Celebrate the nation of Brazil!

As Thanksgiving's Day is almost here, I think about my life and the people God has blessed me with. As a missionary the sacrifice of family time and personal time can be so hard. But I sense God's hand so vividly on my life and I am grateful for you taking time to read this post. I wish I could have taken every supporter with me to Brazil, but since that wasn't possible, please see the moments that touched my heart and I hope will touch your heart too.

 I got to witness Jesus to others and at the same moment I got to witness the holy spirit visiting the hearts of people as they sang along to the song "Yeshua" by Avion Blackman

Singing Hosanna in the Highest with my fellow sister Thabata Oliver

Being in the center of God's will, is like peace truly
"Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms." - 1 Peter 4:10

Pastor Mark preaching the undiluted gospel on our last night in Brazil together with our amazing Brazilian roommate and translator Michelle.

THE JOURNEY FROM AFRICA TO EUROPE: 6 countries in 4 weeks!

RWANDA

A perfect day spend with the children at Ellie Corner school. They taught us songs and we sang for them. We shared the Gospel, shared in laughter, time, snacks, and drinks. Let's show up more and encourage the next generation. I realize sometimes we need to just be, and become like a child again. For those of you who don’t know, in 1994 the Rwandan government influenced and convinced their own people to turn on each other based on financial status, which resulted in a mass genocide where over one-million people were brutally murdered over the course of 100 days. Did you know that in 2012, Rwanda was the first country that I ever visited on a mission trip? It was during that mission that I fell in love with serving Jesus and people through missions work.

UGANDA
During a day off in Uganda, we went into a fishing village in Kampala, where we did street evangelism. The best part was meeting local people and loving on them with our time, attention, words and lives.

Meet a beautiful little girl named Esther. She is only 8 years old and so full of life, laughter, and a genuine heart. She wouldnt stop following me around and we both loved dancing! After a long day spending time together, she asked me if she could come with me, but I told her, "You my dear are a bright light in your family and in this city. Continue to shine! And let us pray for each other."
#PrayForEsther #EmpowerEachOther #Uganda 

Children are so innocent and yet visiting the Mercy Child Care orphanage broke my heart to see how some parents had discarded their children at birth to die in the streets. Many children at this orphanage I visited only know growing up at this orphanage center. Mercy Child Care is a place where children are loved and raised in the ways of the Lord. It is great to partner with such great ministries. Kids are told they matter and belong and that they have a purpose. Meeting the many workers was a reminder too that we all have it in us to meet a need in a fallen world. 

What will be your purpose?
To sponsor a child please go to
www.mercychildcare.org
Facebook.com/mercychildcare
www.wilfredrugumba.blog
Or email info@mercychildcare.org
#mercychildcare #children #loveofgod

And then we arrived in Kenya, which is known for the Maasai Tribe, their beautiful smiles and the men are famous for jumping high!

Matthew 25:36 "I was in prison and you came to me."

In Kenya we had the privilege of ministering in a medium security prison. It was quite different from prison ministry I have done in the USA. What I noticed here was that those who believed in Jesus, have a joy and peace, even though they are still behind bars. They carried themselves different from the ones who did not believe in Jesus Christ. While we brought music, the Gospel, and lunch, it was uplifting to see all the men sing out loud and dance with us. As you can see these prison men, gave me and Tabata a big group hug!!

In Switzerland we performed at a christian event called Heaven Stage Festival. We had the honor of seeing many people come to Christ and others rededicate their lives to Him. After the performance we gave all those people the opportunity to be baptized backstage (in a blow-up swimming pool!); over a dozen people came forward to do so! It was truly beautiful to see tears of joy flowing from their eyes as they shared their testimonies with us!

The Czech Republic is full of beautiful statues and cathedrals, however over time they have just become tourist attractions and the nation is now less than 1% Protestant Christian. With the help of a friend we were able to get a small amount of equipment and the paperwork needed to have a street performance in the Old Town Square of Prague; the center of all tourism in Prague. Before we could even start we had dozens of people waiting; and after we finally started it wasn’t long until we had several hundred singing and dancing with us! Looking and asking around it was clear we had an abundance of different nationalities and religions around us, but this didn’t stop us from sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ! We even saw muslims open up to Jesus. It was interesting because  in most places where we minister like this, people start walking away when we begin to preach the Gospel. But here when pastor Mark preached and shared the Gospel five times that day, the foreigners started pulling out their camera's and raising their hands to receive Jesus.  We saw and heard many people praying to receive Jesus that day! This really opened our eyes and made us realize how possible and effective other events like this can be when it comes to street evangelism! #BoldFaith #ShineBrightJesus #Fearless                                          

NETHERLANDS
It has been two years since I been in the Netherlands and it was so great to finally go home to minister with Christafari. But what filled my heart even more was I had the privilege to minister in my home church @derotsamsterdam with my family in attendance.

In the photo above is my new found sister in Christ Nala, who accepted Jesus Christ 5 months ago after considering herself for years and atheist. Prior to accepting Christ, her mother came to Christ out of Islam. Her mother couldn't stop talking about her new found love and faith in Jesus Christ! Her mom kept praying that her daughter would invite Jesus Christ into her life.
Her testimony is so powerful and how we met is a true God story. Exactly 5 months ago I got a DM (Direct Message) on Instagram.  She saw that I was from Holland and in Christafari. She was seeking the Lord on finding a home church and God gave me an opportunity to lead her to De Rots Church in Amsterdam. I am so proud of Nala. She has sacrificed the matters of this world, including friendships and  relationships. She  is so passionate and I am glad to remain in contact now that we met in person. #MadeNew #AliveinChrist #SetFree

“Thank you for reading my blog, I hope you join me in the work by sending me as a missionary.”

— Nikita Carter

Spreading the Good News in Central America

Many times as mass evangelists it is so easy to focus only on the major results and report back the number oriented results. However, I want to do something different and surpass your possible expectation of sending you photos of crowds and instead share about the one-on-one interactions we had during our mission tour to  Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.

The people of Fraijanes, Guatemala having a good time during our Outreach Concert. We live for making Jesus known everywhere and to make him known through his love, goodness, but also the joy and fun that we can have together through gospel reggae.

We had dinner at Señor Renee and his 4 children and wife along with friends. His only son Gerson got 2 years ago in an accident while doing a triathlon on his bike. This accident left him 2 months in a coma, doctors had no hope and said he would be a vegetable. Today he has made progress in walking and fully understanding us when we talk to him. The journey of recovery is in progress, but God is shining so bright in this family and their testimony is a story of faith, healing, miracles and provision for all things (medical bills of $80,000 all paid off, blessed with a vehicle, food, and any needs that have come, God continues to provide truly.) We are beyond blessed that we crossed paths, for their testimony spoke life in all of us and reminded us how faithful God truly is to his children. #shareYourTestimony #GodsGlory

Sharing time with the Brave Gerson!

During our first concert in Guatemala we were blown away when we saw Gerson. At first it didn’t even seem possible to bring Gerson to the outreach since he has to travel by wheelchair, and had never been in a crowd since he was released from the hospital. But we said “what if we let you all as a family experience the concert by being on stage with us?” We got creative and created a seating area on the sides of our stage with a special audio speaker set up for him. Throughout the whole night we saw a family worshipping and praising the Lord together. My favorite part was when one of his family members was holding him up and dancing for him. The journey to full recovery is long for Gerson, but we believe and ask you to join in 🙏🏽 prayer for this young man to come back to full restoration and healing.
#unstoppableFaith #Family #Guatemala

Our last concert of this tour took place in Roatan. Something special happened. We usually hear and see in the audience people who receive Jesus or tell us how their lives are being changed. But for the first time we had our promoter Jack who made this concert happen share a powerful testimony of what happened that night, instead of me telling you, how bout I include what he emailed to Pastor Mark Mohr:
"I mentioned yesterday that something happened to me that night. It happened the moment you got off the boat and hugged me. Nine years ago I became a Christian. I had given up every vice but one...marijuana. My desire for smoking pot left me that night. I would call it a miracle as I smoked it daily for 30 years. I started smoking it to stop taking prescription drugs that only put me to sleep. That was three decades ago. This morning I feel completely liberated from the lie I lived for so many years. I now feel I can truly minister to the children I so desired to for so long.
I truly hope I get to see you before you leave. I would like to thank you in person. When I reached out to you last year I had no idea why God planted that seed in me. God has performed miracles in my life. This time He chose you to deliver me. I will always remember this. I donated a lot of money to this concert and I was afraid my wife was going to give me hell for doing so. When I proclaimed my freedom from pot, she embraced me. God is Great!
I can never thank you enough. I cried when you Baptised those folk two nights ago. I am crying now but these tears are drops of gold to me. Please share my thanks with the rest of your group."

Meet the Parson Family
While we were in Roatan we met this family who we visited after finding out a week ago their entire home, housing 14 people had burned down during an electrical fire. We got to encourage, uplift, pray and provide 2 suitcases of clothing and toothpaste to help the family on their way back. The most profound part that I heard that day was the owner of the house who said: "I didn't lose anything in this fire, because I have Jesus Christ!