One Person At a Time, By Rob Miller

"Our time here in Bangui is half over now and it seems as though we just arrived. I have really enjoyed getting to make some new friends and to see friends I had made last year. It has been a challenge to keep working at times because of the heat. When I start to get to that point I just try to think about the lives that could be impacted years from now as the young boys from the orphan care center learn a trade in woodworking. I am truly blessed to have this opportunity to serve.

Today we did home visits for children who attend the orphan care center. Most of them typically live with relatives or only have one parent. Their houses were small brick homes about 10 ft. by 15 ft. Typically housing about 15 people per home, with no running water or plumbing. It seems about 80 -90% of the 600,000 people in Bangui live in these conditions.

The average annual income is about $250.00 per year. As I visit the people who live here I often can’t help but wonder how I was born in the time and place that I was. We as Americans are truly blessed in so many ways. Being here even only for a couple of weeks I see that life here is very difficult and challenging in ways that most of us will never know or hear about. Such as a trip to the local bank to exchange money can take as long as 2–4 hours or that most people from childhood have no training in personal hygiene or health.

I know there is no easy answer to solve the problems in the C.A.R. but with God’s help we can work together to make it better one smile, one handshake, one prayer and one person at a time. Jesus would have us do just that."

Rob Miller

Can I Make A Difference? By Tim Harley

"Can I make a difference? This is the question that first comes to my mind when faced with the incredible problems in the C.A.R. I enter this culture with an American mindset of wanting to fix things. In America we want quick fixes. T.V. shows solve complex problems in one hour. Talk shows give easy solutions to problems and there are one hundred ways to lose weight quickly, But there are no quick fixes here. Poverty, disease, corruption, abandonment, lack of food, are just a few of generational problems being dealt with on a daily basis. This is normal life here.

So I refine the question: Can I make a difference in two weeks? I believe the answer is Yes! To serve, love, touch, sacrifice, and laugh; to be Jesus to those I meet. I think of my time her like the boy in the gospels who pocked his lunch and came to hear Jesus teach. The disciples were faced with an impossible challenge given to them by Jesus. Feed over 5000 men in a remote location! The disciples did what I would do – they tried to calculate how to fix the problem on their own. And all they could come up with was a boy’s packed lunch.

Now, the difference is that they gave it to Jesus. Jesus took the bread and fish, fed over 5000 men, and there were still leftover baskets full of bread at the end. That boy made a difference that day, because he gave all he had to Jesus and He multiplied it impacting, thus impacting many others.

I want to be like that boy. I want to offer to Jesus all that I have. Sometimes I feel like I have much to offer Jesus. But I believe Jesus created me for a purpose. My prayer is: “Jesus, you know you know what little I have to offer, but I put all that I have into your hands.” Please, Lord, help my efforts to multiply and make a difference just like you took that boy’s lunch and fed a multitude.”

So it is with this attitude that I approach our trip. I want to work as hard as I can on the projects. I want to help the orphans of the Central African Republic. I want to encourage all those I come into contact with. I want to build relationships that will make a difference for eternity. I want everything to bring glory to Jesus. He will make the difference."

Tim Harley

Another Sunday in Bangui

Hello everybody.

As you can tell, yesterday I was not able to get online. I came to the ICDI office but it was locked and no one had the keys. Oh well. This happens here and it is OK.

As I write this, I realize that many of you are in church right now. We have been to church already, had our first lunch (at the church, hosted by the pastor), then headed back to the guest house, changed, and had a second lunch with Dr. & Mrs. Yalipendi, the couple we've partnered with here in their work among people with HIV/AIDS. We had a wonderful time of fellowship with them plus Rob and me got to share our testimonies. They opened up to us and asked us to pray that they will grow spiritually and find people here that they can develop genuine relationships with, like the one they feel they have with us. That's something we all can pray for. We were all very blessed to have time with this couple.

I am now in the ICDI office and in the next couple of hours hope to post a couple of blog entries with pictures, including some reflections that other team members have written.

Tomorrow we plan to visit a Pygmy village outside of Bangui (about 60 kilometers). I can't wait to go there because I was there two years ago and since then they got a couple of latrines and a water well. I am told that the difference is noticeable. Before going to the village we will spend time at a place that has some waterfalls that you can actually swim in. I am looking forward to that too. Today has been the hottest day since we got here and we are all feeling it. But God is good. He is in control. And we are still in great spirits here.

Rick was quite sick yesterday. He had to stay at the guest house in the afternoon and rest. I took his place helping Rob with the metal doors we are making for the shop. Rob was welding and I was grinding. It was my first time doing that kind of job but I enjoyed it. If you don't think I actually did this, Rob actually has pictures to prove it. We were able to finish the door yesterday. And Rick is feeling a lot better today. We praise the Lord for all of that!

Pastor Ivanildo C. Trindade

itrindade@woostergrace.org

Back to "Slow-nectivity"

Hello everyone:

I am sitting at an Internet Cafe. The connection is bad. But the reason I am sitting here and not somewhere else where the connection would be faster, the room not hot and sticky, and the surroundings not as noisy is a different one altogether. But I am afraid I am not going there now because I don't have time and I probably wouldn't do justice to the complexity of the issues that resulted in a slight downgrade to the Internet Cafe next to the GBIM headquarters in Bangui.

Let me just say that I can't wait until tomorrow because I will be able to work from the ICDI office where the connectivity is a lot faster and smoother. I am not going to be able to upload pictures today. It would take me ages to do it here. But it's not like you haven't gotten a good share of them lately, right?

I have just come from a lovely dinner at the GBIM headquarters here. We ate some great tacos and enjoyed some good fellowship with the Brethren (Grace or not). We appreciate Heidi's tremendous hospitality in hosting us. It was a good taste of home!

I finished my classes today so it was a packed day. Needless to say, I feel completely spent now. As a matter of fact, I am aware of every movement with my typing and it's as if I could fall over the keyboard at any moment. We started rising early as usual. Pastor Tom preached at Chapel today and the students were very challenged to hear him challenge them about the meaning of the "fear of the Lord" in Joshua and Proverbs. He was his usual Central African self with lots of jokes in between lines. The students and faculty were having a good time.

At the end of my class this afternoon they had a ceremony in chapel with the faculty and the students. The President of the student body made a beautiful speech in which he thanked me for my teaching this week. Then I spoke some about how my church in Wooster is praying for the school here. I told them about the story I wrote on the blog and the responses from some of you. Then the dean spoke reminding the students that I was the first visiting professor to come to teach at the seminary in Bangui. He welcomed me back any time, and he thanked me and my family for releasing me to come. Next the dean's wife came forward with a gift. I opened it and it was a nice African type of suit that I had wanted to get. And she had eyed me perfectly as it was just the right fit. They then prayed for me and we said our good-byes.

The rest of the team continued work on the building today and they also made a couple of visits in the homes where orphans are living. As soon as they got there, they said that they were swarmed with people from everywhere. I haven't heard a full report from the team about this but Pastor Tom said that things went well.

Everybody is in good spirits. Beth is feeling better. We are all exhausted beyond measure. This was evident today as we sat for lunch and our normally talkative bunch dug the food in stoic silence for the longest time until someone remarked the fabled "either we are too hungry or too tired" aphorism. I think both were true this day. The days are getting long because we are more tired but they seem shorter because we still have so much to accomplish.

I haven't read all your comments here from yesterday. I started copying them but my connection was interrupted twice. I copy and paste them every night so the team can have them read to us during our team time every evening. What a tremendous source of encouragement your comments have been. We are humbled to be Christ's representatives here and we don't consider us to be anything special. We are just trying to be Jesus' hands and feet, as one of our team mates said today.

Thank you for your love that has been so obvious from your comments. Please, continue to pray for us fervently as we near the end of our time here.

Love from all to all,

Pastor Ivanildo C. Trindade
itrindade@woostergrace.org

The Surprise of the Day... these girls will make you laugh (and cry)

This is one of the main reasons we keep coming from Africa. Children like these orphans need advocates. They need someone who can speak for them. Like these two girls there are an estimated 100,000 orphans in Bangui. Most of them are not as blessed as these two little ones who are already sponsored (I could be wrong, but I think that Pastor Tom & Sue Peters are sponsoring these two precious girls).

If you want to know more about sponsorship, check ICDI, GBIM or ASIA'S HOPE's websites. ICDI does its orphan partnership in Bangui through an organization called Vision Trust, Int'l. GBIM (Grace Brethren) has its own orphan program called Project Hope and Charity in the CAR. The same is true of Asia's Hope (Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam).

Pastor Ivanildo C. Trindade

itrindade@woostergrace.org

Some of Beth's Pictures

Stuff

So we've now established that God loves the Africans (see previous "band aid" post), but the question is: does He love us?

We've all been praying for the arrival of our luggage. We had been told not to have our expectations too high, but we prayed fervently. Well, they arrived. Well, almost all of them arrived. But one out of 17 didn't...

As I arrived back to the guest house after my morning classes I hurried to read the labels on the trunks. I couldn't believe my eyes. I had to read twice just to make sure. Then, it dawned on me: "Beth's name is not on one of these trunks." I mean, how can this be, God. Of all the trunks. One our of 17 and it had to be that one? How about the stuffed animals that Beth's daughter and niece had picked out and sent with such love and care to some little orphans in Africa? Or the close that her Mom and sister bought? And all the art supplies she was going to use to do something special with the children down here?

I did think about my personal stuff inside that box too, but only for a second... I felt really sorry for Beth. I thought: you do the statistic calculations on that one -- what are the chances? One in how many thousands or maybe a million? I don't know, but it is a fact now and there is nothing we can do about it.

Amazingly, when Beth arrived, the only thing she mentioned was the things the girls, her Mom and sister had sent. She said the other things "are not a big deal. I went a week without them, I can go another week." Thanks, Beth. She just saved me about an hour of arguing with God tonight. "Come on, Lord. Can't you try to work with us a little bit here? Don't see that these folks have already sacrificed enough? Don't you hold the world in your hands, how come you can't make that little speck of dust in this universe called Beth's trunk get on that Air Chance (I mean Air France) flight?"

Ah, but that is exactly the point, isn't it? The fact that God CAN and DIDN'T do it is exactly the point, isn't it? He must have a reason for it. God is not just a master irritator intent on ruining your mission trip to Africa. And He is definitely not a cosmic kill joy one ready to erase that smile out of your face.

Thanks, Beth, for reminding me of that today. Alright, I have been a little sick the last couple of days, but so has Beth. She stayed at the guest house all afternoon yesterday, trying to rest her weary body. Her cough came back. But today she was back being Beth and feeling a lot better. I know she could have used a little encouragement today, but I am sure she was not waiting for it to come exclusively from her luggage arriving.

I see this kind of attitude prevailing among all of our team members. And I am honored to be a part of this team. I praise God for each one. They all play a very important role. Please, keep praying for each one of us. The enemy is trying to get us out of focus here, but we will not let him, with God's help through your prayers. May we be reminded that in the end it is just stuff, right?

"God owns the trunks in a thousand cargo loads."

Pastor Ivanildo C. Trindade

itrindade@woostergrace.org

Building Update

The whole back wall is done. All the translucent siding is up for the rafters. Tim had a different experience today. He was standing at a wall full metal shards (put there for the purpose of not allowing people to walk on it) and he was working installing this translucent roofing material to enclose the shop. He had to keep from falling, being poked and not knocking down the wall that the other workers were putting up. The good news is that he is here all in one piece and the wall, as far as we know, is still there. No one knows how Tim’s body will be tomorrow. Stay tuned...

The relationships with the workers continue to grow and they are communicating better. The crew is incredible and the progress is noticeable. The volleyball net is almost ready to be put up and tomorrow they should be able to play a good game of volleyball.

It was very nice today to have the remaining of our tools arrive. You should have seen the guys looking though those containers with such anticipation. Now they have no excuse not to do a good job. Just kidding... We couldn't have a better crew here.

A Band Aid Party

I am back at the ICDI office. Blogging after a full day teaching. I preached in chapel again and them taught the rest of the day, pretty much.

Jeana and Beth just arrived from taking care of orphans and they are reporting that they had a wonderful time interacting with the kids. Beth gave one of the little girls a button that was missing on her shirt. She was self-conscious about it so when she got it she was so happy. What a difference a little button can make.

Jeana has been helping this little orphan girl, Dorcas. She is the only one left of her family, except her dad, and Jeana met on Monday and helped her with some bandages on her leg. She came back today to have her band aids changed. Just for the record -- they had a dozen or so band aids on her legs... Dorcas lives with her dad and because of that she has her hair very short. She said her dad does it that way because he works and does not have time to take care of her hair. I suspect he probably wouldn't even know how to do it, even he had time. Anyway, Jeana asked her if this bothered her but she said not. Jeana said that she looks very sad. She is new to the orphan care center and hopefully she will get more comfortable as she gets used to the workers and her new friends there.

Jeana said that tonight the orphan care group they were with had a sort of a "band aid party." They applied band aid on kids as long as they were there. Just about until the time that the ICDI worker told them that they had to leave. They also met a young man there who could not hear or talk. They helped him and tended to his wounds. He smiled as they helped him and Jeana was praying that somehow she would see him in heaven and they would be able to communicate freely.

They were able to give away one hundred crosses that had been manually made (a cross-stitch kind of a thing) by an 88 year old lady from California. She wanted to make crosses for children here in Africa to tell them that God loves them. What a wonderful testimony to the fact that there is no age or geographical limit when you are intent on sharing God's love with someone.

Pastor Ivanildo C. Trindade
itrindade@woostergrace.org

Their Sunday best

A sample of my Sunday pictures. Look at how these girls dress up for their baptismal service! And look at the crowd gathered to witness the baptism. What a thing to see!

Learning Greek, Hebrew and Suffering

As I had suspected, I was not able to teach this morning. However, I decided to give it a try this afternoon and things went relatively well. I felt very sick last night and was a little dizzy this morning. It makes me wonder because the Dean of the seminary was also sick yesterday with similar symptoms to mine. So it could be related to the sumptuous meal we ate on Sunday. Oh well, I hope I am back to normal tomorrow.
My students, with my translator (left)

Today I enjoyed getting to know my students more after class. This is the time when they talk about their personal lives and also ask me personal questions. We stand outside under a tree and talk until my ride comes.

I wish I had time to tell you all that these students and faculty have experienced. First, there was the rebellion in 2002, when all the students of both Bible Institute and seminary had to run to the woods to escape certain death. They walked 86 miles to another village and many of them had to stay there for 8 months, living under very squalid conditions.

The students who are now in the seminary didn't experience the rebellion in Bata (though they may have been victims in their own villages), but then came the bandit phase. At least twice bandits came to the campus and harassed students and faculty. One time they took more than 12 students and beat them because they wanted to take their possessions. One student pointed to an area on his back where they had hit him with the barrel of a Kalashnikov. From then on they could never be at ease on campus. They couldn't be in their houses at night until the bandits passed through with their guns and they knew they were relatively safe. Theodore, the professor who is also my translator, pointed to several students who were in Hebrew class with him one day, when one of them said: "Professor, there are people running outside. Should we run too?" They looked outside and sure enough they started running too!

The last attack happened a few months ago. Dr. Ngumape, who is the Dean of the seminary, was taken hostage for a couple of hours. His captors were probably from the Chad, as they didn't speak Sango and were using Arabic. They were Muslim by origin. He was on his way out of the village of Bata, where the school was, riding his motorcycle, when 4 bandits stopped him and told him to take them to the village of Bata. Smartly, he acted like he didn't know where Bata was. He didn't want them to suspect that he was from there. Well, they gave him the general direction of the village and forced him to take them there.

Dr. Ngumape, left, with Professor Theodore, my translator

Upon arriving in the village the students, faculty and families all understood what was going on. But instead of running to the woods, as people usually did, they stayed in the village. The women were praying out loud and the men approached the hostage takers from a distance. The bandits would shoot to disperse the crowds, the people would duck, but then rise again and continue to make noise. The bandits had long discussions among them. They tried to take Dr. Ngumape outside the village, but the people began to get closer and closer, and every time they would shoot and they people would do the same that they had done before.

Finally, the bandits got scared. They shot Dr. Ngumape's motorcycle and ran away. Later on he heard a report from another village where he has acquaintances. The bandits went around asking who was this person who look thus and so and upon hearing that he was the Dean of the school, they replied that he was the one they had been after for a long time. "But he looked so young," they replied. Hey, youthful look has other advantages than mere vanity. In this case, it probably saved his life, in addition to the bravery of the people from the school.

If anything, it was a clear demonstration of the love with which these people love this man chosen by God to lead a work in such difficult circumstances. Had he been driving the school vehicle rather than the bike, he would have been taken right away for ransom. Normally the bandits, whose entire goal is to disrupt the government and create chaos in the hopes that some radical Muslim government be installed in the Capital, give two weeks and if the money is not paid, they simply execute the person.

Ah, yes, the bandits did also say about Dr. Ngumape: "His God is big, but we will eventually get him." The fact that these students are sticking with it at all is another demonstration of the power of God. I wonder how many of us would have the patience and courage to continue on this career path after so many close calls like these men and their families have had. I am humbled to be in their presence and take this responsibility to impart them something from the eternal Word of God very seriously.

About three weeks ago they moved the seminary to Bangui at great sacrifice to students and faculty. They only have 15 students now and two faculty members. They have no building (they are meeting in a house that has been donated for them for a short period of time). They have nothing in terms of an infra-structure. But they have a conviction from God and a dream to train hundreds of men and women to faithfully give God's Word to the people of this country who still need to hear about Jesus Christ. The need for qualified Bible expositors and well trained church leaders is great.

It costs about one thousand dollars per year to sponsor a student at the seminary. Are you willing to sponsor one? I hope God will touch your heart and you will give generously to ensure that men and women like the ones I am teaching will receive the kind of training they need to continue the work God has called them to do. Talk to me if you are interested in helping.

Pastor Ivanildo C. Trindade

itrindade@woostergrace.org

Building Update

Today, Pastor Tom was able to buy all the steel and clear roofing materials. That's a big answer to prayer. He was talking about how hard it is to spend money, as he spent 300,000 Central African Franks today (about 800 U.S. dollars).

The rear brick wall is about three quarters of the way up and they will be able to finish that tomorrow. They leveled out the floor and rock is going to be broken up for the cement. The frames for the door on the front are made. Dug the ditch around it to keep the water from flowing into the workshop.

As you can see, work is progressing really well. It's incredible that all the parts have been found and purchased. Having a master builder on the site has been a God sent. Rob has made a contribution to the overall deterioration of the culture here, as he introduced kids to some kind of a contraption that lets out some pseudo gases of unknown source. It seems like even the adults got into it quickly with the result that work had to be interrupted for a while...

The guys also took time to play basketball with the kids and they are ready to put a volleyball net out so they can play that as well.

Pastor Ivanildo C. Trindade

itrindade@woostergrace.org

P.S. Rick is not in the pictures because he was the photographer. Since I have not been to the building site, I have not been able to take pictures there. Sorry!

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!

More Pictures. Sorry they are random...

Here is some more, included the bird that Beth refused to eat. Wonder why... let me put it this way: these guys weren't going to the Wayne Co. Fair to show off their prize bird...