From Ethiopia to the DRC

August 12, 2010

I was awoken this morning at 5:30am by the ringing of my telephone. It was the concierge calling to let me know that our bus back to the airport would be leaving in one hour. I was especially appreciative of this since I did not bring an alarm clock and left the phone I had been using as an alarm clock in Kenya for Stephen and Russ to use. The family from Iowa that we had met yesterday had said that the internet seemed to be better in the morning, so I dug out my laptop right away to see if I had a wireless connection. Sure enough, I could connect to the Internet. So I made a quick Skype call home to talk to my wife and let her know where I was and see how things were going there. After that I packed my bags and headed down for breakfast with Todd. They offered boiled eggs, chapati (Swahili for pancake), meat and cheese, as well as a plethora of fruits, with fruit juice and coffee. We ate a quick breakfast and prepared for our trip back to the airport.

A picture of Addis Ababa from the Panorama hotel.

The bus picked us up promptly at 6:30am and we made the trek with seven other stranded travelers back to the airport. After going back through another round of security, we went back through customs, and up two flights of stairs to the terminal waiting area. Since we had three hours until our flight, we did some work on our computers and visited for a while. At 9:00am we made our way to our gate, and went through another security check. We sat down in the waiting area and struck up a conversation with a young Jewish diamond seller from South Africa. He was returning home from Israel where his family lives. We couldn’t understand why we were in the same waiting area if he was heading to South Africa and we were going to the Congo, but it turns out they had two planes departing from the same area! They weren’t making this well known and they didn’t even have anyone checking tickets before making their way down the tunnel! South Africa anyone???

Todd at work in the terminal waiting area while we wait for our boarding time.

Finally it was our turn. We walked down a tunnel and around a corner where the tunnel split in two. The right arm was a dead end. We followed everyone to the left and back into the terminal one floor where we were in the waiting area. Another turn to the right, and I’m not seeing who if anyone is leading this group. We’ve now walked past a number of Ethiopian Airlines planes and it begins to look like we are going back into the airport. I begin to wonder if we are going to get lost and miss our plane. We come to an escalator that goes down another flight of stairs and we see a group of people in the room below. At the bottom of the stairs an Ethiopian Airlines Representative is checking boarding passes and sending people out the doors and onto a bus. Then I remember... bus, tarmac, plane... after all, we are in Ethiopia you know!

An Ethiopian Airlines 777 which we passed on our way to our plane -- this one was actually connected to the airport terminal by a bridge!

By 9:45am we were settling in to our new seats on another 737, this time bound for the Democratic Republic of Congo. Our seats were not exit row seats this time, so we were a little more crowded. We were on the right side of the plane behind the wings, Todd in the isle and me in the middle. It was a three hour flight, but we gained an hour, so we arrived in Lubumbashi, DRC at around 11:45. We exited our plane, wondering whether our checked bags would arrive safely along with us. We crossed the tarmac and made our way to the terminal on foot. Waiting for us at the door was Pastor Muzakuza along with his entourage of men. While neither of us had ever met any of these men, we had both heard much about them. They helped us through customs and took us to get our bags. We had some trouble for a while when they asked to see our yellow vaccination cards. They took Todd aside and were going to charge him $10 for a Typhoid shot. He kept telling them that he was up to date, and asked them to bring him his card so he could show them. Sure enough, it was there. His was handwritten though instead of stamped and they overlooked it. With that resolved we collected our checked bags, changed money from dollars to Congolese Francs and purchased a sim card for Todd’s phone. I visited with Hubert, Pastor Muzakuza’s son in the meantime. He doesn’t know English very well but can communicate somewhat effectively. He asked about Pastor Koenig and Pastor Povolny, who both have served here in the past. It was enjoyable to get to know him a little as well.

After we were finished we walked outside and met more pastors and members of the ELCC who had come to meet us at the airport. From there Pastor Muzakuza drove us into Lubumbashi to check into our hotel. From our drive we could see that there were many similarities to the other African countries we have been in – with two striking differences. They drive on the right side of the road and obey all traffic lights! I think that is a good change, myself.

We arrived at the hotel at about 2:00pm where we met up with Pastor Yumba and his men of the CCLC. We all went inside and decided to take a hour for Todd and I to settle in and get cleaned up, and then we would meet with the men from both churches to discuss the schedule for the week.

At 4:00 we had our meeting. It went fairly well considering the history between these two groups. After some lengthy discussion we settled on the following schedule:

Friday, Saturday and Sunday will be spent with Pastor Yumba and the CCLC - meeting with pastors, elders, and members of their congregations.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday will be dedicated to teaching. Todd and I will teach the men of both churches in one location.

Then the following Friday, Saturday and Sunday will be spent with Pastor Muzakuza and the people of the ELCC. Everyone was agreed. We wrapped things up by making our arrangements with Pastor Yumba for tomorrow’s schedule and with a short meeting with Pastor Muzakuzu.

With everything taken care of we went with Hubert and our translator, John, to get some supper. Todd and I had omelettes which were pretty good. After finishing supper and talking with Hubert and John we returned to our hotel for the night. It was a good start and we pray that the Lord brings peace between these two groups.

In His service,

Nathanael

“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.” – John 17:20-21