The Elikya Centre

Today the guys were at the Elikya Centre. Here is what they have reported to us today:

From Jared:

I didn't get to preach on Sunday because they already had a special guest preacher lined up. Jim attended one service in Gemena with about 500 in attendance. Their service lasted over 4 hours. I attended a service at Tandala with over 750 in attendance. Our service lasted at least 3 hours--five to six choirs, two sets of announcements (including getting volunteers to work in the pastor's garden!), and an offering that took at least 15-20 minutes. The sermon was probably only 25 minutes.

It was raining on my trip from Tandala to Gemena on Sunday afternoon. What a wild ride. Had to put the truck in four wheel drive to make it up and down some of the roads.

Today Jim and I spent the whole day at Elikya interviewing two widows and two orphans. We heard about their stories, watched them do their work, and then traveled to see their living situations. Some of their situations are better than others. One of the boys lives with his grandparents. His "room" is barely the size our our closet. He has a bowl for washing, a straw mat to sleep on, and a wire handing with a few clothes, and walks at least 5 km one way to get to Elikya. We also met Mama Wesse who leads the Bible studies with the widows and orphans. It is great to see what God is doing.

The need is evident here. Able bodied people have a hard time making a living here and when you add a disability on to that, it's almost impossible. Evidence of malnutrition is commonplace among the children. I have two pictures of two boys--one at Tandala with a club foot that could have been treated in the US and one of a teenager today "walking" on his hands (using flip flops) and knees because of polio.

I'm not sure what is in store for us tomorrow (Tuesday). Some of the other team is arriving from Tandala. We are scheduled to leave for Bangui at 3:00 a.m. on Wednesday morning (9:00 p.m. Tuesday in Chicago) for our 12 hour drive. It is definitely one of the hardest parts of the trip. Please ask everyone to pray for us. We hope to reach the border crossing before it closes at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon. We'll be in Bangui all day Thursday and fly out for Paris that night.

From Jim:

I went to the market again today, but we took the truck and I did not get out of the truck while we were there. However, I was able to get some better pictures and video.

We had a very good day at Elikya today. There were four individuals whom we interviewed, watched them work and then visited their home. We were able to hear their stories and ask them a number of questions and take a lot of pictures. Many of these individuals walk five or more miles to Elikya each day. It was a very humbling and sad experience. I don’t think we would have been able to handle it emotionally had we done this the first few days here. I look forward to sharing more about their stories in the ABF class and the Sunday Service.

I am also partly embarrassed to say that we had a wonderful lunch at the Elikya Center. Mowa’s wife and Pastor Selenga’s wife cooked us pizza in the outdoor brick oven using some ingredients that Jim Snyder brought with him. Apparently one of the former missionaries taught the Selengas how to make pizza and they love it. The pizza was wonderful. We made both of the women come in after lunch (they did not join us for lunch which is fairly common) and we gave them a nice round of applause. It sure beat fuku and mpondu. I also got to briefly see and take a picture of Pastor Selenga’s son Jehoshaphat, the “turbulent one.”

It has been a very hot day today. I am actually looking forward to my cold shower tonight. I don’t think we’ll actually feel clean until we get home.