Wednesday's Congo Update

Today was rather uneventful. When we woke up it was raining. I guess when it rains nothing happens. We were able to sleep in. The temperature was low. It was nice. Yesterday was so hot, so it is nice that it cooled down.

We were supposed to travel to Budjala but with the weather we drove to Tandala instead. Tandala is closer to Budjala and the roads to Tandala are better. We are going to do a seminar in Budjala tomorrow.

On the way to Tandala we saw many people that were at our seminar in Gemena. It was very humbling. They would say Hi and erupt with happiness. Again this is very humbling.

Yesterday’s seminar went very well. We had 150 people attend. They seemed to respond very well. We had one funny thing happen at the seminar. We were teaching through inductive bible study. After teaching them about it we gave them a passage of scripture to assess based on the inductive tool we gave them. It took them over an hour to finish. The story we gave them to assess was the prodigal son. When they were done and we had reviewed it with them, we asked if they had any questions. One gentleman stood up and was questioning if what I was teaching was biblical. I said something to the effect that the prodigal son lost his inheritance. That when his dad died he would get nothing. This young man said that no where in the text does it say that the dad died and that the son would not get an inheritance again. The two other guys in my group and I laughed at that one afterword because that had nothing to do with the story or the training.

I am sorry this post is so short. I am tired and we are leaving early in the morning. Please keep praying for us. We are with the rest of the team. Everyone seems to be doing well (Elissa and Amanda are both feeling fine. They are teaching some Congolese people to sing how great is our God). We have internet at in Tandala so hopefully you will get more updates.

Tuesday Morning in the Congo

The trip has now gotten a little harder for the youth team. We are on our own. All the missionaries from reach global have gone to Tandala. We have been left in Gemena to do our trainings. We have two people from the CECU that are working with us. They both speak English fairly well.

Yesterday we started the first training session. We were supposed to start at 2:00pm but did not get to the church where the training was being held until 3:30pm. The driver must have misunderstood the guy who is making all the arrangements for our group. I was driven to the training by motorcycle while the other two guys waited for the truck to pick them up. While on the motorcycle we drove through the market at Gemena. I saw even more poverty and a little worse than what I had previously seen. I just want to say that if I do not ride on another motorcycle in the Congo I will be happy. The streets are packed and the roads are horrible. I have no reason to ever complain about the roads we have in the US.

Our first training went well. We have 128 people there. We tried to teach them an icebreaker game. I am not sure how it went over. It was funny to watch. We only were able to get through the first part of the training. Today we finish the training.

Please pray that the training would go well. Pray that we would speak in a way that the translators can interpret.

Thank you for praying. It is making a difference. Our trip has had very little go wrong. We are not used to waiting around as much as we are, but time is not a big thing in this country.

Congo Update

For those of you who know me I am a fairly blunt person. I like when I know where I stand with people and things. I stink at journaling, so this blog is going to serve as my journal. This means I may say things that come across as in sensitive but really I am just trying to process my experiences while I am in Africa.

I have been in Africa since Thursday morning the 23 of April. We landed in the Central African Republic. While there we stayed at the Grace Brethren mission. I learned that some of my friends from my former church were just there. It was a nice visit. Driving in the CAR was crazy. There was extreme poverty.

On Friday the 24 of April we crossed over into the Democratic Republic of Congo. We arrived by dug out tree trunk. Then we drove for 14 hours in a Toyota land cruiser. We had 12 people in that vehicle. it was tight. The trip actually did not seem that long. The other truck that was with us actually had three flat tires on the way to Gemena. It was interesting to see them fix the flat tire. They had the land cruiser drive one tire onto the flat tire of the truck. The truck tire was on the ground laying flat. The land cruiser was breaking the seal and making it so the driver’s assistant could fix the tube.

We are all now in Gemena. We have been here for two days. It is nice in terms of accommodations. I have had a shower every night. We have eaten well. We have had the same meal for the last two days. I do miss American food. I am not going to lie.

I am struck by my lack of being moved by the poverty. Some of that has to do with the fact I am comfortable with the team I am in. I think it makes it easy to be emotionally detached from my surroundings. When Monday comes and our groups split up and we are doing the training and talking with people I believe I will be more moved.

Please pray for me that I would allow God to work in me. I have been in the word. We have been praying as a group together. At this point I do not feel God moving anything in me. Mostly I think I am unable to see what God is doing. I believe he is at work. It will probably be seen better from the rear view mirror of this trip.

Thirsty

I know that I dry up inside when I am not in the word. I have made myself so "busy" that my time with God has been lacking. I know I have time for what I make time for, so this is my fault. I have made time for other things. Well tonight I drank from the well of God's word and it was refreshing. I read Luke 1. I have read Luke before, but tonight there were things jumping off the page.

1. God gave Zechariah a son because he heard the prayers of Zechariah and his wife. I also believe God gave them a son in order to help Mary understand that God can do what he said he was going to do. This is rich for us. We can take comfort that God is in control of our lives. He knows what he is doing. He will do what he says, we need to have faith.

2. Both Zachariah and Mary praised God for remembering his promises. The families of both Mary and Zachariah passed on the story of God to their children. This is so important. We need to know the story of God so that we can understand how he works and what he has promised.

3. John the baptist was going to preach the same message that Elijah did. He was going to point the fathers to the children and the children to their fathers. It is so important for fathers to have a heart for their children. It is so important for fathers to have a string relationship with God so they can pass that on to their kids.

This was rich. I am blessed I have a God that forgives when I sin by not spending time with him. Then he blesses me when I do. He is truely an AMAZING GOD!!!!