Vitamins for the Heart
by W. Schmidt: If we want to travel to Mushapo from Kinshasa, we have to first fly to Tshikapa and then go by road about 60 km through the bush to our school. The road is getting worse all the time and especially in the rain it was too bad to travel by car. We had to hire motorbikes to go there and these bike riders are real heroes in my eyes. On the way they had to argue with different officials on a road barrier who asked for vehicle papers, road taxes etc. but mainly wanted some bribes. They gave them some money, but it was not enough. It went back and forth for about an hour and we lost precious time. Dark rain clouds were coming up and we were only at the beginning of our trip. The situation looked bleak and our white skin doesn’t help in…
by W. Schmidt: On my way from Prague to Congo I left by snow and freezing weather. The plane had to wait for the runway to get cleared for takeoff. On the way out we had to stop as a special truck on each side sprayed the plane free from ice and snow. All this delayed our departure so that it was a question if I would get my ongoing flight in Frankfurt. Some people had to wait for the next day as they missed their plane. For those who travelled in the same direction as I did, a special bus was provided to bring us directly to our next plane. On top of it – I don’t know how they did it – by the time we got to the plane they even had our luggage on that plane – another miracle I was very thankful for, as you…
by Marie Story: There’s no historical record of the date of Jesus’ birth. There has been speculation—some say it was in the spring, others say it was in the fall—but no one really knows for sure what day He was born. There’s no historical evidence that He was born on December 25th. We’re also pretty sure there wasn’t a Christmas tree, turkey, or carolers in attendance. So why do we celebrate His birthday on December 25th? And what’s the deal with the tree, the carolers, and all the rest of our modern traditions? People really only began celebrating Jesus’ birth on December 25th around 350 AD. It then took hundreds of years before Christmas was widely accepted by Christians as a celebration of Jesus’ birth, mainly because many of our modern Christmas traditions have their roots in ancient pagan history. December 25th was originally the celebration of the birth of…