With a desire to continue his studies at a local university and lacking the financial resources to do so, he didn’t take no for an answer. “I began to ask myself, what must I do to make it possible? I cleared a plot and planted corn. God blessed it. It grew, produced, and I harvested...”
Coster continued to grow corn whiskey and as he worked diligently “as working for the Lord, not for human masters...” (Colossians 3:23) he saw an increase.
“I bundled up the money and began to plan. I told my father and mother that now I am going to school. They reminded me that they were not able to help support me. ‘How will you provide for yourself?’ I said, ‘I’m going. God will help. I will do my studies by His grace alone.’”
Coster registered for classes at the Institute for Rural Development.
"By God’s grace the first year ended and I passed to G2. I followed the same plan. I would go to class, then after class, I would go to work. It was very hard with a thousand difficulties, but with God’s grace alone. At one-point papa, Jean Baptiste and papa Weeks came to do a farming workshop for students at our institute. After the training, they selected a small group to train more in-depth.
I was selected for that group. I met with papa Jean Baptiste who included me in the group to do Bible Study. I would like very much if God would bless, that we would continue to work together as we have been. He also was pleased and said if that is the case, then we should continue. Papa Weeks asked how I would continue with my studies considering the time constraints. Before, I would go to class in the morning. I told him I would now go to the fields in the morning and when I finished, I would go to the institute to study in the evening. I began to operate that way. They gave me a bicycle that made it possible for me to go back and forth between Air Congo and ISDR.
As I finish my studies, I am 26 years old. I do not have a wife or child. In our village, a man my age would be married with 3 or 4 children. I chose to forsake that until I could find my life first. I would study first and pursue that later. At this point, I have no plans to get married. I am praying that God will extend His grace in my life. I have given my life to God so that He will lead me to the end.”
Not only did Coster cultivate courage in his heart to pursue the dreams within, but he also discovered that God Almighty desired to have a relationship with him, and that relationship is being cultivated as well.
“Spiritually I have been touched by the Bible with respect to the way our ancestors lived. Our ancestors did not know God. They worshiped their own gods of idols and statutes. As I have studied the Bible with Papa Jean Baptiste, I have learned that what our ancestors practiced was against Biblical teaching. In our villages, there are very sacred places where our ancestors would sacrifice infants. I left all that. When I compared that to what I’m learning I left that. I renounced all that and even broke the bonds. Because I was born into that place, I prayed to God that He would break all those bonds that I might be holy.”
Coster discovered the freedom for which Christ set him free! At RWI we’re so thankful when we witness chains breaking and the liberation that comes solely through His salvation. We look forward to the continuation of Coster’s story.