As many of you know, Rhome has been out of the country teaching pastors on the mission field for the last few weeks. This is the first email that I have received from him in a long time. Here it is.

Dear Friends,  Greetings from the Middle East. I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to give you all an update but things are not always as predictable in Africa as one would like. I’ll give you a brief update but know that everything is going well.

Sudan: This was the most difficult place I have ever been. We did a one week course on Bible Study Methods for a group of 47 pastors. Southern Sudan has been embroiled in war for at least the last 20 years. There is very little infrastructure, and everything is challenging (finding clean water, very little food, lack of travel because all roads are still full of land mines, militant Islam, no power, etc). The church there faces many tribal problems that run deep through the Sudanese history (all the way back to Isaiah 18). The work was difficult but rewarding. I’ll give more details when I get back.  After “escaping” Sudan (I’ll explain more on that later) we had a day in Nairobi, Kenya before heading to Tanzania where I was to catch up on email. Unfortunately every internet café that I went to had there internet down and so rather then catching up at then end of each week, I fell further behind.Mount Kilimanjaro: Having a few days between ministry in Sudan and ministry in Sri Lanka we (a missionary from BEE World and me) set out to climb the tallest mountain in Africa. The seven day trek required a team of 9 people (2 guides, a cook, 4 porters plus Kevin and myself) and last Friday at 10:50 pm Dallas time I stood at the highest point in all of Africa (19,340 feet above sea level). Besides learning how to live without oxygen (not easy) it was a great experience where I learned a lot. I have never has such a physically demanding 7 days in my entire life.  From Tanzania we were off to Sri Lanka (so we thought) and my understanding was that the internet would be readily available and I would be able to catch up. However, what we didn’t know is that while we were climbing Kilimanjaro, the Sri Lankan rebels mounted there first ever air raid against the government (in about 20 years of civil war). Thus they closed the airports and canceled all commercial flights to Sri Lanka. We only learned this when we were to transfer planes and airlines in Dubai ( United Arab Emirates). Thus the confusion began as to where we were to go and what we were to do.The long and the short of it is that there is no way to get to Sri Lanka and so as soon as I can sort out all of my connections, I’ll be returning home through Zurich, Switzerland. I am grateful for all of the prayers and look forward to speaking with everyone once I’m back. I’ll now have a few days to catch up on the 487 emails that I managed to fall behind on.  Blessings from Dubai,

Rhome Dyck

C Michael Patton
C Michael Patton

C. Michael Patton is the primary contributor to the Parchment and Pen/Credo Blog. He has been in ministry for nearly twenty years as a pastor, author, speaker, and blogger. Find him on Patreon Th.M. Dallas Theological Seminary (2001), president of Credo House Ministries and Credo Courses, author of Now that I'm a Christian (Crossway, 2014) Increase My Faith (Credo House, 2011), and The Theology Program (Reclaiming the Mind Ministries, 2001-2006), host of Theology Unplugged, and primary blogger here at Parchment and Pen. But, most importantly, husband to a beautiful wife and father to four awesome children. Michael is available for speaking engagements. Join his Patreon and support his ministry

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