Beverly Hammett – Streams in the Desert

By Beverly Hammett

Are you ready?

Shortly after moving here, my husband and I were looking for a place to go walking each day. There is a private school right down the road from us, so we talked to the headmaster and got permission to walk on their soccer field. School starts at 7 AM so when we go walking, we must start around 6 AM. One morning early we were out walking and suddenly we heard a trumpet playing. A rousing trumpet song is not something you expect to hear anywhere at 6 AM, but especially not in Africa. We stopped and looked around but couldn’t see anyone, so we kept walking.

Since then we have heard the trumpet many times—and at different times during the day and the night. After some searching, we finally found where the sound is coming from. The army headquarters is across town, and the trumpet call is how they let the soldiers know what time it is and where they are supposed to be. It is not a recording, but an actual person plays the different songs every day throughout the day, from their wake-up call to their good-night song. He often makes mistakes and hits wrong notes, but he blows heartily. Each time I hear the trumpet, it catches my attention.

The Bible speaks of the coming of Christ at the rapture, which will be preceded by the sound of the trumpet. Can you imagine how THAT trumpet blast will get our attention! I have often wondered what that will sound like—what tune will Gabriel play when the Lord calls us home to heaven? And how will it be heard all over the world by all the Christians? But the more important question is—will I be watching and ready for the Lord’s return?

The rapture has been in the news a lot lately, thanks to a certain false teacher that lives in California. And yes, that false teaching reached all the way over here. Several people came to us worried that the world was coming to an end, and others wondering if it could be true. It gave us some great teaching opportunities. The sad thing to me is that so many people were deceived and actually believed that what he taught was true. If they had just believed God’s Word instead, they would have known that what he was teaching was false. Jesus is indeed coming again—but we don’t know when. All the more reason why we need to be busy about spreading the gospel, and telling others about our wonderful Savior, while we still have time.

The strike that was supposed to last only 10 days is now over a month old and still going strong. All the civil workers in the country are striking for a 16% pay increase (they have since lowered that to a 12% pay increase), but the President says there is no money for a pay raise. The union leaders are encouraging the people to stand strong and not give in, but many of the people are afraid of losing their jobs if they don’t go back to work. Also, after not being paid for a month, many of them are having second thoughts about the strike. We hear a lot of rumors of problems and of expected violence, but are not sure how much is true. So please pray with us that the strike would be settled soon.

There is still an outbreak of hoof and mouth disease in the cattle here. So every time you travel any distance and go through a veterinary check-point, you all have to get out of the car, dip your shoes in some nasty stuff that is supposed to kill the hoof and mouth germ, and then the car has to drive through a vat of the nasty chemical stuff, in case you have anything on your tires. A few weeks ago, Sam drove up north for a discipleship meeting with a couple of the guys. On the way back home, he went through a vet check-point. Instead of a vat for the car to drive through, they had two guys sitting in chairs with squirt guns. Each car had to drive slowly between them while they squirted your tires with the solution. TIA!

In just a couple weeks, we will have a full house again as the second group comes for the Missions training. The group that is coming includes a married couple, two girls, and three guys—so it should be an interesting six weeks. Please pray that God would use us to challenge these young people to serve Him to their greatest potential. There truly is no greater privilege than serving the Lord! After all He has done for us, how can we do less than give Him our all?