Well, the time has come. After finally going to bed last night, or should I say in the early morning, I didn’t have much to do this morning. Jane and I left around 11:00 am after saying good bye to my children, my mom and Jane’s parents. Ryan brought home a pound of Starbucks coffee for me to take to Africa so of course Jane and I had to stop at Starbucks so they could grind that for me. I couldn’t just go in there and ask them to grind my coffee without buying something. That would have been rude. And, I may never see another one until I return. (Really, I am not an addict!)
Our trip to San Francisco was flawless. It has been difficult for Jane to talk since she has had a serious head cold and sore throat but we had some much needed and desired conversation. It seems like amidst all the preparations for this trip and the normal things of life we haven’t had much quiet time together. However, quality time like that doesn’t make you want to get on a plane and be gone for 18 days.
At the airport the word flawless would not describe the experience at the check in counter. We got there in plenty of time and the man ahead of us had to take out a lot of his suitcases to make them pass the weight limit. I hear the attendant say something about 47 and I thought she was talking in pounds. We were told that our suitcases could not weigh more that 50 lbs. That is true, but 50 lbs is 23 kilograms. His two totaled 47 so he was over the limit.
So, I put the first suitcase on the scale and it was 22 kgs. Perfect. The second one was 21.5. Phew, the large luggage passed. Then, the attendant wanted to weigh my carry on. The combination of my small carry on and my back pack could not be over 12 kg. My carry on alone was 12.8. My back pack was 9 something. So, extra costs. I had no choice though because I needed everything I had. So we had to unload the back pack and the carry on and put a few more pounds in one of the big bags. We took out a lot. The carry on was still 14+ kg. So out went more. And then more. I finally got rid of everything in the back pack and got the carry on down to 13.4 kgs. The attendant said, “A kilogram won’t hurt anything.” Oh yeah, I was now carrying my windbreaker and a folder so we could meet the limit. I suppose in the scheme of things that is minor.
Jane and I had lunch and then I had to say good bye. In about 15 minutes from now I will be getting on the plane. By the time you read this I will have already been in Paris since I won’t be able to upload this until I get there.
I will talk to you soon.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
First Road I Will Travel
This is the road well traveled for me. It takes me out of my drive way everyday. Tomorrow it will take me to the Freeway that will lead to San Francisco and its International Airport. I will depart tomorrow afternoon (Tues) around 4:30 pm arriving in Paris at 11:30 am. It will actually be 3:00 am my time. Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep . . . Are you kidding and miss Paris!
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
La Loma Grace Brethren
This has been my permanent place of ministry for over thirty years. I am thankful for the increasing opportunities I'm being given to minister in other places.
Ouch! What did you say?
I am sure you understand where the ouch comes from. A few years ago I went to Kyrgyzstan so I am a bit familiar with the shot routine. However, the CAR is in the black zone in Africa. The black zone is the way Kaiser Permanente rates a country and its danger levels of disease. Black is the worse. Go figure! So, I think that means I have had eight shots and a prescription to take with me for malaria. I am covered for flu, pneumonia, yellow fever, typhoid fever, polio, hepatitis, mumps, measles, tooth decay, poor eyesight, back aches. Sorry, I get a bit carried away. Everything after hepatitis I made up.
The “What did you say?” came from the e-mail informing me that I would be bringing over my food. You know, one suitcase for clothing and another for food. Not usually how I travel. After thinking about it I thought this was pretty cool. That would mean no crickets, or snakes, or bugs for dinner. Someone asked me yesterday if that would be offensive to the Africans. In a typical American response I said, “Who cares! It beat eating bugs!” Even so, that conversation did not end and a rather provocative discussion ensued. I think people were trying to gross me out. I reminded them I have eaten sheep eyes, horse, sheep lungs with fermented milk, etc. Trust me though, I will NOT make any of those things a part of my regular diet!
Getting back to my list of food. I learned some things. Did you know that you can buy bacon that doesn’t need to be refrigerated? That’s right. It is pre-cooked and once you open the box, then you are to refrigerate it. Can’t eating swine not cared for properly mess you up. I called Kaiser to see if they had a shot for that! There was another item on the list; 4lbs of cheddar cheese. Once again, doesn’t this stuff need refrigerating? So I asked. The answer is that you buy the cheese and keep it in the refrigerator until right before you leave. Then you take it and pack it into a shirt or towel and put it into your suitcase. Did you know that it is cold in the luggage department of the airplane? I didn’t either, but that is supposed to take care of the cheese. You know what, those crickets are sounding better and better all the time. At least they will be fresh. It would be funny though if they have crickets in a can that are made in some other country and shipped to the CAR. The rest of the list did look fairly normal.
The “What did you say?” came from the e-mail informing me that I would be bringing over my food. You know, one suitcase for clothing and another for food. Not usually how I travel. After thinking about it I thought this was pretty cool. That would mean no crickets, or snakes, or bugs for dinner. Someone asked me yesterday if that would be offensive to the Africans. In a typical American response I said, “Who cares! It beat eating bugs!” Even so, that conversation did not end and a rather provocative discussion ensued. I think people were trying to gross me out. I reminded them I have eaten sheep eyes, horse, sheep lungs with fermented milk, etc. Trust me though, I will NOT make any of those things a part of my regular diet!
Getting back to my list of food. I learned some things. Did you know that you can buy bacon that doesn’t need to be refrigerated? That’s right. It is pre-cooked and once you open the box, then you are to refrigerate it. Can’t eating swine not cared for properly mess you up. I called Kaiser to see if they had a shot for that! There was another item on the list; 4lbs of cheddar cheese. Once again, doesn’t this stuff need refrigerating? So I asked. The answer is that you buy the cheese and keep it in the refrigerator until right before you leave. Then you take it and pack it into a shirt or towel and put it into your suitcase. Did you know that it is cold in the luggage department of the airplane? I didn’t either, but that is supposed to take care of the cheese. You know what, those crickets are sounding better and better all the time. At least they will be fresh. It would be funny though if they have crickets in a can that are made in some other country and shipped to the CAR. The rest of the list did look fairly normal.
What's In an e-Mail?
A few months ago I received an e-mail from asking me to accept an invitation to come and represent the Association of Grace Brethren Ministers in Africa at their 50th anniversary of beginning their own ministerium. Wow! I was honored or course, but this would also be a major undertaking at several levels. I would be representing the FGBC pastors in America, speaking to our brother pastors in the Central African Republic, going to a place I have never been and being a part of helping to shape the future in the African church.
Thank you very much for your disposal to say "yes" to this invitation. God bless you.
Your coworker in the Gospel,
Pastor Andre Mboi
Not long after that invitation Dave Guiles, head of Grace Brethren International Missions, called me and encouraged me to go. Additionally, he asked if I would consider staying an extra week and teaching a class in the seminary at Bangui. Wow again. I was getting very excited about all this but there were still some obstacles.
The first obstacle we usually think of is the cost. At our national conference the AGBM Board of Directors agreed that this is something I should do and that our association should support it financially. An estimate figure of the cost was given to me and the AGBM moved to accept that amount. Oops, did I say estimated. Yes I did. The amount of this trip went over the estimate by more than $500. Well guess what, I have received some unsolicited gifts from people at La Loma Grace and the $500 has been covered as well. And if that isn’t enough, God has provided extra money to be used at my discretion in support of this trip.
Once the decision was made to go and the funding taken care of the obstacles I have encountered have been few. And, all of them have been dealt with. One of the obstacles I didn’t think of was the language barrier. I received an e-mail giving me a dead line for my syllabus on Old Testament survey. Guess what, it was needed so they could translate it in into French. Duh! That also means that my half hour lesson will be cut in half because as my friend says, “You are going to have an interrupter.” Interrupter is French for interpreter!
Well now I am well on my way.
Dear pastor
I send you my warmest greetings from CAR in the precious name of our Lord Jesus-Christ. I am Pastor Andre Mboi, the Executive Secretary of the Union of Churches here in CAR. We will have our national Conference of the pastors in November 2008 here in Bangui. I invite you to attend that conference. You will be one of the speakers in that conference. Please, let me know your thought and I will send you the official invitation that will allow you to get visa.Thank you very much for your disposal to say "yes" to this invitation. God bless you.
Your coworker in the Gospel,
Pastor Andre Mboi
Not long after that invitation Dave Guiles, head of Grace Brethren International Missions, called me and encouraged me to go. Additionally, he asked if I would consider staying an extra week and teaching a class in the seminary at Bangui. Wow again. I was getting very excited about all this but there were still some obstacles.
The first obstacle we usually think of is the cost. At our national conference the AGBM Board of Directors agreed that this is something I should do and that our association should support it financially. An estimate figure of the cost was given to me and the AGBM moved to accept that amount. Oops, did I say estimated. Yes I did. The amount of this trip went over the estimate by more than $500. Well guess what, I have received some unsolicited gifts from people at La Loma Grace and the $500 has been covered as well. And if that isn’t enough, God has provided extra money to be used at my discretion in support of this trip.
Once the decision was made to go and the funding taken care of the obstacles I have encountered have been few. And, all of them have been dealt with. One of the obstacles I didn’t think of was the language barrier. I received an e-mail giving me a dead line for my syllabus on Old Testament survey. Guess what, it was needed so they could translate it in into French. Duh! That also means that my half hour lesson will be cut in half because as my friend says, “You are going to have an interrupter.” Interrupter is French for interpreter!
Well now I am well on my way.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Just Beginning
As of today I have begun a blog. I will begin to add to this on a regular basis. This will enable you to keep track with my journey between now and November 14th. This has been an exciting "ride" so far and I hope you can share some of this trip with me through this blog.
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