November 2010 Update

11/27/2010

Dear Friends and Family,

Happy Thanksgiving! Michelle and I will actually be celebrating the holiday today, along with the other missionary families here at the Gamboula mission station in the Central African Republic. So though all of your turkey and pie has been eaten, ours still await us (with chicken and duck substituted for a turkey). We hope that your holiday was blessed and that you continue to thank the Lord for who He is and for the good things He has given.

We arrived on Wednesday by way of a small 6-seater Cessna operated by SIL. Our departure from Gemena was delayed a bit by some hoopla at the airport. The President of the DRC, Joseph Kabila, is due to arrive in Gemena next week for some pre-election campaigning and as we waited at the plane his pre-arrival delegation arrived from Kinshasa and the army was practicing a welcome march for his arrival, complete with a band, a saber-wielding commander and synched high-stepping. Once we received clearance, it was just a two hour flight to our destination in CAR.

We have been here in Gamboula for nearly three days now but it took us a matter of minutes to realize that this is nothing like the ELIKYA Center. Everyone who had ever been to Gamboula said that it was a “paradise” of a mission station and they were right! We are staying in our own house, fully furnished with a wrap-around porch and set in a yard of fruit trees and flowers. There is 24-hour electricity thanks to a nearby hydroelectric facility and that means we have the use of a fan during the night. There are also hot showers and water that you can drink right out of the tap. We also happen to be located in what must be the “fruit tree capital” of Central Africa. Case in point; yesterday I ate some inga, some eta, several langsat, two varieties of guava, several strips of dried jackfruit, a boiled palm nut, a starfruit, a slice of velvet apple, some coconut and a banana. And I drank some passion fruit juice. I didn’t even know what several of those fruits even were until a couple days ago.

The prevalence of fruit trees here is due to the Centre d’Agroforestrie and its showcase, the “Garden of Eden”, that are located mere steps from our front door. Two of the premier (missionary) agronomists/arborists in Central Africa, Roy Danforth and Paul Noren, are here right now and I will have the opportunity to tag along on some of their ongoing projects. I hope to be able to use this month or so to get a better handle on how to begin an agricultural program at Elikya upon our return. Both Roy and Paul have been working in the Congo and CAR since before I was born so they have a wealth of practical knowledge that I hope to be able to tap into. Needless to say, I’m excited about the opportunity to get my hands dirty and get learning!

Michelle has been doing very well with the pregnancy and is glad to be going through her final month of it here in Gamboula. She has some back pain, tires more quickly and has had some aching joints in her hands but has been dealing with the discomfort very well. One week ago we made a trip to Camp ECHO, a cave 5 km from ELIKYA where CECU hosts a youth camp in the summer. Michelle, with the rest of us, climbed up a rock wall in the back of the cave that exits through a hole in the roof. She’s a true mwasi makasi (tough woman).

The one thing that is difficult about being here is that we are away from the people and the ministry at the ELIKYA Center. Sam and Sarah are continuing the English classes in our absence so they shouldn’t skip a beat. Their teaching load, however, will be quite heavy as they will be doing all of the lesson-planning and teaching in every class period for the next month and half to two months. Remember to keep them in your prayers as they “hold down the fort”. Pray also that the time that Michelle and I spend away from the work at ELIKYA would ultimately bear fruit for that ministry. There is plenty to do still as Michelle maintains contact with several potential short-term teams due out in the Congo next year and as I try to learn all I can for initiating the agricultural program there.

The month since our last newsletter has been a good one. Some highlights include our trip to the cave to explore its potential as a weekend day trip for visiting teams, finishing the beginning phonics portion of our class and advancing to more dialogues (listening and speaking) and treating the class to a cultural tutorial on Thanksgiving complete with a pretend pumpkin pie, cinnamon rolls and an American history lesson. We are anticipating a very busy 2011 as there looks to be several short-term teams and individuals coming out to take part in ministry at the ELIKYA Center. The first will be arriving in the middle of January. Pray that the preparations for hosting this team will be completed and that God would be preparing the way for their ministry to bear lasting fruit.


Please keep us in your prayers as we approach the time for the baby to be born. After the birth, we will head to Bangui where we will apply for the baby’s passport. This looks to be a rather lengthy process as the application must be sent to the US embassy in Yaounde, Cameroon to be processed. So we’ll have to send it in and wait, possibly up to a month. Pray also that that process would go smoothly and quickly. If necessary, I will meet the January team in Bangui and accompany them to Gemena while Michelle continues to wait, accompanied now by my Mom who will be coming out to see her new grandchild and to be a help to Michelle.

Once again, we covet your prayers and we know that God hears them. We are privileged to be a part of what He is doing in the Congo and we thank you for your involvement. We truly have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving!

In Him,

Aaron and Michelle Larsen
ReachGlobal Africa
Centre ELIKYA

Off to Gamboula!

Please keep Michelle and I in your prayers as we are on the road again tomorrow. Actually, we will only be on the road for 1o km as we are flying the rest of the way. Our destination is Gamboula, a town in the Central African Republic, where we will be having our baby. Dr. Tim Wester, who was in the Congo with my family in the 1990's and now works at a mission hospital in Gamboula, will be delivering the baby. The plane comes in to Gemena around 9 AM tomorrow to drop off some other passengers and to pick us up.

The Church is Beautiful

A couple Sundays ago there was a region-wide church service for a baptism celebration.  That meant that something like 31 CECU congregations in the greater Gemena area gathered together in one church, Paroisse Centrale, for worship.  The church was absolutely filled.  The pews were full.  People were sitting in the windows.  There was a shelter of palm fronds built on one side of the church that held more people.  And all around the church worshippers were gathered together in small and large groups.  Over 270 believers had been baptized the day before.  At one point they all filled the open space at the front of the church and in the aisles and doorways to publicly affirm their decision to follow Christ.  The rest of the congregation was called on to help them fulfill that calling. 

 

Yes, the numbers were impressive: 31 churches;  270 believers baptized; 1500 people in attendance; 5 hours.  But the day was special for so much more than that.  As we sat and listened to the choirs, or stood for the hour and a half offering time or prayed together and confirmed our support of our new brothers and sisters there was the constant, overarching thought, “This is the Church.”  It was like nothing I have been a part of previously in my adult life.  The singing was completely Congolese.  The beat of the drums and the dance steps of the choirs were completely Congolese.  The processional for giving offering was completely Congolese.  The swaying, the movement, the joy, the colors, the whole thing was Congolese and completely beautiful.  Here in this country that has been through so much, where there is so little hope at times and so much trouble, here in one of the poorest nations on earth, here is the true church.

 

The true church dwells also in America and in every country on earth.  And that is part of what makes it so beautiful.  For she is made to be the fullness of him who fills all in all.  She is not constrained by borders or cultures or races or languages but is transcendent like her Lord.  She is joined together in Him, one holy temple.  She is one body, made holy for one Lord, who loved her and gave Himself up for her.  And to think that one day we, the church, will be presented to Him in splendor, without spot or wrinkle but holy and without blemish. 

 

To see the Congolese part of that body has been one of the great joys of my life.  It has helped me to understand even just a small bit more what the “fullness of Christ” is.  We are all members of the same body and partakers of the same promise through the gospel.  To see the transcendence of Christ in the life of his many-cultured body is a glimpse of the glory that is to come and a testament to the magnitude of the riches of His grace.  The household of God, like His love and compassion, surpasses understanding.  There is no perfect church but a church being made perfect and rejoicing for it.