China Mission Trips • Joan Hust

I have been to China 3 times.  I really enjoy meeting the people, eating many different kinds of food, learning more about Bless China International, visiting the leprosy villages, speaking at a local secondary school, traveling with a local resident by bus seeing and meeting people in the Grand Canyon of China that was a friend of a family living in Coeur d’Alene where I live with my family, visiting an orphanage in Beijing where I now send boxes of children and adult books, visiting the hospitals in the country and in the cities, teaching English in a secondary school in Jing Hong, walking the streets in the city and country, staying in a local hotel in the city and also in the country, staying in places where there are no tourists, shopping and having a local tailor make me a dress and 3 piece suit, eating a variety of delicious food prepared by the local people in the country and cities,  and providing children care so teachers could attend educational and inspiring classes. I was fortunate to make many new friends that influenced my walk with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. 

BRAZIL • Mission Trip

 I went to Brazil in 2011, and loved every minute that I was there.  The team I was with was under the leadership of Dr. Dan McIver from Canada who is with CPE which stands for CHURCH PARNERSHIPS EVANGELISE,   and evangelize is just the word to describe our time spent in San Paulo, Brazil.  My testimony was translated and used as part of a Gospel tract.  I partnered with local believers to share the gospel on pre-arranged appointments.  CPE was wonderful to work with as their motto is to engage the Body of Christ in Evangelism, Discipleship and Church Planting around the world.   Pastor Sergio and Regina Pinto of the Vista Verge C& MA church in Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil was our hosts.  What a lovely couple to get to know and their children plus their vibrant CMA Church.  There were 5 Canadians, and two from the USA which included me.  I went house to house cold turkey with an interpreter and gave my testimony.  Some accepted Jesus as their personal Savior, and some did not.  I was happy to hear that many that accepted Jesus are attending the local church now.  Pray for them, and pray for the ones that need more encouragement to attend the local church and to fellowship with believers.  I absolutely love Brazil, the people, the churches, and the warm welcome I received from everyone.

Well's for Togo • 2009 Togo trip

2009 TRIP:

It was a very hard trip but I held up well.  I did not know the people that I stayed with, but they were Godly people.  When you walked in their home you felt His presence. Their names are Holali and Kossiwa Assignon.  His English was very limited.  She knew how to say my name.  He is the son of the pastor that I stayed with when I visited Togo in 2005.  He is a pastor. They are a terrific team, hard workers, evangelize, and reach many folks for the Lord.
They have three young men that I called Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in their home that help them.  One was a tailor, and he works in their garage. One has been accepted at the University, and the other is in secondary school.  It was a new experience for me to be the only white, travel alone, and no English speaking person to carry on a conversation with for 5 weeks.  I met two blind translators that helped me in all my speaking engagements.  I spoke several times a day, started a weekly radio program that they could continue after I left.  It was to my advantage that they accepted me with the Togolese people from the church, and being a producer of radio and TV programs in Zambia for nine years helped me help them. I taught vacation Bible schools in all the cities, taught Sunday school everywhere, spoke at all church services, three women’s conferences with hundreds of ladies, gave health lectures, and taught medlineplus.gov to nurses and physicians.  Every village we came across I spoke to the adults mostly from the gospel of John, taught and acted out Bible stories with the children, and then had them present it during the church services. 
It is unbelievable how He used me with the Holy Spirit flowing through me.  Many were touched and came forward to the invitation to accept Christ as their personal Savior.  There was a lot of walking and evangelization in the villages with tracts in French with many young people with me who knew the Lord and the three main languages that were French, the business language of the country, Ewe, and Kabiye. 
The flights were good once you were on the plane, but a real challenge to get get in and out of the airport in Accra, Ghana. It was recommended that I fly in and out of Accra instead of Lome, the capital of Togo.  What did I eat?  I chose to eat African food with the local people.  It worked out well.  I felt accepted everywhere I went, and they were so happy that I would sit down, and eat their food.  The average meal was rice or nshima (corn), tomato sauce that was rather hot with green leaves of some kind and sometimes a little piece of chicken or dried fish. Huge loaves of bread were sold on the streets every day. They would cut it vertical, and sometimes you could have avocado spread on it.  It was the end of the mango season, but the ones that I ate were scrumptious and the size of a small watermelon.  
 

Wells for Togo:

I worked with Pastor Paul and Appoline Assignon in the Kara Kozah area.  People on that area walk many miles for water.  One family who live 2 hours away  have a vehicle bring 12 jerry cans filled with water every Sunday when they come to church for the pastor and his family which is quite a blessing.   The hallway in the pastor’s house is where you see all shapes and sizes of containers filled with water to use.  I want to help this situation by building wells in the area by the profit I make from selling my book COAL MINER’S GRANDDAUGHTER CHILDHOOD MEMORIES. 

 

Kenya by Joan Hust

It was about a 5 hour layover and I stretched out and went to sleep at the airport.  I woke up when a friend from Florida was excitedly rubbing my hair and calling me by my name. She was with her folks that we had not seen in years. They were excited to see our sons who they had not seen since they were babies.

Our first trip there American missionaries from the NW USA met us and drove us in their 4 wheel Land Rover through the game park. There was so much wildlife.  We were very thrilled and excited to see so many animals.  The scenery was stunning. Lake Naivasha is a fresh water lake and you can enter Hells Gate National Park which we enjoyed immensely. You see more flamingos than you can count in the little town of Nakuru.  I missed seeing a leopard in two of the trees on this outing.  Pepper and Jacob attended school at the Rift Valley Academy.  Even twenty years later they hear from some of their classmates. RVA is a Christian boarding school in Central Kenya.  Jacob (Titchie Swat) grade 4 after the first year transferred to Sakeji in Zambia and he was able to come home three times, and Pepper 2 times a semester. I told Pepper not to play rugby.  During one of Pepper’s holidays he asked me if he could play rugby, and I said “absolutely not!” The next term a missionary from Chingola visited their children and told me how well Pepper had done during a rugby game where he was knocked out cold. 

Please pray for the Christians in Kenya to be equipped to witness to the Muslim population.

Missions in Bahamas • Joan Hust

BERMUDA

It was our first year of marriage that Bill’s parents, Dr. Philip and Margaret Hust invited Bill and I to join them for a week in Bermuda.  We were living in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and there were daily flights to this lovely paradise island. We were most fortunate as the flight was only an hour, and we walked down the steps of the plane the sun was shining, and the taxi driver was waving his welcome sign.  We met people from all over the world.  A driver had been arranged to drive us all over the island.  We enjoyed the calypso music everywhere we stopped to eat.  We were able to watch a lot of cricket; Bermuda has a top notch cricket team.  The food was great.  We tasted the Hoppin’ John casserole made of papaya, rice, and peas.  We had hash for dinner one night made from shark meat.  I especially liked their sweet potato pudding that was made with orange juice. Bill and I took long walks while his parents had an afternoon nap. It was like we were on a honeymoon even though we were the guests of his parents.  I met and talked with a couple of ladies in their colorful maid uniforms that were sitting outside the kitchen door during their break and I had the opportunity to share with them about when I accepted Jesus as my Savior.  

Please pray for those living in Bermuda.