Entries from January 2003

January 22, 2003

Here I Go Again
posted by David at 11:36 PM |

Well, folks, it is late night on Wednesday, and I leave tomorrow at 10:40am. I fly to Atlanta, then to Newark, where I will meet my colleague. About suppertime (6:00p) we leave on a Lufthansa flight to Hamburg, Germany, then to Cairo, Egypt, and finally to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. We will motor to the west, where the Presbyterians have a major amount of our work. After a week in Ethiopia, we fly Ethiopian Airlines to Nairobi, Kenya, moving around to several parts of the country. Jon will then go to Ghana, and I will leave Nairobi on February 7, flying direct to Heathrow, London. From there it will be straight to Newark, then Cincinnati and finally arriving in Louisville about 9:15p on February 8.

In both countries I will be meeting with church leadership, both indigenous and mission agency. We are going at this time because it is the period when the annual leadership conferences happen. The purpose is to begin exploring with the leadership how the Ethiopian and Kenyan churches can stimulate stewardship growth. Both churches want to begin more support for their pastors and organizational structures (without losing their mission support for colleges, hospitals, etc.) It will be a real challenge to think through stewardship with them, in light of the extreme poverty and—especially in Ethiopia—the AIDS epidemic.

Jon has promised that we will take some “relaxation” time, meaning he hopes we can get into the bush and see some of the native flora, fauna, and culture.

It looks to be a great trip. One of the difficulties is that I am still disconnecting from the Antarctica experience. I will be going from cold Antarctica to hot equatorial Africa. I told Ruth that when all this traveling is over I will have a very flexible wardrobe! I’ll be prepared for anywhere we go next.

Perhaps when I return I can get the journal for Antarctica started, and post the news from Africa. At least I keep journals of the trips, and can refer back to them.

More later— David

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