Our brethren in French-speaking Africa are generally doing well under often trying circumstances. In September and October I was able to visit most of them.

Meeting the Members in Mauritius

My first stop on this trip was Mauritius, a 12-hour flight from Paris. This beautiful island lies some 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. My last visit had been more than 18 months earlier, so I was eager to see them again.

We now have five members of United in Mauritius. During the course of my stay, I was able to have individual visits with our brethren, anoint several with health problems and counsel one for baptism.

Surendra Proag gave me an update on the operations of the small Church office located in his house. He and other members work together to handle the mailing list and the actual mailing process of Church literature to over 500 Mauritians (in both French and English). This is quite a labor of love, and we appreciate their faithfulness.

We spent a Sabbath together, during which I gave a sermon in French and after which we watched some videos showing news of the work in other parts of the world.

Trumpets in Rwanda

Sunday, I started the long trip to Rwanda, which had me changing planes on Reunion Island and in Johannesburg, South Africa, before arriving rather late that night. The next day I met with Mr. Mundeli, our elder in Rwanda. We finalized plans for the Feast of Trumpets the next day, as well as the Feast of Tabernacles.

On the Feast of Trumpets we started out early for the 21/ 2 hours' drive up to the village of Giti, where one of our congregations meets. We stopped first at the house of our deacon, Jean-Baptiste Sibobugingo. He was happy and thankful to show us the photoelectric cell on his roof. To allow him to keep in contact with Mr. Mundeli, we have provided Mr. Sibobugingo with a cell phone (there is no landline service in his village, and Mr. Mundeli lives over three hours' drive away). To be able to access the phone's coverage zone, he must climb to the top of a nearby mountain, which he does at regularly scheduled times.

The problem was recharging his phone, since there is no electricity in his neighborhood. For a while he had to pay for a seat in a bush taxi and charge the phone on the cigarette lighter while the taxi made its rounds. However on my last visit we arranged to purchase a photoelectric cell to put on his roof. This allows him to use sunlight to charge a car battery in his house, from which he can then charge his cell phone, and even use a small florescent light—the first in his neighborhood.

From the Sibobugingos' house we drove to the new Church hall, financed by UCG's Good Works Program. The building was almost finished at the time of our visit. Révérien Gatanazi, a recently baptized member who is a builder by trade, oversaw the construction, which was not without difficulty.

Other churches in the area were not happy about a new church building going up, since they viewed it as competition. The local brick maker, as is not uncommon, required us to pay in advance for the bricks we would need. But then after being paid and after making the bricks, he sold them to someone else, probably at the urging of someone who didn't want to see our building completed (we have since taken the brick maker to court to get our money back). Révérien had to scramble to find other bricks that could be used, which slowed but did not stop the building.

Located in a calm area high on a mountainside, the Church building has a lovely view of surrounding mountains and valleys. Our brethren in Giti are thrilled and thankful for this new gift from God, which, in addition to providing them with a fine meeting hall and room for growth, will also facilitate United's ability to obtain official recognition from the state.

After this encouraging visit, we drove back down into a valley to Lake Muhazi where we had services. After the morning service, I held a Q&A Bible study and we shared a meal. Then we watched a video of my last trip through Africa, which had included a stop in Rwanda.

Meeting With an Interested Group in the Congo

The next day I started my trip to Kinshasa in the Congo, via Nairobi. Jacob Pembelongo met me at the airport and drove me into town where we met with Victor Amsini-Mapoli and Justin Tshikuma-Manenga, two other leaders of the small group seeking affiliation with UCG. We discussed the situation and progress in the group, as well as plans for the Feast of Tabernacles.

Friday evening we had a Bible study in Kinshasa, attended by about 20 adults. I answered questions about baptism, dating and marriage. Then I started an interactive discussion about how God's plan of salvation is revealed in His Holy Days. We shared a meal of rice and beef and fellowshipped after the study.

Since we were meeting outdoors on the Sabbath, we had services early to avoid the heat of the day, which can be stifling in Congo. I spoke on the meaning of the Day of Atonement, which was only five days away.

After services Justin Tshikuma-Manenga and Josée Osemi-Kahindu came to see me. They had already married some months earlier according to the local customs, but they were waiting to live together as husband and wife until a minister of the Church could ask God's blessing on their union. We read through the scriptures on marriage, and then knelt and I asked God's blessing on their union. As you can imagine, they were very happy.

I was also happy to give them a wedding present. The local official was requiring a "gift" in order to sign the papers and officially register couples as married. Sadly, this kind of corruption is omnipresent in this part of the world. The official set the price at $50 (a small fortune for them), one plastic chair and one bottle of whisky! I gave them enough to cover the cost of these things, so that they could be legally recognized as married.

During my stay in Kinshasa, we also made arrangements for Jacob to travel to Togo for the Feast of Tabernacles. Since the Holy Days are still relatively new observances for them, it was helpful to have one of their leaders keep the whole Feast in an established site.

Cameroon for Atonement

When the Cameroon Airlines flight arrived, four hours late, it turned out to be a chartered Nigerian SLOK Airline plane. SLOK had been shut down by the Nigerian government in 2004 for noncompliance with aeronautical regulations... There was supposed to be a stop in Libreville, Gabon, but the pilot announced that he was skipping Libreville and going straight on to Douala. The joys of African air travel!

Monday in Douala we had a Bible study in the new Church building, which is partially finished. This building is also a Good Works project, and greatly appreciated by the brethren in Cameroon. They asked me to express their appreciation and heartfelt thanks to all who participated in fund-raising for this project.

On the way back to my hotel in a local taxi, we had quite an experience. In a very secluded and poorly lit stretch of street, we came upon a police checkpoint. Police corruption has reached terrible proportions in much of Africa, and particularly in this country. Not content to extort bribes, some corrupt policemen are resorting to outright robbery at gunpoint.

The taxi driver and Mr. Mabout, our deacon, immediately recognized the danger of the situation. The only reason to have a checkpoint in this isolated place was so that no one else would be able to see what happened there.

Before I could say anything, the taxi driver slowed as if to stop at the armed officers waving flashlights, then at the last minute, floored the accelerator. The shouting policemen jumped out of the way, and almost immediately one of our tires blew out, probably punctured by the police. The driver kept the pedal to the floor, and we raced away on three tires until we got to a more public, better-lit area where we could replace the tire.

Thankfully these policemen did not have a vehicle, so there was no pursuit. This might be an appropriate time to again thank those of you who pray for the safety of Church elders who travel and serve in the developing world.

The next day we had a Spokesman Club meeting at the new Church hall, and I also had several counseling sessions with a number of members. That night we were stopped at a police checkpoint, this time in a well-lit, more public area. They went through my passport in minute detail trying to find something wrong so they could levy a "fine," but finally gave up and let us pass.

On Atonement we had an afternoon service and viewed some Church videos and fellowshipped until the sun set, then shared a meal prepared at a restaurant/catering service named The Promised Land, which seemed appropriate as we approached the Feast of Tabernacles.

Ivory Coast

The next day I flew to Abidjan in Ivory Coast. It took a day to be able to contact our brethren there. Mail service is not good and the phone system also has numerous problems, but I finally was able to reach the village of La Mé, where our six baptized members and about 20 other people meet.

In our discussions about the Feast of Tabernacles before the drive to La Mé, our contact man, Paul Tia, asked if it would be possible to have a little assistance for the Feast of Tabernacles. Some assistance was planned already, but I was curious about what they would request, so I asked him. He said, if possible, they would like to have a large sack of rice, some frozen fish, and a little oil to cook it all. That was all they needed to celebrate the Feasts for eight days.

So on the way to La Mé we bought a 50-kilogram (110-pound) bag of rice, 20-kilogram (44-pound) block of frozen sardines and oil. I was happy to be able to add a CD player for sermons, coffee, tea, a few liters of wine, candy for the children, powdered milk and chocolate and about 5 kilograms (11 pounds) of sugar among many other things.

When we arrived at the bamboo church hall and gathered the brethren, Paul explained what they were receiving and showed the foodstuffs to them. As each item was announced, they broke into spontaneous applause and thanked God. When the sugar, which is a rarely-purchased treat, was lifted out of the box, one woman broke into a joyful dance and sang a song of thankfulness to God. They also asked me to send their thanks to all those who have helped make this Festival assistance possible.

We had a Q&A Bible study and discussed the organization and keeping of the Feast of Tabernacles. We also sang some hymns together (they were happy to show me they are learning songs from UCG's hymnal). We enjoyed fellowshipping until it was time for me to go the airport.

On TV in Togo

My last African stop was in Togo. The Festival site this year was the village of Tsévié, about an hour from Lomé. Brethren from Togo and Benin gathered here in two rented houses, which served for lodging and services. Some members brought their Festival tithe in the form of produce from their subsistence farms.

The evening before the first day, I had the chance to present a one-hour, live telecast on a local Christian television station. I spoke about the establishment of the Kingdom of God on the earth at the return of Christ.

As I was leaving, several of the preachers waiting their turn outside the studio asked for a copy of the Church's booklet on that topic, which I had offered at the end of the program. One commented that most Christian churches just don't put enough emphasis on the Kingdom of God, to which we readily agreed! After the telecast, we gathered with our brethren at the main house and had a brief meeting and prayer to get the Feast off to an appropriate start.

On the first Holy Day, we had a morning service, shared a meal prepared by the ladies and then had a Q&A Bible study and time for lots of fellowship. Conditions were not luxurious at the site—no running water, cooking over charcoal stoves, sleeping on mats on the floor—but there was an abundance of good food, harmony and joy, and God's presence among them, as they celebrated the soon-coming Kingdom of God.

Taking my leave that night, I flew to Paris then Nice to keep the rest of the Feast at the French site. UN