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David Persons, the dean of the Congo seminary which we support via the "Helping Hands Bowl" writes the below about Leya Amisi and his family. First Chruch Stillwater members are supporting Leya Amisi with a $2,500 annual scholarship to get his Seminary degree and sending his wife through the Women's school". Letter from Leya Amisi 9/11 Your church is such a blessing to us in the Congo. Being on the cutting edge of training young men and women for the ministry here is of the greatest importance. The real change will come when hearts and minds are changed for the Lord. We want to express our deepest gratitude to your support of our students in the scholarship program. As you know, last year you started to support Leya Amisi and his family here at the Seminary at Mulungwishi. I asked him to write out his story of how the Lord called him into the ministry and how he sees the Lord using him in the future. He is deeply touched that Christian brothers and sister, who do not even know him, would consider supporting him in order to fulfill the call God has put on his life. The following is what he shared with me and it comes with the deepest gratitude from him personally as well as the whole faculty and student body. Indeed, this is a wonderful partnership. My vocation to become a pastor was not based on my own imitative. I always felt that being a pastor was too heavy a burden to carry. But God had his own plan. It was the church leaders who chose me to go to study and I could not refuse the service of the Lord. I accepted Jesus as my savior in 1978 within the Brethren Church. I joined the United Methodist Church in 1984 and that is where I received my calling. This is how it happened. In 1987 when I was in my fourth year of high school (the school system here is 6 years of elementary and 6 years of high school) after praying I went to sleep. I had a vision of an old man that I did not know come t me and said, “Leya, you are my servant. This is the sign that I give you, you will never have enough money and you will barely scrape by. You will only have money when you are witnessing for me before others”. At this time I was the secretary of the worship committee. In 1991 I finished my high school studies. I wanted to go on to university to study but my pastor, Basega Ruben, said to me, “Leya, don’t worry about university studies, God has already chosen you to be his servant”. That same year, I had a dream of a beautiful school where everyone was trying to get in. When my friend and I arrived at the gate, a man met us and said it not yet your time. In spite of our arguing with him, he refused to let us in. In 1991, I was the president of our church youth group. In 1993 I was the youth president for our circuit and in 1995 the vice-president for the district. In 1997 I became the District president for the youth and also the lay leader for our church. I took the entrance exam to come to study at Mulungwishi to become a pastor and in 2005 was chosen to attend. I have now finished my second year of studies. My favorite subjects are in the area of New Testament. Leya Amisi |
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