Monday, April 7, 2008

News from Gabú

Gabú is one of the 8 regions in Guinea-Bissau and it’s also the name of a city in the center of that region. It’s in the interior, in the middle of a very strong Muslim area. We have some Brazilian friends who work on a Youth with a Mission (YWAM) base there. They were in Bissau this past weekend and they had some stories for me!

The people who work at the YWAM base and the people in the discipleship training classes at the base have been doing tons of stuff in the community. A week or so ago one of the Guineans who is in their discipleship training class was out in the city of Gabú telling people about what Jesus did in his life. While he was talking he said that all people sin and the only way to have forgiveness from that sin is though Jesus. Word of what he was doing somehow got to the regional authority and they came to the YWAM base and told them that from now on no one from YWAM or associated in any way with YWAM could say those things about Jesus in or around the city of Gabú.

A few days later a Christian man was grabbed outside of a church in Gabú and badly beaten by some people that he didn’t know. After that those people went on the radio and said that that’s what happens to Guinean Christians.

Needless to say the mood amongst the missionaries in Gabú has been a little down lately. About a week ago a group of missionaries from YWAM went to a little beach on a river outside of Gabú for a day to relax. They brought some of the people who are in the discipleship classes with them. I heard the story of what happened in Creole, so some of it is a little bit difficult to translate, but basically one of the Guineans who was with them fell into the water. I am not sure if he hit his head before he fell or if he hit it on something under the water, but he was unconscious. Another group of people from the YWAM base was walking along looking at fish and thought that they saw a foot in the water. One of the guys dove under and pulled on the foot. He dragged the guy out of the water. It was the guy from the YWAM base and by this point he had been under water for about 20 minutes. He was dead when they pulled him out. They yelled and all of the other people came running. They tried to resuscitate him, but they couldn’t. They worked on him for a while and then they stopped because they knew they couldn’t do anything.

All of the people from YWAM started praying. Their prayers got louder and louder and they were asking God for a miracle. After some time passed all of a sudden the guy started breathing and opened his eyes. God had literally raised him from the dead. You don’t see that everyday.

It was a powerful reminder to them when things seem their worst God is still able to do His best. When we can’t do anything, He can. Sometimes life seems like complete crap, but our God raises the dead! It’s just amazing to me that a God like that wants to know me!

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