Bonheur, Joel, and I were here in December 2014 translating these 18 sessions into French and Swahili. Bonheur and Joel will finish those translations at the end of this month, but for the first three weeks of March Bonheur, Wakshuma, and Dan will be working on three different languages - Kinyarwanda, Oromo, and Hausa, respectively.
Thank you for your prayers. God blessed us all with safe travels - seasoned with a bit of "African spice". Dr. Rick Calenberg, International Director of the Romans Project, often reminds me that travel in Africa - or life and ministry in general here - is filled with wonderful opportunities to trust God. When something bizarre happens in Africa, Rick often responds by saying something like, "That's the beauty about Africa - there's always something exciting happening to trust God with." So what was it this time?
Bonheur traveled from Rwanda and evidently spent an extra hour upon arrival with health authorities measuring and remeasuring his temperature before finally allowing him to enter their country. Upon arrival all passengers get into a long line and wait their turn to step on the yellow painted footprints and have some instrument put crosshairs on their forehead and measure their temperature to see if they are infected with some dreaded disease.
Wakshuma's flight from Addis Ababa was a little complicated because a fellow Ethiopian was taking red hot chili powder with him to Nairobi. Evidently, he heard that Kenyan's don't have hot enough pepper, so he thought he better not leave home without his own. I witnessed at dinner last night around 11pm that Ethiopians do like hot spices as Wakshuma took the hottest pepper on the table, that about did Joel in last time, and proceeded to eat heaping piles of it on his food - and he didn't even flinch or break out in a sweat. I was impressed.
My little bit of "African spice" was finally having my checked bag arrive on the conveyor belt and finding that though the main zipper tabs had been torn completely off, the zipper had not opened up and spewed the contents of my bag everywhere. God is good! I'll have to find another bag to travel home with, but by God's grace I was able to arrive with everything I left home with - including about 30 bars of Czech dark chocolate and other treats to keep the men motivated and alert in their translation work.
And to top off the airport arrivals, Ken (our Romans Project Kenya Director) once again had an encounter with the police as he stopped momentarily at a curb to let us load into his vehicle. (I sometimes wonder if I catch the eye of certain people because of my - well - "whiteness".) They evidently were looking for a little "sweetener", but Ken said that he refuses to play that game. I had been praying while he was talking with them and after a few minutes God, in His kindness, allowed us to pass through yet another obstacle.
PRAISE God together with us that we all arrived in good order.
PLEASE PRAY that we would work hard unto the Lord these next weeks and present to Him a Roman's 12-type offering. "I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."
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