I am your brother in the Lord, Gindo Malukelo Leon, pastor of the Christian Church of Mobeka, at the edge of the Congo River. I would like to tell you my testimony of how the Lord protected us as we were working to establish the first library of the prophet in my village.
I was invited by Pastor Manze (VGR Librarian and pastor in Lisala) to travel to Lisala and pick up a load of Message books and tapes to establish a sub-center of VGR in Mobeka. This is a small village, but there are many believers around this area and many who have yet to hear the prophet. A library, where the people could get the Message, was greatly needed for the people.
Traveling to the VGR office is a dangerous and difficult task, because the only way to reach Lisala from our town is by rowing 213 km (132 mi) in dugout canoe on the Congo River. We were in a time of war, which made the journey even more dangerous. The Lord protected us, and after many hours in the canoe, Pastor Manze finally welcomed my four paddling companions to Lisala.
We decided to stay over Sunday and return to Mobeka the following Monday morning. During the Sunday morning service at the church of Pastor Manze, a prophetic message was given by the Holy Spirit concerning our return. The brother said that we had to be prayed for, because the devil had placed traps for our way back. Pastor Manze and the assistant pastor prayed for us.
On Monday morning, we loaded up our 18 boxes of material into our dugout, including 16 boxes of French Message books and 2 boxes of tapes. We then started our journey back to Mobeka. We paddled all day long on our journey back home.
At about 7:30pm, at a distance of about 100 km (62 mi) from Lisala, we found ourselves surrounded by a band of pirates. They were in dugouts also, and were armed with spears and machetes. They believed our boxes were full of valuables or money.
When they were almost to us, suddenly hippopotamuses emerged from the water and began capsizing and sinking their dugouts. Other pirates continued pursuing us, because there were so many of them. The hippos continued their attack, and capsized more of their dugouts.
Seeing that the hippos had done such damage, the remaining pirates gave up the chase and went back to try to help their comrades. Meanwhile, we were free to escape into the darkness. We were able to carry our cargo the rest of the way to Mobeka, where it was distributed to the churches in our area. We thank God, our Lord Jesus Christ, that He gave the prophecy of what was going to happen, and He protected us.
Brother Gindo Malukelo
VGR Librarian and Pastor of the Christian Church in Mobeka