You are the concrete

We have been visiting several of the schools that we hope will participate in next summer's English Bible Camps and talking with their headmasters about our plans. Yesterday, we visited a school in one of the areas that was hit hard by militia, and is now stable but is receiving more people fleeing from some other outlying areas. Their classes are already full, but many parents refuse to believe it and still want to register their children for school.

Today we went on a nice little walk to the other side of Bunia (through an area with many burned-out buildings and showing signs of great distress) up the hill to another school that had been displaced by all the heavy fighting in the area. They were just trying to get started back up, and were having an assembly when we arrived, causing much commotion due to the throngs of little children yelling "muzungu, muzungu, muzungu" as we walked.

After that, we caught some piki-pikis in the marketplace to take us to one of the more remote schools, where we once again were received with great gratitude. During the meeting, the headmaster there expressed a common theme:

Until now, everything about these plans were abstract but now seeing you visit they have become concrete, and you are the concrete."
- Pastor Donga

We went away from the meeting realizing in an even greater way that God always knows best. With all the Congo issues in summer 2006 (new president elections, school testing delays, an abstract understanding of our plans, etc.) and our own issues (travel costs, health concerns, uncertainty, etc.), God's sovereign leading in having us first make a scouting and planning trip to pave the way for a team trip will help us achieve the right goals next summer. We are praising God for delaying our team trip this year and allowing all the leaders to first plan this ministry together. We believe that the valuable input from the godly and gifted leaders here in Bunia who have our utmost respect will make the English Bible Camp ministry one that will be well worth repeating!