Last Blog From Africa (for now!)

Cal and Brian are back after their long journey! Lord willing, we may see them at church this morning (depending on jetlag).

Elissa and Amanda stayed a few extra days in Paris.

Dave is staying on an extra week in the Congo.

In this blog post we present final postings of photos, profile updates, and blog posts made while the team was in Africa (or Paris on the return trip). Later we will present additional resources not posted while they were in Africa.


Brian's Blog Post From Thursday, May 7

Well, I am back in the Central African Republic. This trip has gone fast. The youth team has put on a lot of miles. I am going to do my best of summarizing our last training stop and the trip.

The last training session was is Boyabo. Let me just say that this was a humbling experience. We arrived in Boyabo on Monday night. When we were at the entrance of the church driveway the driver let us out. We were greeted with a guy’s choir. We walked through the guy’s choir to the girl’s choir. We walked through the girl’s choir to where the youth were singing.

As we walked through each group they followed us to chairs in front of what we thought was the pastor’s house. We sat there while the guys' choir sang three songs. Then the girls' choir sang three songs. Then the band started playing. The youth sang and danced for us. This started at 5:30 pm. The band and the dancing did not stop till after 9:00 pm!

We went inside about 7:00 pm for dinner. As we walked in we were told that this house was where we were staying. The house was built because we were coming. We all had separate beds with mattresses and new mosquito nets. They made us our own showering hut. It was so nice. The food was so good as well.

The seminar went well. It was a little tough to do because we had over 300 people attend. That does not include the women and children that were just there to see what we were doing. The people attending the seminar were very responsive. They were "a little crazy," according to our translator. We would ask a question and they would not answer our question; instead they would ask some other question. But, when all was said and done, the seminar went well. We felt a little like celebrities because a lot of the youth workers wanted pictures with us.

As I sit in my room at the Grace Brethren Mission, I am sad my trip is over, but I am ready to come home. I miss my family. I miss some creature comforts. I will miss the people I spent a lot of time with in the Congo. I made some friends. I am sure this will not be my last trip to the Congo. We will have to see what God wants to do. I know there are some in the Congo praying that I come back with my wife.

Over the next couple days I will try and upload some pictures and videos. I will also try to put together a video for our church and load it on YouTube so that all of you can see it.

Please keep praying for me. I am not home yet. I hope to be on Saturday morning. Please pray for Cal and I as we process the trip. Pray that God would speak to us.

Thanks again for all of your prayer and support. I will update you all again when I can.


Cal's Final Photos

Cal says this is typically how he puts his stethoscope to use, but he was hoping to find out if winged termites were emerging later that night. "When they do, the kids are up at all hours hunting them and it is hard to sleep."

One of Dave's carpentry training graduates just as he realizes that the tool box Dave helped him build, and then was filled with donated tools, was going to all be his! The boys got many more tools than even their teacher had.

This is Dr. Narcisse's son, Nybel. He is quite afraid of Americans but finally let Cal shake his had the day the team left.

This is a fish trap, or weir, on a stream between Tandala and Gemena. A different people group, the "water people," live on the streams. "They are a different tribe from the dominant Ngbaka tribe who we usually deal with. The CECU has an outreach to them."

Cal says this shot was actually taken at the start of their trip. "We had a 12+ hour layover in Paris so we toured Paris. Here you can see me preventing an international incident by keeping a historic landmark from toppling."

Elissa's Profile Post (before leaving Africa):

Elissa Janae - My bags are packed and ready for the flight to Paris, but my heart is still in the Congo.on Thursday