Tanzania Trip Day 1 - June 18th

June 18, 2008

Greetings from the Churches in Tanzania to the People of Faith Lutheran in Moline,

After the wonderful send off at the van from the people of Faith, my heart sank as I discovered my computer wasn’t packed. The bag was but the computer wasn’t. Thanks to Kim Meyer and a veteran pizza driver our son Jason, I got it just in time.

I feel like a modern day Paul, writing a letter on a computer. Think of all the letters he could have written.
I have already had a GMC moment, a God Made Coincidence – (You need to understand, I had no idea where I would be staying once I got to Ethiopia. I did check some hotels online, but without any success in booking. Vicki too sent me some possible numbers to contact.)

Within the first few hours on the plane I met this real nice Ethiopian woman who took an interest in me. Not that kind of interest! Since I was wearing a cleric she asked me if I was a priest. I told her I was a Lutheran pastor and where I was going.

Out of hundreds of people on the plane and rows and rows of seat, we connected. One of the two people I spoke at any length with on the plane was a sixty year old lady, named Zion/Sion (like in the Bible she told me) from Ethiopia. And she took me under her wing and contacted individuals she knew to watch out for me. Later I noticed she was reading Billy Graham’s book Journey. She said she needed to rest and couldn’t not get it not knowing what would happen to me. To be honest those she talked with (in native language) didn’t seem to like the assignment, but agreed anyway. Apparently, she was a teacher and two of her students were flight attendants.

On her own, she found out that the airline puts people up over night to connect to your destination flight the next day. (We didn’t know that before I left)
However, I was one of the last to receive a hotel assignment and I got one of the best five star hotels. I am in the Hilton in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It was dark, but there is much construction in process. After hours on a plane, I still cannot sleep.

In His service and yours,

Pastor Mark