Acts church in action

9.25.08

I always love it when life imitates Scripture, and when I read from the word of God, and see all the things around me as a 3-D picture of His word. God's Word is ALIVE and REAL!

From the moment we first met the church in Archenland, I noticed that there was something different about them that was different from most churches I've seen.

Though they are few, it seems their faith is as strong as hundreds and thousands of men. Many times I have prayed for a faith like theirs. But I am seeing that that kind of faith does not come so easy. In fact that kind of faith only comes after many trials, hardships, and persecutions, that I can't even begin to imagine myself going through, and somewhat thankful I haven't had to.

But these believers face these trials the moment they said YES to Jesus, and NO to any other beliefs, traditions, or religions their families, and well their entire culture practices. And they will continue to face these trials until they break down, renounce their faith, or die standing up for Jesus.

There have been some who've fallen under the pressure and turned back to their old practices. Some are hiding, afraid to admit publicly that they believe in Jesus. But others have remained faithful, and are willing to keep following Jesus, and to keep telling others about Him, no matter what it takes.

Just as the 1st church in Acts did, these believers meet together, to spend time with each other and eat together. Worship God, study His word and pray together. And I see them becoming more united through it. And I see it making them stronger as individuals and as a whole.

During these last couple weeks especially, I have seen this story, and example of the Acts church come to life, in the way the church came together for a fellow brother.

For some time now our crafter, Andrew, has been going through some tough times of testings. From series of illnesses, to death, and even persecution.

For about a week he was sick and was not able to work, meaning he was not able to make money so his family could have food to eat. At this time the crops haven't come in yet, and the crops from last year are all gone. In the midst of all that his wife, his son, his brother, and his nephew, were also sick.

Many people in Andrew's village believe in getting help from fetishes, spirits, or some type of voodoo, for food, medicine or other things. Since Andrew has become a believer he has stopped going to those things. But because of that people have refused to help him out with food or medicine, saying "if he refuses to get help from the idols, then he can't get help from anything else".

Well since seeing Andrew's trials, Pastor Sam was burdened for him, and though he didn't have much money of his own he took Andrew to see a doctor, and paid to get the medicine he needed. Andrew eventually became better and was able to work again. His son also recovered from his sickness.

The rest of the family, however, were not getting better. Sometime later we found out his nephew had passed.

As for Andrew's wife, she has had a condition for a while now that her health has always been a constant issue. Recently she's been battling many things, from stomach pain, to fatigue, to whole body aching, and other things... that she was getting so sick that she hasn't been able to breast feed their baby girl who is beginning to look a little malnourished.

And for Andrew's brother, the first time we met him in June he was already sick, but not too long after that we were told and saw he was better, or at least improving. Sometime later though he went into the Capital and either his condition got worse, or he acquired something that made him terribly sick.

Well just this last Tuesday (Sept. 23rd), the doctors in the Capital said that they couldn't treat him anymore, and that he needs to go back to Archenland and see the doctors there. So as he was on his way, someone called Andrew to let him know to meet him at the hospital. As Andrew was getting up to leave, his wife suddenly went stiff, then began shaking (maybe some kind of seizure) and then fell over. So Andrew called Pastor Sam, and they also brought her to the hospital just as Andrew's brother arrived.

Well the doctors here in Archenland, also said there was nothing they can do for Andrew's brother, and said to just go back to his village, (in the mountains, we refer to as The Goonies) and seek help there. Now Pastor couldn't take him because he had a motorcycle, and Andrew's brother was so sick he couldn't even sit up. So that's when Pastor called us and asked if we could take him in our truck. And so we went that Tuesday morning to the hospital to get him and that's when we found out Andrew's wife was so there.

After dropping off Andrew's brother in his village, we went back to the hospital to visit with Andrew and his wife. When we got there, Old Woman from the church, was there and had been helping Andrew out all morning.

In the hospitals here there's really no one to clean up after the sick except for their family. The doctors and nurses just provide the medicine. And when the illness can't be cured, or if they don't have the medicine there they just send the patient home, which is the case for Andrew's brother, who we think has TB.

Andrew's wife had to stay in the hospital for the night. (We think she may have malaria and typhoid fever, among other things.) Eventually Andrew's mother and sister from another village came up to help take care of his wife. And so Old Woman was able to go home. But she didn't just go home, that night she went to Pastor's house, during our nightly prayer time, and we spent a time just praying for Andrew and his family.

They were all united and shared everything they had. Whenever someone had a need, they would see to it that that need was met.

See the moment we found out all these trials were happening to Andrew and his family we began praying them constantly. But it didn't just end there, everyone single one in that prayer group put their prayers to action. Those who had money gave it to help pay for hospital and medicine costs. At one time when the pharmacies in town didn't have the medicine needed Pastor went to the next town over, where one of the believers owned a pharmacy, and as her contribution she just gave the medicine without pay. Others gave of their time, to help Andrew look after his wife while in the hospital, and others brought them food at each meal time.

Andrew's wife was allowed to go home the next afternoon (Wednesday, Sept. 24th). When we dropped her and Andrew off in The Goonies we were greeted by grateful friends and family, and many blessings and praises to God were given, for the actions and kindness they saw from us toward their family.

In this village Andrew is the only follower of Jesus. But this week they saw how the followers of Jesus come together and help each other, out of love for one another. We've heard some say that they realize "Christians do more good than all the others who believe something else". I pray in everything they saw in us this week, that what stands out is that JESUS is in us, and may they be drawn to HIM.

God blessed them and each day more were being saved and added to their number.

Another thing happened this past week that made me think of the Acts church. As all this is going on with Andrew, everyone continued to go about their days. Kacy and I have been able to find more people to talk to us about stories, and are beginning to see progress with story groups.

There's a young man here, Gideon, from a church in the Capital, who's been visiting and studying under Pastor for about a month now, and has been going around sharing Jesus with anyone willing to listen. This week one of the young men he was sharing with said he wanted to be a follower of Jesus. Praise God!

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9.29.08

One of the groups we've shared with is a group of men that sits outside a boutique. In that group, as we were talking about what we believe, and why we follow Jesus, there was a young man, Ziggy, that actually seemed sincere in his questions, and wasn't just asking to stir things up or make an argument. By the end of that meeting both Kacy and I were thinking we would like to come back and share some more stories with this man.

We came back the next day but Ziggy wasn't there.

It was about a week after meeting Ziggy the first time, when we saw him again. That's when we learned he was the same young man Gideon had shared with and lead to follow Jesus.

God truly has blessed us in-spite of trials and even through these trials. People are not just hearing about Jesus, but seeing him in the actions of the believers. People are experiencing God's love through the love He's poured out on us that enables us to love one another in that way.

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10.08. 08

Sometime after we dropped off Andrew's wife in The Goonies, she was improving little by little. But recently her illness became worse and we just found out that she is being controlled by a demon or maybe multiple demons, which is a major part of what's making her ill. The last time she was in the hospital she was having problems with one side of her body, particularly her leg, going stiff and hurting if she tried to move them. This time both of her legs are doing it. In addition to that, Andrew sees her talking to the demons and offering them food from time to time, and they're telling her she needs to get a chicken, kill it and give it to them.

The day she got worse and Andrew realized there were demons involved, he stayed up all night praying for them to leave. The next morning she was a little bit better, but the demons were still around. So he informed all of us the next day about it, and as individuals and as a church we've lifted this situation up.

But we know this type can only be cast out with much prayer and fasting. So I ask you all to join us in lifting up Andrew and especially his wife. She is not a believer and we know the only way the demons can leave her completely is if she'll trust Jesus with her life completely. Please pray she will.