Hurdle Jumping

I’ve come to the conclusion that I’ve got a spiritual Enemy who does not want this trip to happen.  

Making another visit to Central Africa is not new for me, but what is new are the incredible number of hurdles that seem to have been thrown in the way to keep it from happening.

When I was asked last January by Al Hawthorne, the new Africa Area Director for Wycliffe Associates to accompany him on his first visit to translation projects in the Democratic Republic of Congo, I thought it would be pretty much a routine trip.  So, I got busy setting up the logistics for him, which included a number of charter flights on MAF aircraft to get us across some pretty remote regions of the country (see map.)

Then the hurdles started appearing.  First it was a hangar mishap with the MAF Caravan aircraft in Kinshasa that ended up grounding it for repairs and eliminating it as an option for our travel. That was followed by the refusal of the local DRC embassy to give Al a visa forcing him to send off his passport all the way from Ethiopia to Washington DC to get the proper permission. Then, yesterday, just hours before my departure, I learned that some of my United flights had been canceled due to the snowstorm on the East Coast. Not wanting to lose the several thousand dollars already invested in this trip, I made some last minute changes (costly changes!) and am now on my way to London to reconnect with flights that will get me back on track with our original journey.

One of my new French language PowerPoint slides
on board governance

With God’s help, we’ll have a chance to visit with three different translation centers where national Congolese are picking up the primary task of Bible translation. While Al surveys logistic needs that Wycliffe Associate might offer, I’ll be leading some seminars on Board Governance and Organizational Development.  Thanks to some great help from my friend, Rene Mbongo, in Dakar, Senegal, I’ve now have my PowerPoint presentations translated into excellent African French. So, for the first time, I’ll be giving a hand at offering this training in the local trade language of these “mother tongue” Bible translators.

Stay tuned over the next few days.  As I have WiFi opportunity, I’ll try to keep you abreast of how the rest of this trip pans out.

Under His wings,

Jon