District...er...Regional Convention

It's hard to get used to that new name, isn't it? After all, how long has it been that we have had districts? At least since the 1950s, when the conventions were called "district assemblies"?

Anyway, a number from our congregation attended the French regional convention last week. (Since there are conventions in only Kinyarwanda, Swahili, and French, and none in English, except in Uganda and Kenya, I thought this was my only option. The English congregation as a whole, along with all of Kigali, is assigned to the Kinyarwanda convention at the stadium in Nyamirambo. More about that one in August.)

The French convention was held at the Assembly Hall in Kicukiro, which is a 10-minute, one-bus trip from my place. (Or a half-hour walk, if you so choose.) You no doubt remember my post about the BSCC graduation. Well, the convention was at the same location.

I had originally planned to attend the entire French convention, but after the first day, I realized I understood maybe half of the program. It depended on the speaker's speed, accent, etc. Also, later that evening I unexpectedly got access to an entire official English program! So I skipped the last two days of the French one.

By the way, my bank funds became accessible, so after several days of self-denial, I'm back to eating at buffets and surfing the internet! It's interesting that on the third day of this restrictive regime, a brother said to me, completely out of the blue: "Brian, you look very thin and tired. Have you been eating enough lately?" So I had to tell him about the banking situation, and he insisted on lending me a few thousand to tide me over, even though I said I didn't want to bother anyone. Funny how this happened?

After all I've written about Mr. Han, my Bible student, I haven't yet posted a picture of him. Until now. Here he is, with his 6-year-old son. (He also has a 5-year-old daughter. And a wife.) They come from Inner Mongolia.

Also, remember the Ugandan man I started a study with? During the one and only study I have had so far with him, I learned he was a carpenter and explained my predicament of the table that wouldn't fit through the doorway. The next day, he graciously came to my aid by removing the table's top from the base (and they are very heavy, by the way), hiring a truck to transport it the half-mile to my house, then reassembling it inside the house! When I asked about the possibility of his making a small cabinet for me to cook on and store kitchen utensils, he said no problem, he had plenty of extra timber at his workshop to make such a cabinet and, moreover, he would put a marble top on it. All this, and steadfastly refusing to accept any payment whatsoever! Anyone who is so kind must be a real sheeplike person. So we are continuing our study and, in fact, he has plans to come to our meeting also.

Look at the table now! And I'm rich!

P.S.: I'm so glad to bask in 78° weather here, while Beijing has been 95°-100° recently!