Weekly - 2 mars 09

Weekly - 23 fev 09

Cook Weekly - 23 fevrier 2009

Matt has agreed to attend a conference in Bangui, Central African Republic in May on the future of African Theology. This is a big conference on contextualization (one of Matt's main interests) and he will be representing the World Evangelical Alliance – Theological Commission.
Pray for good communication leading to this conference and during this conference.

Cook weekly - 16 février 2009

We've had many answers to prayers lately and we thank you for your willingness to pray us through so many things. Thanks to your prayers we're enjoying a car in the garage, piano in my office, good health, a good workshop for the women's program teachers at FATEAC and our refrigerator that was dying is still in the kitchen (recharged with freon). Wow, God is so good. Enclosed is a picture of Elise and me at the workshop. Elise is our pastor's wife and a graduate of FATEAC.  Since I don't teach at the women academy, I was there mainly to get to know the other teacher's. It was a wonderful 4 days.

Love, Cindy
FATEAC Team
CMA missionary

__________________________________________________________________

PS. Below is something we want you all to know about, please read about this scam. It's actually quite serious and scary to think that we could have been sucked into this.

(Matt writes) Please be careful about sending money to Africa.  THERE IS A NEW SCAM and I do not want one of you may have your money stolen when you are only trying to help a friend.
Admittedly, we have asked for money for numerous projects, but the pathway of sending that money has always been very clearly legitimate and tax-deductable.  Make sure that it is always that way!  Don't send money by Western Union...especially to Nigeria.

We just received an e-mail from a friend's e-mail address that I believe is a new scam.  It's difficult to be sure because it comes from someone's e-mail address with whom I have corresponded. My guess is that someone else has broken into their address and is trying to get money from everyone in their address book.  Here is what the e-mail looked like.  If it possible that your friend really does need help, ask questions that only she or he would be able to answer or offer to call them to verify their voice.


Subject: WE NEED YOUR HELP URGENTLY

Hello,
 
 
How are you doing, I am sorry i did'nt inform you about our traveling to Africa for a seminar called Empowering Youth to Fight Racism, Bringing HIV /AIDS Education to Health Care, the seminar has taking place in two africa state which are Yamoussoukro and Kampala and now in Ibadan, Nigeria. Please we need your help because we forgot our little bag in a Taxi where my wallet, document are kept presently we are having problems with the hotel about the hotel bill that we are owing and the money to pay the hotel bill was kept inside the lost wallet when we are returning back from the seminar. Please i want you to help us with some money to pay the hotel bill that we are owning which is $1,800 also with an extra sum of $1,000 to accommodate myself back home.
 
 
Below are the information to send the money by western union money transfer and i will appreciate what so ever amount you can afford to send me and my wife for now and let me have the money transfer control number after the money is send. I promise to pay you back  when i return back home and explain everything that happen to you.
 
 
Name :--- My friend's name was typed here
 
 
Address:--- 101 Premier Hill
City:--- Ibadan
Country:--- Nigeria,
Zip Code:--- 23402
Text Question:--- Money To
Text Answer:--- SIGLY
Amount:---  $2800
 
Immediately you send the money to me,i want you to mail me the confirmation details i need to recieve the money over here in Nigeria which include the following bellow
MTCN #:
SENDER'S NAME:
AMOUNT YOU SEND:
Regards
Thanks
Again, the e-mail was signed with my friend's name

The Piano has arrived

No one ever accused the French government of creating efficient systems and nobody ever accused the African versions of those systems of running especially well.
This week we received, with great delight and thanks to God, our piano (Yamaha electric), which had been shipped from the US via Emirates Air. What follows is the story of getting it through customs (a French designed, African run system). If you're too busy to read it, just thank God that he is powerful and answers when we call. (Spoiler: the piano is set up in Cindy's office, and she loves having it again.)

Monday: I called the shipping agent from Emirates Air to confirm that the piano was there. It was.
Tuesday: The drive from home to airport is about 45 minutes. I arrived at 9:15 and met the shipping agent. He took me to the appropriate office to pick up the paperwork (and pay $40) after which he said, “OK, I'm done. You have the paperwork. Now you need to hire a “transitaire” (someone to carry the paperwork back and forth between the customs officials to make sure everything happens that is necessary). I said that I was there and would handle it myself. He said, “No. That won't work. Here is one. Hire her.” I agreed and we started off. I thought it would be interesting to count how many steps there were to getting the piano. That first morning we did 7 and then it was strongly suggested that I return home because there was no way the piano could be released that day. The transitaire's boss said that he would call tomorrow when it was ready. I said I'd be back in the morning to pick it up. I left at 11:30a.m., having paid $300: $100 for the piano, $200 for the transitaire (I don't know if they had to pay any bribes, but I was never made aware of that happening.)

Wednesday: I again arrived near 9:15. I sat with other transitaires all morning discussing baptism, clergy roles, and other Christian topics. Not a bad way to spend the morning. When I asked about the piano, all I heard was that the network was down and so not much was happening. I decided I needed to intervene. I told them that after lunch, I was going with them to the offices to help things move along. They said, “No problem. When everyone comes back from lunch at 3, we'll go together.” What time does the warehouse close? 5:30.
I hadn't come prepared with lunch or even water so I just sat there. The transitaire asked if I was going out for lunch. I replied, “No. I'll eat after I have the piano.” That became my refrain for the rest of the day. I hadn't thought of it before deciding not to eat, but the Christian practice of “fasting” is all about not eating in order to ask God for specific grace in some area. Here was an area where we needed specific grace. So, I spent lunch time (11:30 to 3) reading, praying, sleeping (in a chair). When everyone returned, they were amazed that I had not moved. “I'll eat after I have the piano.” So we started.
In the first office, I didn't have much impact. It took an hour and 15 minutes to get a signature. (Now 4:15). Second office, we needed a customs official to look at the piano in order to verify that it really was a piano. Of course, we had done this yesterday. When I asked about the redundancy, the transitaire said, “Yesterday was a lower official. This is a higher official.” I didn't bother to tell her that the redundancy still made no sense to me. We went to the warehouse and went through the repeated scramble to find a pass to get in. (Anyone with a pass may go in, but there are not enough passes to go around. So friends regularly lend their pass – with photo ID – to each other so they can go in. They maintain the form of security without the power thereof.) I didn't get a pass that time, so I handed the keys to the piano to the transitaire. I assume they saw the piano. We returned to the office where I watched one official read the paper; another play solitaire on the computer; and our guy at his desk.
Our transitaire was so freaked out by my mantra “I'll eat after I have the piano” that she told everybody when we arrived in an office. My guess is that she was concerned for my health (physical or mental). So, everyone in the office knew I was a pastor and was not eating. I asked what the holdup was. They said the network was down again. I replied, “I don't have time for the network to be down. It will come up.” Just then it came up. (I'm glad I did that praying during lunch.) Seeing this, the head of the office asked that I bless them. I said I would if they could get my paperwork out of there in 7 minutes. (It was already 4:53). So, they skipped typing it into the computer and just signed off with handwritten version. I called on God for rich blessings for that office. I was grateful for their work.
Next office: the transitaire just dropped off the paperwork. I wanted to go into the office, but she wouldn't let me because she said the man gets mad if pressured. I told her that I'd go to the warehouse (which was next) to make sure they didn't close before we could get there. On the way out of the building, I saw one of the men from the “blessed” office. He told me where the head of the warehouse was and gave me the exact words to speak to him. I went straight to the top. When the chief heard the situation, he called the man in whose office our paperwork was sitting and asked him to rush it through. At the same time, he called his man on the floor of the warehouse and told him that my piano needed to get out that day. Again, God prepared a good reception.
The transitaire, who all day had been saying, “just come back tomorrow, we can't possibly get this out today” started to see that the piano was getting out. After picking up the paperwork, she dispatched friends to get carbon paper, paperclip, photocopying done and other multiple steps. I just kept walking because I knew the next step. What would normally take an hour, she did in 5 minutes. We were close.
It was 5:30 when we entered the warehouse. We found passes into the warehouse this time because we had the guy who runs the place with us. He ordered two passes from a drawer somewhere. They were new; nobody uses them apparently. My transitaire was off somewhere getting signatures while I spotted the piano and (with the help of the staff) pulled it to the front of the warehouse. There again, there were a half dozen signatures to get; the transitaire was jumping from one desk to another and back again to get the signatures in the right order.
When I drove away a little before 6, I know the transitaire was relieved to see me go. The crazy pastor who wouldn't go home (I offered to sleep on the floor of the office of the head of customs department once when she suggested that I return the next day) and who wouldn't eat until the piano was released.
I knew the system worked, it just needed some pressure by an outsider and some lubricant by the power of God. The piano is set up in Cindy's office, and she loves having it once again.

Thursday: The head of the “blessed” office called our home to make sure that Matt and the piano had arrived safely. Cindy assured him that they had and thanked him greatly.

COOK Weekly - le 9 février 2009

Dear friends and family:

Attached you'll find this weeks letter in pdf format. Thank you for partnering with us even through mundane tasks like getting our belongings out of customs. These items are paid for through your giving to our Work Special. If you'd like to continue to help us with this, please Click here (Matt Cook Work Special).

Blessings,
Matt & Cindy Cook
FATEAC Team, Cote d'Ivoire

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