Saturday, April 15

Greetings Res Family!
 
I have just arrived safely in Kigali, Rwanda after an uneventful and even enjoyable 20 hour trip.  The highlight of the first leg to Brussels was not only getting a window seat which facilitated about 3 hours of sleep, but friends from my old church in Raleigh as well as bishops and clergy from North and South Carolina were on the flight. It was a great reunion and a foretaste of things to come this week.
 
When we arrived in Brussels, I was greeted by my good friend and ALI teammate Bishop Trevor Walters who was flying in from Montreal. After a fun breakfast together, we boarded our flight for the 9 hour flight to Rwanda. There were more than 7 bishops and 30 clergy and spouses on our flight and there were a great many reunions and good conversations. Who knows why we had to fly around Sudan airspace and got great views of the Red Sea en route.
 
My seat mate for this second flight was a 26 year old from Colorado who is working for a Christian micro financing organization which serves the poorest of the poor around the world. What an amazing ministry! Not only did he guide for Noah’s Ark Outfitters in Colorado a few years ago (the same outfitters ALI uses for our pastors trips) but he was a great source of information about Rwanda. He told me (and it has since been confirmed) that Kigali is the most beautiful, clean, and safe city in all of Africa! After seeing little bit of it tonight, I am very impressed.
 
Getting through customs was easy, and the GAFCON welcoming team was out in full force to bus us to our hotel. The hotel conference center is brand new and modern, and they are expecting over 1,000 delegates to arrive in the next 36 hours. After getting settled, I had dinner with Pittsburgh’s Church of the Ascension’s Rector, the Rev Jonathan Millard and his wife Andrea. 
 
Tomorrow I am going to sleep in, explore the city in the early afternoon, and join you all for worship online at 3:00pm. (We are 6 hours ahead.) This should be an amazing conference, and there is a lot of buzz about what the Lord may be doing in establishing new instruments of unity throughout the Anglican communion. I am so grateful to be here.
 
Please join me in praising God for safe travel, great conversations, and good health. I am praying for you all as you gather for worship and I look forward to what God has in store tomorrow.
 
Gratefully in Christ,
David