Greased Wheels and a Mission River
Through our giving, we’re helping the church grow not only locally but also in areas we may not have heard of.
Brazilian missionaries Delmar and Natieli Reis (pictured with baby, Clara) are serving in Albania and running an urban center of influence because you give
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hen I met Nguerabaye, I was struck by the ritual cuts heavily scarred into his face, a reminder of his heritage and former life. Beads of perspiration lubricated his skin, made leathery by the hot African sun. A Global Mission pioneer, Nguerabaye was working in Moissala, a town in southern Chad. He was on a mission to share with the people of this town the good news about a Man named Jesus who could bring them peace, joy, and salvation. In tough, unwelcoming conditions, Nguerabaye—a married man with four children—was planting a new group of believers. He had already led nearly 50 people to baptism. Among those new believers, I met former prostitutes and alcoholics who had found new lives through Jesus. Nguerabaye told me how he and his Global Mission partner had been treated as if they were animals. Mistaken for an occult group, they weren’t even permitted to buy produce at the market. But they just kept praying. A boy in town had severe mental health challenges and was tied down with chains. The two pioneers came and prayed for him. After three days, he came to his senses and asked to be released. “I’m not sick, I’m healed,” he said. After his full recovery, the people of Moissala decided the pioneers were magicians. I then discovered that through some glitch in the system, Nguerabaye had not received his modest living stipend for more than 12 months. I was shocked. Global Mission pioneers sacrifice enough without this type of neglect. But at no stage did he complain to me about his situation. Finally I asked him how he and his family were surviving, and he simply said, “It is hard.” “Why have you kept working?” “I want to free people from guilt by telling them about the blood of Jesus.” On Sabbath morning, hundreds of townspeople gathered to hear the gospel preached. Nguerabaye,
