Monday and Tuesday we met morning and afternoon and then had time for fellowship in the evenings. It was wonderful hearing from each of the directors and coordinators how they came to faith in Christ and what ministries they are involved in. They also recounted their first meeting with Rick and challenge to join the Romans Project. Tuesday we heard again from each of the men, this time they gave us reports on the progress of the Romans Project this past year and what plans they have for this year. I asked each of them a few questions that helped me better understand their situations. One common thread was the necessity for having not only the teaching from Romans but also as many sermons on the mp3 player as possible in their own languages. Story after story underlined this reality. It was fitting that this conference was conducted at the very time and place we were hard at work to translate the teachings on Romans into five languages.
Wednesday I was back to editing the Oromo and Hausa translations while Rick took off to open up yet another country to the Romans Project, the country of Burundi. Bonheur, who finished translating into French and Kinyarwanda ahead of schedule, was able to accompany Rick in Burundi (it neighbors Rwanda) and be his personal translator. They conducted a Romans Project day conference in Bujumbura, the capital, with approximately 100 attendees, several who were from the Congo. Those of you who know Rick probably were just now thinking: "So, I guess Rick is going to travel to the Congo next and open it up for the Romans Project." You guessed correctly. Actually, his next trip is to open up Botswana and then he desires to go to the Democratic Republic of the Congo which shares a boarder with both Rwanda and Burundi, as well as other countries.
Friday Rick flew back to Nairobi and joined us at Subiaco center here in Karen. He had stories to share, and I was able to update him on talks I had had with Eremias (Ethiopia) and Ken (Kenya) concerning the need to give pastors further training. The three of us (Eremias, Ken, and I) are prayerfully considering avenues to meet this crucial need of providing pastors and church planters with more tools to effectively carry out ministry in their respective countries.
Saturday Rick and Ken conducted a Romans Project day conference in Nairobi that Ken and one of his coordinators had organized the past weeks. A couple of the country directors (Tanzania and Ethiopia) were able to observe first hand how these conferences work and see the teaching modeled so as to duplicate it in their own settings.
Rick flew back to the States Saturday night and the others left very early on Sunday morning. Ken drove everyone to the airport and back home to pick up his family, before picking me up for church. I had the privilege of preaching yesterday and enjoyed seeing familiar faces. Both Ken and I were extremely exhausted from all the activities and returned to our respective "homes" to relax the rest of Sunday sleeping long into this morning.
Praise God with us for all that He accomplished through this past week. It was a whirlwind of a time filled with many blessings. May all glory, honor, and praise be to God!
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