In the Heart of the Congo

I am so in love with the story of 3 generations of a missionary family right now and how God worked and is working through them. 

My friend Rebekah invited me last Thursday to a free concert to benefit their ministry, which is evangelizing to people in the Congo in Africa. Her boss gave me a book as we were leaving that one of the children in this family wrote about her family and her experience growing up there.

To quickly summarize, in 1938 a man named Laban Smith was a dentist in Grosse Pointe. His wife died suddenly of a brain tumor and he was devastated. He wandered into a little chapel and a woman preacher shared the story of Christ with him. His heart was filled, he was amazed at what he had found, and proceeded to tell everyone that sat in his dentist chair about the salvation and hope he had found in Christ. 

: )

He ended up marrying that preacher woman's daughter, and they ended up moving to the Congo in Africa a few years later to spread the word! He wrote in his journal that he asked God to let him help bring 10,000 souls to know God. About 5 years later this had happened! Sadly he died not long after, and his wife Marcella and 2 boys moved back to Detroit. The ministry continued, and she would go back sometimes for shorter periods. They opened a bible institute for people there to be trained to share their faith with their own people.

Years later their son Jim, his wife Nancy and their 4 children moved to the Congo and they lived there for many years, raising their family there. They are pretty much in the middle of nowhere, 6 hours to the nearest hospital, no decent roads. But miraculously they were able to get a 300 ft. radio tower erected that reaches across 2 countries and shares the love and truth and encouragement and hope of Christ in the native language. They also currently give out little solar-powered radios to people that may listen. And they are also  in the process of trying to build a hospital in this area.

Here are some of the evils thousands of people in Congo have been delivered from:

the darkness of cannibalism

the darkness of various forms of witchcraft

the darkness of murdering through food poisoning

the darkness of child sacrifice

the darkness of worshiping manure

the darkness of visiting cemeteries to call evil spirits out of dead bodies for protection

the darkness of the myriad faces of idolatry

the darkness of trying to please the spirits of their ancestors by dancing 3 days straight

the darkness of offering the poison cup to determine guilt or innocence in that person's life

It's kinda crazy to think that there are still people out there sacrificing children! I always think of that as being something from long ago. And this family is actually SEEING these kind of people transformed by the word of God and the message of Jesus Christ.

They told a few recent stories at the concert I went to. Just weeks ago at an event they were having in the Congo they said 110 police showed up holding huge machine guns. Just by default of being there, they listened to what was preached that day. And at the end 60 of them said they wanted to accept Christ as their savior!

Another story was a handful of police walked into their area and they were very concerned. They knew they must have walked many many miles and wondered what on earth could have warranted their visit. It was simply that they were hearing how people's lives were being changed and they wanted to experience it too!

So awesome. These people give up most of the comforts we are used to here, but I can't imagine the joy and wonder they must experience each day of so closely seeing God's hand at work.

The book also had many very funny stories in it. Like Coca Cola was a rarity, and if they were able to get a case they would ration it out and sometimes the whole family would share a bottle just having a few sips each. But then they got a chimpanzee and it loved the pop and they couldn't hide it from him. She said they hid it in the attic and found him up there sitting surrounded by empty bottles sucking them down, hahahah.

My friend Rebekah is going to have the parents of this family over for dessert soon and asked if I would like to come. You know how after you read a book sometimes and its over you're sad and you wish it was real? I feel like I get to go hang out with the characters in a novel! I can't believe they're actually real, haha. It would be so cool just to hear the stories I'm sure the must have.

For a few days after I went to that concert and was reading that book I can't even explain the feeling of elation I got just thinking of the whole situation. Thinking of all those people being saved from such darkness and horror and hopelessness. 

And all because God chose and gave enough courage to one little family, placing them in the heart of Africa with a desire in their hearts to share what they had found. With people who may never have had the chance of hearing it. 

I feel blessed to be able to give to this ministry, even if it be in a small monthly donation. To help them do the amazing work they do that's impact is so important and so everlasting.

1 John 2:8
Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.

Romans 8:6 (Amplified Bible)

Now the mind of the flesh [which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit] is death [death that comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter]. But the mind of the [Holy] Spirit is life and peace [both now and forever].

This is their site: http://labanministries.org/

And the book: http://www.amazon.com/Congo-Vignettes-Stories-Faithfulness-Generations/dp/1933876034/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257857415&sr=8-1

(On a sidenote I just have to share that I always wonder if I will end up doing something in Africa someday. When I was Israel, we were in a hotel on the Sea of Galilee. Late one night I was out on my balcony praying. At the end of my praying, and I even wrote this in my journal, I got this very clear picture in my head, like I was looking down on Africa and then zoomed up and away from it, kinda like the Google Earth app, hahah. The landscape reminded me of how it looked in the movie Gorillas in the Mist. I just thought it was kinda bizarre how it came out of nowhere, i was not thinking about Africa or anything related to it. So I guess someday we'll see! I would imagine it would be something much later in life if it is to ever happen.)