Hello From the Heart of Africa

We arrived in Pama last night to a hero's welcome. On our way through Sayere (the neighboring village), we were welcomed the same way because a team from Florida did a project including a water well there.

Everyone wanted to shake our hands and some wanted to show off their English skills they must have learned from the other team. These included “ok” and “goodbye.” We met with the regional mayor to let him know of our plans in Pama and he was very excited. Our trip yesterday was an adventure in “highway” travel, some roads nicely paved but you had to watch out for the people walking beside the road.

Then there was the paved road with huge pot holes (some places it was better to drive off the road), and still avoid pedestrians. One of these pot holes flattened one of our tires, so we did a roadside tire change(AAA was not available). Then we arrived in Yaloke to drop off Pastor Tolozombo at his house while our tire was being repaired. This gave us time to have some fellowship with Pastor T’s family. I played ball with the little children while Tom and Rick walked around the old Grace Brethren Mission Station.

Then another friend of Tom’s invited us to her house where she had made a meal for us, so we ate again after being fed at Pastor T’s house. Finally the tire was fixed so off we went down the road to Pama.

Calling it a road is too generous. Miles and miles of washed out road way and bridges lay ahead. By now it was dark so this made our travelling more difficult. Praise the Lord we made it!

Now back to that hero's welcome: From the edge of the village cheers broke out as we entered the village. By the time we stopped at the school building a large crowd had gathered. Like a presidential candidate, we shook hands making sure to get everyone. Then the men of the village chased the kids away to give us some privacy. We set up our accommodations, then sat under the stars. The moon had a halo around it so we took it as a sign of God’s protection.

Today we worked very hard pouring concrete in one of the school rooms. We were glad to see the villagers coming to help. The children carried water from the well (paid for by our church) to fill water containers used to mix the concrete. I have some pretty cute pictures I will send when I get better Internet signal. Several men from the village helped in many ways which was an answer to prayer because the last time our group from our church was here nobody wanted to help.

Rick went to help get gravel out of a local river bed. They had to cut a path down to the river bed. On the way out they ran over a tree stump and punctured a tire. Rick said it was an adventure getting the tire changed. We also got a big rain storm that came through but thankfully we were able to keep working inside.

Thank you all for your prayers and support as we minister on your behalf in the CAR.

In His Service

Tim
P.S. I have an audience watching me look at this funny looking box we call a lap top computer...