Tuesday – August 10, 2010
We must have been tired, because we slept soundly and didn’t wake up until 11:00am the next morning! Since we hadn’t met with our Nairobi leaders last night we were in the dark about the schedule for the day. After showering and getting ready to go down for breakfast we had a call from one of our men downstairs. We journeyed down the five flights of stairs to the entryway where we met Charles and four of his leaders. After greeting everyone and visiting a bit, Charles, Todd and I sat down and discussed our schedule over breakfast. Since we had to make sure that everything was in order with our tickets to the Congo before our flight early tomorrow morning, we decided to move our Nairobi seminar to August 24th, after we returned from the Congo. While we were discussing our schedule, someone came for Todd and told him that his “lost” bag had arrived from the airport. One down, one to go...
During the past year many books and religious materials have been donated by our brethren throughout the CLC for use in our overseas churches. Todd and I had brought over two boxes of books to be distributed to our churches here, and so we decided to give the Nairobi churches theirs now, so that we wouldn’t have to carry or store them any longer than necessary. Charles was given a box of English Bibles, catechisms, Bible History books, a prayer book and a stack of back issues of the Lutheran Spokesman. Our thanks to all those back home who donated such materials during the past year, making it possible for our Pastors here to receive much needed teaching and study materials. Charles was very thankful to receive all the resources that were brought.
After ironing out a few details we decided to make a trip to the airport to make sure that the tickets we had purchased online for our trip from Nairobi to the Congo were legitimate. Charles was supplying a car and driver for us. Our driver was a nice young man named James. James drove us to the airports where we found out that we had a reservation, but we needed to pay for our tickets yet, and that had to be done at the Ethiopian Airlines office in downtown Nairobi. So off we went again. After some searching we finally found their office on the ground floor of a building on Mundi Mbingu Street in Nairobi. We walked in the office at about 4:15 and after a short wait were helped. After a bit of discussion and explanation, we were able to pay for our tickets and get confirmation for our flight to Lubambashi and back to Nairobi again. Our flight was scheduled for 2:00am tomorrow morning, but we were supposed to be at the airport 3 hours early - so 11:00pm tonight. Our flight leaves Nairobi at 2:00am travels to Entebbe, Uganda for a brief layover, and then continues to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where it arrives at 6:00am. We have a layover there as well before continuing on to Lubambashi, DRoC. There will be no rest for the weary this night...
We walked back out to the street to wait for our driver and noticed that the foot traffic was picking up as it neared 5:00 – closing time. While we waited we were approached by several men who wanted to offer their driving services. We explained that we had a driver and were waiting for him to return. In our discussion with one of these men we found out that he was a Jehovah’s Witness and began a discussion with him about the person of Jesus Christ. It quickly became clear that he did not recognize Jesus as true God, and after referring to several Bible passages that demonstrated that Jesus was true God, he quickly abandoned the discussion and walked away. The Jehovah’s Witness organization is very prevalent in East Africa, and sadly is considered by many (who don’t know better) to be a “Christian” church. How sad it is.
James dropped us back off at the hotel so we could eat supper and pack for our flight and said he would be back at 10:00pm to take us to the airport. While we packed we received a call informing us that my lost bag had arrived. This was a relief to know since we were about to leave and wouldn’t have to worry about what to do if it came while we were gone. I made arrangements for storing our remaining books and materials, and made reservations for Russ and Stephen who would be arriving tomorrow night after we were gone.
Everything should be in place here. Now for our trip to the Congo. We pray that Russ and Stephen arrive safely tomorrow night and that the Lord blesses our trip to the Congo as well. There is much to be done, and the time is so short.
We must have been tired, because we slept soundly and didn’t wake up until 11:00am the next morning! Since we hadn’t met with our Nairobi leaders last night we were in the dark about the schedule for the day. After showering and getting ready to go down for breakfast we had a call from one of our men downstairs. We journeyed down the five flights of stairs to the entryway where we met Charles and four of his leaders. After greeting everyone and visiting a bit, Charles, Todd and I sat down and discussed our schedule over breakfast. Since we had to make sure that everything was in order with our tickets to the Congo before our flight early tomorrow morning, we decided to move our Nairobi seminar to August 24th, after we returned from the Congo. While we were discussing our schedule, someone came for Todd and told him that his “lost” bag had arrived from the airport. One down, one to go...
During the past year many books and religious materials have been donated by our brethren throughout the CLC for use in our overseas churches. Todd and I had brought over two boxes of books to be distributed to our churches here, and so we decided to give the Nairobi churches theirs now, so that we wouldn’t have to carry or store them any longer than necessary. Charles was given a box of English Bibles, catechisms, Bible History books, a prayer book and a stack of back issues of the Lutheran Spokesman. Our thanks to all those back home who donated such materials during the past year, making it possible for our Pastors here to receive much needed teaching and study materials. Charles was very thankful to receive all the resources that were brought.
After ironing out a few details we decided to make a trip to the airport to make sure that the tickets we had purchased online for our trip from Nairobi to the Congo were legitimate. Charles was supplying a car and driver for us. Our driver was a nice young man named James. James drove us to the airports where we found out that we had a reservation, but we needed to pay for our tickets yet, and that had to be done at the Ethiopian Airlines office in downtown Nairobi. So off we went again. After some searching we finally found their office on the ground floor of a building on Mundi Mbingu Street in Nairobi. We walked in the office at about 4:15 and after a short wait were helped. After a bit of discussion and explanation, we were able to pay for our tickets and get confirmation for our flight to Lubambashi and back to Nairobi again. Our flight was scheduled for 2:00am tomorrow morning, but we were supposed to be at the airport 3 hours early - so 11:00pm tonight. Our flight leaves Nairobi at 2:00am travels to Entebbe, Uganda for a brief layover, and then continues to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where it arrives at 6:00am. We have a layover there as well before continuing on to Lubambashi, DRoC. There will be no rest for the weary this night...
We walked back out to the street to wait for our driver and noticed that the foot traffic was picking up as it neared 5:00 – closing time. While we waited we were approached by several men who wanted to offer their driving services. We explained that we had a driver and were waiting for him to return. In our discussion with one of these men we found out that he was a Jehovah’s Witness and began a discussion with him about the person of Jesus Christ. It quickly became clear that he did not recognize Jesus as true God, and after referring to several Bible passages that demonstrated that Jesus was true God, he quickly abandoned the discussion and walked away. The Jehovah’s Witness organization is very prevalent in East Africa, and sadly is considered by many (who don’t know better) to be a “Christian” church. How sad it is.
James dropped us back off at the hotel so we could eat supper and pack for our flight and said he would be back at 10:00pm to take us to the airport. While we packed we received a call informing us that my lost bag had arrived. This was a relief to know since we were about to leave and wouldn’t have to worry about what to do if it came while we were gone. I made arrangements for storing our remaining books and materials, and made reservations for Russ and Stephen who would be arriving tomorrow night after we were gone.
Everything should be in place here. Now for our trip to the Congo. We pray that Russ and Stephen arrive safely tomorrow night and that the Lord blesses our trip to the Congo as well. There is much to be done, and the time is so short.
“I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.” – John 9:4
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