With the room comes free breakfast, so we head down for breakfast at about 7:00am. The breakfast room is set up buffet style, with hard-boiled eggs (a common staple in Africa), bread, cereal, bananas, apples, and oranges, and hot dogs... Yes, hot dogs. At first we thought they were sausages that looked like hot dogs, but these tasted just like official Oscar Meyer Hot Dogs! I’ve always liked having lunch type foods for breakfast, so that works for me. They also had coffee, tea and apple juice. It was a good breakfast, and filling.
At 8:00am we went out to the lobby to wait for Hubert and our driver as well as Pastor Yumba and his men. We visited with Hubert and John (the translator for the ELCC), while we waited for the others to arrive. At around 9:00am when everyone arrived we got into our rented Toyota 8 passenger van and drove several blocks to Pastor Yumba’s office. He works for a non-government organizaion and has an office that he shares with a printing company. In addition to Pastor Yumba and our translator Mark, two other CCLC pastors joined us – Pastor Kitombe and Pastor Lubaba.
Our young translator, Mark, sits in front of shelves full of Lutheran pamphlets and materials.
We were given two hours for lunch and we taken to a little restaurant not far away that served pizza. Todd and I had tried to order pizza where we had supper last night, but that came to nothing. So Hubert, knowing that we wanted pizza, brought us here so we could have some. Todd and I both ordered a pizza and a Coke. While we waited we discussed the events of the morning and our first impressions. Finally our pizzas arrived. They were larger than we anticipated, and filled our plate. They were very good and certainly hit the spot, although we both had trouble finishing them off. I have to say - I’m eating better here in the Congo than I usually do when I am in Africa!
After lunch we returned to Yumba’s office to meet again. This time it was not just the pastors. They kept telling us, “You did not come just for the pastors, but for the people as well.” So, in the afternoon we were joined by Sunday School teachers and Church elders. This too was a very productive discussion. They began by explaining their Sunday School program and asking how they could improve what they were already doing. It was impressive to see how they had been using the Invisible Sunday School program, and their dedication to improving it and expanding it for older children. We hope to be able to provide more materials that would be able to be used with the older children similar to what we have in the CLC Sunday School series. The problem is that we need to get the material translated into French and Swahili for the people here. It is something for us to look into doing at least.
Following that some candid questions were asked by these men. They explained their church position on certain issues or situations, and then asked us if that was correct. Most of these were very practical issues that surrounded the doctrine of fellowship in one way or another, and invariably, they demonstrated that they had taken the correct stand on those issues! It was refreshing to see how they had applied the Scriptures in these situations, in the face of the antagonism of the world and were simply looking for confirmation on the correctness of their teaching and practice. Very refreshing indeed!
The CCLC men who met with us in the afternoon meeting.
We finished at about 5:00pm and returned to the hotel after a brief discussion about our plans for tomorrow. After checking in we decided together in Todd’s room and discuss the events of the day and work on preparations for the coming days. We had had a large lunch, so we weren’t hungry right away. When we did get hungry Todd made his way to the hotel lounge to check on supper availability. He came back with bad news. It was extremely expensive. For just a little sandwich is was about $20! Since there was nothing close by outside the hotel and it was pretty late, we decided to skip supper and eat granola bars instead. Hakuna matata (if you don’t know what that means, then watch “The Lion King”).
Tomorrow is another day under God’s grace, and we thank the Lord for His continued blessings here in the Congo. If you get the chance, check out Todd’s blog. He has some nice maps and additional pictures as well. You can find it at http://www.2010clceastafricavisit.blogspot.com/ Thank you all for your prayers.
In Christ,
Nathanael
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.” – Proverbs 3:5-6
3 comments:
Could you clarify what "invisible sunday school material" is? What is the temperature there? I see a couple of the men wearing jackets? Glad to hear you are finding some good food!
The invisible Sunday School was a program developed years ago by a CLC member that covered a series of Bible stories and included coloring pictures and activities. It was called invisible because it was intended to be handed out to non member children who would want to color the pages and as a result learn these Bible stories and truths about Jesus. It would be similiar to what we have been producing at Zion for the Dr.'s offices.
The temperature has been great - around 70 degrees with very little humididy. It can be a bit chilly in the morning and evening when the sun goes down, and can be a bit warm in the afternoon when the sun is straight up, but not hot! I have really enjoyed the temp. The people here say it is cold and you will find them wearing jackets and sweaters when we are comfortable in short sleeves!
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