CANADA: Westminster SDA Church Reaching Across the Globe!

Buay Kapduel Buol, Student |VOP International Radio Broadcast And Discover B. School. (File/Supplied/SSNN).

Oct 9th, 2019 (SSNN) — One of the strengths of the Discover Bible School that we discovered this year at the Westminster SDA Church is in the global impact of having Bible studies available online.

The Voice of Prophecy has set up a website where seekers may choose the language of their choice or from any remote area as long as there is a WiFi signal. The Westminster SDA church is a proud sponsor of this program and has setup a satellite school. The past year we have experienced our school reaching a new level.

One day, I received an email alerting me that our site had a new student. When I began the dialogue, I saw that the new student was from Kenya, Africa. I wasn’t that surprised as I have received alerts from all over the world. However, that all changed when a personal question was asked concerning their opinion of the lessons and what impact it has made. What shocked me was to learn that our new student was doing these lessons from a refuge camp 150km away from Nairobi City in Kenya!

Buay Kapduel, was one of the unfortunate people that had to flee the civil war in South Sudan leaving everything behind. He was fortunate to still be alive, but not so fortunate for the others he had to witness. Buay was using his cell phone to locate Bible studies and came to VOP site. He was getting his power from a solar panel that had been rigged to supply power to his cell phone. We communicated regularly and he would show me pictures of the camp through email. Buay compares the camp to a prison cell and the studies were giving him Hope and strengthening his faith.

Buay completed the lessons with such enthusiasm. His answers showed he had wisdom and leadership skills. He responded with authority of his love and commitment to Jesus.

He wanted to change things at the camp and bring hope to his people. I began to write messages to the church he had established there in the camp. He told me that when he began to read the messages, he would announce that this was from someone in Canada. Suddenly, the people gathered would stop moving and talking. Everyone was so focused even the children stopped rustling.

He told me this never happens in this church. A message from Canada made them feel someone was there concerned and caring for their situation. It was a message from far away from someone who cared. I thought about how the message of God through the Bible has reached us and saw the connection. There was hope in the camp and more people came.

As the church grew, he asked me for help with Bibles and as they accepted the Sabbath asked for quarterly lessons. However, Postal Canada would not send anything to this area due to terrorist activity and also the fact the address was not recognized.

Who delivers to Refugee Camps?

I thought I was done until someone from our congregation approached me after I presented this in church. Laura had just moved to Canada from Kenya and told me the closest SDA church to that area was the very church she attended! My eyes testified God was present and doing something I could not do without him. I knew Jesus was in the House! She gave me the contact info of the Head Elder of the Nairobi SDA Church in Kenya. Through social media, we were able to connect and the next thing I knew, a supply of Bibles and Sabbath School supplies were being delivered to Kakuma! Buay took a picture of the supply arriving and the people of the church holding their new Bibles and quarterly lessons.

The church began to grow so Buay got the idea of setting up a Pathfinder club. He had at this point over 50 kids! It was obvious the Holy Spirit was moving on everyones’ hearts. Buay contacted me asking if I could find some way to have the kids outfitted in pathfinder shirts. I struggled with this request as every avenue I tried led to a dead end. Sending to a refuge camp in the middle of nowhere is not an easy task. Therefore I talked to Elder David and he said he knew a person that does shirts but it would cost over $600 to outfit that many kids with customized polo shirts. I canvassed the church and found some volunteers to help with the cost. We had to wire the money to David. As everyone knows, wiring money to Africa sounds like a scam and I sure got that feeling from the Canada Post workers. I reassured them this was legitimate and realized the Lord had given me an opportunity to witness for his glory and took advantage.

It took a months for everything to occur as the camp is 150km away on rough roads from Nairobi City. I learned a lot of spiritual lessons along the way concerning the “delay” aspect of our faith in God and what it means to wait upon the Lord. Even in Kakuma, people were getting discouraged, but then it happened. The shipment arrived! The gratitude expressed cannot be described but I was surprised by what David had printed on the shirts. Not only were all the logos there, and a header of the Kakuma 4 Pathfinder club, but also a compliment on the back of the shirt stating “Donated by the Westminster SDA Church, Burnaby BC CANADA”. Talk about a surprise from the Nairobi church.

When we work together through alignment, God will bring blessings to those giving and receiving. It is in God’s will that everyone be saved, and it is God’s desire that we all care about His will. The Kakuma church continues to grow, because of one person searching the web for Bible studies. The Lord made sure of that, To God be the Glory.