Source: Global Recordings Network, August 27, 2025
We stood in an unnamed African airport at 1:30 am, holding a $600 invoice for duty on the recording equipment that we had brought with us. We had just completed an overnight train ride and an overnight flight in the shadow of the earth and had finally arrived at our destination. The head of customs curtly ordered us to leave the inspection room and report to the office [to pay duty] on this invoice.
She said she could see from our itinerary that we had been traveling close to 30 hours. She also noticed my age from my passport, which she was holding. She asked, “Why is someone your age doing this? Who is paying you? Don’t you have children and grandchildren to enjoy?” She told me that if we had been carrying Bibles as missionaries, she would let it go. But she couldn’t see why all this new electronic equipment was necessary.
I told her that we had something better than Bibles. We had the story of Jesus in more than 500 languages of her country. I asked what she spoke as a first language, and she told me. While I was trying to find it, she kept asking me who was paying me to do this…
Read the full story. It’s a good one!