We have known Pastor Malala since we were in Vanga in 1990. He's a great young pastor with a heart for evangelism and community development. He was here in Kikongo looking into some development projects that he hoped to get underway soon.

It was supposed to be just a short trip and then he'd fly back to Vanga with Mission Aviation Fellowship. However, on the day he was due to return, which also happened to be his birthday, his flight was cancelled due to rain. Jill quickly invited the pastor to dinner and used the little time that she had to prepare a great meal. We tried our best to help the pastor celebrate his birthday away from home and his family. Our children especially enjoyed visiting with the pastor.

The next day Pastor Malala came by again with a problem: since he was going to be here on Sunday the local church asked him to preach. But he had no shoes. All that he brought with him were work boots for walking in the fields and some informal sandals. We checked, and sure enough, the pastor and I wear the same sized shoes.

I gave the pastor my best church shoes and as he was leaving he said, "You know, I still use the Bible that you gave me whenever I preach in Kituba". I didn't remember giving him a Bible 12 years ago, but he sure did. It was the first edition printed of a new language translation. The Bibles came out in limited supply and a young missionary had thought enough of him to give him one.

On Sunday as I watched Pastor Malala give one of the best sermons I've ever heard, I couldn't help but be a little proud. He was preaching from a Bible that I gave to him years ago and he was communicating much better than I ever will. He was wearing my church shoes and he was filling them much better than I ever could.

In a very small way, I felt that I had a part in his ministry. In some way I had helped to equip this pastor to do his job. All I did was to give a Bible and some shoes. But without them this pastor could not have preached.

Several people came forward on Sunday and made decisions to follow Christ. It feels great to be just a tiny part of that.