Peni and Olive Volavola of Faith City Worship Centre in Nundah have had a pretty special call on their lives to the nation of Africa. How it came about was pretty spectacular too.
They told me the story of God’s favour in their life and in their ministry.
Vision
Olive explained it like this:
“It was a vision that was given back in 1998. I asked my pastor back then what the vision meant. I saw that I was getting out of an aircraft and the soil was all red and out of the bushes came a little boy, and he wanted food, so I went back to the aircraft to get food but so many kids came.
So I asked where this was, and I had travelled all around rural Australia but the faces were different to anything we’d seen in Australia.
Years later we hosted a man who did ministry in Uganda in 2015. He said that when he left Uganda the Lord put on His heart to have four keys to give to four people when he travelled Australia.
That’s when he came up to me and gave me one of the keys.
In a vision when I was praying, He showed me his house, with red soil and the deep roots around it. We found out later he has a school there and looks after orphans.”
Later the man invited Olive and her husband Peni to a conference in Uganda and they jumped at the opportunity to go.
They saw the hand of God move when they asked the Lord for airfares and provisions to go to Uganda. They had been praying and believing in God for $7000 for visas, vaccinations and travel expenses. About two months later a man came to them and gave them an envelope.
Inside was seventy $100 notes, so they knew then that God wanted them to go.
They had another Divine encounter along the journey:
“When we got off at the airport and I saw the red soil before landing, I just couldn’t stop crying because I knew the will of God for my life. It was like going home.
God kept laying on my heart everywhere I went to remove my shoes. Later I found out that it was prophetic.”
Olive referred to “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’” (Isaiah Chapter 52, verse 7)
Confirmation
Olive says she’s not a preacher, but ministers through songs. She learned a local song for the conference, which she only heard once or twice and then God reminded her of all the words. The song was named ‘Ruhanga Ishitwe’.
As soon as she started singing, everyone was on their knees. They told her that ‘Ruhanga Ishitwe’ was a song of surrender and it was a confirmation for those people in Uganda.
They visited twenty-one churches that had been planted there and saw a great move of God. People were giving their hearts to the Lord and fellowshipping with one another.
Peni and Olive would love to go back to Uganda in the near future but are continuing in the vision for their church which is to reach out to the Nundah community and beyond with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Bridget Brenton is involved in Aboriginal and Islander based ministries, and enjoys tech stuff like making websites and making games in her spare time.
Bridget Brenton’s previous articles may be viewed at: http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/bridget-brenton.
Bridget Brenton from Brisbane has been for many years a young writer then an Over 31 writer and now a Panellist marking for the annual awards.