Update on Offering

With the extra money we raised last Sunday for the earthquake relief, we were able to help repair one of the pastor’s houses that was heavily damaged.

His name isRutakangwa Murhula. His house was totally destroyed in the earthquake. He received $60 to get his family into a rental house for 6 months but needs to rebuild. He has given me an estimate of $813 for all of the material and labor to get it done. This would be a house made from poles to which bamboo strips would be attached inside and out so that in between they can put small rocks and then coat with a layer of mud. It would have a metal roof.

He has come to work here every day since he got the $60 so he could help with the building of the wall without expecting any pay in return.

Thanks to those who gave and now have seen a blessing from the Lord!

Some good news on repairing Sopo’s House

Mick Adams one of our Unit guys shared with our congregation this morning about Sopo’s house and what we were doing in trying to repair it after the earthquake.

We gave people an opportunity to help us withe the expenses, needed about $1,000. The folks came up with almost $2,000! God bless you all! What a joy it is to pastor at a place like Maryland! You guys rock!

To God be the glory!

A night to hear about the Congo Trip

There will be a dessert and coffee time on Thursday Feb. 28, 6:30 pm in the Atrium at MCC for you to come and hear, see and learn about “The Unit’s” mission to Congo.

There will be pictures and some video.

Love to have you there! Plan on coming.

Sunday At MCC

It was great seeing all “the Unit” at church this morning! Some of us were a little ragged and still getting over jet lag and some tummy issues. But it was such a joy to be back worshiping with our family at Maryland.

My son asked me, “was culture shock harder going to Congo or coming back?” Good question! I told him they were both very uncomfortable and each was hard.

The sheer lack of normal comforts was everywhere in Bukavu. I missed my wife, my recliner, my shower, my bed, my TV, my good internet connection, my cell phone, electricity being on all the time, running water all the time, etc. The constant onslaught of poverty and the ravages of war were all around. One amazing cultural difference was the huge honor and respect the church of Congo gave us. We were treated like royalty and their humble respect was overwhelming.

Back here in the USA I was just overcome by all the things that were available to me that I had taken for granted. The sheer ability to be comfortable was just awesome. I don’t think I ever want to take it for granted again. As I walked into MCC I was overwhelmed by the huge difference it was compared to the three churches we had worshiped at in Congo. Sometimes you just have to distance yourself from what you have to appreciate it and even understand it.

It was so hard after church to try and explain to a reporter about our trip. How do you put it into words. They seemed to fail us. But we tried. I found myself even disappointed in all the pictures that just didn’t quite communicate what I saw and felt. In some ways I find myself thinking, wow, no wonder Jesus had such a hard time communicating the Kingdom of God! Talk about foreign concepts!

The little phrase we were taught by Ed Buell, was “TIA” or That Is Africa is really almost impossible to communicate to somone who hasn’t been there and experienced it.

Hopefully over the next few months the six of us will do our best to communicate about our neighbors in Bukavu Congo. They taught us so much about faith, living for the day and hope. We learned what it meant do something in the name of Jesus and have it make a difference. Some lives were change, including ours.

I want to live more “in the moment” and not so much in the future. Easy to say, but I know how hard it will be. I think, “one day at a time” really hit me between the eyes in Congo.

Well so much for that rambling, forgive me, I am still kind of working it all through.

HOME!

We arrived home safe and almost sound at 10:10 pm in Indianapolis.

We had a slight detour through St. Louis after missing a connection in Chicago from a delay in Brussels, but that is minor with all this in perspective!

We will all be reorienting for a few days for sure.

God has been good! I have truly enjoyed and been blessed by the five guys; Mick, Dutch, Denny, Paul and Jim who joined me on this mission. Way to go UUNIT, you were awesome!

Thanks Ed and Brenda, you two were amazing, we are so blessed at MCC to partner with you and African Christian Mission.

From a tired but blessed Pastor Vinny.

On our way home!

We left for home on Tuesday morning 9 am Bukavu time. We flew out of Bukavu to Kigali; interesting flight but all went well. We stayed in Kigali for 8 hours before we left for Brussels. That was quite an experience. Not your airport with a lot of conveniences! A ragged internet connection, but it did work with only two electrical outages!

We met a woman who works for the American Embassy; she is a believer and was worshiping at a church in Rwanda when the earthquake hit. We share our “rock and roll” stories. She was excited about what we had done and we gave her the blog site to check it out.

Met two guys in disaster relief that were stuck at the airport; one from New York the other from L.A. They said they were going to be on Oprah on March 2; we will see if we see them!

Met to missionary ladies from Phoenix also; Dutch had a great time talking with them and sharing stories.

We arrived here in Brussels at 7:30 am Brussels time; 1:30 am Terre Haute time. Have a four hour layover before an eight hour flight to Chicago. We are glad to see some things that look like home!

I am having a great cup of Espresso Mocha; not sure what I paid for it, but it was worth it! The internet is working like a charm and I am in a little bit of heaven until we real set foot of the mother land! Not looking forward to more airtime, but if that is what it takes! Dutch said it beats the vans and taxis in Bukavu!

See you soon!

Monday Evening 2.11

Monday evening 2.11

We had two groups of Congolese come to say good-bye to us. JP and his family was a precious time that we all deeply appreciated. What a great blessing from the Lord they were to us and continue to be to the Buell’s.

Then the executive committee from Ceca 40 came had some tea and food with us. They formally thanked us from coming. Muganza, the President (Jeff & Peta), read from John 13:14-15 and told us that we had come to Congo and washed their feet. They gave us a certified thank you letter and invited us to come back any time. We likewise invited them to come to the U.S. some time. They laughed and said it was a pretty long walk and swim!

We closed out the night with a couple of more tremors, why not! We will not miss those things for sure.

None of us slept well. We were physically and emotionally exhausted. I just kept flashing back to my walk through the crowded market going to Sopo’s. Then scenes of their house. Jambo’sana kept going through my head. The scene of washing feet was also on my mind. I have taught on that example many times. But this teaching to me was powerful. To say that people’s feet are dirty around here and in need of attention is no overstatement for effect, it is reality.

The scenes of beautifully dressed Congolese women and smartly dressed men walking in mud and sewage will never leave my memory. The extreme measures they go through to be clean in the middle of all this dirt is exhausting.

Sopo’s Housse

Monday 2. 11

Today we start work on Sopo’s house in the mountains. We are leaving in two crew’s; the car Dido is using can only take four of us at a time.

It rained all night and we had a pretty good tremor this morning. We are praying that the conditions will be the best they can be so we can get the house all under roof before dark.

We were able to put the generator out under the new lean-to in case the electricity goes off. That was a real relief to Ed and Brenda. Brenda is so pleased with the bright newly painted dinning room at the mission house.

We are all getting the things we are leaving out of all our bags and condensing what we have for the trip back home. We will be leaving at 9 am for the Bukavu airport to take a short flight to Kigali. We will stay for about 5 hours in Kigali before our flight out to Brussels.

We have some real mixed emotions for sure. We all talked at our devotion time about where do we go from here with our partnership. We will seek the Lord’s leading and work with the Eldership as they partner with Ed when he returns. On a short-term basis we will try to raise the balance of the money for the rebuilding of Sopo’s house; about $1,000.

The scene of walking to Sopo’s house was breathtaking. It made all our other experiences of walking in Bukavu pale in comparison. The poverty and filth was magnified by a hundred. Little shanty houses beyond description.

Sopo and Josephine were just overwhelmed with our generosity. She proudly showed me her home. We got a shot of five of the seven children at the door. You see it here on the blog. They were precious.

We drew a crowd, I would estimate between a hundred and a hundred and fifty little children just enthralled with all the “muzungo” (white man) at our house. Josephine said she had never dreamed a white person would ever be at her house let alone be so generous to them. She said several times in broken English that God had blessed her and her house was beautiful.

Denny and Paul did the lion’s share of the work along with a Congolese roofing guy and his helpers. We all felt frustrated at not being able to help more. We drew more attention than help!

The view driving down the mountain was breathtaking in its beauty mixed with the raw ugliness of humanity. I am just in awe at how the two are mixed here. The lake, the mountains and the plants are simply some of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. The sheer filth and poverty is totally contrasted against it.

We have offered a cup of cold water in the name of Jesus. It seems like a drop of water in an ocean of pain and suffering. Please Lord, multiply it a hundred fold for your glory.

The six of us ache for a beautiful people suffering from the ugly result of war and hatred.

Abba Father, love on your hurting children for us, we can’t get our arms around all of them but know you can.

Sunday Church

Sunday 2.10

We got up early to catch our 7:30 am van. We are off to Mudaka church about 15 kilometers (9 miles) north following Lake Kivu. That is a bit misleading! It took us 1 hour and 10 minutes to get there. I wish I could describe the drive. All six of us would tell you it was a ride in hell on our way to a heavenly experience! It was on roads that are literally beyond description. We got beat up on the ride and I do mean beat up. Ed said if he had known how badly the roads had deteriorated he would have never had us make the trip.

When we arrived they treated us as royalty. We entered as a group and sat on wooden planks that had been placed over their baptistry at the front right side of the building. The building was a really nice brick structure that Ed Nickles helped them build in 1983.

We worshiped the Lord with them in some great rhythmic motion. The pastor introduced Ed and Brenda and then Ed introduced each of us to the congregation. I preached the same message as last Sunday on hope, shortened a bit due to the fact it took us longer to get there than we all anticipated and I needed to adjust for time sake! We arrived at 9:30 am and the service ended at 12:30 pm. We shared in times of thanksgiving, the Lord’s Table. They dismissed all the non-baptized people prior to taking Communion, a unique way for many of us.

Forty-Seven people came forward after my message to repent and be prayed for. They placed straw mats in the center of the room and they all knelt as the Elders prayed over them.

They then had the sick come forward in a large group; not sure how many, and then they invited Mick one of our Elders to come and pray over them.

There were 466 present at the service; there were three other locations having services also from this congregation that totaled 1,000.

At the close of the service the pastor invited me up front and prayed a blessing over me and asked they our congregation pray for them. He read from I Thess. 5:16-25. I was in awe. That is our Shalom passage about being sanctified in Spirit, body and soul. It was a God moment.

After the service we were given a tour of the grounds, shown the original mud and board building built in 1972. They have a really small and deteriorated building for a medical clinic.

They treated us to a chicken, rice and banana lunch.

We took our long ride home and got back to the house at 3:30 pm.

Church at Mudaka

Sunday 2.10

We got up early to catch our 7:30 am van. We are off to Mudaka church about 15 kilometers (9 miles) north following Lake Kivu. That is a bit misleading! It took us 1 hour and 10 minutes to get there. I wish I could describe the drive. All six of us would tell you it was a ride in hell on our way to a heavenly experience! It was on roads that are literally beyond description. We got beat up on the ride and I do mean beat up. Ed said if he had known how badly the roads had deteriorated he would have never had us make the trip.

When we arrived they treated us as royalty. We entered as a group and sat on wooden planks that had been placed over their baptistry at the front right side of the building. The building was a really nice brick structure that Ed Nickles helped them build in 1983.

We worshiped the Lord with them in some great rhythmic motion. The pastor introduced Ed and Brenda and then Ed introduced each of us to the congregation. I preached the same message as last Sunday on hope, shortened a bit due to the fact it took us longer to get there than we all anticipated and I needed to adjust for time sake! We arrived at 9:30 am and the service ended at 12:30 pm. We shared in times of thanksgiving, the Lord’s Table. They dismissed all the non-baptized people prior to taking Communion, a unique way for many of us.

Forty-Seven people came forward after my message to repent and be prayed for. They placed straw mats in the center of the room and they all knelt as the Elders prayed over them.

They then had the sick come forward in a large group; not sure how many, and then they invited Mick one of our Elders to come and pray over them.

There were 466 present at the service; there were three other locations having services also from this congregation that totaled 1,000.

At the close of the service the pastor invited me up front and prayed a blessing over me and asked they our congregation pray for them. He read from I Thess. 5:16-25. I was in awe. That is our Shalom passage about being sanctified in Spirit, body and soul. It was a God moment.

After the service we were given a tour of the grounds, shown the original mud and board building built in 1972. They have a really small and deteriorated building for a medical clinic.

They treated us to a chicken, rice and banana lunch.

We took our long ride home and got back to the house at 3:30 pm.