VIDALIA — An eastern-African pastor will be making his way through the Miss-Lou in the coming week.

The Rev. Simon Osteen Toli, pastor of Truelife Church, in Jinga, Uganda, will be preaching at Zion Hill Baptist Church, meeting with local pastors and elected officials and doing prison ministry from Monday until May 18.

One of the goals of Pastor Toli’s trip is to show Christians all have a common goal, Grace Sherelle Rejouis, of Vidalia, who has corresponded with Toli for the last four years, said.

“Christ is what really connects us, and Christ died that all nations may be saved,” Rejouis said. “We have to come together and not make it a segregated gospel. Christ’s blood cuts across all cultures.”

But Toli is not coming to the area just to preach.

Instead, on Tuesday he will meet with the mayors of Vidalia and Ferriday, and will minister at Glenburney Nursing Home, and on Wednesday he will visit some local schools and discuss life in Africa with the students there.

Thursday he will also do volunteer work at the senior citizen’s food distribution center, in Vidalia, and at the Stewpot, in Natchez.

“He will be working with the hungry in this country because there are hungry in his country, and he is hoping to sow that seed and reap the benefit by that returning to his own country,” Rejouis said.

Saturday, Toli will do prison ministry at the Concordia Parish prisons. Though he is not coming asking for anything, Rejouis said she knows Toli has a dream of purchasing sound equipment so all of the people in his village can hear church services.

“In that dry, arid environment, a voice doesn’t carry as far,” she said.

Toli will arrive at the Baton Rouge airport Sunday, and will rest until a time of fellowship at Ryan’s Restaurant at 4 p.m. Monday.