July 25

Ministry Partners,

Today appears to be a very interesting day as Pastor Geoffrey has been working on a area wide open air village crusade. I would like to say I know what that means here but I don't as this will be a first for me in this country.

About 9:30 am Pastor Cornelius and his wife came for a visit. I first met him at one prison years ago, in 2006, as he was the head pastor of all the incarcerated pastors. I found him to be very soft spoken and mild mannered and although I had wondered as to why he was in prison I never really wanted to know.

Photo from 2006 - Alfred, Arlene & Pastor Cornelius

I wanted to have an opinion of him by what I saw him say/do and how he treated me and those with me as he was involved with the Spiritual Leader Training that IRM presented at his prison. A few years ago when I returned to that prison they told me he had been released but the warden gave us his contact info and he made the long trek to see me in Kigali. It was then I found out that he had been in prison for 5 1/2 years and when they finally had his trial they found he was innocent. He told me, "But I am not bitter for being in prison for I know God sent me there so I could share the Gospel." His comment reminded me of the Apostle Paul.

Pastor Cornelius contacted me some time ago a let me know that he was now in Uganda so although he lives about 3 hours from where I am he agreed to come and see me. It was so good to see him, finally meet his wife and find out about his family and church. He said the work of IRM must continue and he wants to be instrumental in getting IRM registered in Uganda as an NGO but I told him that  would take much prayer and a clear direction from the Lord to pursue any registration here.

He brought me a report with photos of his testimony and my heart was broken as I read how violently he had been tortured. He said he kept the death records while in prison and many died because they just plain lost hope. But the God sent an angle, me, and as I shared the Gospel and gave Bibles the prisoners began to once again have hope and the death tole went down. He also spoke about the many "children" I now have and that one day we will be able to celebrate together in heaven.

Arlene renews a friendship w/ Pastor Cornelius & his wife

Their two hour visit was far to short but hearing these and other things from him make me realize how very small the hassles and trials in my own life are and how very many lives God has allowed me  to share his love with.

The rest of the afternoon and crusade was not what I expected but at one point the afternoon found me sitting on the roadside engaging about 10 very darling children of various ages with the youngest one saying over and over, "How are you?" I wish I had had my camera but it was in the van.

We arrived back at home base from the crusade about 8pm and I went straight to bed. Tomorrow will be a full day with The Foursquare Church in the morning and a prison in the afternoon.

That none would be lost,

Arlene