WEEK 4 COMPLETED

 

We've been gone from home now for a little over 4 weeks.  The time of organization and setup has taken longer than anticipated and, at times, has been discouraging.  Today seemed to be a kind of breakthrough in that Judd and 2 assistants were able to finish 15 copies of one large doctrine book (334 pg), and 12 copies of a small booklet.  There is an order for 50 copies of the doctrine book which should be completed tomorrow.  At this point, there is still not usable text of the different New Testaments to begin printing, hopefully that will be available soon.

It was a long weekend, starting with the car accident on Thursday morning.  All the busywork that entailed for the drivers involved made the work day get cancelled.  We also, as white faces, needed to get out of the vehicle and get safely back into our guesthouse complex so as not to compound the problem.  The Aussie group just here was encouraged to not travel very far outside the city of Goma proper due to the fact that a "white face was worth $10,000", something to keep in mind as you drive down the streets.

Anatole and his dear wife.

Saturday evening we were invited to the home of Pastor Anatole for dinner.  The drive to get to their home was through some different parts of the city than we had visited before.  The final turn took us down a very narrow alleyway that ended in front of a small chapel building, truly the end of the line.  If we visit there again, we'll be sure to take more photos.  The pastor and his wife have 10 children and 37 grandkids, several of whom were visiting that night.  There was such a spread before us on the coffee table, enough to feed LOTS of people.  What struck me most about the evening was the profound love and respect from the multi generations, and to see all their interactions really warmed my soul. (Shout out to our dear grandkids - we love you all and miss you greatly!)

Judd attended the CEBCE (Baptist) main Goma church on Sunday and found it quite orderly.  It was over in about 2.5 hours as compared to 3, there was a wonderful harmonizing worship team, the choirs were good, and the speakers not maxed out.  Maybe I'll go with him next time.

Monday was a frustrating day at the shop.  Originally we were told that the city had warned of power outages for the day, so work was called off for the day.  Judd sent reminder emails to the workers that we would be able to print due to the battery backup system provided with the printers; we just wouldn't be able to do any bindery work.  Well, when 3 of the workers did show up, the power was on and we were able to get some books printed (those that Judd & the crew of 2 bound today).  He was very pleased with the job they did.  However, we did learn that one of the new printers had been "borrowed" for the weekend and had not yet been returned to the shop.  In addition, the wi-fi router had also been "borrowed" for the weekend and not returned, something crippling for the shop to try to work around being without it.  So much of the books, covers, and manuscripts are stored electronically.

Well, we'll end this on a positive note.  Thank you for your support.  We ask for your continued prayers as we work for His honor here in Goma.  Satan is at work here and doesn't want to see this system running successfully.