hey yall,

it’s cliff again, and probably for the last time since we’ll be leaving in less than a week.  we’re leaving abeche for ndjamena (the capital of chad) on wed through a service by a missionary who fly’s missionaries and their supplies back and forth.  we’ll leave chad late thurs. night and arrive in atlanta friday afternoon.  please pray for the travel. i hope i have done some justice in relaying the few events that i was able to write about thus far.

this week has surprisingly been different from all of the rest even though we’ve been back in abeche for another week since i last wrote.  we went and lived with another couple who is on the team across town and their two kids at their place for a few nights.  as a side note, the “team” actually consist of about 12 adults and 12 kids all who are with pioneers and attempting to reach the t@m@ people group up north from abeche (where we went and lived for a week).  the team has a few objectives like learning their tribal language, translating the Bible into their language FOR THE FIRST TIME, teaching Bible stories to locals, and ultimately planting a church/s in the t@m@ village!! each of these adults on the team have their specialties including engineering, nursing, midwivery, physician assistant, construction, and even a vet that all are using their gifts/education to reach the town up north who has a majority of the people group they have all set forth to reach.

so at the house this week, we were happy to find that at random times throughout the week, they would get power!! and when they did, let me tell you how much we appreciated the fact that the ceiling fans were rotating!!! until then we would just be thankful for the random breezes that would come through the room.  not to mention it helps sleeping at night if they’re on!!! also, the floor to their “shower” (term used lightly) wasn’t dirt and the water would actually drain!! we loved this about the redford’s dwelling!!  also it has been pretty hot here, so i ended up finding some clippers….and as it stands, my facial hair is longer than the hair on my head, which isn’t saying much for what’s on top!!! carson, you’d be proud! mom you would not! all of us cannot wait to shave though! but it’s been here at the redford’s that we’ve gone out into the town in two’s to fellowship with strangers!  we’ll go buy something small from their store and then they’ll ask us to sit down on a mat outside their “ducon” (a small room with materials that they call a store) so we can all talk.  they love hearing us mess up at their language, and usually try to learn something in english!  we’ve gotten good at sign language!

we’ve learned this month that the world has a clock, it’s time, then chad and the people living here have their own version of time which really doesn’t exist….which means there’s no telling when folks will arrive, and also there is no obligation for you to leave a gathering/fellowship for something else!  so lack of better words things are always “subject to change!”  we’ve verbalize this with the arabic phrase “in sha allah,” which means “if God wills” we will do this or that (which is actually Biblical)!

yesterday we got to go to a library run by christian missionaries from cameroon (country to the south of chad) and help carry on conversation with local muslims from abeche.  we were asked to come with a topic for everyone to talk about that we could hopefully relate back to our faith!  so, our topic….”why does evil exist” was discussed from all angles for about an hour and half.  it was interesting hearing their point of view all coming from muslim backgrounds.  we sure took for granted the simplicity of communicating not only in our language, but also with our “christian terms.”  for example the analogy was being used that Jesus covers our “evil” and God no longer see us but sees “perfect” Jesus!  one of the local fellas, began rubbing his chin in deep thought, and says, “how can God not see us?”   we have learned a lot about communicating the Word of God to these people on their terms (no pun intended, ha) and more than anything, out of love!  you have to work so hard here to cross a lot of barriers, we all have agreed that we take this ease for granted in back home!  so long story…made longer, we ended up being able to share the entire story of Jesus with these local guys.  some maybe for the first time.  it was definitely one of the highlights of the trip, and we will get to go back on tuesday to finish the convo with them!  pray for these fellas specifically b/c they were really trying to wrap their mind around the fact that Jesus died for us….and wasn’t just a prophet!

today we’re going to spend some time with the locals at their stores again and then this afternoon, all of the local missionary organizations are getting together to go hike.  it’s really nice still having fellowship with the body through events like this and getting together on Sundays to worship.  it’s been encouraging, as i have wrote before, seeing the many different tasks out here by believers but the one commonality of us all still brings us together with a comforting bond!  that bond is easily transferred through something as simple as a smile when you see another individual from another organization around town in the midst of muslims everywhere!

well i’m gonna sign off, and thank you all for sending us and the giving of yourselves, time, and money for the sake of glorifying our Lord!  i hope to inform people back home of the huge need for people mainly, but also resources so that this t@m@ people group may one day be able to read the Word of God in their own language and worship Him in their tribal tongue.  we hope to bring back even more stories that you haven’t heard yet, visual images of where we’ve been, lessons we been taught, and a new way of living sent where ever we may end up!  thank you again, i am truly thankful for you.

-cliff

We spent the last week north of here in a smaller town, preparing for the first step in the team’s eventual move. The drive was broken into two parts with a small town in between. The first is relatively smooth (not paved) and only takes about one and a half hours. The second portion is a lot more like off-roading and it took about four hours.

After a pretty good week of work up there we headed back this way early Friday morning. We made the tough leg of the trip in about three hours because rains the night before made the road soft. At the small-town half way point we were supposed to meet someone. We got there at about 10:45. The folks we met arrived at about 5:00. Chad happens.

Needless to say, five westerners sitting in the town center was somewhat of an attraction. We were parked in front of what is best described as a restaurant (a grill, a goat, and freezer full of Coke and Pepsi). We were seemingly blessed with some kind of amazing patience because no one ever really got mad at the situation. In fact, we actually had a good time fellowshipping and just joking around with the locals. We taught “English” to some kids (“what’s up dawg,” “foshizzlemynizzle,” “what?” “show me the money!”), chatted with random folks, and shared sweet tea (their version is hot) at the restaurant.

The time seemed a complete waste until about four hours in when a man working at the restaurant approached us. He was from Sudan and had fled to Chad after the arab nomads had driven him from his home. If you are unfamiliar with what is happening in Darfur, google it. He asked us why the Arabs were so mean, despite sharing their faiths, and why the westerners (whom these folks assume are all Christian) there providing aid are so nice. Essentially, he wanted to know what it was about a Christian that made them good. A door was opened for the gospel.

After about fifteen minutes he left the conversation with a smile. As he walked back, he had a contemplative and, honestly, somewhat overwhelmed looked on his face. The man went back to work but it was obvious that the wheels were turning. It was probably the first time that he had heard the Gospel.

He is not alone. His tribe does not have a gospel witness. The Word is not translated into his language. There are zero missionaries working with his people. Imagine what it would be like to not have access to the gospel. What if no one had written the Word in English? What if no one who spoke English could tell you about Christ because none of them knew for themselves?

I’ve been dwelling on that a lot lately.

-Jordan

so it’s been a while since we’ve had any communication to anyone, including our parents of whom we just sent a quick message saying we were ok only yesterday! it’s been a full first couple of days already. we intended on arriving and either traveling east towards abeche fri. night or going sat. morning. our transportation needed some work done before we made our trek, so the lack of a mechanic has pushed our departure date back to tomorrow.
the plan from here is to head to abeche tomorrow morning (tues). it’s a 2 day trip with one day being about an 8 hour drive and the next 6hrs. we’ll be stopping after the halfway mark with some missionaries that live “in the bush” with an unreached people group. we’ll head to abeche where we’ll be staying at an orphanage for a week then on up to an unreached people group for a week or two.

we all feel like we’ve already been here for ages! waiting around till we can “head out” has been tough b/c we all want to get out of the capital to where these people groups are.

there are a few things that we have already experienced that has been nothing like any of us have ever seen or heard of! for one, it’s hot, really hot. it’s not as humid as georgia, but the heat plus no electricity during the day makes for interesting ways of beating the heat. it was 102 today in the shade, and that was “cool” to these folk!! sleeping is a challenge and it is greatly appreciated when the fan at night is on!

another challenge is the language. ndjamena is very poor. chadians from all over the country that speak french, chadian arabic, a tribal language, or all 3 all convene here in the capital to make for some confusing situations at times. we all can say about 2 words in both french and arabic that the people will actually say “hey” back!

sorry if i’m leaving something out but we just got done packing for tomorrow and we don’t have much time to get this posted. we’ll try to get something out when we get to the UN in abeche. thanks for your prayers, we’ll be in the bush soon!

-Cliff

so yeah a lot of neat stuff/history here.  we’ve been really busy during the day learning what to expect from the muslim people from some who have worked with muslims for years at a time.  i tell ya, our media sure does a good job of perceiving these people in the way they want to.  from what we’re told by a woman (kat) who lived  with the muslims for years in pakistan, is that they are very welcoming to you and actually expect us to stand up for what we believe to them!  how different of a mind frame is this from the U.S.!  we seem to tip toe around so much the “politically right” way to easily share our faith with a lot of people who don’t think you should be bold in what you believe!  these people are very direct.  this woman was very neat and had some great advice and knowledge to pass on. supposedly its ok and even expected to burp at the table (mom, i’ll fit right in) as they see it being an act of thankfulness and enjoying their meal. we’re trying to deplete ourselves of the things we know as being the “right” way to do things and remember we’re going there to share Christ’s love with them in THEIR world, not convert them to the way we do things!  the factor of the unknown is surrounded by excitement just b/c we don’t know what to expect!!

we met  a big group here on monday and they all left this morning.  lotta neat folks from all over the uk.  ireland, scottland (where braveheart is filmed), wales, and all over the london part.  we’ve been learning with them since they are headed for burkina faso, a muslim country on the western part of africa.  the accents are hilarious and we’ve had a lotta fun with them!  i’m getting the irish accent down!  they think our southern twaiiin is funny and we’re trying to convert them! ha!  we pulled up our sermon from watkinsville 1st baptist last night, and they were astounded by the pastors drawn out speech.  we’ve been learning a lot of english ways/words/phrases that are common to the english people over here.  we’ve studied the bible, prayed, taken communion, and sang with these people too.  it’s awesome that although there are many different backgrounds, accents, cultures, there is still one common theme that no one has had to question anything about….our God!  it’s comforting to know that our God truly never changes, and these people although they do a lot of weird stuff and say a lot of stuff i don’t know the american translation for, their faith is in the same God that ours is in.  we worship and study the bible like we have grown up in the same church all our lives….and after talking/laughing for days on end how different our cultures are, the consistency of our Lord has stuck out to me so much!  i love it! we got up this morning to see our new friends off to the airport at “30 past 5″ as they would say! it was kinda sad, but neat knowing we now have met brothers and sisters on the other side of the world!  they have promised to come visit and see a uga football game!! n i hope we can find enough tickets! these people have truly blessed us with their zeal for our Lord!

we’re resting today, because we have been going since we got here, and are leaving tomorrow for manchester airport again to fly to paris for a layover, and then to arrive at 11:30 friday night in N’djamena.  it’s 11:13am now in england, and 6:13am in the states (5hrs. ahead).  when we arrive in chad tomorrow we’ll be 7 hrs. ahead.  we might add this to our blog just to keep folks that aren’t on this email tag, up to date.  hope yall are doing fantastic and we praying for yall too.  we are overwhelmed by the number of people that are involved with this trip simply through prayer!  it’s humbling that we are able to be in this position and encouraging to see the passion of people from home with a desire for the nations!  one thing that has stuck ou to me lately regarding the body, is the time Jesus was praying to God in John 17, for the disciples to be protected and to be ONE as Him and the Father were one.  He then shortly after prays the same thing for all believers and even caps it off by saying “so the world may know You have sent me and loved them as You have loved Me!” what an amazing picture Jesus paints for us on the importance of the Body of Christ…to be one as Him and the Father are one!  we have truly seen the body in action through everyone’s commitment in praying for us to reach others for the Glory of our Lord! thank you.

-Cliff

Cliff and Justin left for England on Saturday as planned, but Benji and I weren’t lucky enough to get seats. After some wrangling, we determined that we would just wait for the same flight on Sunday. So we got a hotel and waited. The wait was worth it: we both ended up flying business class and it was glorious.

Cliff and Justin were in Manchester for the England/Germany match and got to see just how rabid these folks are for football. They arrived in Bawtry Sunday evening and got settled in.

Benji and I finally got here on Monday about noon. After we got the grand tour (and I mean that – this place has about 50 rooms) more Edge (the program we are loosely associated with and who are conducting this orientation) team members began to arrive. The other team is going to Burkina Faso and is comprised of five guys and five girls and they represent every country except Scotland (and we have a Scot here on staff so we’ve got all the bases covered). Aside from Scott, a staff member (who Juice prayed for as “Jeff” before Benji and I arrived) we are the only Americans.

After some brief introductions to the program we had a nice dinner (baked chicken, potatoes, stuffing, gravy, corn, and broccoli followed by bread pudding and English tea) that devolved into Cliff and I launching potatoes at one another via spoon catapult. Do not be alarmed, everyone here is laid back and we’re having a lot of fun with everything.

We finished the night essentially playing hide and seek in this mansion. With 17 people and 50+ rooms, it was very difficult to find people. It was a surprising bit of fun and really helped to get to know one another. We played it in some for for about three hours!

That where things stand. We are safe and healthy, save for a little exhaustion. Hope to post again soon. Oh, internet here is dodgy (English lexicon) but we will keep trying.

-Jordan

Soon to come: (1) I am building a listserv to send out updates while we are there (assuming we can); (2) I am working on other ways to update the blog that might work with a weaker internet connection; (3) I am working on a prayer request list; (4) USA – Ghana at the airport (USA! USA! USA!).

Thanks again everyone!

To be honest, we barely had half. That’s all changed. In ways only He can work out, the Lord has done some amazing things for this trip in the last few days!

• First and foremost, we got to be part of an awesome service at Watkinsville First Baptist this past Sunday. It was one of the most humbling experiences of my entire life and the Lord showed me a lot about grace in the process.
• To top it off, I was baptized by Pastor Carlos right after the service!
• Justin had a similar service in Milledgeville that he said was also phenomenal (I need to get down there sometime).
• Cliff called a friend from college who’s mom hooked us up with a buddy pass for the flight from Atlanta to England. That saved us $1200!
• Justin was sent away from church with a couple hundred dollars in hand from gracious members who were moved by what God is doing.
• I just got off the phone with another family with airline ties that delivered another buddy pass, saving us another $1700 (they paid the ticket in full)!
• …and literally just got off the phone with Benji, Cliff’s cousin came through with a final buddy pass (Justin bought a ticket already). There’s another $1200 accounted for!

As of now, we are getting pretty close to having everything paid for! I don’t have any solid numbers in front of me right now especially with all this stuff going on) but I think we are about $1000 -$2000 down right now. Let’s keep praying that the Lord will provide for this trip for His glory!

I post music on here from time to time just because I can and, as you may have gathered, I have a taste for gospel rap. This song released today and, although a lot of you probably won’t go out and buy the CD, the song says exactly what I’m feeling right now… “I ain’t got no worries, we ain’t worried ’bout a thing!” God is good!

[lyrics below the video on youtube for anyone interested]

-Jordan

Thank you all!