Christ at work in a land torn by war and disease.
By Carlos and Yvonne Tavares
LUANDA, Angola--As we write this report Feb. 9 it is our fervent prayer that we, in the so-called First World, do not have to go through what our Angolan brethren have gone through to reach the level of faith they have in Christ.
Years of terrorist activities and civil war have left this rich, warm tropical paradise a heap of litter, disease and corruption.
On Friday afternoon, Feb. 9, 23 of us--five pastors, seven elders, 10 deacons and I--met at the newly extended church hall in Kakuako, outside Luanda.
After the deeply moving opening prayers we exchanged news of the church and delivered messages from Pastor General Joseph Tkach; Randal Dick, assistant director of Church Administration International; John Halford, European regional director; Jack Brunet, who pastors brethren in Belgium and Zaire; and Bill Bentley, a minister in Canada who formerly served in Africa and still makes visits there.
I also brought messages from the Portuguese and Spanish brethren.
We discussed the responsibilities of each congregation and the role of headquarters and the other Portuguese-speaking churches.
Everyone approved the appointment of pastor Rafael Ukuakukulo as the legal representative of the Worldwide Church of God (Igreja de Deus Mundial) in Angola.
At worship services Saturday morning, Feb. 10, I addressed the 580 members of the packed Kakuako church. I encouraged the brethren to use their spiritual gifts to build a Christian society. Afterward we ordained Samuel Cole a deacon.
Before lunch we gave each of the 156 children 6 to 12 years old a box of colored pencils and encouraged them to take part in a coloring competition.
The best efforts will be sent to Portugal to be made into a book and postcards to be sold.
The excitement this caused among them, many of whom had never held a pencil before, was such that we decided to extend the program to the older ones at the next visit.
We then had lunch, which consisted of an apple, a bread roll, a cool drink and some sweets for the children.
After lunch, while some of the young people took care of the little children, all of the women and most of the men returned to the hall to hear Yvonne's message "The Value, Worth and Purpose of the Christian Woman."
The following women were ordained deaconesses: Albertina Lareta Bonga, FelÆcia Depeta, Filipina Domingos and Brigida Nessenge.
After the service most of the women gathered in groups earnestly discussing the message and waiting their turn to speak to Yvonne.
Much later, when we finally entered the car to return to Luanda, many women came to the car, held Yvonne's hand and pleaded for her to return and encourage them again.
Maria Jose Campos, a member from Portugal who is a pharmacist, collects surplus drugs that clients don't use.
After checking the quality and validity dates, she gives them to us for distribution in Angola. Most of these drugs can only be administered by a doctor, so we delivered them to a local doctor, who later phoned to tell us that some of these drugs had already saved the life of a pregnant woman.
Sunday morning, Feb. 11, Yvonne and I returned to Kakuako and met again with the 22 leaders and spent several hours discussing practical applications of Christian principles and the organization needed to develop the church and the community.
We conducted a meeting with the church youths, and we were able to organize some inter-church sport competitions. We encouraged the young girls to take a more active part in these activities.
During my youth meeting, Yvonne met with the pastors and leaders to discuss the needs of the women and children.
We also paid a visit to the Christian Churches Congregation of Angola (CICA) and gave them a donation for the common fund.
They are interested in having Yvonne address a meeting of 300 of their women's leaders when we next visit Luanda.
During this visit we distributed funds donated by Pasadena for specific projects and distributed educational books donated by Ana Paula de Almeida, a member from Lisbon, Portugal, who lived many years in Africa. We also distributed 24 Bibles.
We presented the Portuguese translations of several items and the church's statements of goals and objectives together with the funds necessary to make 150 copies of each for distribution. The translations are the effort of Daniel and Isabel Novais, Jaime Campos and the Fernandes brothers: Daniel, Zito and Lizete.
Each copy was passed from hand to hand, and with tears of joy, prayers of thanks were given to God and to all his servants.
Dodo, our taxi driver, told us that he prayed every morning for our protection, asking God to protect these people who were doing his work. He is a member of a Pentecostal church.
God is doing a mighty work in Angola and opening doors that we could not have dreamed of. Let us submit to his will and serve our brothers there to the glory of his name.
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