On the road again

Here I am sitting by a fire under a beautiful moon in the middle of Africa.

Today was another full day of travel and work. We left Yaloké early this
morning, after touring the mission station there. We saw the remains of some
of the buildings that were looted during the war in 2003. That was a heart
wrenching experience, as we saw the hard work of so many for so many years
completely destroyed. In the midst of our tour, God reminded me that the
real work is not the building but the people whose hearts have been
transformed by the power of God through all these years.

We went to a little agricultural site where a project in Yaloké, where a
couple of people run a pilot educational program to educate people on
growing fruit trees that will give them better nutrition. I walked into a
room with dozens of bags of wheat that are donated to people who are
struggling to have enough to eat on a day to day basis. I cried as I entered
the room because it reminded me of the time I was a child and that was the
only regular food we got. The smell reminded me of those times.

We traveled about 54 miles to Bata but stopped many times along the way. One
of the stops was to visit a the tomb of a young 24 year old by the name of
Allan Bennet, one of the pioneer missionaries in the CAR who was here before
there was even a mission station in this country. What a telling story about
the dedication of such a young man to one of the most difficult works anyone
has ever been called for.

We arrived at Bata around 2:00 p.m. and went to work. Our teams split two
ways: some helped install a huge generator, others repaired a solar panel.
Tomorrow, Lord willing, the Bible Institute and the Seminary will have
electricity for the first time in three years. They have 55 students and
about 10 faculties and they all live here with their large families in small
dormitories.

My most inspirational story today was about the 60 young people who go to
High School in another town, located about 7 miles away. They are the
children of students at the school here. They walk to and from school every
day, an hour and a half each way. What a challenge for our young people in
the U.S. I will certainly tell that story to my kids.

We are doing well, though Jana is a little under the weather today. Karl is
feeling much better and Jeana is joining us tomorrow, Lord willing.

Please, keep praying!