FSM 346 CM/FM

12/99

Copyright © 1999 by The Family

Also in this issue: “Christmas in a Closed Country!”

The Battle Cry

‘Tis the call for all good soldiers,

Brave, strong and true.

‘Tis the call for all Christ’s soldiers;

He’s got me-how about you?

‘Tis the cry for all God’s soldiers:

Please take up the call!

For there will be great reward in Heaven,

To those who give their all.

The laborers aren’t plenteous,

But the harvest now is ripe!

There’s no time to moan or groan,

Grumble, wait or gripe.

Warfare ‘gainst the Devil’s forces

Is one of my favorite jobs—

Defeating his evil minions,

And handling his mobs.

So, to those who heed the calling:

Stand up and now enlist!

Please don’t give the Devil chance

To try to make you desist.

We don’t know if we’ll ever

From these lands return back home;

But one thing is for certain:

We will never be alone!

—Anonymous (Family member in Africa)

Our Three-Year African Faith Trip

From Philip and Meekness and family, Namibia

Africa-known as a dark, dangerous, war-torn continent, full of violence, crime, sickness and confusion … here, in the middle of it all, the Lord has given us a fruitful ministry and has performed the greatest miracles and wonders we have ever experienced. All that has happened during the last four years since we came to Africa we can only call amazing, outstanding, fascinating, exceptional, shocking and extraordinary!-And the credit for it all goes to Jesus, praise His name!

Here is our story.

Arrival in Africa

On September 15, 1995, our family (then with three children) landed in Johannesburg, South Africa. It was our first intercontinental airplane trip, and everything that came our way was amazing and different.

We had been transported to a new world. Coming from the cold north, we found the weather wonderfully hot, and the people friendly. It was a fascinating experience to find ourselves in a place where three out of every four people we passed on the street were dark-skinned. It made us feel like we were really on the mission field! We saw birds and other animals we had never seen before; we felt like we were living on a new planet. (When our toddler saw a live ostrich for the first time, he said, “Big, big duck!”)

After a few days of acclimatization in Johannesburg we went down to Cape Town, “the bottom of the continent,” where we lived for about a year. After some time in Cape Town, the Lord spoke to us about moving out, going further on and pioneering. It was an exciting idea, but we had never done it before and we had no idea what to do. As we continued praying, though, the Lord gave us faith, inspiration, and the desire to try it.

The Lord was leading us step by step, although we felt incapable and inexperienced at hearing His voice. We felt like such rough channels for Him to use! We were just learning to listen to His whispers, but our faith grew through all the miracles and wonders He performed as a proof of His love, and constant, unfailing care.

Miracles of Car and Trailer

Before leaving for Namibia, we consistently brought three needs before the Lord in prayer: a car, a guitar and a computer. In time, each of those three prayers were answered, each by a complete miracle.

A car is a necessity here in Africa; without one it is difficult, if not impossible, to get around, and we needed one to travel to Namibia. One evening, the Lord told us that He had the right car prepared for our “exodus,” and that He was going to give it to us at just the right time. Little did we know that this “Heaven-sent” car was parked just one street away!

A friend of ours who owned a car dealership had a station wagon for sale. When we approached him (seven days before our planned departure to Namibia) he said, “I can help you with a discount. How much can you afford to pay for this car?” We quoted a price. It was two-thirds of what he wanted for it, but he said, “The car is yours!” On top of that, he agreed that we didn’t have to pay him all at once, but instead could pay in monthly installments. He also serviced the car before our trip, and sent us off with a full tank of gas. What a miracle!

We also needed a trailer to move our earthly possessions. We spotted a trailer rental shop while driving through town, and we desperately prayed that the Lord would open that specific door. This was now three days before our departure.

The manager of the trailer rental listened carefully to what we had to say. We told him we were desperate and needed his help, and that we believed the Lord would bless him for giving. He asked us to return the next day, and that he would give us his answer then. With only two days left to go, how desperately we prayed that night!

When we arrived the next morning, the man was happy to see us, and said he would give us the free use of a big trailer, for as long as we needed. We were so thankful, and so excited! This man did extra service on the trailer to prepare it for the 1,500 km trip from Cape Town to Windhoek, Namibia. He also had a mechanic check the engine of our station wagon. He was friendly, and very excited that he could be a help. God bless him! He later told us that when he and his wife saw us with our kids, their hearts went out to us, and they decided to help us with whatever we needed.

And Then There Was Music!

Another miracle was how the Lord supplied us with a guitar. In the local newspaper we found a man who was selling a classical guitar. On the phone we asked if he could lower the price and give us a discount. He said he would, so we made an appointment to meet him.

At his place we started to witness to him, and told him about our upcoming trip to Namibia. We shared many testimonies from our work, and how the Lord had changed our lives and the lives of others we met. We were also able to answer his questions and comfort him concerning some personal situations.

When we were about to go and we pulled out the money for the guitar, he said, “You don’t need to pay for it. Keep the guitar and keep the money. I also have a case for it, and an electric tuner and extra strings.-You can take it all, if you want!” We were shocked, and couldn’t find enough words to thank him-and the Lord! You just go and witness, and the Lord repays you with whatever you need.

Into the Unknown

So in the middle of July 1996, we packed all our belongings-six suitcases-into the car and trailer, and headed up north to the unfamiliar (to us) land of Namibia. And that’s how our great African adventure began. All we knew was the way to get there, that the Lord was going before us, and that He would never leave nor forsake us. PTL!

Crossing the Namibian border was truly like stepping into the unknown. The landscape was so different than the one we had gotten used to in the green Cape of Good Hope. Everything here was bare, sandy, rocky-a true desert. Mini sand tornadoes whisked along the streets. (The kids called them “roly-polies.”)

The distances between towns were so great that at first we thought, “Is this the right road or what?” You drive and drive, and you’re looking for a town marked on the map, but when you arrive, it’s so small that you wonder, “Is this the place it says on the map, or did we miss something?”

From Cape Town to Windhoek (the capital of Namibia) we drove 1,500 km, and many times we tried to imagine how David Livingstone could possibly have covered the same distance with only a wagon and oxen! There were no roads at that time, and they had to cut through the thick, thorny bushes. That thought made us appreciate all we had, and see how easy the Lord made it for us to travel.

Learning about Our New Country

We had never pioneered before, and were curiously looking forward to what lay ahead. Our first night in Namibia felt very different. There were no other Family members around for us to lean on, but we felt the Lord’s presence. We knew He was our all in all; we had the God of the universe by our side!

The evening that we arrived in Windhoek, it started to rain. We later found out that this had been the first rain in years! We felt that the Lord wanted to encourage us that He had a lot in store, and that He wanted to pour out His Words on this dry and thirsty land.

Namibia is a beautiful country. The longer we live here, the more we like it! In spite of the dryness and lack of green, the landscape is beautiful. The high mountains and spectacular rock formations are breathtaking. On the coast, huge sand dunes roll down to the Atlantic Ocean, where pink flamingoes, seals and cormorants make their homes.

The weather here is sunny for approximately 350 days a year! Sometimes it gets so hot that the only reasonable thing to do is to wait for the sun to go down a little. We once left some audio tapes on the windowsill, and when we came back to get them later on, they were melted like wax!

When we first arrived, our bodies had to adjust to this dry, hot weather. Our lips and hands were cracked and even bleeding, and our noses were constantly stuffy. It was often hard to breathe and sleep. But now we are “tested nationals,” and everything works normally.

In the winter, the temperature can go below zero at night. Namibia is a desert country, so the days are hot and sunny, but when the sun goes down the temperature drops below freezing.

There is one town on the coast where the weather changes super fast. It can be nice and sunny one minute, and the next, cloudy, foggy and misty. This town is built on sand, just on the outskirts of one of the world’s largest deserts, the Namib.

Roads in Namibia are fairly good and it’s easy to travel; lots of them are gravel roads, but those are also quite nice and well kept. Traveling takes time, though, as there are sometimes a few hundred kilometers between towns. But it’s fun and thrilling, especially when you can watch huge Kudu antelopes jump across the road!

The Lord’s Instant Supply

For our first ten days in Namibia, we stayed in a four-star hotel. Again, the Lord used His heavenly ways to supply this place for us. Philip phoned the hotel and introduced himself, asking for the manager. When the secretary heard his name she said, “Oh, Mr. Philip! Did you receive my fax? I’ll put you through to the manager right away!” It was too late to explain that she had taken him for somebody else, so it was a comical conversation opener with the manager. Funny things do happen, and the Lord sure has a sense of humor! This man now helps us regularly with a free room and “royal” breakfast for our W&Rs-a real treat!

The day we moved into our first small apartment, the Lord supplied a portable stove, pots, plastic plates and silverware. (Our first dining table was the floor; the kids thought it was so fun!)

That same day we drove around Windhoek, trying to provision beds and mattresses. In the industrial part of town we found a big furniture warehouse. On the wall was a huge sign on which was written “Phil. 4:13.” That’s the reference for the verse, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me,” so we thought, “Let’s go see who’s inside!”

We approached the manager with our need and he said, “No problem!” He organized the donation of a double bed and three single beds and mattresses for us-just like that! Wow! So our first night in our little flat we had even the luxury of beds to sleep on. The Lord was supplying it all little by little, PTL!

And His Love Rained Down

We fell in love with this country, and the Lord broke our hearts for its people. Everywhere we go there is a vacuum for the Word. People respect it when you lift up the Lord. They are always eager to listen and learn more from the Word. To be a witness here, you just have to be ready 24 hours a day.

When we first arrived in Namibia, we learned that it hadn’t been raining as it should have for a few years, and that the country’s economy and people’s lives were being heavily affected. Farms were drying up, and some farmers had left their jobs. There was no grass for the animals to feed on. The economy was slowly crumbling.

We started to pray, and decided to send in a prayer request for rain as well. Just before we received our copy of the monthly Prayer List including that request, it started to pour down rain like it hadn’t done in years! There were powerful showers every day, and it rained for about two months. The Lord told us, “If you’ll pour out [the Word], I will pour in [the rain and blessings], and you will never outpour Me!” So we decided to give out the Word wherever we could. The more lit we gave out, the more rain came back down on us!

People were so happy for this rain; many times you could see them standing outside with their hands up, feeling the rain! The bells of the churches would ring whenever it would rain, ha! It was a key and opener to people’s hearts, as many believed that the rain was God’s blessing on Namibia.

Facts on Namibia

Namibia is a young, developing country. Nine years ago it separated from South Africa and became an independent country; it was formerly known as Southwest Africa. The mixture of people of many colors and races makes living and witnessing interesting and full of variety. The country itself is huge, though the population is only about 1.7 million. The official language is English, but people speak German, Afrikaans, Portuguese, and their tribal dialects of Owambo, Damara, Herero, and a few others.

Before World War I, Namibia was a German colony, and there are still many German people living here. You can feel the German influence all around. In Swakopmund, a small town on the coast, the signs and street and shop names are written in German, and people freely speak German. Because of this German influence, the country is quite neat and clean (compared to other African countries). Many German tourists come here, and tourism is one of the fast-developing businesses in Namibia.

Generally people are sociable and friendly, not as distant as people in Europe often are. They like to spend time together. A favorite form of recreation is hosting barbecues, locally called braii. Often on weekends you can see clouds of smoke rising up here and there, as people are braiing. At first we thought, “What’s the big fuss?” But how can you sit in the house when all these appetizing smells are coming from the neighborhood? So in order to become one and speak the language of the land, we started to do it too! It’s like a tradition. There are even portable braiis and mini-braiis that you can take with you when you travel. In each town there are special braii areas, where you can stop and have fun with friends and family.

Tangible, Continual Blessings

We have lived here for almost three years now, and every single day is a miracle. We feel that the Lord has given us this country and wants us to take care of it; something like the Millennial kingdom of the future. He put the burden on our hearts to give out the Word, and He said in prophecy that when we give it out, He will send it where it should go and where we can’t go.

He also said that as we take care of this, He in return will care for us! And the Lord has never failed us since we’ve been here on the field. He has supplied plenty of fresh meat, milk, eggs, fish, fruits and veggies. He takes complete care of our daily needs! Every meal we put on the table is His miracle! In all these three years we haven’t had to buy rice, canned fish, powdered milk, laundry powder, soap, toothpaste and other household goods: the Lord supplies it all through provisioning! Blessings come down almost every day! PTL!

Our Third Answer

Our third prayer request-for the Lord to supply a computer-He also answered in an amazing way. We approached the biggest computer company in Namibia. We fully put the matter into the Lord’s hands, as technically speaking they were the only ones who could help us with such a need. (The few smaller computer businesses in Namibia barely make a living for themselves.) The positive outcome was up to the Lord alone. And what He did was overwhelming!

The owner of this computer company asked us, “How can we assist you?” And then he “assisted” us with two high-speed computers, a printer, a modem, CD ROM, scanner, and just recently upgraded one of our machines. GBH! (Another man let us have free Internet access for 1½ years!)

Another Dream Fulfilled

Through outreach and witnessing, the Lord has led us to many sweet, friendly and precious people, who after time and follow-up have become faithful kings and supporters. Without them our work would be difficult, if not impossible. Many of them give as unto the Lord, God bless them!

At the very beginning, one of our friends donated a fax machine, and when we prayed about how we could use it even more effectively, the Lord laid on our heart the idea of feeding the Word to our friends and supporters through faxes. That’s how our “fax ministry” was born! Once a week we send out a Word-filled, inspirational fax to our friends, kings and sheep. It’s usually one page long, and arrives on their office desk.

One day we sent a fax on “The Blessings of Giving,” and one of our closest supporters was so touched and convicted that he phoned the next morning and said, “I liked your fax! It was very convicting. So I decided to buy you a bigger car!” A few days later he phoned us again, asking, “When do you want to pick up your new van?” It was astounding!-So here we are, driving around in our “gift car”!

This man regularly supports our work. He had already sponsored a set of ten videos for the local Children’s Home, donated paint for our house, supported various projects (witnessing trips and lit printing), and the fax machine was also a gift from him, GBH!

But most amazing is to see him changing through the Word. We try to feed him regularly with the Word, and the Endtime message is really what rings the bell! We share parts of the END with him, and also prepare special short volumes on different subjects, according to the need. When he receives the lit, he makes copies for all his workers, and then puts a copy up on the company’s bulletin board as well.

Before coming to Namibia our dream was to have friends and supporters with whom our most important link was the Word. Now that dream is coming true!

Spreading the Word Far and Wide

A year ago, the Lord laid on our hearts the need to give out meatier Word, and to pour out in all the ways we could. So by divine inspiration we created the “Correspondent Bible Study Course”!

We got the approval of the European Production Desk, and off we went to print our first batch of invitation tracts. Over 40 people so far have responded to this tract, from Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. We’ve prepared a ten-subject course in GN-size format, along with simple questionnaires. The questionnaires are “tickets” to receive the next volume.

With the fifth volume, on the subject of witnessing, we send out packages of posters and tracts for the sheep to distribute. Many of our students are now as far as the eighth volume of their Bible studies. After they finish the course we will present them with a diploma of completion, along with a Treasures and Word Basics.

It’s really inspiring to see people writing back, sending in their answers to the short questionnaires, as well as distributing posters and tracts in the faraway places we’ve never been. We can now see how a prophecy that the Lord gave us three years ago has come to pass!-He said the lit would go where we can’t go. Now we can see it happening!

Some Results of the Bible Study Course

Recently we were able to meet with one of our students, 22-year-old Stella. She loves the Word and all the Bible studies we’ve sent her, and she wants to do more for the Lord. She lives 400 km from us, and since it hadn’t worked out for her to come and visit us, one day we decided to visit her! She was so surprised and very touched that we had come so far to see her.

A friend of ours who owns a hotel in the same town gave us a room, so we had a nice place to stay, and invited Stella to visit us there. We had a wonderful time reading the Word and studying together. Stella is a faithful witness and a precious girl. Please pray that if it’s the Lord’s will, she will be able to join the Family and become a full-time missionary.

Another girl, who is a 20-year-old bank clerk, wrote the following note to us:

Thank you very much for the Gospel tracts you sent me last month. I handed them out to my friends, for themselves and to give to other people they know. Here at the bank we have a study group. I handed the tracts to everyone and they were very excited to join the Correspondent Bible Study Course. They also took some to give their friends and family. Each time I received very positive reactions, and it seems like more and more people realize they need to know Christ and accept Him as their Savior. I enjoy every volume you send me, and wish to thank you once again for giving me this wonderful opportunity in joining this Bible Study Course.

The students in our group are businessmen, office workers, teachers, nurses, soldiers, prisoners, college and university students, housewives, gas station attendants, sales managers, etc. In the near future we would like to follow up and visit all our students!

Our CTP Ministry

Every week for almost two years now, we have been distributing fresh fruit and vegetables and other items to the children’s shelter. We estimate that about 10 tons of items have been distributed there so far!

One day when we came as usual to deliver the goods, we noticed that there was a new tiny baby boy. We learned that the baby had been abandoned by his mother somewhere on the street, and a 19-year-old girl from the shelter had taken the baby in and decided to be his “mother.” We shared what we had on hand from our baby supplies: a buggy, carry cot, clothes, powdered milk, toiletries. In the shelter there are 100 children living in two small bedrooms. They sleep on bunk beds-often two by two to keep warm at night.

He Cares for His Own

Two of our children were born here in Namibia. When we searched for a hospital for the delivery, the Lord led us to a German doctor and midwife who deliver babies at home. We went this route as it was easier, more practical and much cleaner. The local hospitals are always full, and many people here are HIV positive. The dirt and rampant AIDS in Africa is something to be mindful of all the time. With each delivery, the Lord worked everything out perfectly. Usually the older children were asleep when the baby was born. PTL for His perfect timing!

Right after the delivery we couldn’t get out for much outreach or witnessing, but it was then that the Lord gave Philip the idea to distribute the videos through the “sponsorship program,” via phone. We contacted our friends and supporters with the idea of sponsoring videos for local schools or children’s homes. One morning 18 videos were sponsored in just a couple of hours. The Lord supplied again, TYJ!

A woman who oversees a house for homeless children said, “Thank you so much for those videos! I wouldn’t have ever imagined that I could get something like this for free!”

Lots of Fun on the Go!

In spite of being very busy, the Lord also makes a way for us to have lots of fun here on the field! There are plenty of amazing things to see and places to go to. On the coast are sandy mountains, saltpans (natural basins used to obtain salt by evaporating brine) and wild beaches. In the north there is a giant game and wildlife reserve; we went there a few times and saw lions, elephants, giraffes, antelopes, zebras, rhinos, and many other animals as well. In the south, there is Fish River Canyon, one of the largest canyons in the world. Further down south, 800 km from Windhoek on the coast, is a small picturesque fishing town called Luderitz. There is also an abandoned “ghost town” half-buried in the sand. Mixing it together with witnessing, wherever we go we try to take advantage of being here and enjoying the fun and interesting places.

Protection and Safety Lessons

When discussing Africa, people often ask about disease and sickness. Miraculously, the Lord has kept us from the sicknesses that are so common here, like malaria and polio. We are 100% sure it’s only by His grace! Also here on the mission field, the need for all Dad’s good health tips really comes to life. We do what we can, and the Lord does the rest! As David Livingstone said, “I’d rather be in the heart of Africa in the will of God than on the throne of England out of the will of God!”

In the three years we’ve lived here, only once did we have our car broken into. It was early on, when we had just started going on a lot of road trips to new places. We got a room at the Scouts’ house, but they didn’t have parking there, so we just parked the car on the street. A few times the Lord gave us checks to take everything out of the car, but being tired, we brushed off the checks.

Sure enough, at 4 AM someone broke into our car and took a blanket, a radio and an old camera. The Lord really had mercy on us; also in the car was a box of videos we had taken on the road with us, but it was left untouched! We learned our lesson the hard way, and we try now to be extra careful while traveling, always trying to double-check and remind each other to be on the lookout for our own security and the safety of our belongings.

Traveling with Jesus

We always stop and pray before going on long witnessing trips, visa trips, or when scouting new places. Without the Lord’s specific guidance and instruction, we feel we would get ourselves into a lot of trouble. A few times the Lord chose unexpected ways or solutions, contrary to our expectations. In times like those, all we had were His Word and His promises, which gave us the faith to proceed in the direction He showed us. Traveling keeps us on our toes all the time, desperate and on guard, praying and praising the Lord, especially when we go on long trips to some far-out places! We take all our kiddos with us when we travel (now five of them!); it’s not always easy, but it sure is fun.

Last year we went to Zambia. We packed a few thousand posters in our combi (van) and headed up north. Our goal was to give out as much lit as we could. It was a very long trip, and a few things happened on the way which completely changed our plans. Our original idea was to go to the north of Namibia, cross the border into Zambia, and zoom across to Lusaka. Whew! You can never be sure you are going to end up where you are planning to go! Here on the field, the Lord is the only sure thing.

We crossed the Namibian border and headed towards the Zambian one. But there was no bridge to get to the other side of the river, only a ferryboat. So we settled down to wait, thinking the ferry would arrive soon. Time passed, and it started getting late. We didn’t really want to travel late at night in unknown territory, as it’s like inviting trouble. Here we were, surrounded by huge trucks, all piled up at the banks of the Zambezi River. Then someone heard that the ferry was broken and wouldn’t be going that day! In a situation like that, you immediately have to take things to the Lord. It’s better not to make a move here without hearing from Him.

So after prayer, we went back to the border and headed towards Zimbabwe. Victoria Falls was just about 80 km away, so we decided to stop there. The Lord supplied a nice hotel for us, and we all had some good rest. There was a lot of tourism at this particular place, so the standard was quite high. But on this trip we also slept in small houses at the banks of the Zambezi, which people here call “death valley.” They say if malaria doesn’t get you, the lions will. We prayed desperately against danger, sickness and accidents.

Before going on this trip, we did research on malaria and had mixed opinions as to what to do. When we brought it before the Lord, He said that He would keep us, like He kept Daniel in the lions’ den. We decided not to take any drugs or anti-malaria tablets-not because we had such great faith or weren’t being careful, but because we didn’t want to give them to our small children. Malaria tablets often have bad side effects, and can make people sick and nauseous. Also, in this particular area mosquitoes are immune to those anti-malaria drugs, and can infect you anyway with a mutant strain of the disease.

What we did do was pray desperately for the Lord’s protection. We took lots of garlic with us and ate it fresh, as mosquitoes and other insects hate the smell. We took anti-mosquito sprays, lotions, “skeeter-stinkers” and repellants. After dusk we put on long-sleeved shirts and pants and put the spray on. In our rooms we killed all the mosquitoes we could find, and put the fan or air conditioner on to keep the temperature low. We also tried to carefully choose the places where we’d stay for the night. One hotel we saw was very unprepared for mosquitoes-no nets, no aircon, holes in the door and walls, etc. That is why it’s good to have some extra funds on hand while traveling, as sometimes there is no place to provision and then it’s better to pay than to wake up with bites.

In Zambia we gave out around 4,000 tracts and 4,000 posters. People were so hungry for the Word! (It reminded us of Eastern Europe a few years ago, when we did mass postering all over Poland.) Lit was going so fast; we could just put the posters in our outstretched hands and it was like self-service. One seventeen-year-old fellow came up and said that he wanted to help us give out the posters, as a way to do something for the Lord. He was a refugee from the Congo (DRC). We gave him a few coins at the end and he was very thankful.

It was amazing to see how poor the country is, how neglected and dirty, but even more amazing was to experience the people’s hunger for the Gospel. When we came back home a couple of weeks later, our PO box was full of letters. We are now sending lit packages to Zambia, for our sheep to distribute. We are praying about taking another trip further up north and giving out as much lit as we can! Time is short, and we may never again have the chance to do that.

Latest Miracle of Supply

Our van, a ‘78 model, which we had been given a year before, was starting to give us trouble, and we were not able to take it on long trips anymore. So we approached one of our supporters with our desperate need for a new car. One day he phoned and said he had “something” for us, and wanted us to pick it up at his office.

At his place, he gave us the keys to a new 1997 VW van, which he had bought for us! It’s very comfortable for traveling here in Africa (especially with five kiddos). It has a spacious bed in the back, air conditioning, car alarm, tape recorder, and plenty of space for luggage.

Our friend was very happy that we can have a better and more reliable car to “go and preach the Gospel to every creature.” He told us that he wanted to buy an expensive, fancy new van for himself, but in the end he decided to buy two “normal” vans, so we could have one too. Every time we look at this car we praise the Lord, amazed at what God can do!

In Conclusion…

Living on the mission field is fulfilling, exciting, challenging and so much fun! Our faith has grown a lot in the last four years. The Lord has more than rewarded all our efforts and sacrifices. It seems that the little we gave or tried to do, He always multiplied and blessed. Never before in our lives in the Family have we had so many thrilling experiences. We want to stay here as long as we possibly can! It’s a real miracle that the Lord has been able to use us inexperienced nobodies.

During our stay in southern Africa so far we have traveled to five countries, driven about 150,000 km, seen hundreds of wild animals, splashed in two oceans, and had two children born here. We’ve given out thousands of pieces of lit in four languages and experienced millions of miracles, both big and small!-And we are looking forward to more to come!

Much love and lots of African sun,

Philip (33) and Meekness (29), and Adam (6½), Francis (5), Benji (4), David (2) and baby Leilani from Namibia.

P.S. If you’d like to see what our backyard looks like, watch the fun documentary “Animals Are Beautiful People” (filmed in Namibia)!! Our e-mail: phlmeek@iwwn.com.na

Christmas in a Closed Country!

Our Hearing-from-Heaven Road Trip Adventure to Bulgaria

From Bulgarian Rosa

An article in END #5 said that a sociological survey had rated Bulgaria as the saddest country among 48 industrialized countries. When we read this, as Bulgarian nationals living in Hungary, the Lord put a burden on our hearts to do something for our country. After we sought Him a number of times, He showed us that He was going to open the doors for us during the Christmas season, so we could bring some joy and happiness to His children in that closed country.

Preparations and Goals

In prophecy, the Lord gave us a special Christmas tract for the people of Bulgaria. It came straight in Bulgarian, and all in rhyme. A clown spirit helper delivered the message, which dealt with the problems the country faces in a very funny way. The folks in the Hungary MM Home worked hard to lay it out and print it for us. The Lord helped us make eight pubs in Bulgarian for the trip-some of which went to our MM sheep in their Christmas mailing, and some that we used as follow-up material as we traveled.

The main goal for our trip was to try to follow up on as many of our precious sheep as we could. The Lord said that He wanted us to teach them about the Endtime and about using the new weapons of the Spirit, to prepare them for what’s ahead.

So we wrote all our sheep and told them that we were planning this trip. We asked them to let us know if they would like to see us, and if they could take us in when we visited. There is no Home right now in Bulgaria; we have had one twice in the last eight years, but both times we had to close the work there due to persecution, the hardening of the spirit of the country, and the increased influence of AC forces.

The Lord showed us, though, that even though we have no Home in Bulgaria, we have a “Family” there, which we needed to attend to-the MM sheep who continue to give out our message and win souls without us being there. God bless them!

New Methods

When we asked the Lord whether we needed to prepare Christmas posters for the trip, the Lord told us that openly giving out posters in the streets like we do in other countries might be hazardous for us. The Family is very well known and this might cause us unnecessary persecution, hindering the job the Lord was sending us to do. So He gave us a new tactic: clowning!

He said that dressing up as clowns when witnessing would not only cheer people up and make them laugh, but would be a different approach for us and open new witnessing doors for us.-And that’s just how it happened!

So He gave us this new clown Christmas tract to give out, instead of posters. Since the message in it was pretty much for adults, He led us to print for the kids the Heaven’s Library story of Santa Claus (from “A Christmas to Remember” booklet) in tract form, which we also gave out.

The Team

The team the Lord raised up for this trip, coming from five different Homes, was: Eli, Rosa, Luis, Sara, Levi, Charity, Pavel and Maggie. Whoops, I almost forgot-we had a very important 9th member on the team: baby Daniel (of Charity), who kept us all alert and made sure there was never a dull moment, ha! TYL!

Stats

We spent one month in Bulgaria, during which our team prayed with 102 souls, 97 of whom got filled with the Holy Spirit, personally witnessed to 1,344 people, and massed witnessed to 9,350. The main goal for this trip was actually follow-up, and during our time in Bulgaria, members of our team visited people in 10 different towns and villages, personally visiting 53 people, giving 25 classes on a variety of subjects with 115 people in attendance! We also gave out about 2,700 pieces of lit (amounting to roughly 17,000 pages), 77 tapes, and a few hundred posters which we gave to some of our faithful outside witnessers to distribute.

Endtime Prophecy Power in Action

The Lord had said this trip was going to be not only for the sake of our sheep on the field, but that it would be Endtime training for those who went. Due to the stronghold AC forces have on Bulgaria, the conditions there are very close to the way it might be in the Great Tribulation, where not hearing from the Lord or making the wrong move could cost us our liberty, if not our lives. The Lord didn’t let us make a single move without first hearing from Him. He kept us on our toes by constantly putting us in situations where we simply didn’t know what to do-or where every one of us had a different opinion (ha!), so we had to take the time to get it straight from the Lord.

Since we all came from different Homes, we first spent a few days getting united as a team and hearing from the Lord. We all knew why we were there, but no one knew what to do next. So we made a list of questions that we needed the Lord’s answers for. Each one of us had a notebook, and wrote down our questions and the prophecies we received.

We made each decision together, after all of us had sat down and written down the answers and directions the Lord had given us. None of us were used to operating this way, but we had to quickly learn, because the Lord refused to let us operate any other way. In the beginning it was a bit awkward and humbling to read our own prophecies out loud, but maybe that’s why the Lord let us spend a few days like this. We had to get over the hump of our pride and get used to getting His directions this way, and trust not only the prophecies which others got, but also our own-which sometimes seemed harder, ha!

The Lord’s Plan

The Lord showed us that instead of sending small teams scattered throughout the country, as we’d originally been planning, we should stay together and set up a base in one of the big cities, sending out follow-up teams from there. Then He showed us to send a spearhead team ahead, to work on finding the base.

As far as who should go ahead to set up our base and who should stay back, we received all the names in prophecy-even the timing of it all. It was amazing to see the Lord in direct control throughout the whole trip! But He never showed us more than one step at a time.

We also asked Him how we should introduce ourselves while clowning and witnessing, since we didn’t want to say the wrong thing. He said that we should explain that we were a bunch of clowns who wanted to cheer people up for Christmas. He even gave us a name: the “Christmas Smiles” clowns! He said that after we got to know people better, we could tell them more. Of course, we couldn’t hide that we were Christians, because it was clear from the lit we gave out.

Releasing the Bulgarian Spirit Helpers

Before we entered Bulgaria, the Lord showed us to read Dad’s Christmas message from 1997, and have communion. After that He showed us to read the “Releasing the Spirits” GN and pray for the Bulgarian spirit helpers. This hadn’t been done when we had the worldwide prayer for releasing the spirit helpers, since there wasn’t a Home in Bulgaria at that time. But the Lord showed us that it was very important for us to do it now if we wanted our mission to succeed, and if we wanted to have all the spirit help and support we would need during our time in this difficult field.

The Patient Angel

So the spearhead team left on their house-hunting mission. We were all elated after spending these days hearing from the Lord and receiving all this counsel and the exciting messages from the spirits. But reality hit when we reached the border, and we could feel the battle beginning.

Every step was difficult, which kept us desperate with the Lord all the time. The first battle was finding a place in Sofia to rent as a base. No landlord wanted to rent an apartment for just one month; it was a desperate situation.

We asked the Lord what to tell the prospective landlords, and the Lord told us word for word. And guess what?-It worked! We explained that we were a bunch of friends from different parts of Bulgaria (most of us are nationals and come from different towns in Bulgaria), and that we got together after reading this article which said that Bulgaria was the saddest country in the world, and that we had decided on a volunteer basis to use our skills in clowning, ballooning and singing to cheer people up for Christmas.

The Lord told us to be honest about exactly how long we were planning to rent the flat and how many people would be living there. A lot of agents offered to rent us a flat supposedly for a year, saying that then we could just leave after a month. But we had to refuse them, since the Lord was very specific in what He wanted us to do.

After a couple of days of unsuccessful phoning and searching, we were coming to the end of our rope. We realized more and more that it would have to be a miracle! We had exhausted all our own ideas. We just had to wait for the Lord to drop it out of the sky for us.

So one day, Maggie and I (Rosa) were phoning while Luis was sitting on one of the sofas in the post office, doing a prayer vigil for us. It was the end of the afternoon, and when I went to sit with Luis for a few moments to catch my breath, I noticed a man sitting next to him. I felt led to ask this man if he knew of anyone who was renting a flat, but I was too proud to do so. I went back to my phoning, but for some reason I kept thinking of this man. After a few more unsuccessful calls, I decided, “If that man is still sitting next to Luis, I am going to ask him.”

I went back, and the man was still there! So I asked him, and he said, “Well, I don’t know anyone myself, but I can give you the address of an agency that can help you find such a flat.” He went on to give us an address, and described to the detail how to get to the office. “By the way,” he added, “you’ll need to hurry because they close in half an hour.” I thanked him and was still writing down his instructions, then I reached out to give him a tract, but by then the man was already at the door of the post office and then was gone.

I was very surprised that he would leave so quickly.-Just as soon as he finished giving us directions, he got up and left! I asked Luis, “Did you talk to that man or find out anything about him while he was sitting here?” Luis said, “No, not really, except that I thought he was strange. He has been sitting next to me for the last three hours, without talking to anyone, making or receiving any phone calls or messages, or sending telegrams, nothing-just sitting there! I was wondering what his problem was! He didn’t do anything, except it seems as if he was waiting to talk with you, because as soon as he did, he got up and left!”

So we followed this man’s instructions, and found the agency that ended up renting us a flat. We got exactly what we had prayed for. The landlady accepted our conditions, didn’t question our explanation, and agreed to rent us a flat for one month. Hallelujah!

The Yellow Room

While we were in the agency office, and the women were making phone calls to try to find a place for us, Maggie suddenly exclaimed, “Wow, can you imagine? It’s yellow!-This room is yellow!” I couldn’t see any particular reason for excitement. Then she said, “And it has slanted windows! Wow!” I thought, Maybe Maggie has had a bit too much today! Of course they are slanted; this is an attic, after all!

But then she explained why she was so excited: Before coming here, while she was still in Croatia, she had prayed with an SGA in her Home about her participation in this trip. And out of the blue, this SGA got a vision of a yellow room with slanted windows. It didn’t seem to make any sense, and it had no relation to the other prophecies they had gotten. But now it all suddenly became clear; it was one of those special encouragements from the Lord to show us that we were on the right track. Hallelujah! That made our day.

Going on the Attack

The rest of our team arrived as soon as we had the apartment rented. The next morning we had our first meeting together in Bulgaria to pray about our battle plans. The Lord showed us to first send a team to the north, where a few sheep had invited us to visit them. When we prayed about who should go, the Lord strongly indicated that Pavel should be on the team, although at first we had all thought he could stay back at the base. We had to quickly regroup and change plans as per the Lord’s instructions, and the ones who went were Sara, Eli, Pavel and myself, Rosa.

Those who stayed back took care of sending the Christmas mailing to our MM sheep, and also following up on our catacombers and friends, since the Lord had showed us that they were a very important part of our national church in Bulgaria. Even though they cannot join, they have stuck with us through all the persecution, and continue to love us and want the Word.

On the Road

We packed our lit, clown costumes and balloons, and headed to the first village on our list, which was about a four-hour drive from Sofia. Three people had written us from there; among them were Dora and her 15-year-old daughter Iskra.

We arrived late at night and had no idea where to find their house, so the Lord had to do another miracle to help us. As we were standing in the cold, dark, empty street next to our car, praying about what to do, all of a sudden a girl appeared out of nowhere. We approached her to ask for directions, and guess what? She turned out to be our precious MM sheep, Iskra! She was shocked to see us, and ran to call her mom and the other lady who writes us.

They were so happy! In fact, almost the whole village knew about us, and had been awaiting our arrival all day. As we were sitting down to dinner in Iskra’s home, little by little the house filled up with people who were coming to see us, in spite of the fact that it was almost midnight, ha!

Then we found out why the Lord had so wanted Pavel to come on this trip. It turned out our hosts and their friends all spoke Romanian-in the middle of Bulgaria! They were Romanian Gypsies, but didn’t speak Gypsy language, but rather a funny form of Romanian. And when they learned that “Brother Pavel” (as they called him) was Romanian, they were overjoyed. They really looked up to him and this automatically created a special bond of trust. All of a sudden we were “one with them.”

Teaching Them to Witness

As soon as we got out of bed the next morning, our audience was there; about 15 people had already gathered, waiting for us to appear. We didn’t really have to “appear” anywhere, because the room we slept in was half-bedroom and half-kitchen/dining room. Ha!

We barely had time to pray together or plan our day. Thank God that before coming to this village we had asked the Lord what the needs of the sheep were, and He had shown us to teach them about witnessing. And truly, that was the first thing we found out about these people: though they knew and loved the Lord, they didn’t witness.

They are very fiery by nature, get inspired about things easily, really love the Lord, and love praising Him and singing to Him.-I mean, they really like singing, ha! They loved our songs and wanted us to teach them how to sing them. But they didn’t do much in the way of winning souls, and the Lord showed us that because of that, a lot of them backslid.

So during breakfast we chose a few Daily Mights on witnessing. Then Brother Pavel gave them a class on witnessing, at the same time teaching them about having daily devotions, Word time, and putting the Word into action.

Non-Stop Pouring Out

So from the time we first opened our eyes in the morning till very late at night, we were on stage, with a constant flow of people coming. Besides the classes we gave them, people wanted to talk personally to us and get our counsel and prayer. We didn’t have to go looking for the sheep; they were flocking to us themselves.

We found out that the pastor of their church lived in a different town and would only come once a month, or sometimes every two months, to give them communion. So they were starved for someone they could pour out their hearts to. And I tell you, they had a lot to share! We were faced with explaining the Bible, giving marriage counseling, praying for healing, helping someone not to commit suicide, praying for victories over jealousy, teaching them about prophecy, or simply letting them cry in our arms and reassuring them that the Lord loved them and would take care of everything.

Lives Changing Before Our Eyes

(From Eli:) The first night we arrived in this town, while we were in Iskra’s house fellowshipping and getting to know them, we met Iskra’s dad. The same night we arrived, after we had left, he had a dream in which an angel told him, “You have to take these people in, because they are from Heaven!”

So the next morning he was the first one to come to the house where we had slept, and told me: “You’ve got to come to my place tonight, because God told me that you are angels and you are the ones who are going to save my village!” After that he never left our side, making sure we were okay.

After the exciting breakfast/morning devotions, which finished around 1 p.m., we were invited for lunch at another house. You see, as they are not so rich, no one could afford to feed all four of us every meal. So they had made a type of schedule, where one house fed us one meal, another house fed us another, etc. GBT!

We thought, Oh, thank God! Now after the noisy and busy morning we’ll move to another place and have a quiet lunch and relax a bit. Little did we know! As we started towards the next place, the whole group we had just spent the morning with followed us-and then at the new place there were more people waiting for us. So we ate with 20 pairs of eyes staring at us. Ha!

There the Lord opened the door for us to spend more time with Dora. She is a new sheep in her church, and when she invited us to visit them she got in a bit of trouble with her pastor for not checking with him first. But she told me, “When I got your note, the Lord told me you would be the ones to show me the solutions to my problems. I know you are the ones to help me, because the Lord told me so.”

She started crying and sharing her heart. She had very big battles with jealousy, and had never been able to forgive her husband for having had an affair with another woman in the past. Then all of a sudden she started speaking in tongues and praying. I got a bit scared, not knowing what was going on. I laid hands on her as she cried, so she could feel more secure. And then she started getting a prophecy! The Lord told her, “You are My little child, I love you! These people are a sign of My love for you.”

After she finished, it seemed like she came out of a trance. She was shocked, but very excited about what had just happened. She had never received a prophecy before, and it was very encouraging for her. We prayed for her problems then, and against her jealousy.

She asked me also about the way we live, and when I told her we lived like the first Christians in the Bible, she said, “I feel like taking my kids and coming to travel with you. I want to join you.” So I explained to her that she could serve Jesus right where she was, and start witnessing with her kids.

A Life Hanging in the Balance

(From Rosa:) After lunch (which finished at 3 p.m.) we told everyone that since there was going to be a church meeting in the evening, we would take a couple of hours off to rest and would meet everyone at church-otherwise they would have continued following us around! So we went back to the first house to take some quiet time and hear from the Lord about the evening. We felt a bit of what Jesus probably felt when the multitudes were following Him!

But as soon as we finally were on our own, a girl came in and sat on the bed with me, and refused to leave. At first I felt a little irritated, as I really wanted to join my team who were already hearing from the Lord on the other side of the room. It seemed that there was something on her heart that she wanted to say, but couldn’t quite bring herself to.

I thought, Well, the Lord told us that He sent us here as their shepherds, so I’m just going to probe by faith and see what’s on her heart. I asked her, “You want to tell me something, don’t you?” As soon as I said that, she burst into tears. I took her in my arms and held her, and she just cried uncontrollably. I didn’t know what to do except pray for her.

Then she said, “But how can I tell you? I don’t know you! I’ve never met you before! I haven’t told these things to anyone in my life!”

I said, “Yes, I understand that you don’t know me, but Jesus knows you, and He is right here with us. If you open up and share your heart, He will give you the answers, because He has them and He loves you. I love you, and after all we are sisters in the Lord, no? So let’s trust Him about it!”

After that, she started telling me through her tears that she had come to the point where she wanted to commit suicide, because she was so confused and depressed. Well, I wasn’t quite prepared for that. I was desperately praying, Lord, there is a life at stake, please give me the strength, grace and wisdom for this! I could feel the battle in the spirit. There have been very few occasions that I’ve literally felt in hand-to-hand combat with the Enemy over a soul. I felt so weak and incapable that I felt like crying. The only thing that helped me stick was realizing that if I walked away, someone was going to die.

She told me all of her confusions and questions about the Bible and false church doctrines that she had been fed, which had made her feel lost and confused. She had questions about life, death, life after death, Heaven, Hell, etc., and it was all a big mess in her mind. The church hadn’t been able to answer her questions, so she felt there was no point in living anymore. There was so much muck and garbage to delve through that I felt I would never have enough time and wisdom to explain everything and show her all the answers. I was scared, too. What if I didn’t handle it right?

So finally I stopped her and said, “Look, why don’t we just pray and take all these questions to the Lord?” She nodded in agreement, and we held hands and I prayed as if everything depended on prayer-because it did.

The Lord didn’t fail! PTL! He started speaking as we were holding hands. I didn’t have time to check beforehand whether she believed in prophecy, or what she knew about it; I was just desperate to let the Lord speak to her, because only He could give her the answers she needed.

At first she got quiet and listened, then she burst out crying again, but this time it wasn’t a hopeless kind of crying, thank God! The Lord kept talking. I don’t remember everything He said; I guess it was all for her. The only thing I remember was that He gave me a vision of her like “Footprints in the Sand.” He challenged her to start witnessing, and said that if she wanted to throw her life away, instead she should give it to Him and let Him use it for good.

After the Lord had finished speaking, I wasn’t sure what her reaction would be. But when I looked into her eyes, there was a spark of hope. She looked at me with believing eyes, and told me, “That was so amazing! I know the Lord spoke! That’s why I started crying, because it touched my heart so much! But tell me, how do you hear Him? How does it feel?” This led to a short class on prophecy. I told her that anyone can hear from Him, and I explained how the Lord speaks to me.

She had more questions after that, but having heard from the Lord changed the whole situation. Now I felt like I knew what I needed to tell her, as if the Lord had given me back the authority in the Spirit, and the Enemy was on the run. We talked a bit more about eternal salvation, rewards in Heaven, and I challenged her to give her life for Jesus and make Him proud of her by winning souls for His Kingdom. Thank God she said she wanted the victory, so we prayed and she repeated the prayer after me. I wanted to make sure she said the things herself and prayed herself for the victory.

Her spirit calmed down a lot at the end and I could see she was really thinking about these things, and was at peace. PTL! The whole experience was another proof for me of how important the new weapons are. Just like the Lord said, there will come a time when none of our gifts, talents, ministries, or knowledge will matter; all that will matter is if we know how to use the new weapons of the Spirit, because our lives and the lives of others will depend on it.

The Church Meeting

When we got to the church, the service had already begun, and we could hear them singing from afar. As we came in they all stopped and excitedly said, “Oh, here they are!” They all started moving over to make space for us.

Our sheep wanted Brother Pavel to give a sermon in Romanian, so the Lord showed him to give a message about letting our light shine before all men, not only at Christmastime but all throughout the year. After he finished, the other youth leaders got up to speak and they each tried to copy him, all giving a message about the Light. GBT!

After that a lady shared a vision she had had while Pavel was speaking, that a white veil was coming from Heaven and being wrapped around his head and shoulders. She said that meant he was in a direct link with God while speaking. The Lord kept giving us such neat, unexpected signs to encourage and keep us going through the whole trip. Praise His name!

Legions of Angels

Some of the young people from the village had just returned from a five-day prayer meeting in Sofia. One of them got up and shared that during the meetings the Lord had given visions and indications that He was releasing legions of angels to flood Bulgaria, and to bring a spiritual revival. That was thrilling for us to hear, because this vision was received at the same time that our whole team had gotten together in Bulgaria; just a couple of days before that, we had prayed for the releasing of the spirit helpers. Everything fit together amazingly, and was a marvelous confirmation of the prophecies the Lord had given us about all the spiritual forces being released.

At the end we sang some songs, which were a real hit with the church, and we gave them the lit we had brought with us. The main pastor never showed up, but we talked with the under-shepherds and youth leaders. It turned out that leaders from churches in three different villages were present, so we divided the lit amongst each of them, and they really treasured it.

A lot of the church congregation followed us back to our place, and stayed with us till 2 a.m., since we were supposed to leave the next morning. They also asked us to teach them some of the Christmas songs we sang, so they could use them in their Christmas program. We returned back to our base inspired at all that the Lord had done.

MM Drop-Outs Living by Faith

One of our MM sheep, Mitko, has been writing us for the last eight years, and another, Svetlana, for three or four. But they had not written us for the last couple years, so they were not on the list of people we were going to write about our trip before leaving for Bulgaria. But for some reason when I was looking through the address file (while still in Hungary), Svetlana’s address caught my attention, so I thought to drop her a line and see if she would respond. Well, she did respond, and Sara (of Levi), Pavel, Eli and I met up with them on one of our trips.

Mitko is about 40 years old, married, with teenage kids. Svetlana is 24 and single. For the last two years, the two of them have been traveling around by faith, witnessing and spreading the Gospel. They hitchhike, sell Christian lit to support themselves, and pray with people to get saved, healed, etc. They travel five days a week, and stay home on weekends.

The night after we met them, I had a dream that I went into Mitko’s room and on his desk I found a diary, with prophecies and personal comments. I opened the book and saw Svetlana’s picture, and right next to it he had written: “Thank God for this girl. She has really been a blessing from God in my life, for these past 11 years....” I was shocked to read this because I did not know that she was that special to him. In my dream I thought, Hey, he could have at least told us about this! But then I felt really bad for reading his secret diary, so I closed it quickly, and then I woke up.

First thing the next morning I told Sara about my dream. Then Pavel and I had to go to town, while Sara and Eli stayed to meet with Mitko. When we came back, they said they had told him the history of the Family, how Dad had dropped out of the church system, about Mother Eve, Maria, etc. Then Mitko had shared his life story, which he hadn’t told anyone till then. He shared how his marriage wasn’t going so well; he wanted to do more for God and live by faith, preaching the Gospel, and he had prayed for the Lord to help him. Then he had met Svetlana, who had become his partner, and they had started working for the Lord together. He said, “It’s almost like David’s story, except that I live in Bulgaria and my name is not David.” Ha!

Later on I told him about my dream. He was very interested and asked if there were any more details. I told him that I had gotten something about a number of years, but I didn’t have the faith to tell him the exact number, because I knew that he and Svetlana had only been working together for a couple of years. But since he insisted, I told him that the text next to her picture said that she was sent to him 11 years ago. And then he said that he indeed had a book of prophecies, which only he knows about, and that 11 years ago someone had gotten a revelation that the Lord was sending a girl to be a blessing in his life. He asked me afterwards to tell him the dream again, and diligently wrote down every detail.

Some of the things they have learned through living by faith are amazing. Of course, they haven’t had the blessing of the Lord’s and Dad’s direct counsel, so they learned a lot through trial and error, but talking with them is very different from other church Christians. They understand what it means to trust God for things, to be persecuted, to hear from God and expect Him to direct them, about saving souls and salvation by grace, even about the Law of Love. They had a lot of questions about it, though. Thank God for the “Living the Lord’s Law of Love, part 1” GN, where Mama summarized so well the main points and Bible verses on the subject. That was a real blessing for us in explaining it to them.

We spent two days with Mitko in his hometown, and we took him out witnessing and clowning, as we gave out our special clown tracts. He loved it and was so excited to see how we did it, and all the people who got saved with us that day. He said, “I have thought about doing this before, but I have never actually gotten down to doing it. But now I can see myself doing it!” GBH!

We invited him and Svetlana to come to see us in Sofia, so they came and stayed two nights in our apartment. I spent a whole day talking with them and answering their questions. Sometimes I didn’t know what to expect and I was trying to be careful in my answers, but they-especially Mitko-took everything pretty well and didn’t seem to be stumbled by anything. He said that he had always wanted to meet the Family and see what we were like, and that this time with us had clarified a lot of things in his mind and he had learned from us. God bless him; it took humility for him to say this, because all of us are much younger than he is.

He watched all the videos we had with us-the video newsletters from Europe, Latin America and ASCRO, “Countdown to Armageddon,” the Praise Time clips, and the “Final Stand” clips. He was flipped! He said, “You guys have so much! This is what Bulgaria needs! Why don’t you produce more in Bulgarian? Nobody has seen anything like this here!”

We explained that we don’t have a Home in Bulgaria, so the material we produce is very limited, since there is no one to give it out. He was almost offended, and said, “But you have me-you have us! Use us! I’m willing to give out your tools! I want to work with you! I hope we will be working more together.” He was telling me, “You’ve got to translate! You’ve got to work! You have a lot to do, so we’ll be praying for you to do it! Just tell us what you want us to do.”

We gave them 67 tapes in Bulgarian, and encouraged them to try selling them. We explained that these tapes were sponsored by brethren in the Family, and we can give them out for free in Bulgaria, but if we want to produce more tools it would be a blessing to raise some funds towards it. We explained about seed corn, and asked them to try selling them for seed-corn prices, which we could later use to produce more tools. We also gave them some tips about tapenessing and sponsoring tapes.

Mitko is quite a new bottle. He and Svetlana have a habit of getting up early in the morning and praying for different things. One morning when I got up to make breakfast, they were praying in the kitchen and he asked me if it was okay to put a tape on to listen to while they prayed. Of course I said yes, and he stuck in the tape nearest the tape recorder, which was Rhythm and Grooves. I was kind of worried what they would think of the song styles, since they were both from a churchy background. I apologetically explained that this tape was made by our young people for dancing, and offered to bring them a slower tape. To this Mitko replied, “Hey, I like lively music, and I’m not planning to fall asleep while praying. Let it roll.” Ha! And he enjoyed it-tapping his fingers on the table while keeping his vigil. GBH!

Please, pray for them-for their growth, and that the Lord will protect them as they witness, and empower them. Also pray for their protection and wisdom, because they face quite a bit of persecution from other Christians for traveling together and not being married. Also pray for the Lord to lead us how to work with him more, and that He will open doors for us to work with him.

First Experiences in Turnovo

Here is a bit more about what happened when we took Mitko out witnessing in his hometown. The first guy that we gave a clown tract to was a German man. He was totally flipped and came running after me, shouting: “Hey, wait! You are just wonderful!”

I was like, “Well, thanks!”

He just kept saying, “I can’t believe this is happening! I mean, where do you come from?”

“We are just passing clowns.”

“No way! You are angels. I know you are. And I know you came here from Heaven!” The way he was looking at me, I really believe he was seeing angels. He was ecstatic. He’s a very smart guy, and was well dressed and very sophisticated. He told me, “I’ve been living in Bulgaria for 18 years, and now I know what was missing at Christmas-you were missing! Now my Christmas is complete; I have peace in my heart and I know everything is in its place. I was so worried. Something just didn’t seem right. But now I have seen you and my Christmas will be all right. I’m so happy!”

When I asked if he could help our work, he said, “Of course I’ll give you a donation! You are angels!” He said, “In Germany, Christmas is a big deal, but here no one does anything-you are the only people who did anything for Christmas! It’s so wonderful!” He gave us his address and begged us to phone him when we pass through again.

Clowning as a Way to Win Souls

The Family in many places uses clowning as a fundraising method, but here the Lord led us to use it as a way to win souls. In Bulgaria it is nearly impossible to do personal witnessing or street postering. It’s dangerous, and people have been arrested and beaten up by the police for doing it. Besides, you can often hear people rejecting you as a religious fanatic or for being part of a sect. But now the Lord was telling us to do something new, and we were all very eager to experiment.

We had never done street clowning in Bulgaria. In fact, nobody does clowning or ballooning in Bulgaria. People have never seen such a thing! We went clowning in three different towns, and we had a blast! We didn’t hear anything negative; people were more than glad to receive our tracts. And everyone we asked to pray with us got saved! I guess they wouldn’t imagine religious fanatics dressed as clowns. Little do they know, ha!

So the Lord found a way for us to witness freely and save souls. Hallelujah! The authorities kicked us out in the past, but the Lord sent us back-with a new method. PTL! It felt just like witnessing did in the beginning when Bulgaria first opened up: a witnessing paradise. It was incredible! We could approach anyone. We would go up to the coolest, proudest guys, who would probably have never listened otherwise. But because we were dressed as clowns, they would melt into smiles and couldn’t resist the witness.

We would wave and smile at people, or at the cars and buses, and it was so funny to watch people’s reactions. Many couldn’t believe what they were seeing. We even had cars pull up and people lean out of the windows to make sure they had seen right, ha! Then once they got over their initial bewilderment, they would smile and wave back at us. Whole buses would pass by with everyone smiling and waving at us.

We would also go into all the shops along the street and give tracts to all the customers and owners. Two girls came running after us to ask us if they could take a picture with us. We even had people weeping in our arms after we prayed with them-a clown hugging someone in the street to comfort them while they are crying!

Reactions to the Tract

(From Eli:) While I was visiting my parents I met an old friend, and the first thing I did was give her the Clown tract, and told her about our clowning experiences. She started reading it, and two minutes later she looked at me in amazement. “Who wrote this thing?” she asked. “I can’t believe it was someone who doesn’t live here, because it is written in a way that people can really relate to. It’s terrific!”

When I told her that God had given it in prophecy, she almost fell off her chair, ha! She is a churchy girl and they do not believe strongly in the gift of prophecy, but seeing this tract showed her that God still spoke today.-There was no way any of us could have described life in Bulgaria today so well without living here.

She is an educated woman, a lawyer, and she said that she had never read or seen any publication like this one, that was so well done and so clearly spelled out the problems in the country, and that also gave the answers. She said, “This is the only thing that can reach Bulgarians now! Preaching won’t do it. Nobody wants our church books anymore, and no one wants to believe. But with this, people can see clearly that even though there is a problem, there is also an solution and a way out!”

Christmas Miracle

(From Rosa:) On Christmas Day we went to the biggest hospital in Sofia and sang for some kids who hadn’t been able to go home for Christmas. The kids and their parents were so touched! One child had just undergone three brain operations and couldn’t speak or react much to anything. Trying to witness to him was all by faith. God bless his mom, who had a lot of faith for us to keep talking and singing to him. Then his grandma came also, so we sang for her and the mom, and led them in prayer. The mom prayed so eagerly, and then we prayed over her son as well.

As we kept talking and giving the mother some lit, the boy didn’t utter anything but a weak groan to express that he liked a song.-And it took his mom a lot of effort to get him to react that much. But as we were leaving, we were all shocked to hear him say, “Thank you! You were wonderful!” He said it completely on his own, without anyone asking him to. His mom’s eyes filled with tears as she heard him, and his grandma kept asking the mom, “Did you ask him to say anything? Did you hear how clearly he spoke?” She just looked at us in wonder. It was such a quick answer to prayer, and a wonderful demonstration of the Lord’s power and love. PTL! The mom also got a Christmas tape. Praise the Lord!

As we went to leave the hospital, the guards didn’t let us out until we had sung for them, ha!-And of course, once we started singing, it drew the attention of more people, and then we prayed with them. We continued witnessing out in the street, all with our clown costumes on. It was so much fun to see people’s reactions!

New Disciple on the Line

Our catacomber, Sara, seems to be our next new disciple on the line. She is 20 years old, an on-fire witnesser, full of spunk and drive. She is very hungry for the Word, and has read most of the Letters required in the Charter for potential new disciples. Please pray that the Lord will open the doors for her to join, that He will keep her parents happy and at peace, and lead her to the Home He has for her. We gave her a donation to help her towards getting a passport and covering part of her fare to get to Romania.

It’s so encouraging to see that even though we don’t have a Home in Bulgaria, the Lord keeps raising up new disciples and they keep dropping out one by one. For the last three years that we haven’t had a Home in Bulgaria, we have had almost a disciple per year: Sam (now in Romania), Eli (now in Hungary) and Sara now on her way, DV.

We showed Sara how we hear from the Lord and she started getting prophecies herself, and is so excited that the Lord can speak to her. Eli and I took her on our last follow-up trip after the New Year, to a place where we have four MM sheep. The Lord told us to teach them to hear from Him, and Sara was excited to see prophecy working in her own life even though she had never done it before. After traveling with us for a couple of days she was actively taking part in making the decisions by hearing from the Lord. PTL!

Professional Interpreter Offering His Services

One other very potential sheep we have is named Niki. He is 24 years old, a professional translator, and flipped over the Family! He’s known us for a few years now, and visited the last Home we had in Sofia. He said, “Why don’t I translate for you? I’ll do it for free!” He said that any time we need him, he is ready to take a month’s vacation from his work to come and translate for us. He said, “All I need from you is a place to sleep.” He is willing to work from morning till evening if we have stuff for him to do.

We are seriously considering inviting him to our place in Hungary for a month, and keeping him busy translating for us! He also witnesses and would really like to learn more about the Family. If he comes to visit we could not only use his translation abilities, but also pour into him and help him grow. Who knows, he might even turn out to be our next disciple!

Our Visit to “The Garden”

There is a village in the south of Bulgaria where we have four MM sheep. Eli, Sara and myself went there, as the Lord had told us in prophecy that we needed to visit them.

Our sheep there are four married women, aged 19, 20, 22 and 38. They are all Gypsies, and live on the outskirts of the village. They don’t have phones in their homes, so we had sent them a telegram telling them what day we’d be arriving. We had to take a few buses and trains to get there, but then we missed our last bus. We were so disappointed, because we had to wait a whole hour at the station for the next bus. But we soon saw the reason why the Lord had let us miss that bus!

Finally arriving in the village, we started asking around to try to find our sheep, but no one seemed to know them. So we got a check to ask a man and woman who were waiting at the bus stop, and guess what? They were the mother and father-in-law of one of the sheep we had telegrammed! The mother was on her way somewhere, and her bus pulled up one minute later. The father then took us to their house, which was way out of the village. Thank God for the big wheelbarrow he had to help us carry our heavy bags!

Had we taken our intended bus we would have never met them, and we probably wouldn’t have been able to find their place.-We also would have missed the “fancy” luggage transportation (ha!), which saved our arms a lot of strain, PG!

The Power of the Word

The girl we stayed with, Elena, almost cried with happiness that we had come. The first night we arrived the whole neighborhood came to see us, and we had some fellowship and prayer, sang songs, and then gave them a class on serving the Lord. They were all from the local church, but we could clearly see the difference between those who had been receiving and reading our lit and the Words of David, and those who hadn’t. Our sheep were definitely much more aware of the truths of the Spirit; their spirits were different, clearer.

Since we had only two days there, we wanted to hit the Lord’s mark and asked Him what exactly He wanted us to do. He told us that He first wanted us to spend time answering any questions they might have, and then to teach them to hear from Him, do it with them, and organize a little teamwork there.

Elena had just received the Christmas mailing that was sent out to all our MM sheep, in which there was a part explaining the gift of prophecy and an example of how you can use it to ask the Lord specifically how and where to witness. She pulled out the letter, read this part to us, and then said, “Tell me how I can witness more, because I want to do it.” So we shared different tips on witnessing and leading people to receive the Lord. She had all of our MM letters and pubs collected in a little library, and it was interesting for her to see us show the answers to her questions from the pubs she had received.

We encouraged her to reread everything that she had received, looking at them not just as interesting publications, but as tools to help her better serve the Lord. Then the rest of our MM sheep came, and we talked to them all about the importance of reading the Word and studying the publications they were receiving, putting them into practice, and for the four of them to have regular meetings together to read and pray and hear from the Lord. We shared that they should be bellwethers by sharing their mailings with others and teaching them the new things they learn.

Teaching Our Sheep the New Weapons

Then we shared with them different prophecies we had received for them. They listened in awe, and were so turned on to hear that the Lord had chosen them out of so many, and had a special mission for them to witness and be bellwethers in their village. They really caught the vision. We felt as if we were talking to catacombers!-We had never met these people before, but because of the Word they have been reading, they were ready to receive the new things the Lord had for them, and had childlike faith to believe His living Words as well.

We gave them a class on the new weapons and the gift of prophecy, with testimonies of how we do it and how the Lord leads us daily through hearing from Him. They were so eager to try it with us! So each of us took a piece of paper and after we prayed with them for them to receive the gift of prophecy, we took some time to hear from the Lord. Two of them got things, and wrote them down. They were so excited! Besides giving them lots of encouragement, the Lord told them specific things, like an idea of where to go witnessing, specific Bible chapters they needed to read, and some comfort for one of them in her marriage.

They were amazed to see how specific the Lord can be, and greatly treasured all the prophecies we got with them. We gave them our papers to keep, and they said they would study these Words again, and would definitely keep trying to practice this new gift of hearing from the Lord. They got the point about the importance of getting together and working together, and we prayed for them to be a good teamwork and to bear a lot of fruit.

They were very interested in the Endtime and felt the burden to prepare others for it, so we spent a lot of time talking and explaining about that. We also encouraged them to study the Word Basics sections we had brought them on the Endtime, Persecution and the Word. They were quite aware that they might get persecution once they started being more active for the Lord. Please pray for them, and all of the national church in Bulgaria!

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