing school- excuse me. Melody, you 33:51 went to nursing school with your sister Tammy 33:54 and you both graduated. Who got the idea to 33:59 get into mission work first? Her or you, or 34:01 was it simultaneous? What happened? - Well, we 34:04 both grew up listening to a lot of mission 34:07 stories, so at a young age, I wanted to be a 34:11 missionary. I was getting my nursing for 34:16 that purpose-to go over to a third world country 34:19 to be a missionary. - Praise God. Now, 34:21 Jonathan, what about you? - I grew up in 34:24 a family... My dad was a colporteur. That means 34:26 he went door-to-door selling Bibles and 34:28 literature for 20 years. My grandfather also was 34:31 an administrator for the church in Angola. 34:34 My dad grew up in Angola, Africa, so I 34:37 grew up kind of in a missions mindset. - Amen. 34:41 And you got the call... Melody, were you married 34:47 to Jonathan before you went to Chad, or...how did 34:51 this happen? - Well, actually, I was planning 34:54 ongoing to Congo, but then Keith told me, "You 34:57 should go to Chad first for at least a month or 35:02 so to get some experience, because there's an 35:04 Adventist hospital there." So, I went there to get 35:08 some experience there. - And...you met the love 35:11 of your life? - Yes, I did. - I took credit for 35:15 that, because I told her to go to Chad. She 35:18 and my wife Tammy both wanted to come to Congo 35:21 to help us with our medical work we were 35:23 getting started, but it worked out. As soon 35:26 as Tammy and I were going over after we 35:28 got married, she headed to Chad then got married 35:31 the following week. - Jonathan, please... 35:34 I just will confess my ignorance. Tell me about 35:38 Chad, because I don't know much about Chad. 35:40 - All right. Chad is right in the middle of the 35:44 continent of Africa, or right in the center 35:46 there. - North of the Congo? - North of the 35:49 Congo. The upper part of Chad is in the Sahara 35:51 Desert. The part where we are is southern, and 35:56 it's called, "Sub-Saharan," so we get some rain. 35:59 For about 6 months of the year, there's no 36:01 rain. - Wow. - It's one of the least developed 36:04 countries in the world. A lot of similarities with 36:06 the Congo. There's one of the pictures I have. 36:10 It shows a house. It has a lot of mud brick, thatched roof... 36:17 Very primitive. No electricity, no running 36:20 water... People are living much like they did a 36:23 thousand years ago. They're still farming 36:26 with animals. It's very primitive. It gets very 36:30 hot there, as well, during the hot season. In the 36:33 house sometimes, it's hot as 110 degrees in 36:36 the shade. The rest of the year, it gets up 36:38 into the upper 90s a lot. - Sign me up. No! 36:41 [laughter] Just kidding. - There's a lot of 36:44 challenges to living there. - What is the 36:47 work- what year did you go over and start 36:50 the Desert Tree Ministry? - I went over in 2009 36:55 and worked with another organization for a while 36:58 as a pilot mechanic, then we started Desert 37:01 Tree Ministry toward the end of 2013. - Okay. 37:05 Tell us what you're doing with Desert Tree 37:08 Ministry. - All right. We have several areas 37:13 of focus. One is similar to Congo; we're doing 37:17 layman training. Let me explain to you a little 37:21 bit why we're doing that (just in brief). The 37:25 population of Chad is 13 million, and the 37:28 Adventist church membership is about 3,000. For 37:36 that, there's about 12 pastors. 12 pastors is 37:40 simply not enough to reach that number of 37:43 people, so we believe that the layman training 37:46 is very important to train the members how to 37:49 be active, to help- - You're training them 37:51 how to share the gospel, how to evangelize. - And 37:55 often, teaching them how to even have 37:57 a personal relationship. A lot of them, it may be 37:59 a member of the church, but they don't know 38:01 what that means, even. So that's one of our 38:04 areas of focus. - Absolutely. Now, you're also doing 38:08 a publishing work where you're publishing in 38:09 their own language. - Yes. We have publishing 38:13 work. We're publishing tracks and books, and 38:18 mostly in the language of French. We're 38:21 operating out of a 20-foot container. We've 38:24 put mattresses in there because of the heat; we 38:26 have to have some sort of insulation. We installed 38:28 an air conditioner and we have laser printers. 38:33 One of the biggest print jobs that we do is 38:37 the Sabbath school quarterlies for the 38:39 Union. The Union is five countries kind of 38:42 grouped together for organizational purposes 38:44 for the church. We're publishing the Sabbath 38:48 school quarterlies for the Union out of this 38:50 container. - Okay. You said there was no 38:52 electricity, so this is all run off a generator, 38:55 or...? - Generators. We have a big one and 38:57 several small ones that we work with. - Okay. 38:59 Then you've got these boxed up and they're 39:03 shipping it out. Do they take it out to village 39:06 to village? How do you do this? - Well, the 39:09 Sabbath school quarterlies are shipped with our 39:10 land cruiser. For the other tracks and books 39:14 and smaller things, we package those up into 39:16 boxes. When people come to our trainings, we send 39:20 boxes and literature out with them. - Wonderful. 39:23 Chad isn't... I mean, I know it's poor, 39:28 underdeveloped... But is it as dangerous as 39:34 the Congo? - Chad is seen as a more politically 39:38 stable country in the region. There are still 39:42 issues-especially in the cities. I mean, any big 39:44 city in the world has issues. We praise the 39:49 Lord for relative peace right now in the country, 39:52 so we want to do as much as we can while we can. 39:54 - Amen. So Melody, you're involved with the medical 39:57 work there, or...? What are you doing with Desert 40:01 Tree Ministries? - Well, at first, when I came 40:05 over there, I worked at the hospital and I really 40:08 enjoyed that. Then, at the same time, I was 40:11 getting to know Jonathan. The next year, in 2010, 40:16 we got married. After that, I was home a lot, 40:21 trying to help with lots of projects around there. 40:25 We were doing construction and various 40:27 things. Now, we have two children. We have 40:32 a 5-year-old, Gideon, and a 3-year-old, Liliana. 40:35 - Do you live in a home with no electricity? 40:40 - At first, we lived in what we called a hut, 40:43 but it was pretty nice. Now, we live in a bigger 40:48 house, and we have solar panels, batteries, 40:51 a fridge, and freezer, so we're very blessed. 40:55 - Amen. What is it like for women in Chad? 40:59 - It's very difficult there, too; not quite 41:04 as bad as Congo, probably, but they're extremely 41:07 poor people. The women are bought for... When 41:13 you want a wife, you buy a wife. They're often 41:16 seen as a possession to take care of the kids, 41:21 to cook... There's isn't a good relationship 41:24 almost all the time between the husband and wife. 41:27 It's more like a servant, so I feel very sorry for 41:31 them. - Oh, amen. Well, at least you can model 41:33 hopefully what God intended marriage to be 41:37 like. - Oftentimes, you'll actually see Congo 41:40 and Chad on the same bottom 5 of the worst 41:43 places to be a mother or the worst places for 41:46 a woman to live, bottom 5 as far as poverty. 41:50 There's a lot of times I'll see Chad in 41:53 the news when I'm looking at Congo news 41:55 because we fit them into the same category 41:57 with some of the challenges. - So, 41:58 Jonathan, when you- we showed a couple of 42:01 pictures of your training and it was men. Are you 42:03 planning on training the women as well, or 42:05 would that be accepted in Chad? - Yes. We 42:09 would like to do some of the training for 42:11 women. In fact, we've had several women come 42:15 through various trainings; but most of them are 42:18 men. There's a practical reason for that. Women 42:21 are busy at home with all the kids. They simply 42:24 can't leave home for a month or two to come. 42:27 So if we did a women's training, we would have 42:29 to do one shorter. Another way that we 42:31 do include the women is we actually travel out 42:34 to the villages and do shorter trainings- 42:36 anywhere from two days to two weeks. Then, the 42:39 men and women can come, 'cause the women, they 42:41 just come for the day, then they can go back 42:43 to their homes to cook and wash laundry and all 42:45 that. - Give us a little of the makeup of Chad. 42:49 I mean, are we looking at- are they a nomadic 42:52 people? What do they do for a living? And what is 42:56 their religious backgrounds? - The main religion is 43:01 Muslim... Islam, and the lower part is Christianity- 43:08 is what they claim. - The southern part of 43:11 the country. - Yep. Then, of course, it's not very 43:15 pure. There's a lot of animist beliefs mixed 43:17 in all of that. - And explain for our audience, 43:22 in case someone-we mentioned this in the 43:24 first part-if they don't understand what animistic 43:26 is. - Okay. Animistic... Basically, you don't have 43:30 a view of God as the Creator. It's spirits. 43:36 "I have to appease the spirits." There's the rain 43:39 god, the fire god... There's these different- 43:42 you have to make sacrifices and you're always trying 43:45 to do something to make them happy or to please 43:48 them, so it's kind of a discouraging life- 43:51 discouraging way to live life. - How do you 43:53 reach Muslims who- I mean, reaching Christians 43:59 may be (or people who are calling themselves 44:01 "Christians") teaching them greater truths. 44:04 That seems a lot easier. But how are you reaching 44:07 the Muslims? - We're learning how to do that, 44:11 because in the past, we've been working more 44:12 with the Christian population. We've been 44:14 praying to the Lord, and He sent us a man. 44:17 We'll share more of his story really soon. His 44:19 name is JJ. He was from a Muslim background, 44:25 and now he's working with us. We'd like to 44:28 share some of his story. - Go ahead! - All right. 44:31 Maybe Melody can share. - Yeah. He grew up in 44:35 a nomadic Muslim home. As a child, he knew 44:40 how to walk hundreds and hundreds of miles, 44:42 following the cows, searching for grass. 44:45 This was his life. He didn't know anything 44:48 about Christianity until he was- - We brought a picture. 44:52 Don't we have a picture of him with the cows? 44:54 - Yes. There's a picture of the cows. - This 45:01 was how they traveled. They have lots of cattle; 45:05 that's what they do for a living. When he became 45:09 a young adult, he decided he wanted to 45:13 find out a little bit about Christianity. So 45:16 he went to a church and he listened from the 45:19 outside of the church to the service. After a 45:22 few weeks, he talked with the pastor. He 45:25 learned about how Jesus had died for his sins. 45:27 He was just so touched, and he decided he wanted 45:32 to be a follower of Jesus. - Amen! - So 45:35 after this, he went back to his home. He had a 45:38 wife and two kids. His father-in-law was so 45:42 angry with him for becoming a Christian 45:45 that he took his wife away from him and 45:50 gave her to another Muslim man and said, 45:53 "I will not let my daughter be married 45:56 to a pagan!" That was his view. He also tried 46:00 to kill JJ a number of times. One time, he 46:04 had a wooden club that he lifted above his 46:07 head, and he was going to bring it right down 46:10 on JJ's head. It just got stuck in the air. 46:14 He could not bring it down. He tried and 46:18 tried with all his might, and he just 46:21 started trembling. JJ, he was fearless. 46:24 He just stood there and he said, "You cannot 46:25 hurt me 'cause God is protecting me." And 46:29 finally, the father-in-law just had to give up. 46:31 On another occasion, they were out in the 46:34 bush. Actually, JJ was probably following the 46:37 cows, and all of a sudden, his father-in-law shows 46:39 up with a bow and arrow. He pulls it and he's 46:44 going to shoot JJ, but he pulls it back and he 46:47 cannot let go. With all his strength, he cannot 46:50 let go of that arrow. Literally, for 30 46:53 minutes, he tried and tried to shoot JJ. JJ 46:57 just stood there. He said, "You cannot hurt 46:59 me 'cause God is protecting me." Finally, 47:01 the father-in-law fell to the ground in 47:03 exhaustion after trembling. JJ just 47:07 kindly walked up to him, picked him up, 47:09 and said, "God forgive you." It was really 47:14 hard for him. Very sadly, the father-in-law did 47:18 poison the 6-year-old son of JJ and he died. 47:22 JJ was away on a trip and he came back and 47:25 found out about this. The father-in-law took 47:28 his baby and threw it in the thorn bushes. JJ 47:32 rescued his baby and he fled. He could not 47:35 stay there any longer. He had stayed, trying 47:38 to get his wife, but he realized he had to leave. 47:40 He walked for three days, carrying his baby 47:43 that had no clothes on, and finally, he found 47:48 a missionary family in N'Djamena. This 47:50 family kindly watched over his son while he 47:54 went to Nigeria and became an evangelical 47:57 pastor. After that, he came back and got 48:02 his baby again. - Praise God. So, he is now a 48:06 pastor? Is it his heart's mission to reach 48:14 the Muslims? - Mhm. - Yeah. So now, years 48:18 later, he came to our village (which was 48:20 where we came into contact with him). He 48:22 went through our training course, he 48:23 learned about all the truths that he had 48:25 questions about but nobody had been able 48:27 to explain to him. Recently, he was 48:30 baptized with his wife and his nephew and 48:33 his nephew's wife. Their ministry now is reaching 48:36 out to their people. He has a medical 48:39 mystery with the people who come to the hospital. 48:42 He translates for them and kind of helps them 48:44 out. He's also going once or twice a month 48:46 on the motorbike, over 200 kilometers, out- 48:50 they're nomadic people, so he has to go out 48:52 and find where they are. Beginning to work 48:55 with them. We have a picture, also, of the 49:00 little church that's been built. It's a 49:02 little grass structure; nothing much yet, but 49:06 it's a start. The Adventists work among this tribe. 49:09 It's very exciting to us to see he has this 49:14 passion to reach his people for... - And I 49:16 think- is he in this picture? We'll put that 49:18 up now. - Yeah. There's a picture of the huts 49:21 with a group of people there. We can see our 49:24 family. - Is this him? - Yes. That's JJ and 49:28 his wife and some of their kids, then our 49:30 family, of course. We were just there a few 49:32 months ago and got to see this and actually 49:35 worship with them together on Sabbath 49:36 morning. - Praise the Lord. Okay. Well, we're 49:38 getting close to the end of the program. We 49:40 want to put your address up. Barry, 49:43 now, you and Tammy are... - Oh... Keith. - I mean 49:47 Keith. Excuse me. Barry's your daddy. I'll get 49:49 confused here. Keith, you and Tammy will 49:52 be going to Chad to join Melody and Jonathan 49:56 in a number of months just because you can't 49:59 stand not to be working and reaching the people 50:02 in Africa, right? Well, we just want to thank 50:05 you so much for what you're doing. But what 50:08 we'd like to do is, if you would like to support 50:11 the work in Chad for the Desert... What is it? 50:16 Desert...Tree! I keep wanting to say "Desert 50:19 Rain." Desert Tree Ministry, here's how 50:22 you may do so. - If the Holy Spirit 50:26 impresses you to help Desert Tree Ministry, 50:29 bring Jesus Christ to the people of Chad, you 50:32 may wish to donate online to help spread the gospel. 50:35 For more information, please visit their 50:38 website, DesertTreeMinistry.org. 50:41 That's DesertTreeMinistry.org. You may call them at 50:45 area code (507) 236-5600. Or, write to Outpost 50:52 Centers International Desert Tree Ministry 50:55 5132 Layton Lane, Apison Tennessee 37302. |
Revised 2018-11-19