Posts under ‘Reflection’

That’s the question– did we start our own Ekstrand loan association? Sometimes it seems like it and honestly sometimes we, Pete more than Cindy, tire of dealing with loans and keeping track of their repayment, but that’s life here. Here’s …

I woke up today to the sound of wailing in the neighborhood and knew that somewhere near someone had died. Later I learned that a 2-1/2 year old child had died in the night. The wailing continued until it was …

“Do this and you will live” was the theme of our Covenant missionary spiritual retreat at Kribi, Cameroon last week. 24 Covenant missionaries from 4 countries across Africa gathered at the Hotel Ilomba on the beach. It is a beautiful …

The cooks at the Pastors Conference did an outstanding job.

2,245 pastors and spouses attended. A conference does not work in Congo like it does in the US where we all head out to neighboring restaurants to eat. Here there …

“Do we really believe Jesus is worth abandoning everything for?”

“Do you and I believe him enough to obey him and to follow him wherever he leads, even when the crowds in our culture—and maybe in our church—turn the other …

It was fascinating to see all the bicycles parked right around the meeting shelter the first day of the Pastors Conference. Notice the way some of their loads are tied on. They are using strips of inner tube to tie …

“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”

Over the centuries writers have explored the mystery and paradox of the incarnation through the language of poetry. Consider this excerpt:

After
The white-hot beam of annunciation
fused heaven with earth,
his …

Thursday, we were up and ready to go waiting for James to return from visiting a couple aunts he had not seen in 19 years. He had left before 5h30 to go visit them some distance away. His last time …

Yes, where is AAA when you run out of gas on a trip, or did we forget to add the coverage for a river trip in Sudan? Maybe we were a bit out of their network of accepted road(boat?) side …

“I am a fruit of the church,” stated Jacques Gbadana Moya at the party celebrating his graduation last Saturday. Gbadana, as he is called here, graduated with distinction with a Masters in French from the Protestant University in Mbandaka. He …