Congo Reflections…Part Two

         4. The 6 hour trip of 90+ miles on the Land Cruiser from Tshumbe to Paul’s home in Lodja. Not a single road sign…speed limit sign…policeman….paved road…electricity lines…nothing that one would associate with modern living. Crossing home made bridges, ferrying across a river, driving down trails, and through deep gorges…all made for one of the most fascinating trips I have ever experienced in my life. I am eternally grateful for Tim and Gordon “making” me ride up front!! Lol

          5. Paul Law’s home and ministry. I have always wanted to see where Paul grew up and where Paul and Marty lived in ministry. We saw the Pastor’s School that Paul has revived. Some 20+ families are being trained for ministry because our church has provided scholarships for so many of them to come. We saw the truck that enables him to do so much work that we helped buy. We saw the bridge and road projects that he is helping the area to be able to live better.

          6. Flying on the Congolese Airlines!  Now I know why the State Department warned against flying in country!! Lol Our first initiation was upon boarding, we discovered the first 5-6 rows of seats were filled with luggage, freight, things wrapped in plastic, pineapples…stacked to the top of the plane…with the exits covered. I didn’t need Tim Cook to remind me of all the FAA violations that we could see. The passengers all cheered when we landed. I guess they weren’t accustomed to safe landings. Actually, I cheered when we lifted off. Counting the seconds to death or lift off was an exciting pass time for me!!

          All in all it remains an incredible thing what $10,000 to 15,000 can do in the Congo. Thank you Niceville UMC for your generous gifts…lives are being changed. The “bang for the buck” for the Kingdom in the Congo is exponential.

Congo Reflections….Part One

Note to self….before long write down in retrospect the things that stood out in your mind to be the highlights of your Congo trip…..

          1. The Five Day Leadership Conference at Wembo Nyama. Our primary purpose in going was to train 60-70 key leaders in the Central Congo Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. Mission accomplished. Key leaders from the 14 districts of the Central Congo  were trained and effusive in their praise of the life transformation that the teaching brought. One of the highlights was the washing of their feet at the close of one of the sessions. Everyone with cell phones was taking pictures of white people washing black peoples’ feet… “This is historical”!! Training leaders to reproduce is a very exciting possibility as they seek to multiply themselves.

          2. Visiting the United Methodist church at Tshumbe that we built through our Advent offering to our missionary Paul Law. The church was completed enough for us to hold their very first service there, and I got to preach the opening service!! I will never forget that moment. The people were so appreciative that they gave me a live goat!! (Greater love hath no man…lol)! For $8,000 Niceville built a church that will hold upwards to 600 people for worship. The building created quite a buzz in the community for its size and sturdiness.

          3. Paul Law and I took a motorcycle ride through the countryside where he grew up. Riding two 200cc dirt bikes through the villages was an incredible highlight. I said, “Paul, show me Africa!” One spot we went to was where the Revival of 1932 began. UM missionary Alex Reid led this revival that “jump started” the Methodist church’s beginnings. Every where we rode, we attracted large crowds of people…curiously wondering what we were up to. They ran to the roads and surrounded us when we stopped. The children giggled and pointed in friendly fashion.

     Stay tuned to highlights 4-6!

“Welcome to the Congo….”

          “This is really bad news” were the words coming out of Paul’s mouth from the conversation on his cell phone. The Saturday flight, that three of our African team members were taking out to Kinshasa had been postponed until Monday. Jerry Kulah, Monrovian DS in Liberia, was in charge of a critical meeting with United Methodist officials on a listening tour concerning “The Nature of the Worldwide Church”. His bishop had asked him to lead this meeting. He had already changed all of his flights once while here to make these meetings. He was heartbroken.               

           Jerry’s faith had a huge impact on me. I was desperately trying not to show my fear when our plans crashed. Jerry said, “This cannot be!” Then, he reclined on the couch and went sound asleep. How could he do that? I was trying not to panic, and Jerry went to sleep! What a contrast in faith!

            The decision was made for all of us to take the Monday flight. Our regular flight is Tuesday, but with a Monday flight, there is no assurance that the Tuesday flight would occur. We will not take that chance. If the pilot doesn’t have enough passengers, he doesn’t fly…welcome to the Congo! Now we will spend an extra day and night in Kinshasa. Paul is trying to line up transportation and motel for us….welcome to the Congo! As long as we hit the 8:55pm flight out of Kinshasa on Tuesday night! LOL

            A couple of thoughts about our conference….the foot washing service! After speaking for an hour on serving, I told the Africans that we had come from half way around the world to serve them and thank them for their work for the Kingdom. I told them we wanted to wash their feet as a symbol of our love for them. They could not believe that white people from the United States would wash their feet! No white person would wash a black person’s feet. They were crying and incredulous. The ones with cell phones were taking pictures…. “This is historical,” said one. It did something between us all that no words could have done.

          A natural question is “are you glad you came”??? If I make it home, yes! Lol. Catching people after the Annual Conference enabled us to train leaders from all 14 districts in the Central Congo conference. Incredibly strategic! Their words to us brought tears to my eyes…. “Life changing.” “Never had this kind of teaching and seminar in 30 years.” “This is just the beginning.” “Please come back and teach us more.” I could go on and on. Like most things that are very difficult, when it is all said and done, there is a great sense of relief and fulfillment. That is how I will feel when I get home!

Thursday in the Congo

Tuesday, I was a dead man walking! I think I had something like a 24 hour virus. You know the symptoms: regurgitation and diarrhea. Though I missed my Tuesday time slot, I was able by Wednesday to do 3 hours of presentations and was feeling much better. Thursday, today, I feel as normal as ever…praise God! It is scary to be sick in a strange place. But with Tim Cook’s Gatorade and Gordon’s medical advice, I felt very cared for and not alone.

          Paul tells us that we are in transition here between the dry season and the rainy season. As a result, it rained all day Wednesday and was very cool. I would guess that the temperature never got above 75. In fact, I wore my light jacket all day and was glad I had been told to bring one. I get cold anyway. The night cool down anyway….maybe down to 65.

          The Conference is going extremely well. The people have been exceptionally receptive. After a week of Annual Conference, these people have remained another week for this teaching/training. We had planned for 60 and have over 70. Some just hung around as observers and have stayed the whole week. We did not have enough books for all of them, but it just illustrates how good the material is and how hungry the people are for teaching.

          We have a mixture of pastors and lay people, men and women. I believe we have about 12 women. All of them are key leaders in the United Methodist Church in the Central Congo Conference. They come from all over and will take this material back to about 14 districts!  They are being challenged intellectually and spiritually. This has been a difficult conference to “pull off” and has had its difficulties in translating into cultural context.

But their enthusiasm and gratitude is obvious, and the fact they none have left bears testimony to the effectiveness of what we are teaching them.

          We will finish the conference this Friday evening and our African leaders will be flying out and leaving us on Saturday.

          Gordon, Tim, and I will remain to go to worship Sunday in Tshumbe at the church that our church has built through Paul Law. It will be the first Sunday there, and I will preach there. Sunday afternoon, we will begin a 6 hour journey to Paul’s home in Lodja. This will be traveling about 5-10mph over trails and roads that no car can go over. We will catch a ferry to cross a river, and then on to Lodja! We will spend Monday touring Paul’s ministry and home area. Then Tuesday, we fly out from Lodja back to Kinshasa, hopefully. You can seriously pray for that!!! Lol

          My Internet access has been spotty so I will now try to send this blog and hope it goes!! Thank you so much for your prayers. You have no idea!

Safe Arrival in Wembo Nyama

I can tell you that traveling in the Congo gives me a whole new definition of “TRUST”! We went to sleep Friday night wondering if anyone would pick us up at 5am Saturday morning. Even though they were ½ hour late, we were grinning from ear to ear to see a bus with “Jeffrey Travels” on the side. Our first “miracle”!

           Navigating Kinshasa to the airport at 6am was an interesting feat itself. Kinshasa is a city of 9 million people with 97% unemployment. Just incredible. Tons of poverty. The ride was not for the feint at heart and Six Flags doesn’t have much to compare….

          We knew we were way overweight for the next leg of flight. We were twice the weight, but we were taking supplies, sawmill parts, etc., to Paul Law and were prepared to pay extra to get the supplies to him. “Jeffreys Travels” handled everything at the airport, and we were never charged for ANY extra weight. We had calculated we would have to pay in excess of $300. Our second miracle!

          That also freed up money to make sure we can purchase Alfred and Kimba’s plane ticket back to Kinshasa…(a little oversight on someone’s part! Yikes). Since there was no way to get cash…our third miracle.

          We boarded a 54 seat turbo prop and it was packed with people. The front ten rows had no one as the seats were stacked ceiling high with luggage and other types of freight. This was definitely not according to ICAO (International Civil Aeronautic Organization)!! Yikes. Who was weighing this stuff? Was it in the right place for take off? So off we went on a three hour tour….

          I guess since I am writing this, you know that we made it. The pilot used all the runway to stop and take off…I closed my eyes and prayed. Fourth miracle!

          Well, we finally landed in Tshumbe and there was Paul Law standing there waiting for us. We got in his Land Rover and off we were for an hour trip on trails and paths to the Wemba Nyama mission station.

          We did stop by the church that the Niceville UMC is building in Tshumbe. I will try to post pictures later. I will preach there next Sunday for the opening Sunday. It is the “talk of the town” and has a Community Life Center impact on the area. I took several pictures and it looks great.

          I am trying to communicate as I can. I am asleep from your 4pm till midnight. Then I am starting my day while you are asleep!! We are 7 hours ahead of you. Until I write again, keep checking the tweets!!

In The Congo…Safe and Sound (Part 3)

According to Thomas Oden, in his book, “How Africa Shaped The Christian Mind”, there soon may be almost a half billion Christians in Africa. Now estimated at over four hundred million (46 percent of the total African population of 890 million according to the Pew Forum), and rapidly  growing, a significant proportion of global Christian believers at this time are residents of the continent of Africa! David Barrett projects the continuing growth rate to 2025 as 633 million Christians in Africa!! Wow!!

          The Christian population of Africa is burgeoning! Debates in the West will appear trivial in relation to what lies ahead in the Global South. By the way, did you know that the world Christian population is predominantly located in the Southern hemisphere?? Yikes! Europeans and North Americans are cautiously realizing that the future of Christianity lies far more to the south of the equator than to the north!

          The role of Africa in the Bible and Christian memory is amazing in many pivotal scenes of salvation history. It is the story of the children of Abraham in Africa; Joseph in Africa; Moses in Africa; Mary, Joseph and Jesus in Africa; and shortly thereafter Mark and Perpetua and Athanasius and Augustine in Africa!

          Judaism and Christianity have their roots in the story of a people formed in the interaction between Africa and Asia. Jews and Christians would travel from Egypt to Jerusalem to Samaria to Antioch, and from there to the uttermost parts of the earth. And from Pentecost on, Africa would always have Christians. References to Apollos of Alexandria, the Libyans at Pentecost, Simon of Cyrene, and Ethiopian believers are there. No African century since Apollos has lacked Christian presence!

          Much Christian intellectual history matured in the valleys and cities around inland river systems up and down the Nile. Early church writers like Tertullian, Cyprian, Arnobius, Optatus and Augustine were African thinkers.

Some scholars of African culture have mistakenly assumed that Christianity began in Africa only a couple of centuries ago, strictly imported from “the West” or “the North”. This is a narrow, modern view of history, ignoring Christianity’s first millennium, when African thought shaped and conditioned virtually every diocese in Christianity worldwide!!

          Get and read Oden’s book on “How Africa Shaped The Christian Mind” for an incredible read of some church history. I believe that God is at work afresh again in Africa….just as Africa saved Christianity numerous times in the past, it may very well be that Africa is now being called upon by God to do it again!!

In the Congo…Safe and Sound (Part 2)

Today is Friday, August 6^th, and its about 3pm…9amCST! Considering everything, I got a good night’s sleep (6 hours) and got up for breakfast. Pancakes and coffee…yippee! That was significantly better than the two cheese sandwich meals on Brussels Airlines.

          Today is a rest day built into our schedule. I made contact with Paul Law by cell phone this morning and everything seems to be progressing properly. Alfred Kalembo from Zambia and Kimba Evariste from southern Congo should be arriving at noon today to be with us. Jerry Kulah will be coming from Nigeria this afternoon and our conference faculty will be complete. We will all fly out together Saturday morning to Tshumbe and will be met by Paul Law and taken to the Wemba Nyama mission station where our conference will be.

          Most of the International Leadership Institute conference that we do is taught by African nationals. That is by design. Out of the six days of classes, I will teach 5 classes, and Gordon and Tim will teach 1 each. Gordon and Tim will also be responsible for some of the devotionals in the morning times.

          Each of the 50-60 participants are hand picked to be part of this Conference. They are proven leaders already. We will help them add skills and teach them how to multiply themselves spiritually. Each participant is expected to teach the material to 100 others over the next two years. Multiplication is the key thought here…instead of addition.

          I faintly remember some guy a long time ago who picked out 12 others and poured his life into them. Then, he told them to go into all the world and do the same thing that he had done with others (Matthew 28). This is basically the commitment we ask these pastors and laity to make! It is an exciting vision, but it is also a vision for ALL of us!! Where are our disciples??

In the Congo…Safe and Sound!! (Part 1)

 Well, today is a rest day for us! We traveled for 36 hours and are pretty exhausted. In retrospect, things went about as smoothly as one could expect for such a trip. Within about two hours of our first leg to Brussels, I had a minor bout with claustrophobia…(it only happens to me when I get in tight places! Lol). I got up and walked around…prayed my ABC prayer (I remind myself of a quality of God for each letter of the alphabet!), and was ok within one half hour. I know that your prayers were also effective, too. That’s why it is so important to be praying, one never knows what you will encounter.

          The Brussels leg to Luanda, Angola, was 8 hours and was even more grueling…after having just done 8 hours. I had a crying baby right behind me, kicking my seat. Did I ever tell you how patient I am about crying babies??? We landed in Luanda, spent an hour on the tarmac, and then completed our journey to Kinshasa an hour later.

          The Kinshasa airport was another matter!! Since none of us spoke French, we had some difficulty in even knowing what to do. There was enough broken English to get us through. When we found the luggage place, there was this diminutive man with a sign held high with “Rev Ausley +2 pass.!! I broke out into a full smile and thought, “this might work after all”!

          Then organized chaos broke out…with emphasis more on “chaos” than “organized”. Picture 300 Africans, Tim, Gordon, and I trying to get our luggage on a 50 foot conveyor belt!! The entire conveyor belt was packed 5-7 people deep. I did have a picture of it, but the stern young man who confronted me made me delete it from my camera!!! I had to show him pictures of our wives at Ruby Tuesday’s before he believed that I had deleted all pictures. I was just glad to keep my phone (note to self: no pictures in the airport!!).

          Two hours later, with all our luggage, we made it to the Methodist Presbyterian House. Taxi guy didn’t speak English but he knew where he was going, so that worked out too! Wired and full of adrenaline, I stayed up until 1am communicating with Lisa on Facebook. Also, talked with Andrew Griffin in Guatemala on Facebook! Nothing like wireless Internet in the guest house. Finally fell asleep inside my mosquito net on a queen size bed! Glad to be safe and here.

What Is The Congo Like?

Dear Rurel and Fellow Travelers,

      Since I am the ‘behind the scene’ person, I feel I need to give you some of the basics for your trip to central Congo.

      If you wear glasses then bring a spare pair.  If you have special medications please make sure to bring enough. Please bring Imodium since you will be eating ‘strange’ foods to your digestive tract. You might want a small bottle of Tylenol. Sunglasses are needed and repellent though this is the dry season and there are not as many mosquitoes as normal. Since there is no electricity you will need a flashlight. We prefer the ones you buy at Wal-Mart. They are called LED lights and can fit around the head and leave the hands free. Please bring a set of extra batteries.

      You will probably need about 5 shirts (short sleeves) and one long sleeve and perhaps a tie for one. If you have the safari type shirts which are casual but dressy those are nice. Central Congo is hot but since this is the dry season, then you might need a very light weight jacket for the evening or early morning if there is fog.

      I might ask you to bring a special food or two to have while you are here.  All foods are prepared from scratch and cooked on a wood stove. You might want to bring some snack bars or granola bars. We have lots of peanuts so do not bring those. Our main stable is rice. Potatoes are almost impossible to get. We try to be ‘creative’ with our rice dishes at times.

      I don’t know, but you might want to bring some dried fruit though not much. Unfortunately, Tshumbe does not have fresh fruit like Lodja does though we may have to keep a motorbike running back and forth to transport some.

            You are soon in for an ‘adventure’ which is normal life for us. You may want to bring a journal so that you can write something each day.

                As concerns money –you will need newer bills. Bills will not be accepted if they have any marks or even slight tears. You have plenty of time to arrange with your bank for brand new bills which always makes it easier. You will need mostly $100 in bills but some 20’s and 10’s would be good.

       You can pay for your ticket to Lodja as you check in–a check in like you have never experienced before!  Paul will make your reservations but you can pay there.

        We enjoy our lives here and we are busy but life gives us time to sit and ‘smell the roses.’

        Until later, Marty

The Niceville UMC-Congo Connection!

            One of the most unique human interest stories of our trip to the Congo is the connection of the Law family to the Niceville UMC. I went to Asbury Theological Seminary with Paul Law and we were part of an accountability group with Dr. Al Coppedge our entire time there. I have wanted to visit Paul and Marty Law in the Congo all of my adult life. This is about to become a reality on August 4-18^th.

          What was really surprising upon coming to Niceville UMC, we learned an interesting connection to the Laws. Paul’s father, Burleigh, who was martyred in the Congo as a United Methodist Missionary in 1964, was a mechanic at Eglin Field in the 1940’s. During that time, Burleigh served as a lay pastor in several of the local churches. On of those churches was the Niceville Methodist Church! In fact, there are still a few in our church who remember Burleigh and Virginia Law from those days.

          As God called Burleigh and Virginia to the mission field, the Methodist Church appointed them to serve in the Wemba Nyama mission station. Burleigh was a natural mechanic and as a lay missionary called himself “a jack of all trades for the Lord”. His charge was the construction of a 250-bed hospital at the Wemba Nyama mission station, the most ambitious building project ever attempted in the central Congo.

          It is an amazing story of how a young couple, so connected to the Niceville UMC, gave birth to two sons, Paul and David, and one daughter, Margaret, and all three serve the Lord on the mission field. Our church also supports Margaret and Andy Howell and their work in France!

          The Wemba Nyama mission station is the exact place we will be holding our leadership conference with ILI. We will be there knowing that “Niceville tracks” have been there ahead of us!! For more information about the Congo-Law connection read “Appointment Congo” by Virginia Law Shell…www.amazon.com.