A Journey Of Faith

Posted by Mercy Ships staff on Dec 28, 2011 at 10:47 am

“It was an amazing journey of faith,” says Peter Dossou of the trip that brought him from his home in Benin to work with Mercy Ships in Freetown, Sierra Leone. But the story of Peter’s journey began long before he ever heard about Mercy Ships.

Shortly after he finished Bible school, Peter had a dream in which he received a letter that he couldn’t decipher. “I gave it to a man of God and said, ‘I can’t understand this. Please read it for me,’” Peter says. “He read it to me, and it said I must begin planting churches in Benin and then continue outside of the country.” When Peter woke up, he remembered that the letter had instructed him to build churches in other African nations, but he couldn’t remember which countries were named.

Peter became a pastor and began to raise churches in Benin, as the letter in his dream had instructed him to do. “I continued my prayer asking about outside places where God wanted me to go,” he says. During this time, Peter also began his relationship with Mercy Ships, working as a translator for a Mercy Team in 2008 and as a day-worker on the Eye Team during the Benin Field Service in 2009. In 2010, Peter had another life-changing dream. “I dreamt that a young man asked me, ‘Are you Pastor Peter?’ I said yes, and he said, ‘You are needed right away in Sierra Leone. Everything is set. He said it twice, and then I woke up.” The following day, Peter heard that the Africa Mercy was coming to Sierra Leone. “I knew that I had to go,” Peter says.

Peter emailed Woody Hopper, Program Administrator for the Eye Team on the Africa Mercy, and told him that he was coming to Sierra Leone. When Woody said that all the positions on his team were already filled, Peter was not deterred. “I said anyway I’m convinced that God wants me there, so I’m coming.” Woody told Peter to contact him when he arrived, in case anything changed.

Peter and his wife decided it would be best for him to go to Freetown first and send for the family once he was established. He tried his best to raise the $200 USD he would need to travel to Sierra Leone, but when it was time to leave, he still didn’t have the money. “I thought I would wait until I had the money to go,” Peter says. “But when I thought that, I felt a shock in my heart, and I knew I was making a wrong decision. After that, I understood that I should trust God and leave with what money I had.”

What Peter had was $10 USD, enough to pay for a bus to the northern part of Benin. “I was thinking of Abraham when the Lord told him to leave his father’s house,” Peter says. “He didn’t have much, but he trusted God, and God was with him and prospered his way.”

Peter stayed with a friend that first night, and when he left, his friend gave him another $10 toward his trip. When he arrived at the bus station, he learned that the bus to Ouagadougou cost $15. “I told the driver I only have [$10], and he said, ‘Come on then,’” Peter explains. But when Peter gave the driver the money, the driver gave him back enough to get something to eat. “That’s God,” Peter says. “When you follow his calling, he puts people in your way who will help you.”

When the bus arrived in Ouagadougou, it was nighttime, so Peter went to a hotel and explained his situation, and the manager agreed that he could stay until he was sent more money. That night, Peter used the small bit of credit he had left in his phone to call two friends. The first advised him to come home and offered to send money for his fare. “I took his number out of my phone, because I did not want to be tempted to call him again,” Peter says. The second friend Peter called sent him enough money to get to Bamako – and so his journey continued.

In Bamako, Peter got stuck. Without money for food or shelter and with no credit in his phone to call his friends and family for help, Peter slept outside at the bus station for six long, cold Harmattan nights. (The Harmattan is a dry dusty wind that blows along the northwest coast of Africa.) “I was troubled,” he says. “At night I couldn’t sleep, and most of the time I didn’t know what to say in my prayers. I asked God. I said, ‘What is this? You didn’t tell me I would suffer like this.’”

On the sixth night, Peter overheard a Nigerian man struggling to communicate with a bus driver who did not speak English. Peter translated for the man, and, afterward, the man asked about his case. After hearing his story, the man offered to buy Peter some credit for his phone. “When I called my wife, she said, ‘God is blessing us!’” Peter states. She had all the money he needed for the rest of his trip, and she would send it as soon as possible. The bank had closed for the day, however, so he would have to wait until the following morning. “I told God I don’t want to sleep outside again, because I’m fed up,” Peter says. Still, the idea of going home never crossed his mind.

When Peter arrived back at the bus stop, there was a car going to Freetown that had one space left, and the driver was refusing to leave until it was filled. When one of the passengers saw Peter coming, he asked where he was going. Peter told him he was going to Mercy Ships, but he had to wait until the morning for his wife to send him the bus fare. “I’m also going to Mercy Ships,” the man said. “Tell your wife to send the money to Freetown instead; I’ll pay your fare for now.”

Peter arrived in Freetown on February 27, the same day as the Africa Mercy. “All these things are signs.” Peter says. The following day, he came to the ship and asked to speak with Woody Hopper. Woody said he couldn’t promise anything, but asked Peter to have the mandatory TB test and come back the following day. When Peter returned with his results, Woody offered him a place on his team. “Only Woody knows the mystery of why it changed from no to yes,” Peter says. “I was just grateful to the faithfulness of God once again. I came here by his grace.”

As a day-worker with the Eye Team on the Africa Mercy, Peter finds great satisfaction. “I’m very happy to be part of this team,” says Peter. “The Bible says that the eye is the light of the body, so it’s a big joy when I see a blind person recovering sight.”

In May, Peter’s family joined him in Freetown, and together they have established a church in the underserved community of Joe Town. “God used Mercy Ships to let me know Joe Town,” Peter says. “Things were set for me there even before I came. It was all waiting for me.”

When Mercy Ships leaves Sierra Leone to go to Togo, the next chapter in Peter’s amazing journey of faith will begin. While the ship is sailing, Peter will be driving overland with an evangelism team to teach people in several West African countries about the word of God and the work that Mercy Ships does.

“Being invited to go on this trip has once again certified in my heart that I must go to other places in Africa and preach the gospel,” Peter declares. “This is the beginning of a new adventure. When you are about to finish the first step, God tells you about the second step. With God it’s always a mystery that is to be revealed. It’s amazing!”


Story by Catherine Cooper
Edited by Nancy Predaina
Photos by Debra Bell

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