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Related topics Orphan Buys Orphanage Today, Patrick and his wife are raising six orphans in the orphanage and running a grade school on its premises where he had once lived.
To Sabbath School teachers: This story is for Sabbath, Dec. 21. Have you ever been called a sorcerer? Everyone called 14-year-old Patrick Kayend Omughamay a sorcerer when his mother died. Patrick was the oldest boy in a family of nine children in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. His mother had supported the family, and the responsibility fell on him when she died unexpectedly. Unable to work, Patrick went from house to house, begging for food. The neighbors, convinced that he was a sorcerer, refused to help. A year later, the authorities put Patrick in an orphanage, where he was fed and educated. But when he was 21, the orphanage closed, and he found himself back in his old neighborhood. People whispered, “The sorcerer is back.” The next two years were the most difficult in his life. He filled plastic bags with drinking water and tried to sell them on the street. He spent hours thinking about life under a mango tree. The future seemed hopeless. The only bright point in life was church, which he attended faithfully every Sabbath. His mother had been an Adventist. One Sabbath, an Adventist physician, Jack Kavale, called a meeting of the young people. He offered to help anyone who had a viable idea for a small business. Patrick said he wanted to open an Internet cafe. Jack said that would cost too much, but he offered U.S.$50 in seed money. Wondering what to do, Patrick showed the money to a church elder. “You should give tithe before anything else,” the elder said. Patrick thought. “Is the elder against me? I don’t have enough money, and he is asking me to give tithe.” The elder read from the Bible about giving tithe, and Patrick immediately handed over $5. The elder prayed for Patrick and said, “God go with you.” Now Patrick had $45. After some thought, he bought a large umbrella, a table, and two broken cell phones that only made outgoing calls. He set up the table on the street and put a sign in front, reading, “Public telephone.” People would pay him to call on his phones. Neighbors predicted failure. “What kind of business is this?” they said. “It will never succeed.” After expenses, Patrick earned only $2.50 a day. So, he borrowed a motorcycle and began offering taxi rides at night. After some time, he saved $300. Then Patrick attended a meeting of businesspeople where a pastor asked for pledges to support evangelistic meetings in Kinshasa. To this day, Patrick doesn’t know why he pledged $200. Neighbors thought he was foolish. “How can you give $200?” they said. “What kind of work do you do now?” A month passed, and Patrick began to worry that he had made a mistake. One day, as Patrick stood at his cell phone table, a stranger walked up and offered a laptop for $120. Patrick thought that a laptop might help him expand his business, but he only had $80. The stranger rejected the offer as too small and left. After a while, however, he returned and accepted $80 for the laptop. The next morning, another stranger rushed to Patrick’s table. “Do you know someone with a laptop for sale?” he said. “My friend wants to buy a laptop, and he is willing to spend $600.” Patrick and the stranger went to the friend’s house. Seeing that the laptop worked, the friend asked for the price. “$600,” Patrick said. “I’ll give you $550,” the man said. “Sold!” Patrick said. Leaving the house, Patrick couldn’t believe what had happened. He had bought a laptop for $80 and sold it the next day for $550. After giving tithe, he upgraded his cell phone table to a wooden booth and began to offer money exchange services in addition the cell phone services. His business prospered. Soon he was earning $300 to $400 a week. Then revenues grew to $2,000. Patrick bought the orphanage where he had once lived. Today, he and his wife are raising six orphans in the orphanage and running a grade school on its premises. Street children are invited for free meals, and he has $50 for any widow in his church who as a viable idea for a small business. Neighbors no longer call him a sorcerer. “People said I was a sorcerer,” Patrick said. “But God has showed that I am His child.” Thank you for your 2016 Thirteenth Sabbath Offering that helped construct children’s Sabbath School classrooms at three churches in Kinshasa, including the church that Patrick attends. Part of this quarter’s offering will help Kinshasa Adventist Clinic.  Story Tips Watch a YouTube video of Patrick: bit.ly/Patrick-Omughamay . Download medium-resolution photos for this story from our Facebook page: bit.ly/fb-mq . Photos are uploaded on Sundays, six days before the mission story is to be presented. Download high-resolution photos and more from the ADAMS databank: bit.ly/Orphan-Buys-Orphanage Download high-resolution photos of Thirteenth Sabbath projects from ADAMS: bit.ly/ECD-projects-2019 Fast Facts The Democratic Republic of Congo was known as Zaïre from 1971 to 1997.  Get to know the region Related publications More Stories Topics From the front lines of mission—straight to your inbox

Today, Patrick and his wife are raising six orphans in the orphanage and running a grade school on its premises where he had once lived.

Orphan Buys Orphanage

Related topics The Little Streams The early morning mist filled the valleys and ascended the hills toward our house as I heard the first call to prayer from the mosque below.
The early morning mist filled the valleys and ascended the hills toward our house as I heard the first call to prayer from the mosque below. Five times a day, thousands of believers in the community stopped whatever they were doing to pray. I, too, made a habit of praying when I heard the mournful call. I prayed that these people would come to have a deeper knowledge of God and that the Adventist workers in the region would have a burning desire to share Him. More than five years ago, our family, including three children all less than eight years old, traded the cold winters of Wisconsin, United States, for the sunny Mediterranean. After three flights and 30 hours of travel, we arrived at our new home, where we would stay for the next three years. We were excited to join an international team of missionaries and tentmakers who were working to spread the gospel among the millions of people living in the Middle East. One of our jobs was to provide Adventist books and other printed materials for each of the 20 countries in our assigned territory. This area included four major languages along with a multitude of dialects. Additionally, in the more than 30 years since the Adventist Church had published books in the region, publishing methods had changed drastically from analog to digital. There were no digital files and very few hard copies of books that had been translated and printed in the past. One of our first projects was to create the digital files so that books and tracts could be published, but neither Marshall nor I knew the language. He prayed about how to get this project started and felt compelled to employ local Adventist young people to create the digital files. It was the answer we needed! These young people made it possible for books to be produced quickly and made available for literature evangelists to sell in local communities. Our region had its share of unrest, and the possible need to evacuate was always in the back of our minds. We prayed for wisdom to know when it was best to leave the area and when it was best to stay. Every time we left our home, we knew we might never be able to return. By God’s grace, we never faced this reality, but other missionaries in the region, unfortunately, did. Conflict in Syria filled our country with refugees. A simple idea, the courage of young people, and the vision of administrators laid the foundation for reaching these families with the gospel. While on vacation, we encouraged a group of college students to come on a short-term mission trip to share health principles with the local refugee community. We also helped facilitate translators and transportation for the students. In less than 10 days, this small group served 800 people and connected with key contacts in the refugee community. One opportunity sometimes led to another. Once, our team held health screening services specifically for Syrian refugees. The contacts they made later led to the establishment of a school that provides basic education to refugee children, ministry to their families, and church services that their parents attend. Although we weren’t as directly involved with helping the refugees as others in our team, we visited their homes, listened to their stories, and continued to pray for them. Our work included traveling to many countries in the Middle East to encourage local believers and provide support for outreach initiatives. Every trip brought new inspiration as we met to train and inspire other expatriates and local believers who were working in countries where it was difficult to share the gospel. Often, it seemed as if our efforts were very small in the face of the challenges of multiple languages, limited resources, and millions of unreached people. Our work seemed like one drop in a huge bucket. But we continued to be encouraged by the pen of Inspiration: “But the little rill that makes its noiseless way through grove and meadow, bearing health and fertility and beauty, is as useful in its way as the broad river. And in contributing to the river’s life, it helps achieve that which alone it could never have accomplished.” * Wherever you are, you can support the work in the Middle East with your prayers, your funds, and as the Lord opens the way, your hands and feet. * Ellen G. White, Education (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press®, 1903), 117. Your weekly mission offerings help support the ministry of the Adventist Church in the Middle East and North Africa. Thank you!  The Adventist Learning Center (ALC) Learn more about the school for refugee children that Rosemary’s team helped establish in Lebanon.  Explore the ALC’s ministry at m360.tv/i17041.  Read how the ALC’s impact extends beyond its walls in “The Refugees’ Mite” at am.adventistmission.org/v5n2-14 . More from Mission 360° Magazine Get to know the region Resources Topics From the front lines of mission—straight to your inbox

The early morning mist filled the valleys and ascended the hills toward our house as I heard the first call to prayer from the mosque below.

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