The first chapter of the ACDI truck saga ended this morning.  It started on March 7th.  MIVA Suisse, a Catholic Christian mission devoted to solving transportation and communication problems for church projects around the world, approved ACDI's proposal to purchase a small transport truck. An unlikely coalition of American Baptist churches and individuals joined in the projet. emptytomb, a Champaign, IL-based foundation promoting increased commitment to God's global mission, added another $8.000 to the gifts of local congregations. And this morning, nearly eight months later, Timothée Kabila pulled up to the Lusekele depot, riding shotgun at the end the truck's maiden voyage, Kinshasa to Lusekele, carrying a load of supplies for the Vanga Evangelical Hospital.

So the Lusekele staff starts off a new week with one tangible sign of God's accompanying presence. A new chapter, one of promise and challenge, opens. The truck is nothing more than an instrument. On the face of it, the truck's purpose is simple: transport hospital and health zone supplies; give farmers regular farm-to-processor transportation for manioc and oil palm fruit; carry a steady supply of agricultural raw materials to Lusekele for processing. But the real objective is contributing to the wholeness and well-being of people. If in four years hundreds of local families can say they are better off because of this truck, we will be satisfied. It is simply a fruit of God's deep and abiding love for people, a love that we have known about all along.