One of our faithful local donors recently opened a bread factory, and they agreed to donate 250 loaves of bread weekly for the kids! The manager of the milk company made a special personal donation of food for the children, for which, needless to say, they were so very thankful, especially since it included some goodies which they don’t normally get.

All students completed their term examinations before going on Easter holiday. This school break enabled us to make a push with the construction and get the needed paper work for the ambulance.

As mentioned earlier, thanks to the generous help of many friends, the French translations of the STEPS Program has been completed and is in the final proofreading stage. We made BETA DVD copies which we have been distributing to teachers and individuals involved in teaching children. There is a great vacuum for this type of material which is virtually inexistent in Congo. We can see the need to get this material printed eventually, which would ensure a wide distribution, as only few people have the use of a personal computer and printer, which the DVDs require. We have a few potential sponsors towards this educational project, please pray for it.

Justine, Sunday School teacher, so happy to be receiving the STEPS Program in French!

We had another baby boom this month, beautiful babies and very thankful mommies for the donation of baby clothes they received.

The balcony railings were installed this month for the medical center, as well as all the plumbing. Progress also on the electrical set up. We started tiling all the rooms and will work on the septic tanks next.

Balcony to medical center

Plumber installing water pipes in medical center

6           Ambulance

We made the last payment on the ambulance, using some reserve funds so as not to delay things while still hoping for a couple more donations. We then got all the paper work in order, had ambulance stickers made, and drove it to Kikimi via a new road that we found, that avoids the part of the Mokali road which has been blocked off. What a victory! A big thank you to SONAS for their generous help with the insurance.

Gino and Theo in front of ambulance

Perfect to transport patients on a stretcher

7           Youth Ministry

We’ve been teaching eschatology classes every Sunday to our Bible students, to prompt them to search the Scriptures in the face of the many wild assumptions that have been circulating on the internet here in Congo about the so called “End of the Planet” and other false teachings about the endtime. We’ve gone through Matthew 24, the book of Daniel and will end with Revelations in the upcoming weeks, using the writings of Scott McGregor and the videos made by Christopher Glen and Mark McMillion, our goal being to give these young people a solid foundation in these key chapters, without speculations. The response has been great so far, as they are fascinated by the subject.

Eschatology class: A study of Daniel 2

A 3 day retreat/seminar was held in April for the new graduates of our Bible course. Our youth leaders organized the whole thing under our supervision and did a great job. We’ll be sending a separate testimony about it all.

Retreat attendees

“Sometimes you can’t immediately see the good that comes as a result of difficulty or suffering. It takes time before the good appears, because it is like a seed under the ground. You have to wait and watch before you see shoots appear aboveground—the fruit of the seed. A tree takes longer to sprout than a blade of grass, but it’s worth the wait.”