Waking to a Dream

I'm now on Day 6 of my travels, and this is my first chance to update this blog. I'll try to be more consistent from now on.

My first two days were spent traveling. I was in airports and airplanes for a solid thirty hours and lost ten more hours crossing time zones before finally arriving in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Thursday night. Some highlights of these days include (but are not limited to) the following. A man in a red turban with intense eyes and an untamed beard fell asleep next to me on the plane, and his head was leaning closer and closer to my shoulder. He started awake and, much to my relief, he re-adjusted his position. What brought me no relief was that, when he had finally settled, he rested his head on my chest. At first I was shocked. Then, I was a bit irritated. Who does this guy think he is, invading my personal space? Finally, I realized the only reasonable response to the situation, and I chuckled quietly to myself and continued reading my book. I also managed to get my toiletries confiscated by the Dutch authorities. Apparently
the particular brand of body wash I use must have presented a threat to their national security.

I was "adopted" by a team here who are teaching at the Evangelical Theological College. I've learned a good deal from Steve Strauss already about theological contextualization and some of the challenges of living and teaching overseas. His class on Ethiopian Christology began today, and I enjoyed sitting in on this first session. I'll go into greater detail when I have a better sampling of the class.

The last few nights I've woken up during the night and thought that I was back home in California. It's like waking up into a dream, realizing that I'm actually in Africa. It's not only my location that is dreamlike. In a dream, have you ever found yourself doing or saying things (for better or worse!) you would never do or say in the waking world? I'm having the same sort of experience, except that I find myself saying or doing things here in Ethiopia that I wouldn't normally do in California, nor even believed myself capable of. I'll often venture into the city on my own to go exploring and will interact with strangers I meet, sometimes (rather naturally) turning the conversation to the things of God. Sometimes I'll speak with people in Amharic, not even particularly self-consciously. I know only a dozen or two phrases, but I've had more facility with the language than I had expected to have. Through all these things I can tell that God is working in me. Thank you all for your prayers!

~Jack