Joel & Joanie Troester – Prayer Leeter for October, 2013

Welcome to another chapter. I can’t remember which chapter we are on. We are excited for the number of visitors that God is bringing our way since we have
started meeting in our new location. Our own people are bringing them out. Last week there were thirteen that participated in our Tuesday night evangelistic Bible study. Four or five of them are still working at understanding the gospel and others are preparing to lead the next time around.
At present, the most exciting adventure involves Hanífa, the lady who wants to take away the two lots of land we are pursuing for our church. Back on September 20 she hired a curandeiro, (witch doctor) to go to the property and place a curse on us after she had dumped several loads of old bricks and a small load of sand on the property. City officials called on her to give an account for dumping on land that’s not hers and afterwards she hauled away a little sand. But this last Saturday she showed up with a helper and planted some flowers on “our property”. We happen to have folks from our church who live right in front of the property and they gave me a call. I paid Hanífa a visit and took a couple of pictures, which she did not appreciate. She said that we would never get the properties. Don’t you just love a challenge like that, especially when the Lord is on your side? It reminds me of Balak asking Balaam to curse the children of Israel and of Elijah and the prophets of Baal. Who is going to win this contest?    Hanífa is from a Muslim background and it is common for them to seek witch doctors to help them get what they want.
Today she was back again with the witch doctor to curse us again, as his first attempt obviously didn’t have any effect on our efforts. When God was preparing the children of Israel to exit Egypt, things got far worse before they got better because of the hardness of Pharaoh’s heart. We’re in a spiritual battle. Many months ago, Hanifa began the process to acquire the lot that is next to the two we are in the process of acquiring. We would love to offer to buy that lot from her once it becomes hers, but God is going to have to make some major changes in this whole situation for that to happen.
The Secretary of the Neighborhood is not concerned about Hanífa’s defiant attitude because everything needs to go through him. He has been a great help to us all along the way. We are waiting for the final documentation for our property to be ready in about 7-10 days. Stay tuned.
Thanks for your prayers. May God’s will be done. Our guys are heading into summer vacation and are ready to go to work taking out old tree stumps and making bricks for the church building. However, we want the documents “in hand” first.
May God bless,
Joel and Joanie Troester