On Friday at 4:33 AM, our missionary, Brother Jean Itoko and myself left Mbandaka by motorcycle, on our way to Bolomba, located 301 km (187 miles) away. The purpose was to visit some of our libraries in that remote area, and to hold a meeting with the ministers and pastors of the area in order to establish the VGR librarian in Bolomba.
After three hours on the road, we had a serious accident when we had to stop suddenly because the bridge in front of us was cut off. Applying the brakes so abruptly made us fly over our motorcycle, but thanks be to God, we were able to get back on the road right away. For us, to be able to keep going without any injury was a confirmation that the Lord was with us.
We headed toward the territory of Bikoro, to verify the condition of our library located there. When we arrived, we found our brother, the librarian Adrien Mongo, busy at work. The library consists of an old building with two rooms, rented for $5.50 per month.
These are a few pictures of our library in Bikoro:
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From there, we rode our motorcycle toward the territory of Ingende, where we found a group of brothers who listen to the tapes with the church of the librarian. They bought a small piece of land and built a beautiful little house of two rooms for the VGR library. They operate simply by the grace of God. Below are a few pictures of the Ingende library:
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After spending the night in Ingende, we crossed the river Ruki on a dugout canoe at 6:00AM to continue our journey.
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We entered a beaten path of 27 miles in length and only 6 inches wide, all the way to Bolomba. There is just no word to describe precisely all the trouble and misery we had to go through that very narrow and all twisted badly-kept path, through the slippery mud. After crossing a second river, the river Likelemba, this completed our journey to Bolomba. An invisible force was certainly leading and holding my motorcycle handlebar. The Lord kept us safe and sound.
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We arrived on Saturday. The meeting to hold the vote for the librarian was scheduled for later that week, so we took the next few days to visit the churches of the area. It was a difficult spot to be, where there is no cooperation among the churches, so we made sure to lodge in a neutral place. We had a warm welcome everywhere as VGR representatives, and they allowed us all the time we needed to tell them the purpose of our trip.
We chose the theme used by Brother Joseph Branham for the Agapao Tour: Love and Unity!
We showed them with love that when Brother Branham went beyond the curtain of time, it was not all these doctrinal things separating them that make you reach that place, but Perfect Love, the Holy Spirit.
And with little simple examples of the Message, the Lord broke the barriers. He did it to such a point that on the day of the meeting, a group of sisters from the churches got together to prepare a meal for the meeting attendees. The brothers came united as one family.
I would not know how to tell you how we felt when we saw that happened. On the day of the meeting, 71 brothers came from 18 churches.
Ten candidates accepted to present their nomination for the position and to work with Brother Joseph Branham. After the election process, one brother was chosen among all others.
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After the meeting, we took the time to train our new librarian.
On Sunday, at 5:00AM, we crossed the first river and took our way back through our 27-miles long and 6-inches wide beaten path.
Right in the middle of the forest, the way was blocked by some trees that fell across the path because of the wind and rain. We did not know what to do, then, all of a sudden, appeared two young boys and a young girl, coming from nowhere. They were running behind us and told us they knew that we would not be able to go through that spot. They helped us and we managed to get through.
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We continued our journey, stopping in a church along the way since it was Sunday, going all the way to Ingende where we had our first breakdown. We spent the night there. On Monday morning, we headed back on the road and made it back to Mbandaka by 4:00PM in the afternoon.
How glad we were to suffer for our blessed Lord and His precious Message!
May the Lord richly bless you,
Your brother in Christ,
Eale Nkongi Don
VGR Mbandaka, DRC