God’s Miracles in Kelma

 

Our new mission is taking place in Kelma which is a village about ten miles from Bere.  This is a village that Naomi and I visited one Sabbath morning and we preached in their church.  We have been developing a relationship with the pastor there over the last few months before we left for our furlough to America.   He shared with us his desire to buy the land next to the church to start an Adventist school.  We of course started to pray and think about this.   After some time we went back and asked the pastor how much it would cost to buy the land, $500.  We felt as though that was something we could afford since there were a few donations that we got when we were in the states that the people said could be used for anything.  Our first project from the ground up.  We were very excited.

 

So this particular morning we were on our way to sign the papers for the land.  But we have heard that there is another piece of property that they want us to look at first.  When we arrived, we go around to the back side of the church and there are about 50 people waiting for us.  Many were very important chefs from the surrounding villages.   We had no idea that this was going to be such a big ordeal and so official.  After introductions and a lot of hand shaking the meeting begins.  Everyone tells us how happy they are that we have decided to put a school in their village.   We all go and take a walk to see the new piece of property.  They said that it would be only $200 more.  When we go and walk around the land Jamie takes his GPS and figures it out to be about 12 acres.  As we are walking we are in amazement that they want to give us this land.  It was too perfect, nice and flat for the children to play on.  The other piece of property was about 2 acres and had a big dug out hole in the middle of it with about 5 huts on it.  We would have had to ask the people to move that are staying there.and they have no where to go  We just can’t believe what God worked out for his people.  This land had many different trees on it and some were beautiful mango trees.  We of course tell them that this is what we want.  We sign the papers and give the $700.00 to the pastor to give to the right people.  We think that $700 is not bad for 12 acres. 

 

About two weeks later we have the official papers saying that the land is ours for the SDA School.  The pastor there says that he has done all the work paying everyone and he has a surprise for us.  He hands me an envelope and there is $400 in it!  He was able to get the land for only $300, unbelievable!  God is so good!  I just know that He is letting us know that He is with us in this project.  We know it is going to be a lot of work, but we also know what this can be if we put everything before the Lord.  We are planning on making this school the model school for all the Adventist Schools in Chad.   We want it to be the location for summer training for teachers.  Many teachers do not know how to run a school yet alone a school room in the proper way for a true Christian school.  Right now Gary Roberts, the pilot, has agreed to go to the Congo and get a couple of people that he knows that do just this, train. 

 

Jamie and I feel like reaching the children is going to be a big way of reaching the people and changing their way of thinking.  We can help be apart of teaching children the love of Christ as number one importance in education.  We can be apart of how a man treats his wife or children in the next generation.  We feel like the children here are just starving for knowledge.

 

We have many things in motion on how we are going to do this.  We have someone helping us purchase a new brick machine to fabricate really beautiful bricks.  We have a little money put aside to get this building started but we are going to need help.  We need to try and pull all of you together with us in this project and see if we can get Christian education out there.  We need you all to help us to purchase the materials that we will need.    Please pray with us about this project.  We know if we have Him as the center everything will work out. 

 

We also want to just put the option out there if anyone is in the position to be a sponsor a “One-Day School” that would definitely be a great option.  You can get more information on this at www.asiministries.org or www.maranatha.org

 

If you have any questions or comments please email us at Parkers4bere@gmail.com

 

Thank you and may God bless the mission here in Kelma!

The Good Samaritan

 

I know that I am long overdue writing a letter to everyone and I am very sorry about that.  I have sat down many times to write and the words just are not coming out right so you could say that I have been having writer’s block.  But the event that happened this morning must be written.

Jamie left this morning to go to Moundou to get several things accomplished.  The administrator of the hospital was going with him along with four others that had business to take care of in the same direction so they were catching a ride.  They all prayed together for protection before leaving.

Not far down the road there was a young boy riding a bicycle and struggling in the deep sand.  The young boy lost control of his bike  and the sand pushed him in the middle of the road.  Jamie was driving and swerved toward the left side of the road to avoid the out of control bike.  But it was unavoidable, Jamie hit the boy and his body flew up into the windshield.  The sound of the body crashing into the van raised the fear in everyone that he must be dead.  The van stopped immediately and all the doors flew open.  Jamie was thinking that everyone was going to check on the boy but instead everyone ran into the bush.  The people here know that if there is an accident and someone dies, that the local people will beat the person that was driving.  Many people came running out with sticks but the chef of the village was there and told them not yet, the boy was still alive.  Jamie standing there alone trying to help the boy, not knowing the language of all the people shouting.  He got help enough to get the boy into the van and the other passengers joined back in once they saw that their lives were no longer in danger. 

Jamie returns to the hospital with the boy and gets him right into the preoperative room to be checked out immediately by Dr. Olen.  The amazing part of the story is that the boy seems to be fine.  He is staying here for observation but there is nothing really wrong with him.  His leg hurts a little and the back of his head but he has no cuts and seems to be fine.  Praise the Lord!  Because by the pictures of the van you would never think that he would be ok. (picture below)

When Jamie came home to tell me the story I could hear the disappointment in his voice about how everyone just left him and he was the only one that stayed to help the boy.  It just reminded me of the good Samaritan story.  He was the one that stayed and helped even if his life could have been in danger. 

I am very proud of my husband for his courage.  It is at times like these that you can see the true character of people.  He didn’t even think twice about running.  He knew that someone needed his help and it was the right thing to do.  We hope that the way Jamie dealt with this situation can be a witness for God.  Maybe for those in the car or those in the village or for the stories that were told at the hospital all day.  May all praise be to God for the good that He has done today!