Paroikos

Friday January 20, 2012

Busy day.

I was unable to get my Zambia visa in the US, I just didn’t have time to get all of the ones I needed. So that was one of my first concerns on arriving in Congo. Thursday night we went to the Zambia embassy were I got the form and was asked to return tomorrow with $80 US dollars and two passport photos. The photos I had with me so that wasn’t a problem. The next morning we arrived handed over everything and were told to come back after noon. The lady who was helping us at the Zambia Embassy kept telling me, “I am doing you a favor.” She wasn’t really doing anything except what she was supposed to be doing but the Congo men explained this meant that I should give her a bribe. We came back around 2pm and after waiting for an hour finally got my passport with the visa back. TIA!

We were supposed to spend two hours in the morning and again two hours in the afternoon teaching the pastors and elders of the ELCC. The shenanigans with my visa cut into this time a bit so that both periods were only an hour and a half. Todd taught a basic overview of predestination and I went through the work of the Holy Spirit as described by Jesus in John 16. We also visited one of Muzukuza’s two churches in Lubumbashi that evening after class.

Thursday January 19, 2012

Arrived in Democratic Republic of Congo. The airport in Lubumbashi is undoubtedly the worst I have ever been in. Todd told me stories of him and Nathanael getting stuck here when they came through, but we didn’t have any real difficulties. There was one small door from the immigration office into the baggage claim area, with everyone pressing their way through. Three different times when I was just about to make my way through the door some official insisted on looking at my yellow fever immunization certificate pulling me out of line to do it, then I would have to turn around to try to push my way through again and get stopped right when I was about to get through.

Finally getting through to the baggage area we were met by a delegation from the ELCC and CCLC, seven or eight pastors in total. Arriving at the hotel we had a beer together and discussed our plans for the week.

The weather here in Congo is also quite pleasant. I didn’t realize this at the time but later in the week found out the Lubumbashi at least is fairly high in elevation about 4,000 feet. The sun gets a little intense around midday but the temperatures seem to be around low to high 70s, and there is no humidity.

Wednesday January 18, 2012

Flew from Nigeria to Ethiopia. I was here only for an overnight layover and to meet up with Todd. My flight landed around 8am but I didn’t get to the hotel until after nine, and I needed to leave for the airport again the next morning around 6:30am so I didn’t get much of a chance to see or enjoy Ethiopia. But the climate was certainly much cooler and more pleasant than Nigeria. Nigeria’s climate had been surprisingly pleasant for most of my visit, except the first and the last few days. The humidity and temperature had noticeably climbed.

. . . you know there is a big disaster. I can’t remember the ever seeing my grandmother run anyway.

This is one of the Nigerian sayings that Pastor Bassey quoted as the introduction to his sermon this last week.

I spent the last week near the city of Badagari in Nigeria. Here most of the pastors from Nigeria, Ghana, and Togo gathered together for a joint West Africa pastoral conference. This was caused mainly by the political insecurity of Nigeria. Since it seemed abnormally unsafe for me to journey to Efa we brought all the pastors together near Lagos, Nigeria. Read the rest of this entry »

Saturday evening. I’m in Atlanta Georgia about to board my flight for Nigeria. Usually I fly through London which means a seven hour flight to London then another eight or nine hour flight down to Nigeria. This time, however, I am flying through Atlanta an hour and a half from Chicago to Atlanta and then a ten hour flight across the Atlantic. It will be nice to cut so much time out of my flight.

I have spent a month back in that states hoping it was enough time to get all my visas for the Africa trip this January. I got them all except one, Zambia. However I should be able to pick that one up in Lagos while I am there.

There are many things to look forward to on this trip. The trip begins next week with a conference of all our West African churches together in Lagos Nigeria. There will be sermons and papers and I will have a chance to visit with and talk to most of the pastors in this part of the world. There will also be one or two new pastors interested in talking about the CLC at this conference.

After this week long conference I will be joining up with Pastor Todd Ohlmann and journeying down to the Democratic Republic of Congo. This is part of the world I have not been to before. I will meet new pastors, see a new part of Africa, talk to new (for me) churches, and then get a chance to visit some prospective new fields in the Congo area.

I’ll try to keep you all updated, but the internet in Africa is very spotty and I don’t know how often I will have the chance.

Keep the conference and our Africa brothers in your prayers.

“Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving” – Colossians 4:2

Pastor Matthew Ude

On the map below you will be able to find marked all the places I talk about in this entry.

On Monday the 21^st of November, Pastor Deepak and I flew to Port Blair in the Andaman Islands to visit our BELC pastors and congregations over there. The Andaman Islands reside almost all the way across the Bay of Bengal, nearer to Malaysia than to India, but are nevertheless part of India. Here Pastor Deepak has spent a lot of time training men and evangelizing since 1998. For a while he lived here, but currently flies over from Chennai four times a year for two weeks each time.

Read the rest of this entry »

The final CLCI district we visited last week was the Ongole area which is down near the southern part on Andhra Pradesh. This coming week I will be in Nellore which is part of the BELC but is again near the same area just a little farther south.

Nov 1 – Mallavaram – Pastor Simon

Nov 2 – Vavilatipadu – Pastor Rosaiah

Nov 3 – Nagannapalem – Pastor Korneli

Nov 4 – Jarugumalli – Pastor Madhavarao

Nov 5 – Rachavaripalem – Pastor Johnson

I missed getting the gps coordinates on Nov 3 for Nagannapalem so this congregation isn’t shown on the map.

The last night in Rachavaripalem we had a birthday party along with the service. This congregation has been growing quickly the membership is currently 100+, although many of the weren’t able to come Saturday night because of a wedding. We had about 70 people at the service on Saturday.

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After the epic train ride to the northern part of Andhra Pradesh we stayed in Kakinda four nights visiting three congregations. these congregations are marked on the map below.

November 28  - Jayathinagar – Pastor Daneil

November 29 – Gygolepadu – Pastor Sudhakar

November 30 – Kakinada – Pastor Wycliff

Pastor Wycliff is the father of Jyothi  Benjamin and oversees the churches near Kakinada in the north eastern part of Andhra Pradesh. We visited his church on Sunday and the congregation welcomed me with a shower of flower petals.

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