GOODBYE CHAD

 In a couple of days I will leave Chad and return to Canada after 4 months here. My time in Chad has been very positive and I feel especially to have developed spiritually by coming to know more of the Father's Love and recognizing more areas where the life of Christ rather than my sinful nature must rule.

I will miss my teammates and especially those I have lived with for four months - Adrian, Judith, Aphia, Katharina and Jill.

Adrian, Katharina, Judith and my shoulder as we pack 5 in a Ruckshaw. Aphia is in the front

Jill (team leader), Adrian, Katharina, Judith, and Aphia

I will miss my pupils whom I have come to love.

This is AD and AB

This is AT

This is M

I will miss the children I meet on the way to the store who want me to chase them and pretend I am catching them.

Children I chase on the way to Ibrahim's shop

I will miss the shop keepers along the way to the market

Aphia and I are visiting AB's shop. He is also one of my students

This shopkeeper always greets us and then sends us away with the blessing "que le Seigneur te benit"

Here is my back to Canada bucket list: 1) A long hot shower. 2) A large glass of cold, real (not powdered) milk. 3) A thick slice of juicy ham. 4) A cold can of Club Soda. 5) A bag of microwave buttered popcorn. 6) A thick slice of old Cheddar cheese. 7) A slice of soft bread with a thick layer of smooth creamy peanut butter. 8) A large plate of Swiss Chalet french fries with thick gravy. I will savor and appreciate all of these items as they remind me of the full satisfaction that only heaven and the presence of our Father in complete righteousness can bring.

Chad I love you but it is time for me to say goodbye. I leave you physically but you will always be on my mind and in my heart and especially in my daily prayers. I love you because of the people I have met - my teammates, my students, the people, the children on the street, and the shop keepers. I love you because of your weather and beautiful rough landscape. Although I have seen little of you I have heard of the beauty of your mountains in the North and the abundant harvests of the South. Your people are mostly happy and friendly and easy to love. Goodbye Chad. My hope for you is not for material riches but for the spiritual riches that can only be found in relationship to Jesus Christ. May God open your eyes and your hearts to the Great Lover of your soul, and may the Lord of the Harvest bless you with more loving, competent, praying Christian workers to show you the way to Jesus. Chad in loving you I have come to love all of Africa. I see your great physical needs, your government corruption, your abundant aid with little apparent effect. But I thank God that some of His people are willing to love and serve you on their knees, with their finances, and with willingness to live with you to serve you and to share with you life changing Good News. My hope is to rejoice with many of you in eternity. Until then Goodbye.

MARKET DAY

Every Monday it is my responsibility to cook the midday meal. This requires a trip to the market (usually with Aphia my cooking partner from Vanuatu) to pick up needed supplies such as tomatoes, lemons (the size of gold balls and not distinguished from limes), cucumbers (round and the size of cantaloupe), bananas, peanut butter paste (choice of brown or white), and perhaps a can of corn or peas.
This is not a tourist market. Abéché is not a tourist city. This is a practical, local, daily market. Most locals do not have refrigeration. We only have hydro in the city a few evenings in the week and anyone who needs regular hydro uses a generator. At the Center we use solar power for our hydro. So this market is a place for locals to shop daily for what they need. No nick-knacks or expensive baubles just the staples of life.

The market looks like a squatters village made up of many shelters of a roof woven from corn or millet stems held up by tree branches. This works well in the dry season when there is no rain. I can`t imagine market day in the rainy season with all the mud and these non-rainproof shelters. The government is in the process of building a brand new large market area made of cement buildings. It is nearly completed.

All you need can be found in the market or in the stores surrounding the market. From the staples like corn or millet flour to specialty items like spiced fried grasshoppers (crunchy and very spicy, the hardest part of eating them is the big bulging eyes looking at you and the thought of eating a grasshopper, I prefer popcorn). From goat or camel meat to live or dead chickens. From cucumbers to apples and carrots and mangoes. Dried and "fresh" fish and other assorted creatures.

Assorted flours and beans

Fried spicy grasshoppers

Fresh meat

Surrounding the market are various kinds of shops and craftsmen. From motorcycle repair shops to leather shops. From carpets to soap to canned goods. From pots and pans to tinkers. From dress makers to tailors to laundrymen. Along the way there are roving shoe/sandal repairmen, sellers of cigarets, plastic bags, trinkets and many other items.

Leather shop

Typical shop for canned goods and other items

Soap, chairs, carpets, cushions

Abéché has no malls but is serviced by many individual shops. There is no spirit of competition but each customer finds his/her preferred shop and uses it on a regular basis. I found the standard of honesty and friendliness. Often more product is added to the purchase in good faith of future purchases.

These watermelon sellers have claimed the corner of our street as their shop

A seller can set up shop most anywhere along the street. Many items are sold from tables set up on a street corner or along the road. A small stand of edible goods or drinks, or hand made items, or baked goods. Everyone works to earn their daily bread and so life goes on in Abéché and in Chad.

Going to the market in Canada is most often a weekly trip to pick up some fresh produce or flowers from the local farmers but in Chad is it regular daily life. Going to market means a leisurely walk with friends, meeting other friends along the way, greeting shopkeepers and security guards, encountering the smells and garbage, and the people we are here to serve. It means making new friendships. I love walking to the market with Aphia and Katharina. God has given them special favor with the people along the street to the market. There is a love there, a respect, as they greet each other and chat together. When I go down this street alone the shop keepers ask me "where is Katharina today, how is Aphia"? Going to market has led to giving out literature and visits to the Center to deepen relationships. I cannot imagine Jesus doing ministry in today's Canada but can imagine him going to the market with his disciples and relating to those he met along the way. Perhaps what we need in our modern world is more of a market day mentality of relating to one another and less of our present shopping mall consumer crazed mentality. Perhaps our advanced society is not so advanced after all!

A SUNDAY CHRONICLED

Every Sunday we walk from the Learning Center to the EET (Eglise Evangelique de Tchad) church. The walk takes about 20 minutes. Services are in French and translated into Arabic, although this particular Sunday the speaker was Arabic and the translation was in French.

The building is made of concrete walls and a concrete ceiling about 10 feet high supported by two rows of 7 pillars which functionally divides the floor space into three sections. Each section contains about 20 benches (no backs) with about 8 to 9 people tightly packed on each bench. The room uncomfortably seats about 500 adults. Everyone comes dressed in their Sunday best included their very pointed shoes, and the beautifully colored dresses and headscarves of the women. There are few children in the service except for babies in arms or tied to the women's backs. Older children meet in another area because of lack of space in the main building.

Love those long pointed dress shoes

 At the front is a raised stage in the center section of the room with a large pulpit and a smaller pulpit for the translator. Pastor, translator, the person leading the service, speaker for the day etc... sit on chairs at the back of the stage. To the right of the stage are chairs where the church Elders sit facing the congregation,  and to the left of the stage is where the 35 or so mixed choir members sit in four rows facing the congregation. A band consisting of one, sometimes two electric guitars, a base guitar, drums, and keyboard face the choir. A sound board sits at the back in the center section and wires run along the floor to he front.

We enter the building from the open double-wide back door. The men go to the right of the sound board to fill the right side and center sections of the church, and the women go to the left and fill the left section of the church. Steel blue shuttered windows are open on both sides of the building and the back of the building, and two more sets of double doors on the right lead to a courtyard and various other buildings used as offices, washrooms, classes. Water jars for drinking are also found in the courtyard.

Band and Choir Abeche Church

 The service begins at 8 AM with the choir and band playing and singing songs. The church is nearly empty but people are slowly strolling in. Most are still talking in the street or in the courtyard and some are just arriving. The choir and band play on until 8:18.

At 8:18 the person who will lead the service announces a song to sing from the song book. Many know the song by heart and others have brought their songbook with them. The choir and band lead us. The church is about 1/3 full. After the song the leader prays. After prayer the leader announces that the choir will lead us in another song. The singing is loud and joyful and all seem to be involved. Some stand and move to the beat. The choir is moving in unison as they lead us. It is 8:30 and the church is now 3/4 full. Another song is led by a soloist joined by the choir and band. Some are standing, swaying to the music, eyes closed, singing and worshiping God.

At 8:38 we are called to Psalm 133.1-3. The leader chooses three groups to read one verse each out loud in French for the rest of the congregation, most who have Bibles open to the passage. Then the leader calls the tribe of the week to the front to sing two songs in their tribal language for us. This is always a delight for me as I turn to Revelation 7.9-12 once again and read of every nation, tribe and people and language standing before the throne of God and crying out loud, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" I believe each tribe will be before the throne of God proclaiming worship to God in their own language and God will be much pleased. This music from the tribes each week reminds me of the unity and diversity of God's people. These once antagonistic tribes are one and love one another in Christ. Only the Gospel of Christ can accomplish such things and unify diversity and make it beautiful. The church is now full with over 500 black adults with a few of us whites sprinkled in. Ushers are trying to fill every open space and the place is jammed full.

At 8:50 something unusual happens. It happens every Sunday. The blue shutters and blue doors are closed and the place becomes dark except for one or two lights that are on. It is time for worship. I have never had this shutting in activity explained to me but speculation is that we are shutting ourselves in with God from the outside world to worship Him. What have we been doing before??? We all stand and the choir and band lead us in worship. The first song is lively and many are swaying to the music. I am clapping. The song leads to a crescendo of prayer and clapping to God. Individuals are in communion with God. Then a second, much softer and slower song is played and sung by the choir to lead us to respond in worship to God.

9:08, the blue shuttered steel windows and blue steel doors are opened and the "worship time" is over. Another song by the choir and band leads to the time for announcements which are too many and too long. First, every visitor present is received by name and their church status is mentioned as converted, baptized, church member. This takes much time each week. After the visitors are mentioned and remain standing a song is sung and then prayer is made for them. This takes almost 15 minutes. Then church announcements are made, which takes another 13 minutes. So almost 1/2 hour of announcements. For me it is long and unnecessary for the most part, but for the Chadians it is part of the church service every week.

It is now 9:37 and time for the offering. The leader reads Matthew 5.23-24 and the band and choir start up with a song that will allow all 500 of us to proceed in an orderly fashion to the front to deposit our offering in the boxes provided. No one stays behind. Most Sundays there are two offerings, one general and the other for construction but this Sunday we only had one. This is a time of great exuberance, dancing as the line proceeds to the front to the tithing box. The women give out high-pitched squeals as yells of joy.

At 9:54 it is time for the preaching. Pastor Ahmat who is the Pastor of the Muslim Background Believer church in Abéché is preaching this morning from Matthew 7.7-11. The leader reads the portion and Pastor Ahmat preaches in Arabic on praying in faith. He only preaches for about 15 minutes. When he finishes there is a low rumble of talking among the people for about a minute. They are not used to such short sermons.

At 10:11 the leader comments on the message and our need to pray "in Christ", in faith, and with perseverance. Then he leads us in a song and a prayer for the message that we heard.

We finish the service off with more announcements giving the offering and attendance statistics of the day, along with prayer requests, and schedules. At 10:25 Pastor Ahmat is called up to give the benediction and the service is over. We are leaving early this week. Last week was communion and we did not leave until after 1:30. For communion church is dismissed and then reconvenes about 15 minutes later for those who are taking communion. A sheet is passed around to record all who took communion that day.

I was also privileged a few weeks back to attend the Muslim Background believer (MBB) church one Sunday. A number who attend here are converts from Islam and the church is completely different. It is much less formal, done on mats as in a Mosque, and more interactive. God has many expressions for the church.

MBB Church in prayer

I love the local church. I believe it is God's means to bring the Gospel of Christ to unbelieving people and to disciple believers to be light and love to their local communities and to the world. So often the church can become self-serving and blinded to its mission. Let us pray and do all we can to bring health and vitality to our local churches. Let us pray for courageous Pastors willing to lead their churches away from self-service and holy-huddles to love the lost. And let us as individuals be willing to pray, sacrifice and serve in the knowledge of what God has done for us in Christ. 2 Corinthians 8.9

After church last Sunday we went to an ice cream shop we heard about and ate real ice cream but this Sunday it was not open. We go as a team for lunch at a popular restaurant called "L'Ombre D'Afrique", The Shadow of Africa. I really enjoy the blendered juice drinks there. Then we head for home and relax Sunday afternoon.

Lunch a L'Ombre D'Afrique. Eating on mats or at tables.

A VISIT WITH THE NOMADS

Shortly after arriving in Abéché our team leader Jill took us for a day trip to visit the Nomads in Tabor Tabor. We traveled about 30 kms out of town by Ruckshaw on a paved road. Camels are particularly important to Nomads and as we approached the Nomad camp we began to see more and more camels grazing.

Camels grazing

The first extended family we visited are now semi-nomadic. They are settled in one place along with some other families but the men will travel with the animals according to the weather, going South in the dry season and then heading back North when the rains return. When they asked me (in Arabic through Jill our team leader) about my wife, and I mentioned that Gloria was still in Canada. They offered to give Gloria a camel saddle so she could travel with them to the South and then come back with them when the rains returned. I thankfully, with a smile, declined the offer on Gloria's behalf. Imagine Gloria traveling on a camel over many dry miles, with no bathroom but the place where you squat, and sleeping under a plastic tarp suspended over a rope bed platform about 2 feet above the ground. Definitely not Ishtar! (Sorry but I did not get a picture of their makeshift tents)

The family compound was fenced with dried branches about 5 feet high, had a main mud hut, another smaller mud hut, and cooking facilities outside.

Mud hut (from another location)

 Here one of the ladies is grinding the millet into flour. We all tried our hand at grinding with the stone. I did not do very well. My millet never seemed to get fully ground. Better leave the work to those who know what they are doing.

Grinding Millet

Young girl pounding garlic (from another location)

Before we entered the compound we went over to where all the men where gathered. They were putting up a fence which was to surround the area where they were going to build their modest mosque. After greetings we went back to the compound and into the hut. We were treated with loving hospitality. After I took a picture of them they insisted that they take a picture of the team with them.

Team with Nomads at Tabor Tabor

Before lunch we went across the paved road to another group of Nomads who had arrived and camped there a couple of weeks before with their herds. The men visited with the men and we were not allowed to go near to or meet the women. The men were gathered together having a community discussion. They gave us warm milk to drink and I had a sip. They also gave us a bowl of sour milk mixed with millet which is popular here. The ladies went to visit the women and were able to read some Scripture to them. I would love to have a picture for you of their colorful clothing, bangles and nose rings.

Milk for the guests

Then we went back to our host family and had lunch with the men in the hut and then made our return trip to Abéché. We were attacked by flying, biting ants as we were leaving and I got bit in the chest. Ouch did that hurt!

Children are precious in God's sight. God blessed me with this young boy who had made a molded mud motorcycle. May the true God show this boy that he is created in the image of God to live for Christ. Pray for the children of Tabor Tabor and that many of the Nomad children will come to know Christ above all else.

Motorcycle molded from mud, mirrors included

 During our time in the hut a number of visitors dropped in. Jill was able to share some short sermons with them from her phone and they in turn transferred these sermons to their phones through "Bluetooth". Jill has a number of videos and sermons and scripture on her phone and tablet for this very purpose. She also has some memory cards for phones which contain scripture and other evangelistic items which she can give or sell to those who are hungry to know more. Praise God for the use of modern technology in promoting the Good News of Jesus Christ. Pray for the Word that has gone out to these Nomads and for more Gospel seeding to take place. Pray that God, the Lord of the Harvest will send men to join the team for long term service to the Nomads in Chad.

DAILY LIFE

Let me share a little bit about daily life here at the Center in Abéché, Chad. We usually get up around 5:30 am just after sunrise and about an hour after the first call to prayer has blasted from the loudspeakers of the two Mosques in our neighborhood. The call to prayer lets me know it will soon be time to get up. We also have African Ibis which make strange chicken sounds, and doves and roosters next door, so no alarm clock is needed. Some mornings we also have boys reciting verses from the Koranic school over the back fence.

First order of business is a trip to the bathroom. The toilet is a hole in the cement floor. A shower stall is next to it. When there are cockroaches running around I have learned to tap on the floor with my foot and the vibrations cause them to scurry back down the hole. Sometimes there are a number of flies and a constant ammonia-like smell.

"Toilet" and "washbasin". Watch out for those cockroaches

 Then outside to brush my teeth and wash my face. We do not always have city water. On average we get water every third day and not always with good pressure for showers. So we store water in 45 gallon barrels and take bucket showers. I have had the intense pleasure of three real showers with city water in the last two months.

Then I make my way to the kitchen to prepare a delicious cup of instant coffee and head back to my room for Bible reading and prayer through Operation World. Then I check emails from home, say "good morning" to Gloria, and after that have a time of personal prayer.

Each one of the team has a day when they are responsible for cooking. My day is Monday. We set the table for breakfast sometimes with eggs, or pancakes, or oatmeal, apple or banana, or Fangaso (a doughnut, double the size of a Timbit, fried in and dripping with peanut oil, which we dip into sugar mixed with cinnamon) but always French baguettes of bread, with marmalade, Nutella, mayanaise, peanut butter and honey. We cook on a two burner propane stove. We also use a solar oven to make cakes and breads.

Two burner propane stove

Solar oven with cake cooking

After preparing breakfast on Mondays I go to the market to get what I need to prepare lunch. We have no refrigerator so someone goes to the market everyday.

The last meal I prepared, rice with a white sauce and vegetables

We have a type of refrigerator called a Dowaane, which is a large clay porous jar that sweats out water and allows the breeze to cool down the water inside the jar much like body sweat cools down the body.

Dowaane is on left, jar for drinking water on right

On the other days of the week I am correcting homework and reviewing English lessons, reading, writing and doing some Bible study. On Tuesday morning at 6:30 am I have an Arabic lesson. Most of Saturday is used up preparing 8 English lessons for the following week and getting to bed early for walking to 8 am church the next day.

Cooler of Ice on left, purified water on right

The water in Abeche is drinkable but we also have purified water. Every day or two someone will go to the ice man and buy a cooler of ice. Two things I really miss are cold drinks and cold milk. We only have powdered milk. As we add water to the ice we can have some ice water to drink. I am drinking both city and purified water with no ill effects.

After classes, Tuesday through Friday, which end at 7:30, we usually gather in the kitchen for a light supper of lunch leftovers, cucumber, eggs, cheese or someone may make something such as an Avocado/Tomato spread. We have also been having watermelon on a regular basis because it is in season and very cheap. We eat well but have almost no junk food so I have trimmed down to 160 pounds.

After supper I am off to my room to check emails and say "good night" to Gloria. Then some evening devotions and in bed around 9.

Thank you for spending the week with me. Drop in anytime.

ABÉCHÉ LEARNING CENTER

 A JOY FILLED AND GRATEFULNESS FILLED THANKSGIVING TO ALL

The literacy level in Chad for French or Arabic is estimated to be anywhere from 35% (Mundi index 2014) to 54% (Operation World 2010) and considered to be one of the lowest in the world. Primary school attendance is about 50% and drops to 22% for high school (Unicef 2008-2012). At the Learning Center (Centre de Connaissance d`Abéché) we offer basic English classes and basic computer classes. Students join the classes to improve their work opportunities or with the hope of further education in an English context. Our desire is to empower these students with English but also to build relationships that may lead to spiritual discussions. Christian literature is also available at the center in French, English and Arabic should they want to read more about Christianity. There is also a library on site which anyone can join with books available in Arabic, French and English.

Sign at our front door

Let me give you a mental tour of the Center.

Sketch of Learning Center layout (not to scale)

The Center is enclosed in a bricked compound about 141 feet wide facing the street and about 216 feet deep. We are on a major paved street with a gate for cars and a door for entry into the compound. As you walk in the door there is a courtyard for parking vehicles and the library ahead with the generator in the left corner. A conference room is attached to the library as well as a small courtyard. To the right of the gate are the living quarters for the Chadian librarian and his family, who also carries out other duties for the Center. Beside the library building the classrooms and school office can be found and past the classrooms the living quarters for the teachers, the kitchen, and washrooms. Beyond the classroom building and beside the living quarters there is a small garden area.

Classrooms and office (taken from the garden area and facing the front gate and librarian`s residence)

Right side of living area (first door is my room) On other side of the small courtyard is the kitchen and other rooms and beyond the trees ahead are the bathrooms

On Thursday we spent the morning cleaning our classrooms in preparation for classes on Tuesday. It was hard work but a joy to work with others and to see the final results.

Dusting, sweeping and washing all four classrooms. In the background is the garden area and living quarters building

Saturday, we had registration for classes. Each of the 9 English level classes is limited to 15 students and the computer class is limited to 10 students. We had a total of 64 registrations.

Everyone was given a number and registered in order

Please pray for the teachers, Judith, Adrian, James and myself, and for the students and especially that this will be the beginning of a journey to spiritual life for some of these new students.

FROM N'DJAMÉNA TO ABÉCHÉ

After a few days in N`Djaména, the capital of Chad, we traveled across the country by bus to the city of Abéché were I will be staying and teaching at the Learning Center. Abéché is the fourth largest city in Chad, about 80,000 people, about 750 km from the capital, and about 180 km before the border of Sudan.

The Green circle is the Abéché ministry area

Four of us traveled by bus, the Center leader and three short-termers.  We left the bus station just after 6 am. The bus station was a commotion of Ruckshaws, food and product vendors, buses, passengers, motorbikes, goods being loaded and unloaded, security, with no apparent order to the crowded bustle. We were asked for our passports by some men dressed in white whom I would not have identified as men with the authority to ask for such papers but the Center leader assured us of their authority and we gladly complied.

This is not a picture of our bus. We traveled in a newer comfortable Chinese bus with air conditioning but no bathroom onboard. The bus was full and crowded. After a check of the main component for bus travel, a loud horn, we were on the way. The horn sounded at least once a minute and sometimes more often to warn motorcycles, other vehicles, passengers and animals that we were behind them and not slowing down. We zigzagged through goats, and cows, donkeys, and sheep and a few horses. We did have one encounter with a rather large turkey sized bird who was not fast enough to miss the front passenger windshield. The fellow sitting in front of the window got some glass in his eye and on his clothes but we kept on busing. A fellow passenger blew the glass out of his eye.

Pushing the windshield back in place and plugging holes with tissue.

We made two stops along the way, one for a bathroom break and the second for lunch. The bathroom break was in the middle of nowhere. Men went to the field on the right and the woman crossed the road to the field on the left. A few scrubby trees did not provide any privacy. Squat, use your robes as a temporary enclosure and do your business. Remember to use your left hand only. Luckily I was in no need to go to the bathroom but it was nice to stretch my legs. Blow the horn again four or five times and we are ready to keep busing to our destination.

We also stopped in a very small village for lunch but we had brought our own boiled eggs, hot dogs in a can, cheese, bread and water. Good to stretch out the legs. Then four or five blasts of the horn and we are on the move again.
We were given a nice cold soda to drink in the late afternoon and arrived around 5 o'clock in Abéché. As we were trying to find two Ruckshaws to take us to the center, along with all our luggage, we were asked for passports again.
I am grateful to God for the enjoyable trip across the beautiful raw country of Chad. I particularly enjoyed the mountains which have a very unusual shape and structure. Next week I hope to tell you more about the Center.

Amazing rock formations

HELLO FROM CHAD

On September 2nd I was dropped off at the Toronto airport for my flight to Chad via Addis Ababa in Ethiopia on Ethiopian airlines. The check in was not open when I arrived and when it did I was third in line. I praise God that I was early because when I went back to go through my gate the line had grown considerably. Most people were either returning home with purchases made in Canada or bringing goods to their families in Africa. It is amazing that the 777-200L Boeing plane left the ground. With 9 seats across I estimate their were over 300 people on that plane.

Lineup at Ethiopian Airlines. Notice all luggage and gifts for family and friends

I arrived in N'Djamena Chad just after noon of September 3rd from Addis Ababa after a pleasant flight and transfer. I met a wall of sweltering heat. Before being allowed to enter the airport building I was checked for Ebola by checking my body temperature. There is no air conditioning at the airport. I was met by my team leader and two other short-termers. We went to a restaurant and had lunch and then some shopping and unto the guest house to settle in for a couple of days before heading by bus to Abeche. Our time in N'Djamena was spent filling out paper work for immigration and others, visiting the market and resting up.

It was a new experience for me to be waken up by the call to prayer before sunrise around 4 AM. By 5:00 am there is much activity taking place as the men and women prepare for their day. Then around 5:30 about 30 boys would gather just next door to the guest house to do their daily memorizing of the Quoran. Dressed all in white they recite their verses aloud and in unison under the guidance of their teacher and some older boys.

Young boys memorizing and reciting the Quoran early in the morning next to the guest house

Mosque across the street from the guest house. Evening prayers

Across the street from the guest house was this simple mosque. On the roof, at the left hand near corner, are two speakers which blast out the call to prayer early in the morning before sunrise and at the other appointed times of the day, a constant reminder to remember and worship Allah.

May we determine to train our own children in the ways of the Lord and to pay attention to the voice of the Holy Spirit who calls each of us to intercession throughout the day, for fellow believers and for the unbelievers around us.

Thank you for your many prayers for me. If you want to be included in my weekly private prayer email send me an email at <rtulip231@gmail.com>. May God give you a growing commitment to make disciples of all nations. ron

CANDIDATE ORIENTATION

Greetings on my second-to-last weekend in Canada before I leave for Chad, by the mercy and provision of God. Unless God has other plans, my next posting will be coming to you from Chad. Praise God that I have received my visa.

Last week and this upcoming week, I have been and will be in Hamilton for candidate orientation (CO) at the Worldwide Evangelization for Christ (WEC) Canadian office. Part of my training is walking up to my room on the third floor (large roof dormer window on left)  : > )

WEC-Canada Headquarters in Hamilton Ontario

I am so encouraged by what God is doing in calling young men and women to overseas missions. We have a class of 12. Excluding myself I believe there is only 3 who are over 25. There is one couple and all the rest are single. Most have already done some short term mission work and are now wanting to go long term. Four of us are called Trekkers which means we are going short term. Our CO is only two weeks long but the other 8 will be in candidate orientation and will remain in Hamilton for 4 months. What is tremendously exciting to me is that 8 out of the 12 candidates are men. The mission fields that these young men and women are seeking to serve in are difficult and unfriendly to Christians. God is still working to bring the lost to Himself through His people.
I sense no age barrier between myself and these young men and women because of our love for Jesus and our mission goals. However I cannot stay up until past midnight listening to music and talking and then be fresh in the morning. God bless those young people who belong to Jesus and are going forward to serve Him.

CO class with our teacher Heather

WEC is truly a faith mission. WEC does no marketing or advertising or appeals for funds. You will not receive a monthly news letter asking for donations. That is one reason why WEC is not so publicly known as other missions. Also WEC does not take a percentage from donations off the top for administrative fees. What is given to the missionary goes to the missionary. For over 100 years now, God has provided for WEC, now with nearly 2,000 missionaries and working in over 75 countries around the world.
WEC also counts prayer as vital to the work of missions. WEC does not count prayer as important in name only but prays. Three times a week the staff meets for morning prayer for 45 minutes. We have had the privilege of joining with them this week. There is a day of fasting once a month and a monthly public prayer meeting which is very well attended. Prayer and faith is counted as most important in the work of missions.

Prayer in the morning with the staff

I praise God that He has led me to serve with Worldwide Evangelization for Christ. I would encourage you to read the story of our founder C. T. Studd who put the practice of faith and prayer into practice having seen and experienced prayer and faith in action in his own life and when working with Hudson Taylor and the China Inland Mission.

I am looking forward to writing you from Chad.Thank you for your faithfulness to the Lord.

If you would like to receive a private weekly prayer email send me an email at <rtulip231@gmail.com>. For financial information see this blog entry <http://ron-east-west.blogspot.ca/2014/07/the-holy-spirit-and-means.html>