August 16 lost in translation. Sarah and I traveled to two churches this morning. At the first church we just observed and sang. Can I say it again? The singing here is amazing. At the second church I preached. The gentleman that translated for me was a rookie. I suppose we had something in common!? Overall the sermon was communicated without too many verbiage distractions. Interesting I was speaking on commitment. There is no word in the Swahili that can be translated “commitment.” The closest is “standing firm.”

Most people in the Congo can speak 4-5 languages: Swahili, French, tribal languages, and maybe English. I am such a monolingual American. I took 4 years of French in high school. I wish I could remember some of that!? Sarah speaks great Swahili, which is great. Some of Swahili the phrases I have picked up (it is all phonetic so that helps):

Jambo = hello

Habari = how are you?

Bwana Asifiwe = praise the Lord (what else do you need to know?)

Ndyo = yes

Hapana = no

Mungu = God

Muzungu = white guy (I hear this a lot walking in the streets)

kivukutu = hot

asanti = thank you

tokainje = get out of here (mostly for fun during games with the youth)

FYI-We just heard that Kenya Airlines was on strike this week, but praise the Lord they are back to work! We will be boarding a small bus at the Congo/Rwanda boarder Tuesday morning to head to the

August 17 free day. Sarah and I are now finished with all our projects. We headed out for a few meetings with pastors and friends. The rest of the day we saw sights and went to the market. I relaxed. Tomorrow we head to the boarder to catch a bus for a 5 hour ride through the winding Rwandan hillside. Wednesday morning we fly out of Rwanda to Kenya to Amsterdam to NYC to Buffalo where Sarah’s family will pick us up for her brother’s wedding over the weekend. Bon Voyage Congo!!