Saturday, March 5, 2011: Food -or lack thereof-

Food –or lack thereof- was my stretch on our final day of clinic in the pygmy village of Nkwenda – we had finished seeing our last patient and had bought corn to distribute to the people of the village. As the pastor of the church began dipping out the corn, the people became more and more agitated, fearful that they would not receive their small portion of corn. As the tensions increased, we had the pastor take the bags of corn inside the small church building in order to better control the situation. But the people continued to push and shove, trying to get to the front of the crowd. I watched as women and small children stooped to pick up kernels of corn that had fallen to the ground. I had to ask God “why?” as I held back tears – tears for mothers who would put their children to bed hungry; tears for the pregnant women, who are bringing children into a world where they will not have enough food.

God has not answered me yet, at least not fully. He only tells me that I must continue taking His message to these people. The message of hope through Jesus Christ. It is hard to pray for the people and then drive away, knowing that we will eat a good supper, while these people whom I treated with various medicines today, will lie down with empty stomachs.

But…that is not the end of the story. God also told me not to focus on the physical condition of the people. There will always be poverty and hunger and death and illness and atrocities that occur and violence and abuse. Here on this earth, as long as Satan reigns, there will be sin and death. I cannot be overwhelmed by the physical suffering, or I will stop there, and try to fulfill all of those needs, while neglecting the reason we are here. The spiritual poverty must be our first priority.

That is why at every place we visited, every day of ministry, with every person we treated – we shared the story of Jesus. God has not forgotten the pygmies or all the people in these tiny remote villages, where witchcraft and voodoo hold sway. He has not forgotten them. He has sent us to proclaim the Good News; as we do this daily, we are reminded that you, as one of our supporters, are here with us and that you have made the way for us to assure the people of Africa that indeed – God loves them and is calling them into His Kingdom.

Tomorrow we leave early to return to Busia, Uganda, where we will have a few days of rest before welcoming our mission team of more than 20 people who are coming to serve the Lord with us. Goodbye for now from the fields that are white….

from Dr. Brenda in the Congo