Seeking Transformation: Africa, Day Six

Happy Holidays....Happy Holidays to you!

Well today was a nationally recognized religious holiday. It is the annual sacrifice for forgiveness. 100,000 people gathered at the national mosque for prayer this morning while I slept like baby after finally getting to bed. The internet was not cooperating last night and I had to wait patiently to upload the blog. Today seems to be different!

Every house that can will buy a sheep, thus so many on top of the bush taxis yesterday. They will sacrifice the sheep for the forgiveness of their sin. Each year they must do this in order to appease Allah in hopes of making him happy enough to let them into Heaven when they die. I am so thankful that we have a once for all sacrifice for everyone who will receive the free gift of salvation, new life, hope, and Heaven. Because Jesus died for our sins the required sacrifice has been made. For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever would believe will not die but have eternal life. This is a grand and global statement. Whoever is a big group. Every one that made a sacrifice today is doing so out of anxiety and ritualism. What happens to the one who cannot afford to make a sacrifice? How depressed they must be! The peace that Jesus gives us through faith is even more fascinating having seen the faces of these people.

We had decided that the afternoon would be spent doing a clinic for the workers and missionaries that should need it. Meanwhile, we were unsure about the morning.

SLEEP!!!!!!!!!!

We arose about 830-900. We did our laundry...but don't tell our wives. Some of us just put it all in at once. Who cares about whites and colors? One load. One payment. One wash. Done.

We are Men! HA!

As dry as it is here there is no good reason to run a dryer. We hung it up old school! We got dressed at were ready to leave for Bilo's house when Pete noticed that at a tire was flat on the vehicle they just arrived in. Nothing is more frustrating than to have a flat tire that had just been fixed the week before. We jumped in and changed out the tire. Chuck loosened, Bill changed, and I tightened. We did not want Pete messing with anything since his back is hurting. We did not break any records and NASCAR will not be calling, but we got it changed and were able to leave.

Bilo lives about 2 miles from our guest house. We took the short drive over and were introduced to his mother and great Aunt. I looked in the building he told us to go into and noticed that there were mats everywhere and knew I should remove my shoes before entering. We sat in a circle on the mats and were promptly served a pizza pan full of noodles and meat...mostly noodles. This, I found out later, is the traditional holiday meal. Bilo assured us that he oversaw the preparation of the food and it was safe for us to eat. It was very good! After visiting for a while we needed to head back for the afternoon clinic.

Pete went on back with Shelly and the rest of us drove by the Grand Mosque. It does not look that big but Kris assured us that it was. The building could hold thousands of people, but they each only take up a ceiling tile worth of space. Amazing! They could cram themselves into this facility to pray to a god that has no power or ability to save and provide hope. We cannot sit within feet of each other to pray and worship to the Most High God that provided His Son as payment for our sins and loves us unconditionally. He provides for our needs and we demand so much comfort before we will worship. Wow!

The clinic that was not happened today. Because of the short time and holiday only one worker came and one missionary family. We had hoped that Chuck would be able to assist on some fun stuff but he was spared.

We ate leftovers tonight and visited with the nurse we will stay with out in the bush. After tomorrow we will be out of reach until Sunday. I will post tomorrow and then again before we board the plan on Sunday night. Halfway through and we miss everyone more each day. Please pray for our attitudes, energy, and patience. the spiritual toll is dramatic and physical toll even more. We are excited but tired. May Jesus be our strength!

Here was our day today: