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restoring our biblical and constitutional foundations
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Dave’s Prayer Itinerary
Becky put together this brief prayer guide for my trip. Your intercession is greatly cherished. -- Dave
Saturday, May 24…early afternoon depart RDU, to Washington DC & then on to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; total travel time from farm to guesthouse in Addis is about 25 hours. Pray for safe travel, and that all luggage (3 large and overweight bags!) will arrive safely. He is planning to take an extra suitcase, a laptop and an over-sized flannelgraph kit.
Sunday, May 25…arrive in Addis, greeting sons, settle in Guesthouse.
Monday, May 26…logistics errands in Addis, then fly to -------. Pray for ease in getting all the logistic things done. Ethiopia is having constant, rolling electricity blackouts; often there is no electricity, and everything stops for hours! The flight to ------- is on Ethiopian Airlines…that’s a story in itself. Pray for safety. Visit our son -------’s family & school; pray for good communication for the Gospel with his mother. Settle in --------’s home for the night. Pray for a quick recovery from jet lag…the older we get, the more difficult it is to whip our bodies into line with the new clock; there is 7 hours time difference between Ethiopia & Virginia. Dave must “hit the road, running”, whether his body feels like it or not.
Tuesday, May 27 thru Saturday, May 31…every day Dave will be spending about 8 hours in training “our” evangelists as well as the leaders of the sending churches; they will be studying thru the book of Acts, to learn how the early church grew & brought the Roman world to the Savior. Evenings will be spent with seminars for the students at ------- University; this is a large university that is part of Ethiopia’s public system. On Saturday, he’ll tour the ------- Prison and also discuss biblical church leadership with a core of leaders. Pray for stamina, as he teaches, teaches & teaches some more. Pray for everyone to be focused purely & simply upon the Word of God (the Bible), removing denominationalism, tradition and personality from the study. Pray that the Holy Spirit will guide discussions & open understanding of His way. Pray that they will be able to bridge the “theory” and the “practice”, so that they become better disciples of the Lord. Pray for grace in the eyes of non-believers, and that his presence will not adversely affect the work of the evangelists; routinely, non-believers associate evangelicals with material benefit & foreign influence, which is a great hindrance to the Gospel. So Dave’s work must be very “low key”/underground. Bereket will be at Dave’s side this week; please pray that the Spirit will do a work in his heart as well, drawing him into a deeper commitment to the Lord.
Sunday, June 1…Twice a year all the evangelical churches in ----- come together for worship service; Dave will be speaking to them in this service. Then he will travel to ---- . Pray for the moving of the Spirit in response to the Scriptures during the service, and pray for safety on the road. Travel in this part of Ethiopia is quite dangerous, with many curves, narrow roads, etc. Pray also for a wonderful fellowship between the team members as they travel. Pray that Dave will get a good night’s sleep in preparation for another busy week.
Monday, June 2-Thursday, June 5….More teaching of new Christians, using only the Scriptures, living underground in the church. Again, pray that the Holy Spirit will guide, strengthen, enlighten, sustain, and that all will be done in accordance with His plan. Dave will likely be getting tired; teaching is exhaustive and ministry pulls at the core of a person. Pray for supernatural strength for him, and for wisdom as he structures his time.
Friday, June 6…return to Addis; pray for ------- as he parts from “Papa B”. Ethiopian Airlines again. Pray for safety. Overnight at the guesthouse; pray for good sleep & reunion with sons David & Nigussie.
Saturday, June 7…travel to Alaba; pray for road safety; he might be traveling in the new vehicle God has given this church! J Pray for those reviewing the new CD that I prepared, that they would catch all the errors in my Amharic!
Sunday, June 8…preaching in Alaba Town church, visiting & praying with Alaba evangelists. Pray for His Spirit to open hearts & minds to His way.
Monday, June 9-Thursday, June 12…going from rural church to rural church, meeting with the people, teaching them, praying with them, encouraging them. Pray for mutual edification and encouragement. Travel to Deda village to speak again with Halango (David’s father) about the Lord’s salvation; pray for his salvation. Visiting with son Mohammed in Alaba Prison; pray for encouragement to him. Visiting with daughter Emebet; pray for her to know the love of her Papa B for her & be encouraged. Discussions with church leaders; pray for wisdom & good communications, to work together for the Kingdom.
Friday, June 13…return to Addis; pray for road safety.
Saturday, June 14…son Fasil and Rahel’s wedding ceremony & festivities. Pray for the Lord’s blessing of joy & peace, for His own glory to shine.
Sunday, June 15…travel by public bus to Soyama, Burji with son Burge. Again, pray for road safety, and for good companionship/mentoring with Burge during travel. The war between the Guji tribe and the Burji tribe continues at this writing; pray for cessation of hostilities, so that Kingdom business can go forward without unnecessary problems. Pray for Dave’s safety during his visit.
Monday, June 16-Friday, June 20…meeting with Burji leaders; pray for wisdom & good communication and for mutual edification/encouragement. Travel to the nomads with Burge & son Worku, to share the Gospel with them. Pray for safety, health, stamina, and especially an open door for the Gospel amongst these dear people who are so disconnected from the outside world. Our Lord willing, Dave will return to these people in November with some men from the Burji Coalition of Roxboro, NC.; so this trip is also a “fact finding mission”.
Saturday, June 21…bus back to Addis. Pray for road safety, and comfort as goodbyes are said once again! Mission work entails many “goodbyes”; it is never easy to part from loved ones.
Sunday, June 22…final errands & church service in Addis; return flight to USA departs late that evening. Pray for ease & safety of travel.
Monday, June 23…1:40pm, our Lord willing, he will arrive back at RDU, rejoicing in the Lord’s care, protect & provision, made possible in large part by your prayers for him!
May 24, 2008