Tuesday in Africa

The sky was dark, but the stars were bright when we headed to the bus station. It felt good to us, but the people here looked like they were expecting a blizzard in their coats and caps. The bus was about 45 minutes late, but everyone made it on board and away we went.

We arrived in Iyarou around mid-morning and got checked into our hotel. A political rally was taking place just outside of it. There were soldiers with guns and it made us a bit edgy. We had heard about the aligators in what used to be a swimming pool, but it still surprised us to see their heads poking out of the dark water. In our bathroom we found a bat hanging dead above the toilet. All in all we were happy - we were in the bush - this is what we signed up for.

Our first stop was at the home of the first believers there. The mom and son were believers, but the father wasn't. We talked and heard stories and shared pictures for a while.

The next stop was at Bubba's (that's what I call him). He is big and any NFL team would do well to take a look at him for tightend. We sat in front of his home in the shade drinking tea. We first heard about their lives and how God was at work there and then they started firing questions at us: What should we know as a young church? How can we best serve God? What does Scripture say about giving? (none of these men have jobs) We answered some of their questions by talking about the importance of loving each other (Acts 2:42-47) and being peacemakers through reconciliation (Matthew 18:15-35 & 2 Corinthians 5:11-21).

Then we had lunch. It was on a large round metal tray. It had rice and some kind of meat and a sauce. We all sit around and ate from it together - community.

The sun had moved so after lunch we found a tree and provided more teachings and answered more questions. These men know the Bible. They know sound doctrine. The work of the Holy Spirit amazed us. They were quoting Scripture that they'd never heard. One would say something and I would ask if they knew that text. They would look surprised and then we would read it to them and they would just smile.

The men were tired as the sun was going down so we headed back to the hotel. We made a quick trip to see the hippos and then had dinner and fell asleep fast and hard. Nice thing about Africa... you get tired easy and sleep good.