Reaching the Toposaswith the Gospel of love

God saves our Gospel Trailer from eminent over turning!

Water at last in the desert!5

2

4 6

Dear reader,

It is time to reduce the number of totally unreached people, to the gospel, in this world. Believe it or not, there are parts of South Sudan that still have no church and no christian witness. You can drive in some places over 250km and not find a single church. God, give us all a holy discontent! There are still so many who have never heard the good news of the Gospel. That needs to change!

Medicine that makes invisible One day an old Nyangatom tribesman (mzee) approached Mark, our missionary for south Sudan, and

started to share with him the Gospel and that he serves the living God. Today that ‘Mzee’ is an elder in the newly started church there.

THE VISION: 100 Churches in 5 years

The Toposa are an Animistic people, very similar to the Turkana in Kenya. They live a very nomadic lifestyle where they shepherd their goats and camels. Nailel is a town about 100km from the border of Kenya. Often when people are sick the witchdoctor is summoned as there are no hospitals, schools or even paved roads.

GOSPEL FIRE

NEWS012018

Sending more Missionaries to Toposa land, South Sudan!

Hope and Joy of the residents of Katiko, Turkana County were restored after we made two bore holes that now supply fresh water to them ending the journey of many miles in search of water!

asked if he would be so kind as to give him some of that ‘secret medicine’. Mark asked the old man what he meant by ‘secret medicine?’ The man said that he had watched missionary Mark walk over the hills with no weapon whatsoever, not even a gun! “You must have a medicine that makes you invisible. You see this scar on my shoulder?” He said, “I have that from years of carrying this AK 47. Please sir, give me some of that medicine potion so that I too can become invisible when I travel.” Missionary Mark, a Kenyan missionary to the Nyangatom in South Sudan said, “why don‘t we just go over there under that shade and I will tell you my secret.” As they sat under the Acacia tree, Mark

A New Truck

The Lord made it possible for us to purchase an old Magirus Deutz Truck from DIGUNA, Kenya. We plan to use it along the Ethiopia, South Sudan and Kenya Border. We will use it to help us to set up the base in South Sudan, as there will be a lot of hauling to do. We are in the process of building Small Missionary homes for our 4 Kenyan families, as well as this we are also working on building a fence around the compound, 2 gates and a bore hole well so they can have clean water.

There will be times when cement, stones and sand will need to be collected in Kapoeta, the nearest town about 100km away. Once the station is up and running, there will be the need to carry the missionaries that have been undergoing training in Lodwar, Kenya as they will be helping with the church planting and evangelism in South Sudan as these Turkana speak and have a similar culture to the Toposa.

Real Transformation

Whenever the Gospel is preached in such areas and people respond to the call of salvation, positive change starts to happen. People find purpose, hope and a future. Community projects not only begin with ease but also sustainable development becomes a reality. The Gospel changes the mind-set and also reaches deep into the heart.

Where God‘s Word is shared and healthy Bible believing fellowships come into existence, this is where people start experiencing positive change. Just like in the days of the new Testament - Great joy comes into the city. Peter Franz

LEGACY CARRIED ON!

Great experience, great expectation are two words that describe what happened in Western Uganda. Kisoro, Kanungu, and Kabale These towns with lovely and hospitable people were the pioneer of a revival in the 1920s that swept accross Uganda.

Bishop Tumchuche, a renown minister can remember this so very well. Martin Franz, now in his 80s did alot of work in these regions. He planted numerous churches, empowered upcoming church leaders and sponsored many children through their education. Many pas-tors and church leaders speak well of him and the fruit of his labor are being reaped to this day!

The coming of Ev. Peter Franz to these towns is a confirmation of good lead-ership from his father Martin Franz. Ev. Peter took after his father and is carrying on with this beautiful legacy. Kanungu sits at the mountenous region of South West Uganda. Here close to a thousand people were burnt alive by church leaders in the year 2000. This dark history made the government take action against the churches and had closed them all down until recently!

Great impact in Western Uganda

as Signs descend from heaven

SIM Member during worship in Kanungu

Preaching became completely impos-sible and even home fellowships were outlawed. GFI felt a leading from God to go and encourage believers and help them get to their feet again. Now, many churches are doing a tremendous work there. Kanungu is rising again! Our cinema shows recorded an increased number of those who made a first decision for Christ.

During our open air meetings people gathered with great expectation. Heal-ing came down like a river. Children sat in amazement as Hamisi Paul led the children program. The evening meetings were crowned by wonderful worship and performances from Service In Mission (SIM) team from Europe. The aroma of praise went up from Kabale in our second meeting where an even greater presence of God was felt. Despite the challenge of running this kind of min-istry this did not stop us from reaching out with the love of God. We appreci-ate your great financial support given towards these missions.

Support a new believer

with a book for $5

A story of hope and faith; How our God is miraculous and powerful! You will be amazed if you read it to the end.

We are somewhere between Kenya, Ethiopia and South Sudan, commonly referred to as the Elimi Triangle. It is early in the morning and this is the sec-ond day of our set up. It takes us three days to set up the sound system and platform in readiness for the meetings. We have just eaten our breakfast and the sun rays are pierc-ing through desert shrubs bringing out the beauty of the african sunrise. It is a beautiful day indeed not until...The tech team is in a hurry to report to their work stations. The first assignment today is to repair a tyre that had gone flat during the film shows. We took the tools and started to remove the tyre from its rim.

The first person to try was our head of department - Jackson. After swing-ing the hammer a number of times, the worst happened. He felt a sharp pain and had to sit down. To us, we thought

it was just a muscle strain. Little did we know the worst was yet to come.

Jackson told Steve he could hardly feel one side of his body, in fact he could not move at all. We wondered what to do. Tight lipped we decided to move him under a shade. Hurriedly we did what we could, but he soon he passed out. We all went numb not knowing what other option we had.

Dear reader, we are hundreds of km from medical care, the road is rough and we are not sure of how severe the attack is. Then an idea comes, let us call Eldoret and request for an air lift, maybe this can save his life. We called our director, and broke the frightening news. Without delay he changed his plans and flew to Lowareng‘ak. This took 2-3 hours, meanwhile we did our best, and applied the basic first aid skill we knew but he remained unconscious.

Finally, Peter arrived and we all carried Jackson to the aircraft. He was in a lot

of pain! We all waited for medical tests to identify the issue. We were told by the doctors that despite the MRIs and CT scans, they were unable to establish the cause of the paralysis. Dr Jakait said “This does not look only like a physical issue, but it seems to have a spiritual root, especially as the area you are working in is very spiritually dark”. We prayed and prayed. This incident hap-pened three days before our big gospel meeting and Jackson was in charge of sound and other technical tasks. He is basically our main guy! We then laid hands and anointed him with Oil according to James 5. God did a miracle! Jackson could feel his legs again in fact he could walk! Two days later he came back to the mission and continued to serve. This was a life lesson to us that He who holds eternity is able to heal us!

Our fish project is designed to help children homes with low amounts of protein besides giving a boost to our mission account. Recently we visited Kenya Albino Child Support (KACSU) where we supplied fish to the children living with albinism.

This was a treasured visit that brought a rare meal to these kids living with special needs. This home led by Mary Kiptoo has been in the fore front of helping hun-dreds of kids living with this condi-tion from all over Kenya and now extending its arm to East Africa. Over 150 children have benefitted.

The hand of God was upon Jackson. After a miraculous healing.

Buy 1 fish for a

child for $2 and provide a healthy meal to a needy

Child.

Instant Miracle in the desertThis is a must read!

For the last quarter of 2017 and the first quarter of 2018 we were in Western Uganda for three meetings in Kisoro, Kanungu, and Kabale. These areas have beautiful scenery. As the sun rises casting it rays over the forests is piercing through mountain ranges, showing us the majesty of the creator.

There was a beautiful presence of God in these meetings. One notable event in Kisoro, along the Congo, Rwanda border was a man that, Peter and the GFI team prayed for back in 1999. This man was now serving as an usher. Years back he had been tormented and was living in chains, he was so hostile that he had to be tied to a goal post until the prayer time, when he was prayed for. The presence of God came down and he received his miracle. The local authorities soon remove the chains seeing the change that came upon him.

It was amazing to see how God healed him and after many years he could now serve as an usher in a similar meeting!

Before our arrival to Kanungu something unexpected happened. We had to negotiate very sharp corners due to the mountains landscape. The road was narrow and winding, difficult for the truck to negotiate at times creating massive trail of cars behind us.

At one point the truck veered off the slippery road and turned sliding into a deep ditch. We had to work for at least six hours to try every technique possible to pull the truck from the ditch. It worked! We got back on the road and arrived in Kanungu in the wee hours of the morning. We glorified God for safety and protection. No One was hurt!

By the time we arrived in Kanungu, Jonas Walliser, had already been there a week, running a football tournament which attracted more that ten teams.

We use football to reach out with the love of God. To create friendships with the coach and players and during half

time break we share God’s word with the teams.

Many received Jesus through this tournament which was followed by cinema shows in the evening. The meeting in the evening brought joy and excitement to a people who have been through massive trauma after a thou-sand people burnt themselves alive in a church in the year 2000.

Only recently have churches started to re-appear and our meetings we able to give some moral support to pastors who are now doing a tremendous job.

PRAYER ENDS A LONG LAND TUSSLE WITH GOVERNMENT

God saved us from an accident as our

truck almost rolled over!

The technical team trying to get the truck back on the road

We almost turned over with the truck heading to Kanungu

To Joan this was a mission that had turned her life around. She had been engaged in a traumatizing land compensation tussle with the government of Uganda for years. Her story is so touching that every time she tells it, tears run down her cheeks.

The government had refused to compensate her after her land was taken back to be used for a road expansion. She has been in and out of court corridors hoping one day she will get justice. She lost all hope and even stopped pushing for justice. But wait a moment! Tears may last for a night but joy comes in the morning. The task is to wait for the morning.

Kanungu peace festival came as a new beginning in her life. On the first day she went forward for prayer. No one knew what she wanted. On the next day she came back again. By Saturday the long awaited miracle happened. She received a call from the government saying that she will be compensated! She narrated all this with tears of joy. God just did it! On Sunday she came to the field with a burning testimony. She could not wait for the testimony time. She looked for Becky Franz and narrated the story to her in tears.

SENDING A NEW GENERATION

OF MISSIONARIES

The Toposas speak the same language as the Kenyan Turkanas, but many have never heard about Jesus! Not even once. Toposas are among the five ATEKER people groups which means they share the same language and culture.

I remember sometime back when a team from GFI and Sirikwa Pentacostal Fellowship in Eldoret went to one of the many villages in Toposa land accompa-nied by one white missionary. To my amazement after watching the Jesus Film, the following day they all came to the place where the team had pitched the tent and demanded that Jesus should talk to them, thinking that the white missionary was the Jesus in the Film!

We are looking forward to starting up a church planting station at Naliel, a village situated approximately 100km from the Kenyan boarder.

Toposa Mission Station: Many years ago the Lord gave us the opportunity to travel and do mission work in South Sudan. We have been privileged to travel over the entire Toposa region. Three quarters of this region have never heard the Gospel. The Former Eastern Equatoria State alone has 14 major tribes that are considered ‘least reached’, Toposa being one of the largest. This has been a hostile region for years and was considered the most uncivilized area with strong animistic beliefs. But this region is full of beautiful people that are so hospitable.

In our recent survey, we travelled across Toposa land for three days driving without spotting a single church of any kind. The lord has been putting this burden on our hearts and little did we know that God was going to lead us along with Mark Keter to spearhead a work that would reach out to many Toposa villages at this time.

The environment is hot, semi-desert, and good soil for agriculture depending on rain seasons.

Surprisingly you can drive over 250km without finding one church across the Toposa. Naliel is strategically in the middle of this region. Discovering that no-one has ever been introduced to a Church, let alone even heard about Jesus, something has to be done!

Reaching the unreached is a driving force. We are ready to take up the challenge. We need YOUR partnership in this. Dear reader you can support that work by sending a one time, or a monthly donation to us. Check the banking details at the back of this newsletter.

Prayerfully support the four missionary couples who are taking on this challenge.

Missions Conference at CITAM Eldoret

The Toposas of South Sudan live a secluded lifestyle but they remain in our hearts

Ev. Peter Franz prays for the new missionaries

Commissioning new missionaries for South Sudan

Mark Keter teaches on understanding culture at a missions’ conference in Eldoret

GOSPEL FIRE INTERNATIONAL

© G

ospe

l Fir

e In

tern

atio

nal 2

018

/ w

ebsi

te: w

ww

.gfi

-min

istr

ies.

org

Gebetsanliegen:

After a tireless search for the scarce resource - water, finally God rewarded our efforts and we struck fresh water for the Katiko residents.

This was a miracle. After sinking and later disowning one borehole after tests showed the water was salty and poisonous. Lary, the driller, laboured to ensure that the faith and hope of the

area residents did not die in the desert. Finally, we made two boreholes. One was repaired after being swept by floods and destroyed years back! The dream of the local residents came true.

The water is finally here!

VIELEN DANK FÜR

EURE HILFE!

GOSPEL FIRE INTERNATIONAL

GermanyGospel Fire International E.V,Rathausplatz 270794 Filderstadt (Sielmingen)Tel: +49 (0) 7158 9160420germany@gfi-ministries.org

SwitzerlandVerein GFI Schweiz,3465 Dürrenroth BETel. +41 (0)62 964 11 01switzerland@gfi-ministries.org

KenyaGospel Fire International,P.O. Box 4768, 30100 Eldoret,Tel: +254 (0) 20-2410900

AustraliaGFI Australia, c/o Rod Winter,5 Zephyr CourtSurrey Downs,South Australia 5126,Tel: +61 (0) 8 825 17112,australia@gfi-ministries.orginfo@gfi-ministries.org

USA and CanadaPhil & Jean Hood (on behalf of the Canadian and US board of GFI Africa/Canada)4383 Seldon RoadAbbotsford, BC V2S 7T7604-855-6057philhood@me.com

HOW TO SUPPORT GFI GFI Kenya: Gospel Fire International MPESA NUMBER 0722492202DIAMOND TRUST BANK KENYA LIMITED, ELDORETACC NO. 014 0199712001PAYBILL NO. 516600

GFI German: Volksbank Nagoldtal, IBAN: DE97 6039 1310 0007 9710 01 BIC: GENODES1VBH

GFI Switzerland: IBAN: CH67 0900 0000 6016 90910, BIC: POFICHBEXXX

USA and Canada:All cheques must have ICMS on the payable-to line. Each cheque/debit must also have a line indicating that the funds are for: GFI Africa / Canada as well as an additional word or two if the funds are designated for a special project or individual. Tax receipts will be issued from ICMS

PayPal: PayPal.me/GFIMinistries

Who could ever imagine fresh water in their neighborhood? Women expressed a sigh of relief when their daily 10km walk in search for water was reduced to just a few meters away from their homes. Joy filled their hearts, and the smiles lit their faces!

We arrived there after covering a dis-tance of 500km from Edoret, Kenya and we were received by excited faces. Our hearts were amazed by the Lord‘s doing as we walked through the sand to the site of the boreholes.

Peter Franz accompanied by Murrey Cornelius and Gerry Feller (PAOC) dedi-cated the two wells. The lead scripture was “Jesus gives living water” We are grateful to our partners for making the dreams of people of Katiko come true. Surely the ultimate search ended victoriously and engraved hope and joy in their lives.

Support our Missions to the

unreached by giving towards Repairs, Diesel,

and Food for the Hungry