Hello Everyone,
It's high time I filled you in on what I've been up to for nearly a month.
I spent my first few days getting over jet lag, which proved difficult since I was also fighting a head cold. The SIM clinic doctor actually told me I had inner ear damage from the cabin pressure on my flights. The day I landed, we visited every pharmacy we passed looking for cough drops. (And when I say pharmacy, I don't mean Walgreens. Think of a tin shack with random piles of bottles and pills with Arabic labels.) Finally, one of the missionary women came to my rescue.
But this too passed, and I was feeling fairly decent by Monday, when we all jumped into the Toyota Land Cruiser and hit the road. We were heading 5 hours south to Awasa, then another couple hours further on to Dilla, where Vic would be speaking at the Pastor's Bookset conference. This minstry— a subset of SIM that operates in several countries at a time— distributes translations of Christian books to rural pastors in their native Amharic tongue. (Actually, many probably speak a tribal dialect first, but Amharic functions as a trade language for them.)
It was fascinating watching Vic discuss the strengths and weaknesses of Ethiopian preaching with the pastors. He used a translator, even though speaks Amharic well enough to make do without (picture). Some of the pastors have had a small amount of education. Others have had virtually none. Few had been taught to appreciate study and preparation in preaching. Greg Hinton and I, the only two team members in the country during the first week, did several book reviews for the group through our translators, B'ruk and Minas (picture). We also got to play some football with the locals.
The other keynote speaker was Mark Shaw, a Professor at Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology (NEGST) who just published The Kingdom of God in Africa, one of the books in the bookset. Mark went to Gordon Conwell Seminary, and then on to Ph.D. work in England somewhere. To my delight, he proved quite sharp in conversation, and invited me to come check out his school in Kenya next month. This I am still considering.
Minas, who, as far as Greg and I could tell, is like the godfather of K'ale Heywet. He looks at you sideways across a plate of raw kitfo and you worry for your soul. Then you realize he is on your side, and breath a sigh of relief. Minas spent a few months in prison for preaching during the communist rule, and knows what there is to know about the church in Ethiopia… And style, for that matter. (picture)
After two weeks of conferences, we headed back to our home base in Addis. Our team, with the addition of Shannon, Heather and Julie (Vic's daugher) stopped at Lake Langano for a night, where SIM has a cabins and a lodge for missionaries to get away. Late in the evening, we managed to rustle up a belligerent hippo from the reeds. Fortunately, our zebunyah was at the ready with his seven-foot spear and WWI bolt-action rifle, complete with a bayonet and rust. He let me have the spear the next day for 150 burr ($14 USD).
When we got, we were able to move out of the SIM guest house and into the home of a retired missionary couple who were leaving for the rainy season. I preached at the International Evangelical Church (IEC) twice that Sunday. Our team is preaching through the Jacob narrative in Genesis, which has proven surprisingly complex for our study.
The IEC folks are pleased as punch to have us there; apparently they have had a bit of difficulty transitioning after the unexpected departure of their last pastor. Attendance has dropped to about half of its previous 1500. Greg preached the week after me, on IEC's International Thanksgiving Day, where we counted citizens of at least 40 countries. The challenges to such a diverse body of believers are extreme.
We are now two weeks into our Homiletics (preaching) course at Evangelical Theological College (ETC), which shares a building with the church. Vic likes to teach by discussion, so Greg and I do a lot of in class interaction. At first, Ethiopians were taken aback by this format, since they tend to view professors as dictators, rather than guides. Before long, though, they were enthusiastically participating. Our class runs two hours a night, Monday through Thursday, and we spend a great deal of time outside the classroom preparing, grading, and meeting students for one-on-one tutorials. More on all that in my next post.
The rest of our team finally arrived a week ago: Matt and Suki Lynskey, Mike and Gina Makiddon, and Cindy (Vic's wife) and Philip (Vic's son, whom we have already held upside-down over a toilet at least once). The women will be running English and Amharic VBS programs for IEC and area kids over the next few weeks, and they also help with skits and dramatic presentations and classes on Sunday morning. Matt and Mike are teaching Survey of Bible Doctrine at ETC, in addition to Sunday Growth Groups with Greg and I.
With a little humility and a shoehorn, we can pretty much all fit into a Toyota Land Cruiser. Whether we survive Vic's driving is another story.
Well, that ought to do it for now. I miss cheeseburgers.
Thanks for your prayers! Enjoy the pictures (if I can get them to work— they may appear tomorrow).
Take care and God bless.
It's high time I filled you in on what I've been up to for nearly a month.
I spent my first few days getting over jet lag, which proved difficult since I was also fighting a head cold. The SIM clinic doctor actually told me I had inner ear damage from the cabin pressure on my flights. The day I landed, we visited every pharmacy we passed looking for cough drops. (And when I say pharmacy, I don't mean Walgreens. Think of a tin shack with random piles of bottles and pills with Arabic labels.) Finally, one of the missionary women came to my rescue.
But this too passed, and I was feeling fairly decent by Monday, when we all jumped into the Toyota Land Cruiser and hit the road. We were heading 5 hours south to Awasa, then another couple hours further on to Dilla, where Vic would be speaking at the Pastor's Bookset conference. This minstry— a subset of SIM that operates in several countries at a time— distributes translations of Christian books to rural pastors in their native Amharic tongue. (Actually, many probably speak a tribal dialect first, but Amharic functions as a trade language for them.)
It was fascinating watching Vic discuss the strengths and weaknesses of Ethiopian preaching with the pastors. He used a translator, even though speaks Amharic well enough to make do without (picture). Some of the pastors have had a small amount of education. Others have had virtually none. Few had been taught to appreciate study and preparation in preaching. Greg Hinton and I, the only two team members in the country during the first week, did several book reviews for the group through our translators, B'ruk and Minas (picture). We also got to play some football with the locals.
The other keynote speaker was Mark Shaw, a Professor at Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology (NEGST) who just published The Kingdom of God in Africa, one of the books in the bookset. Mark went to Gordon Conwell Seminary, and then on to Ph.D. work in England somewhere. To my delight, he proved quite sharp in conversation, and invited me to come check out his school in Kenya next month. This I am still considering.
Minas, who, as far as Greg and I could tell, is like the godfather of K'ale Heywet. He looks at you sideways across a plate of raw kitfo and you worry for your soul. Then you realize he is on your side, and breath a sigh of relief. Minas spent a few months in prison for preaching during the communist rule, and knows what there is to know about the church in Ethiopia… And style, for that matter. (picture)
After two weeks of conferences, we headed back to our home base in Addis. Our team, with the addition of Shannon, Heather and Julie (Vic's daugher) stopped at Lake Langano for a night, where SIM has a cabins and a lodge for missionaries to get away. Late in the evening, we managed to rustle up a belligerent hippo from the reeds. Fortunately, our zebunyah was at the ready with his seven-foot spear and WWI bolt-action rifle, complete with a bayonet and rust. He let me have the spear the next day for 150 burr ($14 USD).
When we got, we were able to move out of the SIM guest house and into the home of a retired missionary couple who were leaving for the rainy season. I preached at the International Evangelical Church (IEC) twice that Sunday. Our team is preaching through the Jacob narrative in Genesis, which has proven surprisingly complex for our study.
The IEC folks are pleased as punch to have us there; apparently they have had a bit of difficulty transitioning after the unexpected departure of their last pastor. Attendance has dropped to about half of its previous 1500. Greg preached the week after me, on IEC's International Thanksgiving Day, where we counted citizens of at least 40 countries. The challenges to such a diverse body of believers are extreme.
We are now two weeks into our Homiletics (preaching) course at Evangelical Theological College (ETC), which shares a building with the church. Vic likes to teach by discussion, so Greg and I do a lot of in class interaction. At first, Ethiopians were taken aback by this format, since they tend to view professors as dictators, rather than guides. Before long, though, they were enthusiastically participating. Our class runs two hours a night, Monday through Thursday, and we spend a great deal of time outside the classroom preparing, grading, and meeting students for one-on-one tutorials. More on all that in my next post.
The rest of our team finally arrived a week ago: Matt and Suki Lynskey, Mike and Gina Makiddon, and Cindy (Vic's wife) and Philip (Vic's son, whom we have already held upside-down over a toilet at least once). The women will be running English and Amharic VBS programs for IEC and area kids over the next few weeks, and they also help with skits and dramatic presentations and classes on Sunday morning. Matt and Mike are teaching Survey of Bible Doctrine at ETC, in addition to Sunday Growth Groups with Greg and I.
With a little humility and a shoehorn, we can pretty much all fit into a Toyota Land Cruiser. Whether we survive Vic's driving is another story.
Well, that ought to do it for now. I miss cheeseburgers.
Thanks for your prayers! Enjoy the pictures (if I can get them to work— they may appear tomorrow).
Take care and God bless.
Earn cashback on your purchases with Live Search - the search that pays you back! Learn More
1 comment:
Joel,
What an adventure. We will be anxious to see your pictures and hear all about it when you return.
Post a Comment