First Day Reflections

We've said a few times on this trip that it's been such a great trip but we haven't even done what we came to do... Or maybe, we have been doing some of what God sent us to do - it just wasn't Pathways.  It was a joy to begin the training yesterday.  Things got going a bit late (which isn't abnormal, though this group is usually totally on top of things) and most of the group was there (I think we were missing 2 people (sometimes pastors in ministry can't control their schedules).  As we got started, we all talked about the problem of not being able to meet on Sundays (all pastors but one are shut down) due to the new law  It has so many challenges for them.  The cost to comply for smaller churches is so far out of budget. On top of that, since they aren't meeting, the money coming in is much less - including money to pay the pastor - most don't get paid much anyway.  We are praying (and asking you to pray) that God would open up churches by this coming Sunday.  Lesson 1 is a review, and it was more difficult than we expected.  One of the great highlights was hearing their multiplication reports. I always get teary during these.  It's amazing to contemplate how God will use His Word when preached clearly - and so many are being trained.  We need an official final count but each group of 2 pastors averaged training over 10 pastors each.  There were so many powerful testimonies - One pastor said - the Pastors I'm training said - why didn't anyone teach this to us when we were starting our ministry.  Another one said - I used to just preach randomly in the Bible and pull a bunch of verses together.  Now people are saying - we are learning books of the Bible - this is so good  The challenges in Africa are often vestartmilar - how do we deal with the costs (photocopying the material - less than 10 cents a page - maybe 30 pages) and providing some food somehow.  It was very encouraging.  Damian got to teach for the first time and did a great job.  It's fun teaching together and we try to model humility and teamwork (we

encourage them to train together).  We sing quite a few times a day and that's always a joy.  We also try to get them to let their guard down and grow as a group so we throw out a question we know will bring a story and a smile.  This year we asked - share about a  time (in ministry or as a kid) that you did something embarrassing or something funny happened.   We laughed so hard.  There were times our translators can't finish sentences because they are laughing so hard.  One story about a goat being dressed up in a boys clothes made us laugh all day long.  This is a blessing.  After class Damian and I tried to find a soccer field where kids might be playing (we had some suggestions) but we failed.  We did give a soccer ball away to a cute little kid - I wonder how long he'll remember that day.  We decided to eat peanut butter and jelly for supper but we didn't have any utensils.  So we use two sharpies to spread our Pb&j.  It was something.  We made friends with some young men that work at a bakery not too far from our hotel.  They are the kind of young men that don't want anything from us and speak English well.  It's been fun talking to them.  Today we start really digging into the training.  We feel a little behind but we'll see how it goes.  I think many of my praises are above.  Top prayer requests - That the Pastors show up and understand.  For health and safety.  For God to open their churches.  I'm so thankful to know that many are praying for us.