A Blog Entry's Journey

Several of you contacted me to find out about when the blog was going to be updated. I was actually encouraged to hear from you because that means that you are reading this blog. Thank you for expressing a desire that all of us have: to see more entries, more stories, more pictures.

In order to help all of us understand how a blog entry gets posted here, I decided to write this quick note.

Last Saturday (2/24) was the last time I updated the blog. And the reason for that is simple: it was the last time I received an entry from the CAR. With the exception of today, because we have staff meetings all day long and I lead a book study in the evening, I have always been posting the entries within an hour from the time I receive them.

I was anxious to get more news but also new that if there was silence on the other end it was because our team was really busy and/or experiencing difficulties with the Internet connections. Both turned out to be true.

Here is what you need to know:

1. Laura writes these entries late at night, after a long day of work, so she is extremely tired when she writes them. That's another reason we all need to write her notes expressing how thankful we are for the job she is doing.

2. Laura has to get a ride to the Internet Cafe, which is located 20 minutes by car from where they are staying.

4. Laura has to rely on the unpredictability of the Internet connections in Bangui. Sometimes she has to keep re-sending files several times in the hopes that in the next time she will succeed.

5. Laura sends me a text with the entries and attaches pictures. The picture attachments are especially trying (extremely frustrating is more like it), sometimes taking five minutes or more for one file to be transmitted.

6. Bangui has experienced daily black outs, especially in the last few days. This usually happens during the evening, which is the only time Laura has to go to the Internet Cafe.

7. After I receive the entry, it takes me a little bit of time to post it to the blog.

8. After I post the entry, your role is to read it, pray, and write comments!

Thank you again for your patience and remember that whenever there is a hiatus it probably means the team is working hard and maybe experiencing some technical difficulties in Bangui. So when you start to feel like missing the news (which is every day for me!), it is time to intensify your prayers more.

Finally, to leave a comment: if you are experiencing problems or prefer not to register, leave a comment as "anonymous" and write your name on the bottom of your comment so the team can know who is leaving the note. Keep those comments coming, it's encouraging for the team to hear from people back home.

Ivanildo Trindade