Boat full of people doomed on Lake Kivu

Dear Friends of Radio Kahuzi,

We have so much to be thankful for as we enter into 2016! Thank you and the Holy Spirit for coming along side our radio ministry throughout 2015. What a wonderful working together in the Body of Christ! The reality check of what It's all about!

SURVIVAL STORY # 1,001!
We had a real surprise of the same order on Dec. 28, 2015 for that afternoon's broadcast relay as Pastor Gregoire came back from his trip to IDJWI Island with ten pastors and leaders during four days of Pastors' Conference and decision making. Truly, the prayers of the Saints and the power of the Holy Spirit came to the rescue of our staff member, Pastor Gregoire, and a boat load of 80 people doomed in a terrible storm on Lake Kivu!

It almost paralleled the story of the Apostle Paul and his shipwreck in Acts 27: "...But not long after there arose against it a tempestuous wind, called Euroclydon. And when the ship was caught and could not bear up into the wind, we let her drive. ...and we being exceedingly tossed with a tempest, the next day they lightened the ship; and the third day we cast out with our own hands the tackling of the ship...all hope that we should be saved was then taken away."

Gregoire asked the pilot of the ship with 80 passengers to pull in and stop to let the storm pass, but the pilot refused and kept on sailing into an impossible stormy gale with a tornado and clouds dropping right down to the water. The waves became like mountains, and the boat was thrown in every direction, so it was impossible to steer, or know where they were going, and the water hit their bodies with such force and freezing cold that it was very painful!

After forty-five terrible minutes of terror when the clouds dropped onto the water and the tornado hit, several pastors came up from their cabin below deck stating the boat was filling with water. The Captain ordered everyone to remove as much clothing as possible and prepare to swim for their lives! This was an impossible situation in frigid water and no one knowing which way it was to the land; plus, the Captain and the Pilot were the only ones who had life preservers to wear, and no one knew which way to swim in the direction of IDJWI Island!

Just as Pastor Gregoire prepared to jump over board to swim for his life, a woman grabbed him by the leg and screamed for him to pray for Jesus "to Save us from the storm." So he obeyed the Holy Spirit and gave a salvation message and prayed for each soul aboard to submit to the power of the Gospel and be Reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. Soon after that, the storm subsided and they arrived safely in IDJWI Harbour.

Scripture indicates that God intervenes, personally, when someone is saved from certain death. We are to be used of Him to Glorify His Name, not our own. We are to tell others what He has and is doing around us.

We Praise the LORD for returning Pastor Gregoire to us to continue with the Radio Kahuzi Broadcasting and his church leadership role, along with the other ten pastors and lay leaders aboard that boat!

Likewise, with your prayer and provision throughout 2015, our little (BESI) Believer’s Express Service boat has also been saved to continue afloat in this turbulent region, daily broadcasting the Good News of Jesus Christ's Birth, Sinless Life, Death and Resurrection for our Justification and Adoption into His Family!

Praise the Lord for those who tossed us another inner-tube to buoy us up to make it to our next destination...our “appointed times.”

In His Love and Care,
Richard and Kathy McDonald