Crossing the border from Romania into Moldova was the first time I really felt like I was passing behind the 'iron curtain.' This former communist nation had evidences of days past with numerous concrete block buildings and Soviet-era lookouts at the border crossing.  Maybe the signs in Russian style Cyrillic lettering added to the flavour for us. 

The people were hungry for the Gospel though and it was great to minister with a pastor who not only had a church in Cahul, Moldova, but he was planting another church in Galati, Romania not far away.     Pray for this nation that God would move where many women are unfortunately the victims of human trafficking.  

On my first visit to Romania in 2012, one of the church leaders there told me that many gypsy churches didn't bother ministering to the children because some felt that the Gospel was too difficult for them to understand.  I determined in my heart that if I ever returned to Romania, I would bring teams that would minister to children and teach about Children's Ministry - a very valuable part of bringing the Gospel to the world.   The Gospel is not difficult to understand, and we must bring it to all ages, including children. 

August 2016 marked my third trip to Romania, when our team of five ministered and reached out in public parks and at a children's camp where we made an impact on the next generation.    We painted faces, played games, fed the children, did drama, gave out prizes and preached the Gospel.   We encouraged leaders to keep up the good work in reaching out to children!  

About fifteen pastors and leaders sat in a school classroom with a handful of Canadians on our team a day before a Uganda minister's conference was about to begin.   It was time to introduce ourselves and as the men of God went around the room I soon realized I was with some spiritual giants... some great men and women of the kingdom of God.   

The first pastor mentioned how he had planted over 50 churches.  The next leader planted 40.  This went on with each leader around the circle.    Then the wife of a man of God spoke of how her 70+ year old husband had planted 350 churches!   By the time we had finished the circle, more than 700 churches were represented by these key leaders throughout Uganda. 

What a powerful privilege it is to minister to leaders.  When you impact the life of a leader, you are impacting so many more.  Hundreds of pastors and leaders gathered and received from the word of God and His Spirit as lives were impacted at African Renewal University just outside the city of Kampala. 

One of the highlights for me was to have a group of African evangelists who joined me for some afternoon sessions at this conference.   God has a way of connecting evangelists together, which is really the heartbeat of Canadian Fire Missions.   Some of these men of God we connected with that day are impacting many thousands of people across Africa and around the world.     It was truly a joy to have Canadian Fire meet African fire in Uganda in May 2016!

All too often, we judge a book by its cover, a person by their past and sometimes even a nation by its history.  When we bring up the nation of Rwanda, North Americans often think of the genocide that happened in 1994.   Our awareness of this genocide may well only be because of the movie 'Hotel Rwanda.'   Over a million people were killed in a 100 day period during that time, and to this day this nation is unfairly judged as a place that is unsafe and as a place where murder, racism and genocide had their way. 

My eyes were opened to a people who refused to be labelled as Hutu or Tutsi today which were the tribal groups that divided them.  Today the people proudly declare themselves to be simply Rwandans, and the rebuilding of their beautiful nation has been nothing short of a miracle from God.   It was a life-changing day for me at the Kigali Genocide Memorial, where I learned about the history that led up to a genocide and saw how horrible man can become without God.   I have never been so emotionally overwhelmed, literally sobbing out loud as I saw how children's lives were brutally taken and entire villages were wiped out through a demonic hatred.   

The Apostle Paul wrote that were sin abounds, God's grace abounds much more.  Where darkness tried to have its way, this is precisely the place where the Gospel needs to go.  The light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot put it out.   In May 2016, we were privileged to be able to preach in numerous churches throughout Rwanda, ministering to leaders in Kigali and across the nation as they fulfill the call of God to restore a nation. 

This trip started out with some challenging moments as visa issues almost prevented it from happening, but the hand of God was shown before boarding the first flight in Canada, and many lives were impacted in our time there with our team from Saskatchewan of Pastor Paul Dubois from Melfort, Pastor Perry Hubick from Saskatoon, and Pastor Brett Watson from Canora and myself.   Once again God showed His greatness and His faithfulness by opening doors and providing His supernatural power and provision as we touched lives throughout Rwanda.    

Lives were impacted throughout Israel by our team of Brad & Kimberly Mayer and Dennis & Verona Bueckert.   We ministered in Messianic Congregations throughout the nation and touched lives of those taking classes at Living Israel which is a ministry to those who used to struggle with addictions.  It was great to walk in the land where Jesus walked and share the message of evangelism to those called to make an impact from this great nation.   The Gospel went forth in Hebrew, Russian and Arabic through the help of gifted translators.

Our heart is to find the outreach workers and those called to evangelism and God always graciously provides these connections, including a taxi driver from an Arabic speaking congregation who shares his faith daily with people from multiple nationalities and various religions.    We were able to connect with influential national leaders in the Messianic congregations of Israel, including Ari Sorkoram and Israel Pochtar, who have made a great impact throughout Israel and around the world.    

No visit to Israel would be complete without seeing some of the powerful history that is throughout the nation.   Highlights for us included visits to the Western Wall, the Dead Sea, the Mount of Olives, the Garden of Gethsemane, the Sea of Galilee and of course, the empty tomb.   Israel is being impacted with the Gospel and it was a privilege to be a part of what God is doing there.