God Always has a Plan

God has a plan!  Those are words that I have too often uttered from my mouth.  My confession is that I do not always say them in belief but sometimes in excuse.  Living and serving God here for the last 10 plus years has for the most part been completely joyful and satisfying, but there have been some tough moments or tough spots.  There have been days when I wondered is this really what God wants me to do with my life.  The desire to see "results" or be " successful" in the terms of the world can at times feel a bit overwhelming.

Life can easily become mundane and there are moments when you so badly want to see a so called "return on investment"  something that if you leave that will remain, something that you can say at least "I" did that.... there in lies the problem when I make serving God about myself. Those are the moments that I really struggle when I focus on what I have done.  When I stop and remember the messages He gives us through His word.  Love me and  love people! Plant seeds and water! Feed my sheep!  I am quickly reminded about our responsibility in this is simple obedience to Jesus because we love Him and we want to serve Him.  I am usually then completely overwhelmed with the privilege and joy that it is to serve and to have served here among these people He loves so deeply.

Then in the moments when you continue to be faithful and walk into the things He places before you He totally blows you away with the plan He had set course from the beginning.  I had one of these moments weeks ago.....

The first time I set foot in the village Elona where we work I was 23 years old an intern with Bethany.  I was part of a small team that did a mobile medical clinic.  One of my most vivid  memories of that day was recording a babies temperature of over 105 F. After giving a stat dose of fever reducer  I held that child with a damp cloth on her chest for over an hour until that fever broke. Then we treated her for malaria.

When we returned to G-town to work we never knew God would take us to Elona specifically but He had a plan.  In the beginning we were involved with our teammates here that are M workers from Kenya.  We assisted and were a part of building the clinic that was the first permanent building that exists currently on the farm plot.

    Then in 2011 we were approached with a new idea of opening a farm that could train other church planters to be equipped with access ministries and also be equipped with ministries that  helped to sustain them while on the field. So it was mainly directed at training people from outside.... this  was great but not my passion.  My passion was to have impact on the local community of UPG's .

  But I obeyed God and started a farm in a place that I would never advise anyone to start a farm.... realistically speaking.  We started with sand and rocks where now by the pure grace of God and His provision we have soil that can actually grow something....  After the initial funding honestly I did not think so much about the desires of the first donors. There were a number of misunderstandings  related to the first donors desires... I think those are realities in any major project so I just chalk them up to us all being humans.

So finally this year in 2019 January, 8 years after the initial funding we launched the first official training   (from the donors perspective)we trained 6 Church  Planters from and close friend and neighbor network that are strong practitioners and believers in DMM.  I am not even going to try and pretend the day that these guys were set to arrive for training; I was talking with my staff on the ground telling them we are not ready for this.... what are we going to do?    But they arrived an we received them and it was  truly a great time ! Shortly after their arrival on day 2 they asked me if they were allowed to plant spiritual seeds as I taught them to plant physical seeds... at that point the light came on in my head and I finally realized what God had been doing since 2003 . He had a plan ..... these guys came in for 4 weeks and they were trained in sustainable agriculture and they did very well. But the impact they left behind was unimaginable!  They encouraged me by telling me I had provided them with one of the strongest access ministries they had ever seen. Because of the time and effort we had put into this village they were able to go anywhere under the cover of our name!  They identified me and the person of peace and so did the community ! What and honor! They were able to move past the story telling phase which I have been in for years and get them into reading the Bible!

As a result of pushing through an being faithful God had a plan based on obedience.  As of 3 weeks ago I have 2 of my long term investments locally reading an listening to the Bible.  That is somewhere I was not sure we would ever reach. I give all of the glory to Jesus and know that it is because of His faithfulness to our obedience !

One of my guys has Professed Christ already ( first one in 10 years) but is enduring persecution from his in laws  please pray for him his name is  Abu Ndugu Fa la.  I am planning to meet with him tomorrow God grant me wisdom!

He really does have a plan trust Him and He will be faithful!

Thank you to all the partners involved financially and prayerfully ! God is good and He is faithful!!  If you would like to know more or partner with us in ministry please contact me at wittdawg@gmail.com

Many blessings Family!

Jason