Our team has been praying for and trying to enter the village of Koumatié for more than two years. But so far, all of our plans to reach out to the people there have failed. Several members of the Boukombé and Natitingou church originally come from this village, and they have a burden for their animist family members.

To get closer to the villagers, our evangelist Hyacinthe decided to buy land in Koumatié to grow corn. He did not have any problems finding land and purchasing it. However, nobody told him that this land was located between two very powerful fetishes (places inhabited by evil spirits). When he wanted to prepare the field for sowing, he had trouble finding laborers. He had hoped to hire people from the village and work with them but found himself obligated to bring in his own people.

When harvest time came, he rented a machine to husk the corn. Some helpers of the equipment owner brought the machine in and started it, but as soon as they added corn, the engine started acting up. Someone had checked it just the day before, so it should not have had any problems. The helpers finally called the machine owner, and he came to see what he could do. When he arrived at the field, he told Hyacinthe that he would never have rented the machine to him if he had known where the field was located. Hyacinthe didn’t understand, so the machine owner told him about the fetishes, then left with his machine.

Now understanding that this was a spiritual battle, Hyacinthe gathered some friends for prayer. Then they looked for another machine they could rent. When it arrived, they started it up, and it immediately had trouble as well. Since they had prayed, Hyacinthe figured that there must really be a mechanical issue in this case. He called for a mechanic who found and fixed the problem. By now, many spectators had gathered, curious to see how this would end. When they restarted the engine, Hyacinthe walked away, found himself a quiet spot and knelt to pray. He prayed for over two hours—until the machine had husked all his corn without any problems—and when he finished praying, the engine stopped.

This incident made us realize that we are again dealing with Satan’s stronghold, but we know that eventually, God will pull this stronghold down. Would you please pray with us that God would give us Koumatié, as He has promised in His word?

“Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession” (Psalm 2:8).

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