At the moment I am airborne. I have left Istanbul, Turkey, about noon. I will sleep in the early hours of tomorrow in Kraków, Poland. Yes that is yet another change to the travel plan. Ken was telling me this morning that he intends to send an email to our heroic travel agent Gretchen. "Oh," I asked, "Why ?" Ken replied, "I just want her to get one from us that does not require her to change anything !" By the way Gretchen, if your family allows you time to read this, we want you to know that we did not let the bullet holes in the wall of the lounge in Instanbul bother us. And Turkish Airlines gives about the best service either Ken or I have experienced. And one more note for you, this Boeing 777-300ER aircraft is marvelously comfortable. Even the Loo is large enough that a fat old man does not have to be a contortionist.
I did not get much restful sleep last night. The seat I am in now lays down nicely. Alas, I cannot convince my body to sleep. So, you are stuck with me having a cup of coffee and writing to you. Last time I wrote was 12 days ago when we had just returned to Lomé from Kara in Togo. Those days have been: hot, humid, stressful,busy, frustrating, uncomfortable,and some of the most productive days in the history of my walking with the Father. I am sure I will not remember all the details but I want to give you some highlights and a sense of what ministry in Africa can be like.
We remained in Lomé until Monday Morning. Sunday would have been a marvelous day to rest. Ha ha, it did not work out that way. It turns out to be very difficult to actually get a day of rest in Africa. In order to do so you either must go into hiding so no one can find you or you must be ready to be "harsh" turning people away. But most often the process of turning them away is even more tiring than just spending time loving them. It is an environment where you become very grateful to the Lord for just one or two African friends you can spend time with without any kind of draining or friction. Ken and I think we found a few more such relationships this trip and that makes the idea of future trips much more appealing.
Saturday night, almost immediately after our six hour drive from Kara to Lomé, we went to dinner with a very successful family of business persons. The Father is an auditor; the daughter is a consultant for insurance and other financial products. As we talked over dinner they each became interested in understanding the concept of having someone watch over ones soul (Hebrews 13:17). As we explained, of course, that lead to more and more discussion of the nature of the Bride of Christ and the centrality of Her relationships to the nature of the Kingdom of God. After dinner, Christophe made clear that he would join Ken and Winner and I in Cotonou.
Sunday we got laundry done and met with various people. Included were the Mother and Daughter for whom you, through your generosity, made the purchase of new eyeglasses possible. I do not have words to convey their joy and gratitude that you not only covered the cost of the glasses but by a bit extra you made it possible for other medical care debts to also be paid. Two healthy African ladies think that you folks are genuine messengers of the goodness and grace of God. thank you to each and everyone who contributed to their health and joy. The mother, whose first and second languages are not English, wrote: "Please, I would like to send you a mail for the person who sent us money. Dear sister, We send you greetings in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to you for the money you sent us through brother Stuart. It has really been a godsend to us because it has enabled us to meet some of our needs. Thanks a lot for your kindness. May the Lord bless you and lift you up higher in your ministry. Odette Djawan"
It was Sunday night that we received word of Bruno's serious accident. Not only did this change our priorities because of his apparent critical care needs but Bruno was the only person who knew the details of what had been planned for our work in Benin. In his very damaged head were all our appointments and engagements. In addition, Bruno was our primary and in most cases only translator when the plans were made. Praise Jesus that Winner decided to travel with us. We would have been stuck with out the gift of his language skills.
We awoke EARLY Monday morning (groans in background) to get packed and meet our driver at 8:00 AM. He took the four of us through the city to get to the waterfront. There I stood under the palm trees for about 1 minute while Ken clicked a picture for FaceBook then we all climbed into a "taxi" that would drive us to downtown Cotonou, Benin (about 4 hours plus time at the border crossing to go through all the paper work required). When we arrived, hot, tired, sweaty, and jammed together in the car, we switched cars for another 45 minutes through city traffic to get to the hospital and visit Bruno. Praise God by this time he was at least conscious enough to speak and to confirm that he recognized us. That was very reassuring. He had explained the beginnings of our plans to Jean Luc ( yes, like Jean Luc Piccard of Star Trek fame). After a short visit Jean Luc and Claver drove us to our hotel. The hotel was a new one. So new that our rooms were 2 of only 6 rooms that were finished. The rest of the building was still under construction. But it's other significant feature was that it was 45 minutes drive from everywhere we ever needed to go. Half that drive was over roads that were nearly impassable for any ordinary automobile. Motion sickness was a constant threat. Moreover we discovered that African expect to have multiple persons sleeping in any one bed. So none of the rooms have 2 beds. Ken and I are closer than ever before. No secrets are being revealed about any snoring or other night time noises.
After a brief time to check in and refresh our clothes, we headed off for the First evening meeting. I will begin part 2 of this reprise with that meeting.
His, thus Yours,
Stuart
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