When Teach All Nations was invited back to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to hold our third pastors’ and leaders’ conference in the city of Bukavu, Delron asked Peggy to come with him and use the trip as an opportunity to travel with Redeeming Love Ministry’s director Julie Mapatano to visit a humanitarian project that we help support in the village of Luwindja – feeding over two hundred fifty children each day. Prior to initiating the project, the children would often faint in the classroom from lack of nourishment. Peggy said that the children were filled with overflowing joy even though they were given only a plastic mug of porridge! Since Julie started this once-a-day feeding, the students are visibly healthier and their teachers say that they were doing so much better in their studies. Looking into the faces of these little children, Peggy was reminded of Matthew 25 – “I was hungry, and you fed me” – and realized that it was happening right before her eyes. In addition to having the opportunity to help serve the porridge and distribute school supplies, she was also privileged to minister in the local church where she shared on freedom from fear – a topic that certainly was relevant among those who have many fears after having suffered so much from civil war, hunger, poverty, and oppression.
When we first arrived in Bukavu, we literally “hit the ground running” in that we stopped at the hotel only long enough to drop off our luggage and hurried to the Filadelphia Church where we walked in just in time for the Sunday morning service to begin. Delron had been invited to preach at this church since the pastor had to be away at the dedication of a new church building across town. As soon as we closed the service, we rushed across town and arrived at the dedication service just in time to be the final delegates to greet the congregation and congratulation them on the completion of the construction. The following morning Delron began the two-day pastors’ conference which drew several hundred delegates including pastors, evangelist, and other church leaders from the city and surrounding areas. One special highlight was the opportunity to give each delegate a copy of Delron’s just-released Maximum Impact in Swahili. Each evening, we held meetings that were open to the general public. Delron ministered one evening on “Why?” – a lesson that gave biblical answers to many challenging questions that we face in life. One really amazing thing happened during the sermon. When he turned to a group of children who were sitting in the front of the auditorium and asked them if they knew why Samson was so strong, one ten-year-old girl responded that he was a Nazarite – a surprising knowledge of the scripture for a person of any age, especially in a third-world country! Peggy shared one night on “Getting over Offences” – a message that truly resonated with the people as the majority of the congregation stood for prayer.
