Accidental Phone Call?

It was Friday evening and I was sitting across the table from Jason Fournier and His family. I had just spent the last 4 days traveling half way around the world and across Tanzania to be there that evening. My mind was spinning as I tried to absorb everything around me. It was my first trip to Africa and I had already seen much of the diversity of this beautiful country. I had seen elephants, giraffes, zebras, baobab trees and acacia trees all for the first time. Now I was meeting the many new friendly faces at the Kibidula Mission.

In many ways it was a far different sight from where I had traveled in Central and South America, and yet there was many of the same challenges and needs, some of the same vivid greens from rainy season, and many of the same tropical fruits in abundance.

A question from Jason, jarred me back to reality, “What was that?” Oh yes, “Could I tell the group there how I had ended up at their home for supper that evening?” You see it began with an accidental phone call, well actually with a small blip that came across my computer about a need for a construction manager at Kibidula. It had sparked my interest only in that I’m interested in construction, and it had been several years since I had seen anything about Kibidula. I wondered what was happening with the project. Clicking on the link, I watched a promo video and perused their website for a couple minutes. What I saw sparked my interest, and I briefly thought about talking to my wife, Shiayla, and seeing if she thought we should find out more. But I really didn’t have a huge interest and didn’t expect anything to come of it. Nor did I know the best way to contact the project. There had been a Tanzanian phone number on the site and I wondered if perhaps the number was on WhatsApp as that would be the easiest way to send a message. It certainly wouldn’t hurt to check, so I copied the number and as I pasted it into WhatsApp, to my horror, my phone began calling the number. I immediately hung up knowing there was quite a time change and not knowing what time it was in Tanzania. “How embarrassing” I thought, “I wonder if it connected on the other end, hopefully not.” Then the number began calling me back, oh no, it had connected, and I wasn’t even sure what to say. Then the call stopped and I sat there, adrenaline pumping, wondering what I should do next. I realized the only logical thing I could think of was to call the number back and explain what had happened. Jason answered the phone, and I explained myself. He in turn explained that he had seen the number come in and recognizing it as a US number. He had clicked on my picture to see if it was somebody he knew, and somehow he too had unintentionally called me back in the process. We had a good chuckle about it, and I began telling him a little about myself and my interest in missions, and he in turn told me a little about Kibidula. Jason suggested I send my resume to him and let their executive committee review it. I agreed and we ended the call, then I realized I was going to have to explain myself to my wife. Here I was sending a resume to a project that my wife didn’t even know about. To my surprise, she was much more interested than I had anticipated. The next few days was full of questions flying back and forth between Jason and I, references being sent and information gathered. It looked like there might be a possibility of us actually going to Tanzania, but Shiayla and I felt like we needed more info, and a better grasp of the project than we could get from a phone call. And so it was, last minute plans were made and off I went on a 40 hour itinerary to Dar Es Salaam, the largest port city of Tanzania. As I sat there at the supper table relaying my story, we began to wonder how quickly all this had happened. Jason and I checked our phones and it had been two weeks, to the day, at 5:05 in the morning that I had accidentally called him.

So there I was, seeing first hand the many projects and departments of the Kibidula mission. There is a lot going on at Kibidula and I can’t do it justice all at once. I will try to give more snapshots of the different projects in the coming months. However, they have a primary school with 110 students, an Agricultural school for at-risk youth with about 100 students, and a lay evangelist training program with about 50 adults. They have two separate literature programs, the first being their own press which publishes tracts and Bible studies, and the second being the importation and sale of larger Adventist books and publications across the country. They also have a program that helps new churches with roofs, which local congregations often can not afford. Finally they have a 500 acre avocado farm and beautiful packing plant that exports avocados as industry for the project. Last year 25 percent of all avocados imported into India came from the Kibidula packing house. The farm is actively growing and developing as they look for more ways to grow the industry and support the many needs, not only at Kibidula, but in Africa as a whole.

We are excited to announce that God has opened the doors for us to accept a call to Kibidula, pending our visa approval which we are currently waiting on. It looks like we will be headed to Kibidula in the next few months. We are looking forward to the opportunity to settle in one place after our many travels the last couple of years, and have made a three year commitment to the project. We are excited to be able to help the project with their construction needs, which currently includes a new 50 ft by 200 ft publishing house, finishing a staff house, building a new staff house, and most likely adding an addition to the avocado packing house in the next year. My duties will include the oversight of these projects, direction of local workers and supplies, possibly providing some mechanics classes at the Agricultural school and other ministry opportunities as they present themselves.

Shiayla and I are excited with the opportunities that God has opened up for us. We are grateful for the assurance of God’s blessing as we move forward in our plans and preparation. Our hearts also go out in gratitude for each one of you that has taken an active interest in the mission work we have been able to do. We know it is your encouragement and prayers that strengthen us when trials come and for this we will always be thankful. We are currently looking for a few people who would like to take a more active roll in partnering with us as financial supporters. If that is something you are interested in, please contact us. We would be honored to have the privilege of talking to you more about it. You can contact us by using one of the icons at the bottom of the page.

Another new opportunity we are excited about, is for you to connect with us in prayer. If you would like to share a prayer request with us or hear more about how you can pray for us, please do so via the prayer banner at the bottom of the website.