Join Emily for part two with long-time partners, John and Carla Watson. This episode includes stories of people in Africa, how they are so happy with so little, and God’s power to grow this ministry from a small beginning. 

Transcription:

Emily: Welcome to the 4:18 Podcast. God is moving through partners, pastors, and entrepreneurs in African countries. This podcast shares the untold stories of what God is doing through the ministry of Possibilities Africa and testifies to the power of Jesus as described in Luke 4:18, which reads, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind–to set the oppressed free.” I’m Emily Frenzen, and today I have the pleasure of welcoming John and Carla Watson to the studio. Welcome, John and Carla! As you think about your four trips to different countries in Africa, who comes to mind when you think of key moments that stuck out to you, and who left an impression on you? 

Carla: Well, in 2010… he is no longer working with Possibilities Africa. He’s in the United States now, but his name was Charlie, and Charlie was amazing with the people in the villages. They wanted to talk to him. He was so kind. He was so patient, and the people were so appreciative to see Charlie. Then the last trip, her name was Valerie. She was the hostess with the mostest, is what I would say. One of the people we’ve seen twice, he’s a pastor, his name is Festus, and Festus was amazing, and he has worked with other pastors within his community, not only spiritually but also startup businesses. 

John: We did see Pastor Festus’s business in a very poor area in Eastern Kenya. And we could see his excitement and success in starting a business and really doing well with it. Some people just have more acumen in business than others, and Festus has had quite a bit, but he was a very generous person. He would help other people and was a leader for their community. It has been fun over the years to watch Pastor Festus. One of the most memorable things, I think it was near Martin’s growing up community, we had a group of people that took out a loan and they were making and kilning, and curing bricks. And there was a group of them working on it. They had to build this big oven out of mud and clay and maybe fire, but anyway, they were in the process of pushing wood under to fire these bricks and also make them. And they had a guy there that didn’t have any legs. I don’t know what had happened. He had arms that were real big around and he was making bricks. And he was helping with that whole process, where he didn’t take a lot of lateral motion because he had strength. And he was making a living. And that group was cranking out a lot of bricks, and that was exciting. 

Another place that time, the heartwarming part, was a very fine pastor and his wife had an acreage. And they had a chapel or small church on their property. It was a very active church and we visited the church, but we were invited into their home, which I’ll always remember. This is a mud hut, or at least the structure had originally a mud or dirt floor and I was so delighted to go into it and be invited into a home. We went in and the pastor’s wife had taken this and swabbed down this floor of mud and then taken some kind of a broom or a mop and made figurines in the floor for us to come. And it was, I mean, this place was clean. I know it had a mud floor, but she had white linens on all the sofas. I don’t know where she washed them over there. We always wonder how these people get things so white, but they do and it was a privilege to be invited in there. 

And then right after that, we saw a tomato project over there, where the novelty of hybrid seeds finally hit that area of Africa. And PA helped acquire some of these seeds and a whole group of women were raising tomatoes out in this field and they had a whole bunch of it. They hadn’t quite learned just exactly when to pick them. So there were green ones, there were yellow ones, and there were red ones, but they were all going to be sold in town, and I’m sure they all went. And they were looking at the potential for irrigating this and I remember how exciting it was to see that happen. So those are some of the things from our early trips. Later trips, I think the business thing that I remember was a pastor and his wife had a, she had a tailoring shop. She could sew beautifully. 

Carla: Dominique was his name. Pastor Dominique. Pastor Dominique and I think Martha. 

John: I think that’s right. And so anyway, they showed us this tailoring shop and it was beautiful. We love seeing those things and they love to show you these businesses. Well, in following through and going back, they have established two or three other shops with people that have been trained here, but they’ve also helped several people go start their own shops. And I don’t know if they still live in the back of the little tailoring shop or not. 

Carla: That I don’t know but they have grown. But spiritually, you’ve got to understand Pastor Dominique. He… with the other pastors, they seem to all have cell phones and he calls, he gets up at three o’clock and they pray with each other at 3 a.m. before they go off to whatever they do, whether it’s work or whatever. But I would say what I have seen the changes from–they are still doing the businesses, but you have to understand they are focusing so much on the teaching of these pastors. Within a week’s training, they could take Bibles. Now these Bibles don’t have study guides, they don’t have commentaries, and they can preach the Word. And that is just a miracle to see how God has used these pastors to preach. Unbelievable, because we take training for years and these pastors are very good by the end of a week. 

John: They don’t have that luxury. They don’t have the luxury. Pastors are rather loose term in Africa. A lot of pastors, I hate to say it, they don’t even have a Bible. They could be pastors; they call themselves pastors. So these people have to get themselves to the site of training, but then the lodging, the food, and the training are provided by Possibilities Africa. And public transportation over there is how many people can you get on a Volkswagen bus? It’s crowded and people hanging out all over and everything. So it’s an undertaking to come to training. But they come and they learn. It’s amazing they have a Bible and the field is wide open and the people are–they want to learn, they’re interested in learning. It’s a lot different than over here. 

Carla: Well, Africans are relational more than Americans are. I mean we are relational but not as much as Africans. And so the pastors make the people in their congregation, and that could be 15, could be 20, could be larger than that, be responsible. And that’s the difference, I think. 

Emily: Where in Africa have you seen God do what he describes in Luke 4:18? 

John: Well, I think God is doing that in a huge way. Developing a small business or a group developing a medium-sized business and then helping provide for others. I think that’s how we’ve seen the physical needs met. We know through the training that the spiritual needs are being met. So I guess that’s how we’ve seen it working or I’ve seen it working.

Carla: The smiles on the faces, both physically and spiritually, there is a smile from those people.

John: They are happy people. 

Carla: They are so happy with so little. It’s almost embarrassing to us.

John: Yeah, we could use some lessons over here. Yeah, absolutely. Perhaps we’ll have some. 

Carla: The smiles tell you a lot. 

Emily: Yeah, they do. It’s amazing.

John: If you want to see joy in Africa go to a church service. And it goes on a while. But you know what? You go and they’re coming in the church. Now in these small towns, they come, they walk so far. A lot of them will walk 10 miles to church–walk. And then they come in and they start praying. When they pray, they’re standing up and they’re walking back and forth in the aisles, praying out loud. And there’ll be a whole bunch of people doing that before the service even starts. Then there’s nothing Afrians like better than singing and praising and music. And they’re always very generous with us. We can’t eat much of their food, probably without getting ill. We’re not used to it but they always have things for you that they want to provide. And truly, because of the situation that they’re in, they know what it means to rely on God. They are wholly independent. 

Carla: All the women one time received a basket, remember that? She was blind, she made the baskets, but we all got a basket from this lady. We did not see her, but she had asked someone from Possibilities Africa to get them because she couldn’t travel. But she wanted to give us baskets. And so all the women got a beautiful basket from her. It’s a special, I know what it is. When I look at it, it brings back memories. So they’re very generous. They have very little, but they give what they have. 

John: We’ve just seen God at work in so many different ways. I mean, how do you get into this many countries in this length of time? You know, for God, you have to think of time. It’s a scroll that we don’t know the beginning and the end. He knows all of the time. We just know a little bit of it here. What are we doing to help bring the future scroll up? That will glorify God.

So I think we see that happening in Africa. There’s a lot of instability in Africa. There’s a lot of countries trying to get in Africa. China’s made a huge dent with roads and equipment. But what about the people? That isn’t all the answer. And here we have people that are willing to make a difference and work and are wide open to the Word. So I think that’s, you know, one of the most unusual opportunities we’ve seen on this earth is what’s going on over there. It’s just a highly unusual opportunity. And they don’t come along very often, but when they do, you need to, you need to take advantage of them and help and make it work. 

Emily: As you think about 2010 to 2020, when you took those trips, those are a decade apart, what was different from 2010 to 2020? 

John: Well, more countries. We were only in one other one–Malawi. I haven’t been in the other five countries we’re in. We’ve seen businesses expand. It’s going to keep happening, but these are unstable governments, a lot of them. There’s going to be more ups and downs. But we’re beyond that. We’re working with the people. We’re not working with the government, we’re working with the people. You can’t take that away. You can take some of the economics or you might wipe out a business, but you can’t take away Christ in their lives. I think it’s just a long-term difference-maker. 

Carla: What I see in the ten years of travel was you might have seen five or six pastors. In fact, the team that would go over, we were usually the larger number. Now, in 2020,

when the pastors came in, the team that came from America was smaller. And the Africans… 

John: The number of pastors. 

Carla: The number of pastors increased. That’s what I see the biggest change has been–is how many people they are affecting. And it started with a few, and it’s just, it’s like a snowball. It’s just going, getting bigger and bigger. 

John: That’s a good point. It’s really grown. And it’s well organized.

Carla: It’s taken a lot of people over there in Africa to organize this, because that does not happen by not working or not doing things. I don’t think we here in America understand what goes on in a day-to-day operation to get it moving. We see the big picture, but we don’t see the daily grind. That is, it’s there because when you come as a guest from America, we are being hosted the whole time we are there. I guess you need to go. You can’t explain Possibilities Africa well, and if you have the opportunity to go, you need to go. It becomes much clearer when you’re there. There’s no words to explain it, but you’ll see it, you’ll feel it. And I think the people in Africa see it and feel it.

John: I think a trip to Africa for someone who hasn’t been there is–get ready to get a few shots. But anyway, it’s a phenomenal eye-opener. It’s a good way to check out for yourself what’s going on here. We’ve always tried to do that is we’re over there. I’ve looked at the books over there. I’ve done all of these kinds of things to say, Hey, I think this thing’s on solid footing, it’s going forward and…

Carla: Well, yeah, the people who run it are of very high integrity. 

John: Oh, yeah. 

Carla: Then you realize that by being there with them, what high integrity they are.

Emily: Thank you so much for listening to part two. Be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share with a friend so we can grow this podcast and share this good news. Thank you for being here. We appreciate your partnership in prayer and in giving. If you’re interested in partnering financially, be sure to head to usa.possibilitiesafrica.org and hit the donate button. Thank you so much for being here. God bless you!