Daily "Irregular" Schedule

Pastor Ivanildo here.

I just posted more pictures. I hope you enjoy them. The photographers are Pastor Tom, Beth, Harleys and Rob. I haven't had time to to upload any of my pictures since last Saturday. Can't wait to do it!

I thought I would give you a run down of what happens here on a typical day. We wake up between five and six and have breakfast at seven. Try to be in the van at seven thirty. I have the Dean of the Seminary picking me up at seven-thirty. The last two days I have preached at chapel from seven thirty to eight, then I teach until eleven fifty. The team meanwhile goes to the orphan care center where the project site is and where some other activities with the orphans happen as well.

I am then taken to the entrance of the road that guest to the seminary so that I can be picked up by the van with the team returning from the work site or other activities. I know I haven't put pictures of the progress in the job site because I haven't been there since last Saturday. But I have been assured that the job is progressing very well. The Africa crew working alongside our team is of the best caliber you can possibly have. They work so hard, but I have to admit that one of the African guys called our team "workaholic" yesterday.

Have you ever wondered what it is that makes people take vacation time to come on a trip like this just to work three times as hard as if they were at home. I know, this is not intuitive, it doesn't make sense for the world. But we are dealing with God's economy here and to see the joy in Rob's eye, for example, as he plays soccer with the little orphan kids, to see Beth and Jeana giving themselves to tend wounds of the least of these, to see Tim and Tom work so diligently to see to it that every aspect of this job will be done with excellence, to see Rick share so openly about how He believes how God Himself led him to be on this trip. You need no further explanation...

Sure it sounds crazy, but hey, if this is what it means to be crazy, bring it on.

I haven't sat for so long in a classroom in a long time. On a wooden chair, teaching with the aid of a lamp because power has not been available at the seminary the last couple of days. The room is dark. Yesterday I didn't have the lamp so I had a hard time seeing the letters of my small Greek New Testament. I realized then that the whole of my humanity is programmed for light... I wanted to reach for that switch every other minute.

But my students are very astute. They make it all worthwhile. Most of them speak at least three languages (Sango, French, and their tribal language). One student from the Chad speaks five languages. My lectures are translated to French. One of the seminary professors, who also has a Masters in English literature, does a phenomenal job translating. There are few books around, one blackboard but this does not stop the students from interacting with the subject being taught. The upperclassmen know how to read Greek and they have corrected me a couple of times when I wrote something on the board from memory that was not exactly the right spelling. Their families are large. I have ten students, 9 male and 1 female, the wife of one of the students. Today we did the math and figured out that between the two professors in the room and the 10 students, one being the couple, they have 57 children. No, this is not a typo...

We are slowly plowing through the book of 1 Thessalonians, having completed chapter 2 today. I am not sure I will be able to teach tomorrow, but if I can't, I will miss the students. My whole body aches now. I am sitting here waiting for my ride, stealing one more moment to keep this line open with all of you who have so graciously been encouraging us through your comments.

Ah yes, we do leave in the afternoon again, at 2:30, back to the job site and me back to teaching. I teach until five, five thirty, but today stayed a little longer, as students kept prepping me with questions. One remarked: "This time is so precious and we have you for so little." Yes, they all try to speak English. Some of them do a better job than others, but they all try. I am very impressed with their intelligence and eagerness to learn. I hope to tell you a little more about what these families have been through over the last couple of years. But let me just say that they are not your average pastors-in-training. Yet, they are so gracious.

We return to our guest house some time after 5:30, usually more like six or seven, if we have to do Internet, like it happened today. The team has now left, had their supper and team devotional and I am now waiting for Pastor Tom who just called saying that he is on his way to pick me up. So, I've got to go!

Stay with God,

Pastor Ivanildo C. Trindade
itrindade@woostergrace.org

P.S. If anyone of you see my wife, please tell her I've been trying to get a hold of her since Saturday. Send her my love (and my children too!) and let them know I will keep on trying. I tried to call all my children, my wife, and my sister yesterday... Miss everyone so terribly. Keep praying!