Sunday, December 13, 2015

God At Work



I am in my last day here in Rwanda and I apologize for not writing in the blog sooner. It has been a good trip here and I have learned a lot. I feel that the men here were having a hard time with their presentations and it forced me to think carefully about some of the things we are teaching. I think I have come up with some ways to clarify and simplify the material to make it more effective, especially in the area of structure and the salvation story.  

Today I preached at the central church here for the EFC of Rwanda. Only about 35 adults were present. I guess they went through a tough split a couple of years ago and have not fully recovered. I was not feeling fully at the top of my game and I simply asked God to use me as he saw fit this day and I made myself available for his use. I preached on Matthew 15 and the woman that Jesus implies is a dog unworthy of the food designated for the children. It is a difficult passage but one with an amazing lesson. It says that God is not concerned that we come to him with some kind of outside credentials, he simply wants us to come believing in our hearts and seeking grace.  

The people were attentive as I preached. One woman in the crowd stood out to me. She seemed to be wearing a Muslim head covering. I was not sure because I do not know the culture that well. She seemed to join in well in the worship and singing so I concluded she must be a Christian. When I finished calling people to come to God simply in faith the pastor took over and finished the service. Evidently, he gave a call to salvation and this woman came forward and knelt before him. He prayed for her and the service ended. He said that she was indeed a Muslim and had decided that day to give her life to Jesus. She had been attending a sewing class conducted by the pastor’s wife for some time but had made no indication she wanted to become a Christian even though she was learning about it in the class. She came up to us later and said she wanted to be baptized soon and didn’t think she could ever go back to the mosque. This doesn’t happen every day, even here.  

Needless to say, I was overwhelmed with the blessing of the Lord that he was willing to use this tired American to help lead a Rwandan Muslim to the Lord. He is amazing.

Al

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Stamina Needed



We are back in the US in Colorado. Our final days in South Asia were fruitful. The last group we worked with were excited to get started planning for the training, but were obviously taken aback a bit by our announcement that we would not pay for everything. Unfortunately, we are rather unique in that but because we desire for the training to be replicated at several levels we cannot pay for the first or they will not learn how to pay for the other levels. This is always a difficult discussion because most Americans just pay for everything. As we worked through it, they began to see the reasoning and the biblical basis for our policy and I think it will work out.

Our trip home was brutal with both of us catching a 24-hour bug on the way. We arrived quite worn out and then had to start the next day wiring our house here in Colorado. The builder was so late in getting started that it has really messed things up for us. We are working as hard as we can, jet lag and all, but I am not sure we will get everything done before having to leave for Iowa for a training and then I will go on to Africa. Please pray for our stamina and that the Lord will enable us to get what we need to done.

Al

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Adventures with the Lord



It has been nonstop for the last couple of days from early morning to late at night so there has been no time for blogging. The organization we are working with this week is amazing. About 1500 people were gathered when we arrived, and Edie and I were immediately invited up to the stage to hand out certificates to newly ordained pastors. Later I gave a plaque to a man who had served the organization for 20 years. It was strange in that no one there had ever seen us before. Stuart and Jill Brisco were there so we were able to meet them. They were very kind and gracious. The leaders here are outstanding and their organizational skill is tremendous. They are very receptive to our program and enjoyed our teaching. Today we work on how to organize to train as many of their 1500 pastors as possible. We will need the Lord’s wisdom.  

The hotel here has been “interesting”; no hot water, bugs, dirt, etc. We call this part of the adventure. On the lighter side, we try to include in our blogs the good, the bad and the funny. We returned from training late and then the three of us men had a debrief session about the day. At the end, I got up to go get my computer and do some emailing if possible with the intermittent internet. We were meeting down the hall from our rooms. I walked to my room, entered and saw a bottle of water on the desk and because I knew I needed to be drinking I had a good drink. Then I went to the closet to get my computer that I hide in our clothing while we are gone. When I opened the door there was nothing at all in the closet. I was shocked, momentarily thinking someone had stolen everything. I glanced into the room to see if our other luggage was there and suddenly realized I was in the wrong room. By God’s grace, it was the other trainer's room not someone else's. We had a good laugh about that. I was able to provide the evening entertainment for all.

I have to run; we are off for another day, another adventure with the Lord.

Al

Sunday, November 15, 2015

Smog & Beautiful Strange Worship




Friday, November 13:  We just finished two great days here in this massive city. The smog/fog was really bad today. You could only see about a half mile this morning, and this afternoon when we came back to the hotel around 5pm you could look straight into the sun it was so hazy. We hit a massive traffic jam on the way back. There is a large political convention with tents stretching for acres and people arriving in trucks filled to the brim. Arlene and I both got a bit carsick from all the starting and stopping. It took almost an extra hour to get home.

The group of shepherds we met with were great. They were very educated and grasped our teaching quickly. The leader we are working with was a part time translator in the last group we taught. We had no idea how significant a man he is. He seems to run in the highest circles of both religious and political arenas. He recently organized a large “petition” meeting of believers that had 10,000 in attendance. Leaders of a couple of large “organizations” and some high up military and political men attended our meetings. The three of us teaching wondered why in the world we were included in such a prestigious group. The potential for organizing and teaching a large number in the city is great. 

As I sat in the morning taking in the atmosphere as the men worshipped, I was able more than usual to just close my eyes and enjoy the event. The music is odd to my ears and I don’t understand a word, but with my eyes closed, I just enjoyed the sound that I presumed God was enjoying. It makes me sad about all the worship wars in the US. Worship can really be strange to our ears and cultural sensitivities and still be beautiful to God. 

Edie and Arlene, our daughter, had a great time with the ladies. They were so serious and eager to learn and fun to be with. One mentioned that she had never heard anyone teach like Edie and hoped she could teach that way, too. We all had a good laugh as one of the men said he had heard many Americans and had never heard anyone teach like me. The problem was that I didn’t really teach much at all, just led a discussion about observation, the highlight of which was my helping them see the word “but” in the passage. I think in the end they see that we respect them and count them as equals and engage them with more than lectures, something it seems is rare for Americans.

On to a new city with new adventures tomorrow. One thing we can say, we do not lead a boring life. 
 
Al