Greetings to you and all my brothers and sisters at the Shackle Island Church of Christ, trust this report finds you well.
My AFRICAN MISSION WORK REPORT FOR JULY 20-23, 2024. (PART 1)
Successful Mission Work in The Republic of Guinea
I am writing to provide a comprehensive overview of our recent two-day mission trip to Gueckeduo in Eastern Guinea.
Located 31km from Koindu, the nearest town in Sierra Leone, and 62km from Foya in Liberia, Guinea is predominantly Islamic. However, due to cross-border trade between Sierra Leone and Liberia, Christianity has made inroads into Guinea from this axis. There are approximately 50 congregations in Eastern Guinea, which collaborate with congregations in Sierra Leone and Liberia.
I was invited alongside Mike Udam my fellow Preacher in Nigeria by the brethren in these countries to help train Preachers and Church Leaders in Church development and Evangelism Strategy and Church growth.
We arrived Freetown Airport on July 19 about midnight and was received by our host Peter Makundu the Director of Bear Valley Bible Institute, Sierra Leone who invited us he was in company of a Nigerian missionary to Sierra Leone Editi Obot.
On Saturday July 20, we visited the campus of the Bear Valley Bible Institute in Kenema in Eastern Sierra Leone, we had engagement with the students and also meet an American Missionary Mark Reynold teaching the students.
To further Evangelism Strategy among the students of Bear Valley Bible Institute and her staff, I donated 20 copies of my Book titled “EFFECTIVE FOLLOW UP THAT GROWS THE CHURCH” to the students and staff, Mr Mark Reynold also received a copy. I work together with Editi Obot, Mike Udam and Peter Makundu our host preaching to Moslem and denominational churches people that day.
On Sunday July 21, Me, Mike Udam and Peter Makundu moved to the Republic of Guinea while Editi Obot moved to Freetown the capital city of Sierra Leone were he will get his flight back to Nigeria after working there for another two days.
On our way to The Republic of Guinea through land boarder, we go through the jungle roads and met some people who traveled with us inside the car to the boarder town, I started preaching Christ to them, as we get to a small river they said here is water we want to be baptized, we requested for the driver to stop and the Two (2) young men were baptized as I sacrifice one of my short trouser for them to use and enter water.
Our journey continue to a local congregation of the Lord’s Church in the area were we stopped with the newly baptized for worship and when we presented our testimony and hand over the newly baptized brethren to the church, another opportunity to share the Word were another Two (2) a young man and a woman of about 60 years old obeyed the Gospel and was baptized into Christ again making Four (4) Souls on our way to the Republic of Guinea.
Pray for the newly baptized as I also give each of them a copy of Bible I brought from Nigeria to help them with their new found faith.
We crossed a River using Boat between Sierra Leone boarder and Guinea.
Despite encountering rough and dangerous roads, with the final 31km accessible only by motorcycles, we successfully reached Gueckeduo and returned safely. The journey was not without its challenges, as we encountered two instances where our car became stuck on the road and lost our headlamps, forcing us to rely on torchlight for the journey home.
During the mission, we trained 45 church leaders, exposing them to the dynamics of leadership in church growth. The brethren expressed gratitude for our visit and urged us to return, acknowledging the impact we had on their perspective.
It became evident during the training that many of the individuals acting as preachers were engaged in behaviors such as cohabitation and alcohol consumption, while also displaying a dependence on external support for their work. We are grateful for the opportunity to have influenced their outlook in these areas.
Lord willing, I am committed to returning to Guinea in December or next year, conditions permitting, to continue our mission work. Meanwhile, we have returned to Sierra Leone to further our mission of leadership development till July 31 then we will return to Nigeria. Pray for our successful mission
This mission trip has been a significant and impactful experience, and we look forward to continuing our work in the region Lord willing.
Today July 24, we are home resting to recuperate then tomorrow we will travel for 6 hours to Freetown for another leadership training on Friday and Saturday. Pray for successful mission.
In Christian Love and Service,
Mojima Etokudo
