Pakistan

Dear Brethren,

I am forwarding a report to you from Peter Akeck, a young man in his early 30's, who has been serving a group of people from Congo since September '05. We had been contacted through our website by two pastors in a Refugee Camp in Western Tanzania. 56 thousand people had been in the camp since 1996. Peter visited the camp every thee to four months, teaching in seminars and overseeing discipleship courses that scores of leaders undertook. They devoted two days per week to being taught the apostles doctrine. We provided the curriculum materials from our ministry - see our website: www.revivalministries.org.au

Over 300 leaders would attend Peter's seminars, over 65 brethren graduated from the first year discipleship course and over 20 completed the three years of discipleship training. The camp was closed down in late October '08, and all the people repatriated to eastern Congo [formerly Zaire], During the time that Peter was visiting the camp, he clothed naked teenage girls in the camp; we were able to sponsor over 200 children to stay in High School in the camp - the school fees were $1 US per month, but the main task was for Peter to provide manuals and books and even pencils and writing pads to facilitate the teaching of the word of God. One of the pastors, Samuel, could read English so he was translating material into Swahili as he taught week by week.It was this Samuel that Peter went to meet in Congo.

Peter left his home on 12th January and arrived back home a few days ago.

The report speaks for itself.

 

Dear Apostle Paul and mom Janet, and the Shiloh Company,

Greetings in His name. I am back from the Democratic Republic of Congo[DRC],where I was sent by apostle Paul Galligan to follow up on the brethren we trained at the refugee camp in Tanzania and see how they are doing in the Lord and in the apostolic. Dad Paul, am grateful for having faith in me to send me to represent not only you but also the Messiah in this awesome high calling and ministry. He has called us with. I did my best to walk worthy of the calling with which I am called, in all lowliness and gentleness, in meekness and long suffering.

To begin with, I really felt a strong need to take along with me a travel companion, one of my Timothys, Linus, who has been very keen in the apostolic besides worship, for I considered that the journey would be warmer in so doing. The two of us started off on Monday the 12th. It was safe and smooth all the way to Uvira, the local town where Samuel was waiting for us.
Congo is a nation with many sides. One of the things we immediately realized upon arrival is that life is very expensive in Congo. The local currency has almost collapsed and so they use US dollars to buy and sell and pay debts. Hotels are expensive an average room costs 20 USD per night.
Transport from one place to another in Congo is a nightmare and very expensive as the roads are extremely terrible. I remember when we travelled from Uvira to Baraka to meet other pastors interested in the apostolic,it was a distance of 90 km but it took us 7 hours, we crossed over 20 rivers and streams[in some cases the bridges are totally not there and so the van drives through the mighty torrents like a ship across.In other cases, there were only two bars and the driver has to be careful enough to run the wheels on the bars] and fare was 8 USd per person for the team of 5 of us[we had Samuel and 2 other pastors with us] who were traveling.A simple breakfast costs 2.5 USD and lunch is a minimum of 5 USD per person.

The living standard of the people, on the contrary, is so low as unemployment is over 95%,despite the richness in resources. On the  first day, We met Samuel with 2 other leaders, one of whom was a senior minister who had several churches under him and was also the chairman of the pastors association in Uvira. He was of great help and very useful contact to us as he was very willing to receive us and opened his doors for the apostolic.

Samuel is still largely a stranger, having been away for over a decade, and still does not know how to pick his way very well in Congo. But the Pastors' chairman was very instrumental and I asked Samuel to start by serving him in his churches, teaching and re-discipling his leaders in all the branches. I also asked the pastor to introduce Samuel to other pastors so he can train in their places. I shared with them for two days and then we left for another town, Baraka, where I again met other pastors and leaders. Our meeting in Baraka was interrupted by the Catholic church who had given us the premises and the following day, we moved the meeting to one of the leaders' home. Basically, I took my time to correctly introduce the apostolic and share on very basic things, and also introduce ourselves and Samuel, as a competent apostolic teacher, capable of doing the work in our absence and on our behalf to an appreciable level. The response was awesome. The apostolic was a new message and they were very delighted to hear it. Most of them would have loved us to stay longer.

We bought meals for the leaders in the meeting to keep them awake us some of them were drifting away in sleep due to hunger.

The life people live in South KIvu region of Congo where I was seems to be worse than living in a refugee camp. The police collect bribes openly at every check point[and they are numerous] and this is what they consider as salary since some of them have not been paid for over 2 years. There is no clear law to be adhered to and the land is largely lawless. For example, after paying visa fees at the border[50 USD each],we again were told to pay 20 USD each to the Ministry of Internal Security for our protection. Our passports got confiscated when we objected and we had to pay to get back our passports. This was not receipted anywhere. The army raided a rich man's house to rob him of money in broad daylight since even the army do not receive regular salaries. There was a terrible conflict between the people and the soldiers over the raid and the town of Uvira turned into a bloody battle ground for a whole day and night with terrible gunshots in the streets. For the first time in my life, I saw a soldier shoot dead a civilian who was demonstrating. We were in the restaurant having dinner when this happened and had to later walk 300m to the Guest house. However if one was not demonstrating, it as ok and so our lives were not in any danger at all and do look forward to a next trip in the near future.

Still, it was a blessing to have a team member with me to experience these together. You do not go into Congo to look for peace. You go there to take peace. The storms are high in Congo but God lifts us above the storms. We always prevail, like the ark of Noah, over the destructive floods. It is the storms, the battles, the challenges, that catapult us up into the grace. It is time for the King to be declared all over Congo. The people are so friendly and welcoming. The doors are so open that the intimidation of the enemy cannot hold us back. The land is ours and in the name of the Messiah, we are well able to take it. We trust we will go back at the soonest possible opportunity, either in late May or June. They are set for apostolic seminars in 3 centers that we went into,i.e Uvira own, Mboko town and Baraka town. In the next trip, even if I have to travel alone due to financial strains,there will be need to reserve 10 days for seminars in these places.
On our way back, we took 2 days in Bujumbura reconnecting to some old contacts I knew. It was great to meet them and share with them briefly the apostolic revelation. I took 2 days in Kampala trying to reach to Pastor Okello from Lira [this man had made contact with Revival Ministries and we had referred him to Peter - as happens sometimes he was not reliable to follow through even though Peter went out of his way to make arrangements with him] but he never communicated nor came. So I decided to return to Kenya. I arrived back on Saturday and was glad to testify to the saints at Pioneer Apostolic Centre, our ministry base here in Kakamega, of all that the Lord had accomplished through us in Congo.
God bless you dad and mom and all the faithful in this company.
Peter Akeck.

 

We admire Peter's courage and the grace that God gives him to travel into dangerous places, to teach the hungry pastors [and literally feed them] and to bring back the report of ' Joshua and Caleb'.

Grace and peace.

Paul Galligan