Our volunteers did a great job. They broke many barriers and made great relationships. They also dealt with their fair share of spiritual warfare. We pray that they come back many more times.
Now that they have left we need to make our announcement. At the end of July we will be moving to Dar es Salaam to serve our fellow missionaries in the role of Logistics Coordinator. David will be taking care of houses, cars, and government paperwork for the Baptist mission, as well as many other physical needs.
Our hearts are still with the Kuria people, but God has made it clear that this is what He wants for our family at this time. He will use us to further His kingdom wherever we are if we make ourselves available. And, as one of our pastors said, whether any of us are here or not, God will continue His work in bringing salvation to the Kuria.
Please continue to pray for our circumcision committee. We had gotten to a point of trying to convice them to continue without any outside funding. David and I were personally providing funds for the meetings, which included a per diem for committee members when they attended a meeting. There are no funds to pay for Christian circumcision and this was never our intent. We wanted the people to believe in it and do it on their own.
So, in this situation our departure is not a bad thing. We can say there are no funds, but it is seldom believed. They are now forced to decide if they believe in this or not. If they do, they will continue the work. If they do not, it will die. We have done all we can in educating them about this new possibility. The rest is up to them.
Please pray for our family in this time of transition. We have never lived in a big city before and our lives will be very different.
Continue to also pray for the Kuria people. We truly believe that the time has come for the darkness here to be broken and the light of salvation to break through.
Blessings.
Friday, July 6, 2012
Monday, May 7, 2012
Rights of Passage Training Meeting
We had a wonderful rites of passage training meeting last week. I want to thank everyone who faithfully prayed for this meeting. It was a wonderfully beneficial time in so many ways.
Two gentleman from the TANARI Trust in Nairobi (www.tanari.org), Steve and Hosea, spent two days with us teaching on rites of passage, their meaning in life, and ways that we can facilitate them in a Christian manner. They are excellent teachers and we feel so blessed that they came.
This was a great way to launch our committee. They were able to see the bigger picture of what we are trying to accomplish and to see that this has been successful in other areas. They were challenged to begin to think about what should be included in a rites of passage time here among the Kuria. Some necessary teachings that were mentioned are Biblical teaching on becoming a Christian adult, life skills training, physical challenges to demonstrate the passage into adulthood, actual physical circumcision (for the boys, not for the girls), and a celebration at the end which includes the traditional gifts of a new set of clothing for the new adults.
There are many challenges ahead of the committee. We are breaking away from traditional society and the committee can be bogged down in that issue. We will have to teach both the adults and the youth about this new opportunity. There will be youth who feel they cannot be received as adults by the larger community unless they participate in the traditional celebrations. There will be parents who refuse to allow their children to do anything but the traditional ways. One big concern is helping the girls who run away from their families because they do not want to be circumcised.
One benefit that I see from this conflict is that we can actually create an atmosphere of young people who only want to marry those who have participated in a Christian circumcision rite rather than a traditional rite. This is a long-term benefit that might take years to come to fruition, but it could be a powerful thing. I only hope that the committee can see this future benefit.
Another huge matter of prayer is finances. NGO's and the government have set an unfortunate precedence that we are fighting. When they conduct meetings they pay a per diem to each participant as well as providing for all costs. This means that we even have to pay our committee members a per diem for every meeting. This is a personal cost as we have no ministry budget for this. Even this training meeting we conducted came out of our personal finances.
This is not a plea for money. This is the history that leads up to the real problem. The committee is convinced that the churches will have to foot the bill for everything that has to do with a Christian rite of passage. I do not think this is true. In my mind, parents are already used to paying for this in a traditional manner and it is quite expensive. I do not see why they should not contribute to the church for the same reason - and it will be much less costly. In this way it should be completely self-supporting and therefore completely reproducible without outside funding.
One obstacle to this is youth whose parents are not supportive. However, these churches are able to fund the things which they truly believe in. Also, if the churches of the community come together and participate as one, instead of each doing its own, they can help each other to provide for these youth.
However, this is an obstacle that truly challenges the thoughts and beliefs of the committee members. At this point they are really wanting outside funding (i.e. us). The first order of business at our next meeting will be to work through this issue. Please pray about this as it may be the greatest obstacle to overcome. If they cannot work through this then our hopes for a Christian circumcision will die right there.
On a personal note, we have had a few health issues. David has developed some vertigo problems. We praise the Lord that he did not have a truly debilitating episode until we were last in Nairobi and were able to quickly see doctors. The diagnosis is that piece of the cochlea has broken off and become a "floater" inside the ear. When it moves into a bad position it causes vertigo. David has some stretches - for a lack of a better word - to help keep the inner ear fluid in its correct place and some medication. These are helping greatly and he has not had another episode. This will not go away and will be a continued matter of prayer because if it happens while he is driving or out in the village it could be a big problem.
We had a wonderful month of April. The kids were home from boarding school and David's parents came out to visit. It was refreshing and joyful to our spirits to be surrounded by family.
We also ask for prayer for the sister of one of our pastors. She has almost been kidnapped by a family who has taken her far from home and forcing her to work for them. She is about 16. Being in a strange town she has no one to turn to for help. We know that our pastor wants to go get her, but doesn't have the funds. Unfortunately, because of all we have been doing with the circumcision meetings and other ministry plans, we cannot help him at this time.
Thank you for holding us up in prayer.
Blessings.
Two gentleman from the TANARI Trust in Nairobi (www.tanari.org), Steve and Hosea, spent two days with us teaching on rites of passage, their meaning in life, and ways that we can facilitate them in a Christian manner. They are excellent teachers and we feel so blessed that they came.
This was a great way to launch our committee. They were able to see the bigger picture of what we are trying to accomplish and to see that this has been successful in other areas. They were challenged to begin to think about what should be included in a rites of passage time here among the Kuria. Some necessary teachings that were mentioned are Biblical teaching on becoming a Christian adult, life skills training, physical challenges to demonstrate the passage into adulthood, actual physical circumcision (for the boys, not for the girls), and a celebration at the end which includes the traditional gifts of a new set of clothing for the new adults.
There are many challenges ahead of the committee. We are breaking away from traditional society and the committee can be bogged down in that issue. We will have to teach both the adults and the youth about this new opportunity. There will be youth who feel they cannot be received as adults by the larger community unless they participate in the traditional celebrations. There will be parents who refuse to allow their children to do anything but the traditional ways. One big concern is helping the girls who run away from their families because they do not want to be circumcised.
One benefit that I see from this conflict is that we can actually create an atmosphere of young people who only want to marry those who have participated in a Christian circumcision rite rather than a traditional rite. This is a long-term benefit that might take years to come to fruition, but it could be a powerful thing. I only hope that the committee can see this future benefit.
Another huge matter of prayer is finances. NGO's and the government have set an unfortunate precedence that we are fighting. When they conduct meetings they pay a per diem to each participant as well as providing for all costs. This means that we even have to pay our committee members a per diem for every meeting. This is a personal cost as we have no ministry budget for this. Even this training meeting we conducted came out of our personal finances.
This is not a plea for money. This is the history that leads up to the real problem. The committee is convinced that the churches will have to foot the bill for everything that has to do with a Christian rite of passage. I do not think this is true. In my mind, parents are already used to paying for this in a traditional manner and it is quite expensive. I do not see why they should not contribute to the church for the same reason - and it will be much less costly. In this way it should be completely self-supporting and therefore completely reproducible without outside funding.
One obstacle to this is youth whose parents are not supportive. However, these churches are able to fund the things which they truly believe in. Also, if the churches of the community come together and participate as one, instead of each doing its own, they can help each other to provide for these youth.
However, this is an obstacle that truly challenges the thoughts and beliefs of the committee members. At this point they are really wanting outside funding (i.e. us). The first order of business at our next meeting will be to work through this issue. Please pray about this as it may be the greatest obstacle to overcome. If they cannot work through this then our hopes for a Christian circumcision will die right there.
On a personal note, we have had a few health issues. David has developed some vertigo problems. We praise the Lord that he did not have a truly debilitating episode until we were last in Nairobi and were able to quickly see doctors. The diagnosis is that piece of the cochlea has broken off and become a "floater" inside the ear. When it moves into a bad position it causes vertigo. David has some stretches - for a lack of a better word - to help keep the inner ear fluid in its correct place and some medication. These are helping greatly and he has not had another episode. This will not go away and will be a continued matter of prayer because if it happens while he is driving or out in the village it could be a big problem.
We had a wonderful month of April. The kids were home from boarding school and David's parents came out to visit. It was refreshing and joyful to our spirits to be surrounded by family.
We also ask for prayer for the sister of one of our pastors. She has almost been kidnapped by a family who has taken her far from home and forcing her to work for them. She is about 16. Being in a strange town she has no one to turn to for help. We know that our pastor wants to go get her, but doesn't have the funds. Unfortunately, because of all we have been doing with the circumcision meetings and other ministry plans, we cannot help him at this time.
Thank you for holding us up in prayer.
Blessings.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Mama Janet and Maginga Update
Thank you so much for your prayers for Mama Janet and her family. The saga has continued and is nowhere near a final resolution. Let me fill you in.
First, the praise. Mama Janet has been lame from birth, but was quite sick when she first accepted Christ. She was immediately healed from that sickness, but still lame. One of my prayers, and what I asked our prayer warriors to pray, was that she would be completely healed to the glory of God. Her walking has improved and she is no longer using a stick. I think that there is still a long way to go, but pray that God will choose to heal her so that His glory will be proclaimed in that place.
Mama Janet has truly tried to embrace the faith, but she has suffered for it. Several times spirits came in the night and trashed her living room. Pictures were off the walls, decorations were thrown around. Basically, it was a mess. We prayed through her two rooms and things did improve. After that there was just mild mischief in the bedroom during the night with a few clothes scattered around.
The pastor believes that this is happening because Janet, one of her children whom we prayed to be freed from nightmares, still has a spirit. The spirit cannot hurt Mama Janet, but it is not happy with her faith and can try to bother her. There is reason to believe that this theory is true. Janet will not allow anyone to pray for her and at church time she runs away so as not to attend. There is at least one other child in the home.
Maginga has not done well. His conversion was obviously not heartfelt because he quickly returned to Islam and witchcraft. His legs, which were improving, have worsened again and he can barely walk. He lives in the same building as the pastor but does not want to talk to him and will not allow him to pray for him..
From what I have learned, this is probably a generational spirit. It is a spirit that is attached to a particular family. Though it may be expelled from one member, it will move to another who is not a Christian. It will also persecute any Christian in the family.
All this talk of spirits can scare people. It can also make them think we are kooks. We truly are not and have been convinced of this reality through experience. We are encouraged to not be afraid and to not give too much attention to Satan by the casual way that our pastors accept this reality. When I write to you I may seem to dwell on the spiritual, but this is the crisis point of prayer sometimes. When our pastors visit people like Mama Janet they might talk a little about evil spirits, but mostly they focus on Christ and the Word. They teach the Bible and then just deal with the spirits as needed.
Please continue to pray for Mama Janet, Maginga, and their family. Pray that the Light of Christ will break through the darkness in this area. Pray that our little church will be on fire for evangelism and that the whole town will know them for their love and righteousness.
And pray that we will see hearts and souls and not outside appearances. Pray that we will be worthy servants.
Pray this for us and for our brothers and sisters in Christ:
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,[e] 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you[f]to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1:9:14
We pray, right now, thanking God for you.
Blessings.
First, the praise. Mama Janet has been lame from birth, but was quite sick when she first accepted Christ. She was immediately healed from that sickness, but still lame. One of my prayers, and what I asked our prayer warriors to pray, was that she would be completely healed to the glory of God. Her walking has improved and she is no longer using a stick. I think that there is still a long way to go, but pray that God will choose to heal her so that His glory will be proclaimed in that place.
Mama Janet has truly tried to embrace the faith, but she has suffered for it. Several times spirits came in the night and trashed her living room. Pictures were off the walls, decorations were thrown around. Basically, it was a mess. We prayed through her two rooms and things did improve. After that there was just mild mischief in the bedroom during the night with a few clothes scattered around.
The pastor believes that this is happening because Janet, one of her children whom we prayed to be freed from nightmares, still has a spirit. The spirit cannot hurt Mama Janet, but it is not happy with her faith and can try to bother her. There is reason to believe that this theory is true. Janet will not allow anyone to pray for her and at church time she runs away so as not to attend. There is at least one other child in the home.
Maginga has not done well. His conversion was obviously not heartfelt because he quickly returned to Islam and witchcraft. His legs, which were improving, have worsened again and he can barely walk. He lives in the same building as the pastor but does not want to talk to him and will not allow him to pray for him..
From what I have learned, this is probably a generational spirit. It is a spirit that is attached to a particular family. Though it may be expelled from one member, it will move to another who is not a Christian. It will also persecute any Christian in the family.
All this talk of spirits can scare people. It can also make them think we are kooks. We truly are not and have been convinced of this reality through experience. We are encouraged to not be afraid and to not give too much attention to Satan by the casual way that our pastors accept this reality. When I write to you I may seem to dwell on the spiritual, but this is the crisis point of prayer sometimes. When our pastors visit people like Mama Janet they might talk a little about evil spirits, but mostly they focus on Christ and the Word. They teach the Bible and then just deal with the spirits as needed.
Please continue to pray for Mama Janet, Maginga, and their family. Pray that the Light of Christ will break through the darkness in this area. Pray that our little church will be on fire for evangelism and that the whole town will know them for their love and righteousness.
And pray that we will see hearts and souls and not outside appearances. Pray that we will be worthy servants.
Pray this for us and for our brothers and sisters in Christ:
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,[e] 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you[f]to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1:9:14
We pray, right now, thanking God for you.
Blessings.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Learning About the Spirits
It has been a busy. It seems to go that way - either nothing much "interesting" happens or everything happens all at once!
Tuesday night we attended a burning - destroying the tools and medicines of a witchdoctor. The young man's name is Maginga (mah-ging-ah). Barely more than a teenager, he was in training to be a witchdoctor and claimed to follow Islam. His mother, Mama Janet, accepted Christ in February and through her influence and connection to the churc, Maginga accepted Christ Saturday.
That night the spirits, who could no longer be inside him, began attacking his arms making them quite painful. Pastor Petro and other church members prayed for Maginga and he was delivered from this torture. He attended church Sunday morning.
However, that was not the end of the battle. The spirits then attacked Maginga's legs, making them so painful he could barely walk. Pastor Petro explained to him that until he got rid of all the witchcraft paraphanalia he would not have complete deliverance. He asked Maginga to gather them together to be burned.
Pastor Petro was shocked at how many things Maginga had. It was much more than he expected, so much so that he decided it was better to burn them at the church. So we gathered together Tuesday night to pray for Maginga and burn all his witchcraft tools. His mother was there, who can barely walk, and a younger sister, Janet.
Before we prayed for Maginga, Mama Janet asked us to pray for the little girl. She had night terrors every night and was even trying to leave the house in her sleep. We began praying for her, asking for deliverance from the spirits. A couple of times Pastor Petro stopped to ask her how she felt. At one point she described a piercing pain in her chest, so they continued to pray. When the pain was gone they knew she was delivered. She has had no nightmares since.
We then prayed over Maginga for deliverance. At the same time I prayed for Mama Janet's healing. I have a great desire to see her body whole - even though it is not caused by evil spirits. I want with all my heart for this family to be a witness in this neighborhood, running from house to house with the story of God's deliverance.
Maginga's legs did not immediately heal, but they did improve. We burned all the paraphanalia as we sang worship songs and praised the Lord.
This afternoon I went to visit Mama Janet. As of this morning, Maginga's legs are healed! He was even able to walk from his house to her house! We praise the Lord!
However, as he was healed another sibling was attacked. Mwita (mwee-tah) is in high school at a boarding school about 15 miles away. Very suddenly, and without any previous symptoms, his legs were attacked this morning. We will be going to pray for him as soon as we are able.
Please pray that the people in this place will see the truth of the spirits and that God is the One and Only Deliverer. We are tired of Satan's rule over this place and desire to see God exercise His Victory here to free His people. May His Name be glorified!
Pray also for us. Whenever we are used of God to His glory we are quickly attacked ourselves. Please pray for our protection that we may press on without interruption.
Blessings.
Tuesday night we attended a burning - destroying the tools and medicines of a witchdoctor. The young man's name is Maginga (mah-ging-ah). Barely more than a teenager, he was in training to be a witchdoctor and claimed to follow Islam. His mother, Mama Janet, accepted Christ in February and through her influence and connection to the churc, Maginga accepted Christ Saturday.
That night the spirits, who could no longer be inside him, began attacking his arms making them quite painful. Pastor Petro and other church members prayed for Maginga and he was delivered from this torture. He attended church Sunday morning.
However, that was not the end of the battle. The spirits then attacked Maginga's legs, making them so painful he could barely walk. Pastor Petro explained to him that until he got rid of all the witchcraft paraphanalia he would not have complete deliverance. He asked Maginga to gather them together to be burned.
Pastor Petro was shocked at how many things Maginga had. It was much more than he expected, so much so that he decided it was better to burn them at the church. So we gathered together Tuesday night to pray for Maginga and burn all his witchcraft tools. His mother was there, who can barely walk, and a younger sister, Janet.
Before we prayed for Maginga, Mama Janet asked us to pray for the little girl. She had night terrors every night and was even trying to leave the house in her sleep. We began praying for her, asking for deliverance from the spirits. A couple of times Pastor Petro stopped to ask her how she felt. At one point she described a piercing pain in her chest, so they continued to pray. When the pain was gone they knew she was delivered. She has had no nightmares since.
We then prayed over Maginga for deliverance. At the same time I prayed for Mama Janet's healing. I have a great desire to see her body whole - even though it is not caused by evil spirits. I want with all my heart for this family to be a witness in this neighborhood, running from house to house with the story of God's deliverance.
Maginga's legs did not immediately heal, but they did improve. We burned all the paraphanalia as we sang worship songs and praised the Lord.
This afternoon I went to visit Mama Janet. As of this morning, Maginga's legs are healed! He was even able to walk from his house to her house! We praise the Lord!
However, as he was healed another sibling was attacked. Mwita (mwee-tah) is in high school at a boarding school about 15 miles away. Very suddenly, and without any previous symptoms, his legs were attacked this morning. We will be going to pray for him as soon as we are able.
Please pray that the people in this place will see the truth of the spirits and that God is the One and Only Deliverer. We are tired of Satan's rule over this place and desire to see God exercise His Victory here to free His people. May His Name be glorified!
Pray also for us. Whenever we are used of God to His glory we are quickly attacked ourselves. Please pray for our protection that we may press on without interruption.
Blessings.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Sunday's Spirit
Yesterday was a great day at church. David did a good job teaching Sunday School. A guest pastor, who is leading a meeting for Sunday School teachers this week, did a great job, as well. Chloe's favorite part of the day, of course, was going to pick up a new kitten after church!
It is comforting, as a mother, that she does not get too upset when someone falls to the ground yelling because of an evil spirit. It still catches her off guard, but she does not seem afraid. Since moving to Tarime, it is something that she has seen often.
This week it was a lady named Roda. Every manifestation is different. This lady did not thrash too violently, but yelled quite loudly. When this happens the person is carried to a side room where they are prayed for but the service can continue uninterrupted. Several of us prayed for her until the spirit had left and she was calmed.
My understanding of our authority over spirits has changed through these experiences. What I learned through my years of church was 1) there might be/maybe/sort of a spiritual battle that includes demons and 2) if this remote possiblity is really true, demons have to obey us immediately.
My church didn't know what it was talking about.
I have to admit that I had a major crisis of belief when I first saw strong, faithful Christians praying over a demon possessed man for over 30 minutes without complete success. Several demons left the man but success was not won until the man admitted to a "contract" he had made. This sounds like a blood-oath, but is simply an inviting of the spirit into his life in order to gain money or some other desired object. This is done here every day by the witch doctor. The people do not know that they are inviting an evil spirit into their lives - this is the true deception of Satan.
I thought that all we had to do was invoke the all-powerful name of Jesus (and I do believe that the name of Jesus is all-powerful) and the demons would obey. What I have found out is that they argue, fight, literally run away with the person, yell, thrash, and refuse to go if at all possible. When I went back to the Bible I saw that they did the same thing to Jesus - arguing, bargaining. Jesus' authority is complete, so there was no question of their obedience, but our's is not.
So I have learned that some spirits cannot be cast out without the person admitting to being involved in witchcraft. Other spirits will fight for a long time, making us prove our seriousness and commitment. If I doubt that this is really happening or that I have any power, I am totally ineffectual. But when I know the power that is within me because Christ is within me, I see that what I say makes a difference.
I have also learned that when I start speaking aloud the basic Truth - Jesus is the Son of God, Jesus died on the cross, Jesus went to hell and defeated Satan, Jesus rose from the dead - the demons hate it and start to yell louder. They can't stand the Truth.
I have been doing some research trying to learn more about spiritual warfare because what I have been taught is just not accurate. What amazes me is that our national pastors take this all in stride. This is normal. There is no reason to question the reality of fighting a spirit and claiming freedom for another child of God. There is no reason to wonder why it sometimes takes longer than other times - this has no effect on their understanding of Christ or His power over demons. It just is what it is.
Roda's freedom did not take all that long. Once the spirits were completely gone, though she had not opened her eyes, tears began streaming down her face. Tears of a heart that can once again be soft, hearing the voice of the Lord calling to her. I won't quickly forget that sight.
Please pray that she will invite Christ into her life and that she will be filled with the Holy Spirit so that there is no room for demons to ever torture her again.
Blessings.
It is comforting, as a mother, that she does not get too upset when someone falls to the ground yelling because of an evil spirit. It still catches her off guard, but she does not seem afraid. Since moving to Tarime, it is something that she has seen often.
This week it was a lady named Roda. Every manifestation is different. This lady did not thrash too violently, but yelled quite loudly. When this happens the person is carried to a side room where they are prayed for but the service can continue uninterrupted. Several of us prayed for her until the spirit had left and she was calmed.
My understanding of our authority over spirits has changed through these experiences. What I learned through my years of church was 1) there might be/maybe/sort of a spiritual battle that includes demons and 2) if this remote possiblity is really true, demons have to obey us immediately.
My church didn't know what it was talking about.
I have to admit that I had a major crisis of belief when I first saw strong, faithful Christians praying over a demon possessed man for over 30 minutes without complete success. Several demons left the man but success was not won until the man admitted to a "contract" he had made. This sounds like a blood-oath, but is simply an inviting of the spirit into his life in order to gain money or some other desired object. This is done here every day by the witch doctor. The people do not know that they are inviting an evil spirit into their lives - this is the true deception of Satan.
I thought that all we had to do was invoke the all-powerful name of Jesus (and I do believe that the name of Jesus is all-powerful) and the demons would obey. What I have found out is that they argue, fight, literally run away with the person, yell, thrash, and refuse to go if at all possible. When I went back to the Bible I saw that they did the same thing to Jesus - arguing, bargaining. Jesus' authority is complete, so there was no question of their obedience, but our's is not.
So I have learned that some spirits cannot be cast out without the person admitting to being involved in witchcraft. Other spirits will fight for a long time, making us prove our seriousness and commitment. If I doubt that this is really happening or that I have any power, I am totally ineffectual. But when I know the power that is within me because Christ is within me, I see that what I say makes a difference.
I have also learned that when I start speaking aloud the basic Truth - Jesus is the Son of God, Jesus died on the cross, Jesus went to hell and defeated Satan, Jesus rose from the dead - the demons hate it and start to yell louder. They can't stand the Truth.
I have been doing some research trying to learn more about spiritual warfare because what I have been taught is just not accurate. What amazes me is that our national pastors take this all in stride. This is normal. There is no reason to question the reality of fighting a spirit and claiming freedom for another child of God. There is no reason to wonder why it sometimes takes longer than other times - this has no effect on their understanding of Christ or His power over demons. It just is what it is.
Roda's freedom did not take all that long. Once the spirits were completely gone, though she had not opened her eyes, tears began streaming down her face. Tears of a heart that can once again be soft, hearing the voice of the Lord calling to her. I won't quickly forget that sight.
Please pray that she will invite Christ into her life and that she will be filled with the Holy Spirit so that there is no room for demons to ever torture her again.
Blessings.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Habari za siku nyingi?
Habari za siku nyingi? This basically means - haven't seen you in a while. What's up? I can't believe that I haven't posted in two months! Please forgive me.
It has been a great two months. Lots has happened. On the family front, we had a great Thanksgiving and Christmas. We were blessed with family members from the States - which was a very needed lift to our spirits. The kids had all of December off from school. A couple of friends who used to live in Tarime came back for a lovely visit. Chloe attended a 4 night retreat for our Baptist MKs and had a blast (many thank you's to those volunteers). Jon and Abby elected to stay with Mom and Dad since they live their lives in a dorm! Unfortunately, school could not be avoided forever and RVA started back the beginning of January. Jon and Abby are busy but happy. Chloe is back to homeschooling.
Pastor Mwita used the Jesus Film kit that was donated to us to show the Jesus film several times over Christmas. Hundreds of people viewed the life of Jesus in their language. At least 50 accepted Christ. He was also able to visit 3 churches that are very far away. We had heard about these churches but had not visited or confirmed their existence. It is very exciting that he was able to go and give them encouragement. This doubles our Kuria churches to 6, though we also work with a couple of other churches in our association that are not strictly Kuria. We are hoping to go and spend some time teaching there.
Please pray for these churches. As they are far away from us they do not receive the encouragement and support that they most certainly need. Pray that we will have the opportunity to spend some time with them.
Pray for our ministry plans for this year - that we will have wisdom and focus and be able to run toward the goal with undivided hearts and that our language skills will multiply.
Pray for our pastors. They are wonderful men of God. Pray for the health of them and their families, that God will provide all their needs, and that the work of their hands will be blessed.
Pray for our family's health and safety. Pray for Jon as he is enjoying the benefits of his junior year and as we look at applying to colleges next year, for Abby's continuing freshman year, and for Chloe as she homeschools.
Thank you for continuing to hold the lines for us in pray. That is what gives us the strength to be here.
Blessings.
It has been a great two months. Lots has happened. On the family front, we had a great Thanksgiving and Christmas. We were blessed with family members from the States - which was a very needed lift to our spirits. The kids had all of December off from school. A couple of friends who used to live in Tarime came back for a lovely visit. Chloe attended a 4 night retreat for our Baptist MKs and had a blast (many thank you's to those volunteers). Jon and Abby elected to stay with Mom and Dad since they live their lives in a dorm! Unfortunately, school could not be avoided forever and RVA started back the beginning of January. Jon and Abby are busy but happy. Chloe is back to homeschooling.
Pastor Mwita used the Jesus Film kit that was donated to us to show the Jesus film several times over Christmas. Hundreds of people viewed the life of Jesus in their language. At least 50 accepted Christ. He was also able to visit 3 churches that are very far away. We had heard about these churches but had not visited or confirmed their existence. It is very exciting that he was able to go and give them encouragement. This doubles our Kuria churches to 6, though we also work with a couple of other churches in our association that are not strictly Kuria. We are hoping to go and spend some time teaching there.
Please pray for these churches. As they are far away from us they do not receive the encouragement and support that they most certainly need. Pray that we will have the opportunity to spend some time with them.
Pray for our ministry plans for this year - that we will have wisdom and focus and be able to run toward the goal with undivided hearts and that our language skills will multiply.
Pray for our pastors. They are wonderful men of God. Pray for the health of them and their families, that God will provide all their needs, and that the work of their hands will be blessed.
Pray for our family's health and safety. Pray for Jon as he is enjoying the benefits of his junior year and as we look at applying to colleges next year, for Abby's continuing freshman year, and for Chloe as she homeschools.
Thank you for continuing to hold the lines for us in pray. That is what gives us the strength to be here.
Blessings.
Saturday, November 19, 2011
God's Purpose
There are two types of days: days when you accomplish what you want to do and days when you accomplish what God wants to do. Praise God, last Saturday was one of God's days.
David and I try to walk together regularly. Try is the operative word. Walking anywhere in Africa, especially on the back roads through the villages, is an exercise in greetings. Everyone greets, wants to know who you are and where you live, sometimes inviting you to their house, and sometimes asking for money or work. So we do our best to greet pleasantly while continuing to walk on by.
Last Saturday started the usual way. We walked and greeted. We passed by the local homemade beer stand - where the young guys tried to tell us they were waiting for tea. And then , not having walked ten minutes, we met two old men, who had both been drinking already that morning and were on their way to the beer stand that we had passed. One asked for money. The other began to beg us to pray that he would stop being a drunk.
It is embarrassing to say that stopping to pray for him was not our first response. We wanted to keep going. But he kept begging for our prayers. Reminds me of a certain widow in the Bible begging a judge for justice. Finally, I laid my hand on his shoulder and asked the Lord to take this addiction to alcohol away from him - not for this man's benefit alone, but for the glory of God to show these people that there is a true God in their land. He fell on his knees, raising his hands to the sky.
We parted and continued walking, but hadn't gone three minutes when we returned, calling to us. And he seemed different. His eyes were clearer, his speech was clearer. He was different. He asked us to come and pray at his house.
We followed him and he brought out a grandchild about 4 months old. She was beautiful. But it was obvious that there was something wrong with her vision. She didn't blink. She didn't focus on me or track with her eyes. She may not be completely blind, but she certainly couldn't see much. We prayed for her. I know that this grandfather's desire was for her healing. She wasn't healed at that time. Perhaps God will improve her sight. Perhaps God has a different plan for her life that means she needs to be set apart from others - even though it will be an extremely hard life. We blessed the other children there, as well.
Another lady asked us to also come to her house and pray. So we followed her across the way. Her mother has problems with her legs and one of her sisters has problems getting pregnant which they linked to the ancestors. So we prayed again, for their illnesses and to bless their children.
At this point we had been gone 40 minutes. Chloe was home alone and we don't like to leave her for more than an hour, so we turned around and headed back. It wasn't a morning of exercise, but it was certainly a morning of blessing. God wanted to use us and was gracious enough to open our eyes (often so stubbornly closed) so that we could actually see His workings. I am so thankful.
In this place, there seems always to be a backlash when we make ourselves useful to God. The Deceiver is never happy and lets us know. Two weeks ago David had a wonderful day preaching and our spirits were high. The next day he got sick - severe sores lined his throat and he couldn't talk or eat for 5 days. The day after this walk I described, I was in church looking forward to putting all the language skills I have been working on to use in listening to the sermon. I was nauseous the whole service and sat outside to get some fresh air.
These setbacks are always discouraging. We have become stronger, though, and are handling it much better. But your prayers for us are vital. Sometimes God protects and sometimes He wants us to "man up." It is a way to teach us resolve and perseverance. It is a testing to burn away the dross. It has not been something we wanted or were pleased to experience, but I have become thankful that God loves us enough to make us more like Christ. I am thankful that He is not content to let us be, but wants us to be more and has confidence that we can live up to His expectations.
Continue praying for us and for our pastors and leaders. We need you so much to keep us strong, to keep our eyes open to the Lord's will.
Blessings.
David and I try to walk together regularly. Try is the operative word. Walking anywhere in Africa, especially on the back roads through the villages, is an exercise in greetings. Everyone greets, wants to know who you are and where you live, sometimes inviting you to their house, and sometimes asking for money or work. So we do our best to greet pleasantly while continuing to walk on by.Last Saturday started the usual way. We walked and greeted. We passed by the local homemade beer stand - where the young guys tried to tell us they were waiting for tea. And then , not having walked ten minutes, we met two old men, who had both been drinking already that morning and were on their way to the beer stand that we had passed. One asked for money. The other began to beg us to pray that he would stop being a drunk.
It is embarrassing to say that stopping to pray for him was not our first response. We wanted to keep going. But he kept begging for our prayers. Reminds me of a certain widow in the Bible begging a judge for justice. Finally, I laid my hand on his shoulder and asked the Lord to take this addiction to alcohol away from him - not for this man's benefit alone, but for the glory of God to show these people that there is a true God in their land. He fell on his knees, raising his hands to the sky.
We parted and continued walking, but hadn't gone three minutes when we returned, calling to us. And he seemed different. His eyes were clearer, his speech was clearer. He was different. He asked us to come and pray at his house.
We followed him and he brought out a grandchild about 4 months old. She was beautiful. But it was obvious that there was something wrong with her vision. She didn't blink. She didn't focus on me or track with her eyes. She may not be completely blind, but she certainly couldn't see much. We prayed for her. I know that this grandfather's desire was for her healing. She wasn't healed at that time. Perhaps God will improve her sight. Perhaps God has a different plan for her life that means she needs to be set apart from others - even though it will be an extremely hard life. We blessed the other children there, as well.
Another lady asked us to also come to her house and pray. So we followed her across the way. Her mother has problems with her legs and one of her sisters has problems getting pregnant which they linked to the ancestors. So we prayed again, for their illnesses and to bless their children.At this point we had been gone 40 minutes. Chloe was home alone and we don't like to leave her for more than an hour, so we turned around and headed back. It wasn't a morning of exercise, but it was certainly a morning of blessing. God wanted to use us and was gracious enough to open our eyes (often so stubbornly closed) so that we could actually see His workings. I am so thankful.
These setbacks are always discouraging. We have become stronger, though, and are handling it much better. But your prayers for us are vital. Sometimes God protects and sometimes He wants us to "man up." It is a way to teach us resolve and perseverance. It is a testing to burn away the dross. It has not been something we wanted or were pleased to experience, but I have become thankful that God loves us enough to make us more like Christ. I am thankful that He is not content to let us be, but wants us to be more and has confidence that we can live up to His expectations.
Continue praying for us and for our pastors and leaders. We need you so much to keep us strong, to keep our eyes open to the Lord's will.
Blessings.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Language of the Heart
I praise God that He has provided me with the opportunity to do a language refresher course in Swahili. In these days, money is always as issue. Another of our missionaries had extra funds in his language budget and graciously offered them to us. Because of their generosity, I was able to start this course two weeks ago.
The course is at a Catholic language school which has been around quite a long time and has a good reputation. I am enjoying it very much. Most of the students are Catholic religious brothers and nuns. I have been learning quite a bit about the difference between a friar, priest, religious brother, and monk! It is in a town an hour away, so I stay at the school during the week and am home on the weekends.
It is difficult to be apart so much, but I am thankful that David is so willing to let me do this. Please pray that my very slow brain will finally click with this language and that David and Chloe will do well when we are apart.
It is exciting that two more pastors want to move from their homes to this area to start Kuria churches. We praise God for people who are willing to leave their own tribes to take the Word to the thirsty. Please pray for these pastors and their families and that God's plans will be made clear for where they should serve. Pray also for Pastor Mwita and his wife who both have health problems and who are so vital to the ministry here.
We praise God for you and thank you so very much for your prayers on our behalf.
Blessings.
The course is at a Catholic language school which has been around quite a long time and has a good reputation. I am enjoying it very much. Most of the students are Catholic religious brothers and nuns. I have been learning quite a bit about the difference between a friar, priest, religious brother, and monk! It is in a town an hour away, so I stay at the school during the week and am home on the weekends.
It is difficult to be apart so much, but I am thankful that David is so willing to let me do this. Please pray that my very slow brain will finally click with this language and that David and Chloe will do well when we are apart.
It is exciting that two more pastors want to move from their homes to this area to start Kuria churches. We praise God for people who are willing to leave their own tribes to take the Word to the thirsty. Please pray for these pastors and their families and that God's plans will be made clear for where they should serve. Pray also for Pastor Mwita and his wife who both have health problems and who are so vital to the ministry here.
We praise God for you and thank you so very much for your prayers on our behalf.
Blessings.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Gathering Wisdom
We had a wonderful meeting with Muhia Kianjahi, who works for Tanari Trust, about rites of passage. Tanari Trust was created by a group of churches in Nairobi who recognized that the urban youth had become disenfranchised. They were left on their own to figure out what it meant to be an adult. Muhia led his church in beginning a rites of passage retreat for them. This quickly caught the interest of other churches and it grew. Tanari now runs a camp for Christian youth to lead them through a Christian rite of passage into adulthood and does teaching in local churches on this issue.
We were very blessed to glean from Muhia's experience and wisdom. Our context is very different, of course. We want to create a Christian alternative to the traditional rite of passage. Muhia was excited about our situation and seems eager to join our efforts. We are praying that he and some of his colleagues will be able to come to Tarime in February to teach the committee that we are gathering together.
The next step in our process is to finalize who will be invited to join the committee and begin meeting. Please pray for this. The pastors understand the process that I have in mind, and agree with it, but we will have to teach the committee members. Most of them will not have been part of something like this. They are more used to attending a meeting and then leaving, perhaps utilizing what they have been taught and perhaps not. Our goal is to deconstruct the rites of passage ceremonies so that we can reconstruct a new one, and then to actually put it into practice. I think that they will be quite excited to be part of this when they understand how we want to go about things.
I would also like to ask for "blind" prayer about an issue that we cannot share publicly. I absolutely hate doing that, but I may be doing it often from now on. We are now finding ourselves quite often in situations that need a great deal of prayer support but are complicated by not being able to share details.
I cannot express the impact that your prayer has here - on us and on our ministry. Please do not ever feel that even the smallest lifting of our names to God is futile. We feel the strength that comes through your prayers and know that God listens to you in order to work out His will here. I won't understand that cause-and-effect relationship or why God chose to do things that way until I get to heaven. All I know it that this is how it works and that we are truly thankful for you.
Blessings.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
It's a Party!
We were invited to the party of a neighbor celebrating his father's 88th birthday. It was a fun day. We are always so glad to be able to experience some new Kuria culture.
It started in the morning. We were told to arrive about 10am, but in good African style (we have lived here 14 years) we showed up about 11-11:30. And, in good African style, we were still pretty early. When we arrived we were taken around to all the different places where activities were happening. We greeted people at the gate. We went inside a house to greet the old ladies (the father lives in this house and the son and his family live in the other). We went around behind to see where the meat was being cooked and were treated to a piece of very tasty and completely un-chewable beef. Then we went to where the chairs were set up in the yard for the actual party. We greeted the old man and several other people before being shown to our seats.
One truly neat thing that we experienced was the "music man". He is like the traveling minstrels of centuries ago. He has a traditional instrument that is like a violin that echoes into a wooden drum. It is not played with any sort of tone or melody. It is used just to accent the lyrics. And the lyrics range from the hilarious to the mundane. As the party went along, the minstrel narrated. He told who was arriving. He told that this person had gone to Dar es Salaam. He sang of the Wazungu (us). It didn't really matter what he said. He said it all. And as he moved around the group, if you liked what he said you put a little money in his drum
One thing you have to know how to do in Africa is sit. Sit and wait. David likes to say that waiting in Africa is not a passive action, and I think that is true. So we did a lot of sitting that day, moving our chairs every few hours to keep in the shade. And we met new people and visited. As honored guests we had our own little coffee table that always had at least three drinks per person. And, as outsiders, we observed.
Off and on there would be dancing. That was not accompanied by the minstrel but by a modern sound system. The music was Swahili, but not traditional, and not the modern rock you hear today. Someone told us it was from the seventies. Anyway, when the music began it was the old people who got up to dance. They did not gyrate and run around, but it was like dancing in a group, moving your feet to the rhythm, just enjoying yourself. Even I got up and danced, too!
But there's a story that goes with my dancing. I asked why the younger people weren't dancing. It was only the truly older ones with gray hair. I was told that it would be disrespectful for the younger people to dance when the older ones were dancing. But I could go and dance if I wanted to. I was one of their "age-mates"! Just to be very clear: I am 38. We are rationalizing this away as I was an honored guest and therefore had the respectful place that an elder would hold. Trying.
We ate a huge feast, which is always wonderful. We love traditional food. We do not, however, like intestines. Even David, who likes everything, doesn't like them much. David's friend said, "You have just not had them cooked properly." He used this as an opportunity to make sure we tried intestines again. Did you know there are different kinds of intestines and that they look very different? One looks like spiny fruit. One looks like a book with pages when cut open - and is called "book" by the local people. Yeah. None of them are good. Even cooked properly.
After the feast was the gift giving. The old man and his two wives, his third one wasn't there for some reason, sat in front of the group. Several people gave them blankets and vitenge (cloth). The fun part was that the giver would drape the blankets and cloth over their laps and heads!
The party was ended with another dance, but this time in true Kuria style. Again, it was mostly the older people, but the middle aged ones joined, too. The dance is very similar to the Masaai with a kicking back of the heel and jerking forward of the chin to the beat. We felt that we were seeing a little bit of true Kuria culture that hailed back to the traditions of the past.
We arrived home in the late afternoon, tired, a little sunburned, but so glad that we were invited. It was a day of people and fellowship. Watching little two year old girls jerk their hips in perfect rhythm when the kids had a dancing contest and laughing at the older boys who were doing their best to imitate music videos. And watching the old people display the true Kuria traditions. It was a blessing.
Blessings to you, too.
It started in the morning. We were told to arrive about 10am, but in good African style (we have lived here 14 years) we showed up about 11-11:30. And, in good African style, we were still pretty early. When we arrived we were taken around to all the different places where activities were happening. We greeted people at the gate. We went inside a house to greet the old ladies (the father lives in this house and the son and his family live in the other). We went around behind to see where the meat was being cooked and were treated to a piece of very tasty and completely un-chewable beef. Then we went to where the chairs were set up in the yard for the actual party. We greeted the old man and several other people before being shown to our seats.One truly neat thing that we experienced was the "music man". He is like the traveling minstrels of centuries ago. He has a traditional instrument that is like a violin that echoes into a wooden drum. It is not played with any sort of tone or melody. It is used just to accent the lyrics. And the lyrics range from the hilarious to the mundane. As the party went along, the minstrel narrated. He told who was arriving. He told that this person had gone to Dar es Salaam. He sang of the Wazungu (us). It didn't really matter what he said. He said it all. And as he moved around the group, if you liked what he said you put a little money in his drum
One thing you have to know how to do in Africa is sit. Sit and wait. David likes to say that waiting in Africa is not a passive action, and I think that is true. So we did a lot of sitting that day, moving our chairs every few hours to keep in the shade. And we met new people and visited. As honored guests we had our own little coffee table that always had at least three drinks per person. And, as outsiders, we observed.
Off and on there would be dancing. That was not accompanied by the minstrel but by a modern sound system. The music was Swahili, but not traditional, and not the modern rock you hear today. Someone told us it was from the seventies. Anyway, when the music began it was the old people who got up to dance. They did not gyrate and run around, but it was like dancing in a group, moving your feet to the rhythm, just enjoying yourself. Even I got up and danced, too!
But there's a story that goes with my dancing. I asked why the younger people weren't dancing. It was only the truly older ones with gray hair. I was told that it would be disrespectful for the younger people to dance when the older ones were dancing. But I could go and dance if I wanted to. I was one of their "age-mates"! Just to be very clear: I am 38. We are rationalizing this away as I was an honored guest and therefore had the respectful place that an elder would hold. Trying.
We ate a huge feast, which is always wonderful. We love traditional food. We do not, however, like intestines. Even David, who likes everything, doesn't like them much. David's friend said, "You have just not had them cooked properly." He used this as an opportunity to make sure we tried intestines again. Did you know there are different kinds of intestines and that they look very different? One looks like spiny fruit. One looks like a book with pages when cut open - and is called "book" by the local people. Yeah. None of them are good. Even cooked properly.
After the feast was the gift giving. The old man and his two wives, his third one wasn't there for some reason, sat in front of the group. Several people gave them blankets and vitenge (cloth). The fun part was that the giver would drape the blankets and cloth over their laps and heads!
The party was ended with another dance, but this time in true Kuria style. Again, it was mostly the older people, but the middle aged ones joined, too. The dance is very similar to the Masaai with a kicking back of the heel and jerking forward of the chin to the beat. We felt that we were seeing a little bit of true Kuria culture that hailed back to the traditions of the past.
We arrived home in the late afternoon, tired, a little sunburned, but so glad that we were invited. It was a day of people and fellowship. Watching little two year old girls jerk their hips in perfect rhythm when the kids had a dancing contest and laughing at the older boys who were doing their best to imitate music videos. And watching the old people display the true Kuria traditions. It was a blessing.
Blessings to you, too.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
14 Baptized!
We were so glad to be present when 14 people were baptized at Remagwe a couple of weeks ago. We hiked from the church to a stream about a mile away. The church members had made a little dam so that there would be a deep enough spot to baptize. It was a clear, hot, sunny day. We rejoiced in God's harvest the whole day - which included Sunday School, the baptism, worship, a meal at the church, and then another meal at the house of one of the ladies who was baptized!
This was a direct result of our volunteer group's hard work. After they left, 30 of those who accepted Christ began attending new believer's classes. This is a huge number. Only 14 were baptized because Pastor Mwita required attendance at a certain number of classes. This is wise and we support him. We are confident that the others will be baptized soon.
Two of the ladies who were attending the class have been stopped by their husbands. One was beaten and threatened by her husband so badly that she ran away to family in Kenya. The other is still in Remagwe but not attending church or classes. Please pray that they will have more opportunities to act on the faith that God has planted in their hearts.
To update on our circumcision plans, we have met with our Baptist pastors. I praise the Lord that they are excited about this idea and fully supportive. We have decided that we will first create a committee that is only Baptists. This will be 12 people and David and I. We will research the traditional ceremonies, meet with people who have introduced Christian circumcision ceremonies in their churches successfully, and begin putting together our own plan. After that, we will begin the process of figuring out how to take this to other denominations and churches besides just our own.
Thank you for your prayers. We cover them with all our hearts. It is what enables us to stay here.
Blessings.
This was a direct result of our volunteer group's hard work. After they left, 30 of those who accepted Christ began attending new believer's classes. This is a huge number. Only 14 were baptized because Pastor Mwita required attendance at a certain number of classes. This is wise and we support him. We are confident that the others will be baptized soon.
Two of the ladies who were attending the class have been stopped by their husbands. One was beaten and threatened by her husband so badly that she ran away to family in Kenya. The other is still in Remagwe but not attending church or classes. Please pray that they will have more opportunities to act on the faith that God has planted in their hearts.
To update on our circumcision plans, we have met with our Baptist pastors. I praise the Lord that they are excited about this idea and fully supportive. We have decided that we will first create a committee that is only Baptists. This will be 12 people and David and I. We will research the traditional ceremonies, meet with people who have introduced Christian circumcision ceremonies in their churches successfully, and begin putting together our own plan. After that, we will begin the process of figuring out how to take this to other denominations and churches besides just our own.
Thank you for your prayers. We cover them with all our hearts. It is what enables us to stay here.
Blessings.
Friday, September 2, 2011
Growing Up in Africa
Growing up, the official change from a child to an adult, in many cultures requires a ceremony. In many cultures this ceremony includes circumcision. That is not earth shattering news. It is very common.
In Africa, these ceremonies have traditionally included witchcraft. This is also not surprising news to anyone. There are always certain old people whose role is to lead the children through the ceremony, which usually takes several days. These old people are not witchdoctors, but their roles include witchcraft. Witchcraft is used to ask for health, wealth, fertility, strength, a good education - any number of different blessings. In direct relation to this, it is believed that if these ceremonies are ignored then these children will suffer and even be cursed.
Many tribes do this, but the Kuria tribe does it in a much more ominous way. From what we have learned, it is not just simple witchcraft. It is truly demonic. That may sound odd to many ears, but the whole process from the highest to the lowest levels involves ceremonies that truly frighten us. I want to write about this as I learn more, but just trust me. This is not like circumcision in any other tribe I know.
Both churches and the government have taught against total female circumcision and against the unsanitary practices used in male circumcision. Sometimes the parents are convinced but the children literally run away to be part of the ceremony. Sometimes the children are convinced but the parents are adamant that culture be preserved. Sometimes no one is convinced.
But there is great pressure to continue in the old ways. Unless the circumcision ceremony is pursued, these youth will always remain children in the eyes of the community. They will not be given the respect of an adult. Girls may not want to marry the uncircumcised boys, and vice-versa (because the Kuria also practice female circumcision). They may have to live with the curse of not pleasing the ancestors and spirits by keeping culture. There are a myriad of obstacles to overcome in a life without circumcision.
We have come up with a different idea, though it is not new. It is already done in many places successfully. We want to create a Christian circumcision ceremony that will replace the traditional one. We will take the elements of Kuria tradition that are important but change them to glorify God and add a lot of teaching about becoming an adult who loves the Lord.
The idea is not to tell them to stop having this important rite of passage, but to do it in a Christlike manner.
We are talking with our 3 local Baptist pastors. This is a new idea for them. They are used to attending training and educational meetings, but not planning a whole procedure and then trying to put it into action. This is our action plan:
Step 1
Our pastors decide who to invite onto a committee which will begin looking at the traditional ceremonies and deciding how a Christian ceremony should look. This committee will be made up of other evangelical pastors.
We will also need to make sure that we have good, Christian men and women from various Kuria clans. There are 16 clans. We aren't aiming to have a representative from each, but if only one clan is on the committee then the other clans will be less likely to accept this plan.
We would also like to find a person who once led these ceremonies but is now a strong Christian. This is a strong matter of prayer. Such a person would give us great insight and would help us in introducing the new ceremony into communities.
We will need to have a subcommittee that deals with female circumcision. This is a much more difficult situation because we would want a ceremony, but not the actual physical circumcision. I think that this one will be even harder to accept than a new male circumcision ceremony.
Please pray for Step 1. It is a lot, in and of itself. We so need God's guidance in choosing the right people to invite onto this committee. If the committee does not work then the plan will not succeed.
Blessings.
In Africa, these ceremonies have traditionally included witchcraft. This is also not surprising news to anyone. There are always certain old people whose role is to lead the children through the ceremony, which usually takes several days. These old people are not witchdoctors, but their roles include witchcraft. Witchcraft is used to ask for health, wealth, fertility, strength, a good education - any number of different blessings. In direct relation to this, it is believed that if these ceremonies are ignored then these children will suffer and even be cursed.
Many tribes do this, but the Kuria tribe does it in a much more ominous way. From what we have learned, it is not just simple witchcraft. It is truly demonic. That may sound odd to many ears, but the whole process from the highest to the lowest levels involves ceremonies that truly frighten us. I want to write about this as I learn more, but just trust me. This is not like circumcision in any other tribe I know.
Both churches and the government have taught against total female circumcision and against the unsanitary practices used in male circumcision. Sometimes the parents are convinced but the children literally run away to be part of the ceremony. Sometimes the children are convinced but the parents are adamant that culture be preserved. Sometimes no one is convinced.
But there is great pressure to continue in the old ways. Unless the circumcision ceremony is pursued, these youth will always remain children in the eyes of the community. They will not be given the respect of an adult. Girls may not want to marry the uncircumcised boys, and vice-versa (because the Kuria also practice female circumcision). They may have to live with the curse of not pleasing the ancestors and spirits by keeping culture. There are a myriad of obstacles to overcome in a life without circumcision.
We have come up with a different idea, though it is not new. It is already done in many places successfully. We want to create a Christian circumcision ceremony that will replace the traditional one. We will take the elements of Kuria tradition that are important but change them to glorify God and add a lot of teaching about becoming an adult who loves the Lord.
The idea is not to tell them to stop having this important rite of passage, but to do it in a Christlike manner.
We are talking with our 3 local Baptist pastors. This is a new idea for them. They are used to attending training and educational meetings, but not planning a whole procedure and then trying to put it into action. This is our action plan:
Step 1
Our pastors decide who to invite onto a committee which will begin looking at the traditional ceremonies and deciding how a Christian ceremony should look. This committee will be made up of other evangelical pastors.
We will also need to make sure that we have good, Christian men and women from various Kuria clans. There are 16 clans. We aren't aiming to have a representative from each, but if only one clan is on the committee then the other clans will be less likely to accept this plan.
We would also like to find a person who once led these ceremonies but is now a strong Christian. This is a strong matter of prayer. Such a person would give us great insight and would help us in introducing the new ceremony into communities.
We will need to have a subcommittee that deals with female circumcision. This is a much more difficult situation because we would want a ceremony, but not the actual physical circumcision. I think that this one will be even harder to accept than a new male circumcision ceremony.
Please pray for Step 1. It is a lot, in and of itself. We so need God's guidance in choosing the right people to invite onto this committee. If the committee does not work then the plan will not succeed.
Blessings.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
But We Want to Know Christ
While visiting with Pastor Mwita this week he told us about two ladies who received Christ when our volunteer group came a couple of months ago.
One lady was so excited about her new salvation that she kept coming to Pastor asking to be taught more. She joined the classes that Pastor began for the new Christians. During one class her husband showed up. He stood, arms crossed, watching. When the class was over, he grabbed his wife and began hitting her. He yelled at the pastor, "Why are you ruining my wife? She is not at home cooking for me like she should be! Why are you causing trouble?"
The other lady Pastor Mwita told us about is in a similar situation.
Change is not welcome in the village. Any shift in the status quo is a great threat to stability and is resisted strongly. As a social rule, people are not allowed to be different. Different is bad. Church isn't necessarily bad, but it is if it causes real change at home.
Please pray for these two ladies who so obviously desire Christ. Pray that their husbands will have a change of heart and allow their passion for Christ to grow. And pray for all the others that we do not know about - women, men, children - who want to be different but are afraid of challenging the society they live in.
Blessings.
One lady was so excited about her new salvation that she kept coming to Pastor asking to be taught more. She joined the classes that Pastor began for the new Christians. During one class her husband showed up. He stood, arms crossed, watching. When the class was over, he grabbed his wife and began hitting her. He yelled at the pastor, "Why are you ruining my wife? She is not at home cooking for me like she should be! Why are you causing trouble?"
The other lady Pastor Mwita told us about is in a similar situation.
Change is not welcome in the village. Any shift in the status quo is a great threat to stability and is resisted strongly. As a social rule, people are not allowed to be different. Different is bad. Church isn't necessarily bad, but it is if it causes real change at home.
Please pray for these two ladies who so obviously desire Christ. Pray that their husbands will have a change of heart and allow their passion for Christ to grow. And pray for all the others that we do not know about - women, men, children - who want to be different but are afraid of challenging the society they live in.
Blessings.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Demons among us
It was the day I had been dreading - the day that our kids witnessed demon possessed people. That is to say, the manifestation of demons in people. I know that we interact with people everyday who have demons but who act perfectly normally and no one would know until those demons were rebuked.
In all our years in Malawi only David saw them when he went out to the village for long evangelistic meetings. We just didn't see them on Sunday mornings in church. But Sunday morning seems to be the norm here. I had my first experience a few months ago. The kids' had their first yesterday.
We went to a church that is not actually Kuria. It is Luo, but still in our same association and so a part of our group. Pastor Mwita from Remagwe (leh-mah-gway) visited our church in Shirati (sheer-ah-tee) to teach for the weekend. We took the kids out Sunday morning to join him.
It was a fun day - though, when you go to the Luo churches you have to put aside all concerns of time and agenda. Things happen very slowly and no one really knows what to expect. But their singing is very different from the Kuria. It is lively and joyous (not saying that the Kuria singing isn't) and then a few will come forward and form a tight circle clapping their hands faster and faster. When the circle breaks there just seems to be a feeling of victory in the air.
David did a great job preaching (in Kiswahili with translation into Kijaluo). The Luo are not as reticent as the Kuria seem to be so it is a little easier to joke and interact with them. At the end of the service people came forward for prayer. This is a normal part of church - it is a time when people who wish to be prayed for come to the front. David, the pastors, and I laid hands on them in prayer.
As I was returning to my seat, two of the ladies fell down. When a demon decides to rear its ugly head, the person often becomes violent, thrashing about and trying to run away. They will moan and hiss and sometimes yell. Blessedly, these ladies were fairly quiet. They were surrounded by the pastors, church leaders, David, and I - and we prayed.
The kids were concerned and felt very much out of their depth, but were not scared. We were able to talk to them quietly and explain what we knew of these things and encourage them to pray. Abby said that one thing kept running through her mind: Jesus is power. Jesus is power. Jesus is power. When faced with something frightening, Christ filled her with Himself.
These things can also take a long time, but was, again blessedly, brief. We finished the service, had a great village "lunch" (it was past 3pm), and went home. We have talked with the kids and they have not been disturbed by the experience overly much, but their eyes were certainly opened.
We tend to hear these stories and we have visions of the Christian being filled with power and confidence and the demons immediately obeying and running in fear. But that is not how it always happens. It is disturbing and difficult, even though we are assured of the victory. And I have learned that demons do not immediately run away. They fight to stay. And if the person has willingly invited them into their lives it takes more than just rebuking. The person has to admit to the act in order to break the covenant made. Not what we are taught, is it? It's a lot more complicated than we are led to believe.
But God always proves Himself Good and Faithful. He always takes care of our children. We were together as a whole family, a unit, when my young ones were introduced to this part of the spirit world. And together we are strong. It was a quiet casting, as casting outs go. And it was a short one. It was calm and orderly and life went on as usual afterwards. There were no other difficulties to upset the spirits within us.
I will contend with those who contend with you, and your children I will save. Isaiah 49:25b
I love my God.
Blessings to you all.
In all our years in Malawi only David saw them when he went out to the village for long evangelistic meetings. We just didn't see them on Sunday mornings in church. But Sunday morning seems to be the norm here. I had my first experience a few months ago. The kids' had their first yesterday.
We went to a church that is not actually Kuria. It is Luo, but still in our same association and so a part of our group. Pastor Mwita from Remagwe (leh-mah-gway) visited our church in Shirati (sheer-ah-tee) to teach for the weekend. We took the kids out Sunday morning to join him.
It was a fun day - though, when you go to the Luo churches you have to put aside all concerns of time and agenda. Things happen very slowly and no one really knows what to expect. But their singing is very different from the Kuria. It is lively and joyous (not saying that the Kuria singing isn't) and then a few will come forward and form a tight circle clapping their hands faster and faster. When the circle breaks there just seems to be a feeling of victory in the air.
David did a great job preaching (in Kiswahili with translation into Kijaluo). The Luo are not as reticent as the Kuria seem to be so it is a little easier to joke and interact with them. At the end of the service people came forward for prayer. This is a normal part of church - it is a time when people who wish to be prayed for come to the front. David, the pastors, and I laid hands on them in prayer.
As I was returning to my seat, two of the ladies fell down. When a demon decides to rear its ugly head, the person often becomes violent, thrashing about and trying to run away. They will moan and hiss and sometimes yell. Blessedly, these ladies were fairly quiet. They were surrounded by the pastors, church leaders, David, and I - and we prayed.
The kids were concerned and felt very much out of their depth, but were not scared. We were able to talk to them quietly and explain what we knew of these things and encourage them to pray. Abby said that one thing kept running through her mind: Jesus is power. Jesus is power. Jesus is power. When faced with something frightening, Christ filled her with Himself.
These things can also take a long time, but was, again blessedly, brief. We finished the service, had a great village "lunch" (it was past 3pm), and went home. We have talked with the kids and they have not been disturbed by the experience overly much, but their eyes were certainly opened.
We tend to hear these stories and we have visions of the Christian being filled with power and confidence and the demons immediately obeying and running in fear. But that is not how it always happens. It is disturbing and difficult, even though we are assured of the victory. And I have learned that demons do not immediately run away. They fight to stay. And if the person has willingly invited them into their lives it takes more than just rebuking. The person has to admit to the act in order to break the covenant made. Not what we are taught, is it? It's a lot more complicated than we are led to believe.
But God always proves Himself Good and Faithful. He always takes care of our children. We were together as a whole family, a unit, when my young ones were introduced to this part of the spirit world. And together we are strong. It was a quiet casting, as casting outs go. And it was a short one. It was calm and orderly and life went on as usual afterwards. There were no other difficulties to upset the spirits within us.
I will contend with those who contend with you, and your children I will save. Isaiah 49:25b
I love my God.
Blessings to you all.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Family Time
I was laying in bed last night listening to music. That sounds lovely, doesn't it? I like to put a nice spin on things, but it wasn't my choice of music. It was music from town. We are often the civilian casualties of the bars in town. We are not terribly close to them, but our town is situated in a little valley - the town is on one side and we are on the other. The geographical result is that we end up being a captive audience to whatever happens after dark.
This time it wasn't the bars, but a revival. It still wasn't all that enjoyable late into the night. Especially went it started again before 5am. I end up spending a lot of time laying in bed awake. It gives a lot of time for thought.
Our kids are home from school, so they are mostly filling my thoughts. I often check in with them about how they feel about boarding school - they are in the best school I could ever imagine, but I always want to make sure that they are content. They very much are, even when they have struggles. It is great for us all to be home together and we focus most of our time with them during these holidays.
I can never say enough how proud I am of my kids. It amazes me what God has done in their lives and I constantly thank Him that He has used me to encourage that. I really do not take responsibility for who they are. I mostly feel that the good that has come through me has been a direct result of my pleas for Him to make me a good mother. Not that I am a good mother, but God has been able to make me a tool in my children's lives.
So this 6 weeks is full of them. I spend a lot of time cooking - making up for them suffering three months of cafeteria food. It is what a mom's life is like over here - hours in the kitchen. But it is wonderful to serve them this way and they often join me in the task. We will have a couple of projects to do together for fun.
I do have results from our volunteers' visit, but not right in front of me! There were over 100 confessions of faith and about half that number have expressed interest in joining the church. We praise the Lord for His glory being spread through this wonderful group of people.
Please pray that these new Christians will seek their faith, will attend our church, and have a burning desire to grow in their relationship with Christ.
Blessings.
This time it wasn't the bars, but a revival. It still wasn't all that enjoyable late into the night. Especially went it started again before 5am. I end up spending a lot of time laying in bed awake. It gives a lot of time for thought.
Our kids are home from school, so they are mostly filling my thoughts. I often check in with them about how they feel about boarding school - they are in the best school I could ever imagine, but I always want to make sure that they are content. They very much are, even when they have struggles. It is great for us all to be home together and we focus most of our time with them during these holidays.
I can never say enough how proud I am of my kids. It amazes me what God has done in their lives and I constantly thank Him that He has used me to encourage that. I really do not take responsibility for who they are. I mostly feel that the good that has come through me has been a direct result of my pleas for Him to make me a good mother. Not that I am a good mother, but God has been able to make me a tool in my children's lives.
So this 6 weeks is full of them. I spend a lot of time cooking - making up for them suffering three months of cafeteria food. It is what a mom's life is like over here - hours in the kitchen. But it is wonderful to serve them this way and they often join me in the task. We will have a couple of projects to do together for fun.
I do have results from our volunteers' visit, but not right in front of me! There were over 100 confessions of faith and about half that number have expressed interest in joining the church. We praise the Lord for His glory being spread through this wonderful group of people.
Please pray that these new Christians will seek their faith, will attend our church, and have a burning desire to grow in their relationship with Christ.
Blessings.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Willowbrook Volunteer Trip
We were blessed to have a volunteer group from Willowbrook Baptist Church, Huntsville, Alabama. Willowbrook has come out several times and is always great. The point man, Nelson, is a laid back guy - perfect for Africa. They always bring us a breath of fresh air and renewed vigor for the work.
They worked in Remagwe (lay-mahg-way). It is a village just off the main road. The church in Remagwe is mostly children. The usual congregation is made up of about 50 children and youth and 10 or so adults. The first time I visited there I was very disappointed. I was sad that the church was all children and wondered how it could make an impact in the community.
Then God woke me up. He reminded me that today's children are our future leaders. "Children are the future" has become a stale line, but it is never-the-less very true. We have learned from our own past experiences that these young disciples will become the strongest church leaders.
So we asked our volunteer team to lead a Vacation Bible School program. This is often a "busy time" provided for kids while other, more serious work goes on. But in this case the children's work was vital. The group did an outstanding job. They taught the story of the Bible in 4 days - hitting some important events from Creation to Christ. It gave the children an overview of the world from a Biblical perspective.
They also taught some fun songs and played games. Our daughter, Chloe, helped out one day. I asked her if she wanted to go witnessing with the group I was joining or stay with the kids. Melissa, one of the volunteers, was teaching the kids the song "Pharoah, Pharoah" and Chloe was helping. She said, "I want to stay here. This is hilarious!" She had a great time.
During the children's program, other volunteers broke into groups and headed out with translators to witness hut-to-hut in the village. People often come out quite intimidated by the thought of witnessing. After all, in America no one wants to hear it and people are often offended when you bring it up. But it is different here. Everyone is thrilled to welcome a guest and they want to visit. Even Muslims will sit and talk about God and faith very openly. In the afternoon there was a Bible study for adults who made decisions, or just wanted to find out more. Every evening was a crusade led by our pastors - who came from near and far to help - and a showing of the Jesus Film
We do not yet have the number of decisions made, but at least 25 new adults attended church Sunday. We praise the Lord for His good work through these that were willing to sacrifice their time, money, and energy to work for the Lord in a foreign land. We do not take their sacrifices for granted, and neither does God.
It doesn't take a miracle to come out and work with us. If you are interested, please let us know. There is so much more to do!
They worked in Remagwe (lay-mahg-way). It is a village just off the main road. The church in Remagwe is mostly children. The usual congregation is made up of about 50 children and youth and 10 or so adults. The first time I visited there I was very disappointed. I was sad that the church was all children and wondered how it could make an impact in the community.
Then God woke me up. He reminded me that today's children are our future leaders. "Children are the future" has become a stale line, but it is never-the-less very true. We have learned from our own past experiences that these young disciples will become the strongest church leaders.
So we asked our volunteer team to lead a Vacation Bible School program. This is often a "busy time" provided for kids while other, more serious work goes on. But in this case the children's work was vital. The group did an outstanding job. They taught the story of the Bible in 4 days - hitting some important events from Creation to Christ. It gave the children an overview of the world from a Biblical perspective.
They also taught some fun songs and played games. Our daughter, Chloe, helped out one day. I asked her if she wanted to go witnessing with the group I was joining or stay with the kids. Melissa, one of the volunteers, was teaching the kids the song "Pharoah, Pharoah" and Chloe was helping. She said, "I want to stay here. This is hilarious!" She had a great time.
During the children's program, other volunteers broke into groups and headed out with translators to witness hut-to-hut in the village. People often come out quite intimidated by the thought of witnessing. After all, in America no one wants to hear it and people are often offended when you bring it up. But it is different here. Everyone is thrilled to welcome a guest and they want to visit. Even Muslims will sit and talk about God and faith very openly. In the afternoon there was a Bible study for adults who made decisions, or just wanted to find out more. Every evening was a crusade led by our pastors - who came from near and far to help - and a showing of the Jesus Film
We do not yet have the number of decisions made, but at least 25 new adults attended church Sunday. We praise the Lord for His good work through these that were willing to sacrifice their time, money, and energy to work for the Lord in a foreign land. We do not take their sacrifices for granted, and neither does God.
It doesn't take a miracle to come out and work with us. If you are interested, please let us know. There is so much more to do!
Friday, July 8, 2011
Drowning the Car
If anyone ever disparages volunteers to me, I will remember this one thing: Kasi brought me Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls. Thank you, Kasi!
We had a great week with our volunteers from Willowbrook Baptist. Every group from there has been exceptional and this one was no different. But it didn't start off so easy.
David was in Nairobi to get the volunteers. He'd been sick the weekend before and was still dealing with some stomach problems but was managing. He went to a store about a mile from our guesthouse to pick up a box of water for them. It was raining. Not just a little rain, but a torrential downpour complete with hail and lightning. The water was over the road. You couldn't see potholes or even the ditches on the side.
Returning to the guesthouse, David passed someone who was stuck. He stopped to help and as he pulled over the car slipped into the deep side ditch. It was now at a 45' angle and water filled the passenger side almost to the dashboard. He attached a chain from his winch to a tree across the street but was unable to pull himself out. David is now standing in the rain and hail beside his drowned car, watching as bicycles disappear into these "puddles" and then are fished out by their drenched riders, and he has an hour before he is supposed to go to the airport to pick up the volunteers.
If there's a monkey wrench, Satan will throw it....
With some help from other good Samaritans and missionaries, the truck was pulled out of the drink. The car was not an easy fix, though. The engine had sucked in liters of water and bent a couple of pistons. David was able to help the volunteers get to the guesthouse with their rental minivan and taxis.The volunteers came on to Tarime in the minivan, and David, Chloe and one volunteer stayed an extra day in Nairobi and then came down on the bus with most of the luggage.
God is good to work everything out, and the drama at the beginning was not a continuing theme for the week. We spent the first day with the group making introductions at immigration - it is something that takes a whole morning and seems pointless, but is very important - and at the church in Remagwe. The next day, with David here and the group intact, they got to work.
I will write more about their time with us in the next post, but, for now, this is the story of how David drowned the car.
We had a great week with our volunteers from Willowbrook Baptist. Every group from there has been exceptional and this one was no different. But it didn't start off so easy.
David was in Nairobi to get the volunteers. He'd been sick the weekend before and was still dealing with some stomach problems but was managing. He went to a store about a mile from our guesthouse to pick up a box of water for them. It was raining. Not just a little rain, but a torrential downpour complete with hail and lightning. The water was over the road. You couldn't see potholes or even the ditches on the side.
Returning to the guesthouse, David passed someone who was stuck. He stopped to help and as he pulled over the car slipped into the deep side ditch. It was now at a 45' angle and water filled the passenger side almost to the dashboard. He attached a chain from his winch to a tree across the street but was unable to pull himself out. David is now standing in the rain and hail beside his drowned car, watching as bicycles disappear into these "puddles" and then are fished out by their drenched riders, and he has an hour before he is supposed to go to the airport to pick up the volunteers.
If there's a monkey wrench, Satan will throw it....
With some help from other good Samaritans and missionaries, the truck was pulled out of the drink. The car was not an easy fix, though. The engine had sucked in liters of water and bent a couple of pistons. David was able to help the volunteers get to the guesthouse with their rental minivan and taxis.The volunteers came on to Tarime in the minivan, and David, Chloe and one volunteer stayed an extra day in Nairobi and then came down on the bus with most of the luggage.
God is good to work everything out, and the drama at the beginning was not a continuing theme for the week. We spent the first day with the group making introductions at immigration - it is something that takes a whole morning and seems pointless, but is very important - and at the church in Remagwe. The next day, with David here and the group intact, they got to work.
I will write more about their time with us in the next post, but, for now, this is the story of how David drowned the car.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Little Debbie and Other Thoughts
The other day I started craving Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls. And Star Crunches. and Oatmeal Pies. Not one. The whole box - one of each - to myself. Just a little homesickness, I guess. Unable to get my hands on any of those, I broke into our chocolate chip stash and made a batch of cookies - I try to keep the chocolate chips for when Jon and Abby are home for their breaks.
David has been putting our home movies on DVD - some old ones and some from this last Stateside. He and the kids love to watch those, but they make me too nostalgic. Every Stateside we go on a family skiing trip with David's parents and sister and her husband. It is so much fun. David's dad turns 75 this year and still goes skiing every year. If I ever feel like we are sacrificing by being out here, it is that we miss that opportunity every year.
However, one verse that has meant a lot to me through the years - in reference to being on the field and also to just everyday life - is Psalm 16:5-9
Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant place; surely I have a delightful inheritance....
That is just a little of home life for you.
On a completely different note, I so don't understand God. I am really ok with that because I fully understand that I have a finite mind that could never comprehend the mind of God. I don't need to understand God, His every intention and plan. I think that simplifies things for me and I often feel sorry for those who need to understand every little intricacy. I am mostly okay with my lack of intelligence. And one of my favorite quotes is by Brennan Manning: An understood God is no God at all.
However, I have returned to Genesis in my daily Bible reading and just stay baffled. If you think that sex is a new issue of sin in the world or that it is at an all time high, you don't know much about human nature. Every time we read the Bible God points out a different facet of His word. And every time He does that I think, "Where was I the last time I read this?" This time what I see is that there is a lot of sex in the Bible, especially in the early generations. And I don't understand what was accepted as normal. I question, "Was that okay then or was it sin? Were the sad events that followed a direct result of that sin or simply part of God's plan?" God does not choose to explain a lot of these issues.
I have not yet discerned if God is trying to teach me something with these observations or simply opening up a new aspect of the Bible. I do know that because we have shaped our view of God through the lens of the new covenant of Christ we often have a difficult time understand the Old Testament. Sometimes I just have to accept that limitation and move on.
This entry has had little to nothing to do with our missionary life or ministry and simply is waxing eloquent (eloquent may be an overstatement but I love that phrase for when I get a little long winded). Welcome to my inner world. But I want to encourage you to be okay with not understanding. The need to make sense of everything can be a major stumbling block in the Christian walk. We want to understand why God allows us to struggle financially, to give us a child with physical or mental struggles, to allow a good person to die, to only bring salvation through those who are willing to speak up. We can stumble over the strange events in the Bible and why God doesn't explain His intentions.
This is my take: God is God. Who am I to question Him? I am not the greatest, the smartest, the one most capable of judging fairness. I do not decide what I need or what my purpose is in life. I have to trust that to my Holy Father who is the Only God.
So try to let go of understanding every little thing without letting go of caring. It is a fine line. Care a lot. And let God be God - that phrase will never become trite. Neither will this one: There is only one God and I am not Him.
Blessings.
David has been putting our home movies on DVD - some old ones and some from this last Stateside. He and the kids love to watch those, but they make me too nostalgic. Every Stateside we go on a family skiing trip with David's parents and sister and her husband. It is so much fun. David's dad turns 75 this year and still goes skiing every year. If I ever feel like we are sacrificing by being out here, it is that we miss that opportunity every year.
However, one verse that has meant a lot to me through the years - in reference to being on the field and also to just everyday life - is Psalm 16:5-9
Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant place; surely I have a delightful inheritance....
That is just a little of home life for you.
On a completely different note, I so don't understand God. I am really ok with that because I fully understand that I have a finite mind that could never comprehend the mind of God. I don't need to understand God, His every intention and plan. I think that simplifies things for me and I often feel sorry for those who need to understand every little intricacy. I am mostly okay with my lack of intelligence. And one of my favorite quotes is by Brennan Manning: An understood God is no God at all.
However, I have returned to Genesis in my daily Bible reading and just stay baffled. If you think that sex is a new issue of sin in the world or that it is at an all time high, you don't know much about human nature. Every time we read the Bible God points out a different facet of His word. And every time He does that I think, "Where was I the last time I read this?" This time what I see is that there is a lot of sex in the Bible, especially in the early generations. And I don't understand what was accepted as normal. I question, "Was that okay then or was it sin? Were the sad events that followed a direct result of that sin or simply part of God's plan?" God does not choose to explain a lot of these issues.
I have not yet discerned if God is trying to teach me something with these observations or simply opening up a new aspect of the Bible. I do know that because we have shaped our view of God through the lens of the new covenant of Christ we often have a difficult time understand the Old Testament. Sometimes I just have to accept that limitation and move on.
This entry has had little to nothing to do with our missionary life or ministry and simply is waxing eloquent (eloquent may be an overstatement but I love that phrase for when I get a little long winded). Welcome to my inner world. But I want to encourage you to be okay with not understanding. The need to make sense of everything can be a major stumbling block in the Christian walk. We want to understand why God allows us to struggle financially, to give us a child with physical or mental struggles, to allow a good person to die, to only bring salvation through those who are willing to speak up. We can stumble over the strange events in the Bible and why God doesn't explain His intentions.
This is my take: God is God. Who am I to question Him? I am not the greatest, the smartest, the one most capable of judging fairness. I do not decide what I need or what my purpose is in life. I have to trust that to my Holy Father who is the Only God.
So try to let go of understanding every little thing without letting go of caring. It is a fine line. Care a lot. And let God be God - that phrase will never become trite. Neither will this one: There is only one God and I am not Him.
Blessings.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Daily Life
Hello, dear friends.
I think that sometimes what I say can seem overly dramatic. Part of the reason is that I try to share what I think is interesting, different, or unusual about our lives. Another part is that I share the prayer needs, and they tend to be a little more on the edge than our moment to moment living.
Actually, we are quite boring. Seasons of life determine our days. The last several weeks have been the season of unpacking (finally!!!! after 3 years!!!) the boxes in our house onto the shelves and dressers that came in our crate. A lot of time at home.
A lot of our time since being back has been spent in construction. Putting in the rain catchment system (Praise the wonderful name of Jesus!) took months. This is Africa. It required that David stay around the house so that he could go out several times a day to check progress and make sure that the decisions made were good ones.
Right now, David is dealing with trying to get our on-demand gas hot water heaters to work. They came in the crate and we are thrilled to have them but now we have to work out the kinks because nothing, yet nothing, can work easily the first time. That is a prayer request. It would be horribly disappointing to have finally gotten these heaters and not be able to make them work.
I will admit that homeschool has suffered lately. I feel guilty, but try not to. Chloe is very young for her grade and we have decided to repeat 6th grade next year, so we have some wiggle room. I keep her doing bits and pieces, but have focused on other things since her schooling is not so urgent.
These sound like little things, but nothing is simple here. Everything takes a great deal of time and energy. There is little multitasking in Africa. It means that we have not focused as much on ministry. This is not something we like. David is often, in fact, brought down spiritually and emotionally when he is tied to the house. So, I could ask for prayer there, too, that we quickly come to a place where we are released from our house. David likes to say that the more stuff you have the more it drains your time and energy. And yet, a lot of this is necessary to our home being a relaxing place to re-energize.
I am not complaining. Really. I just want to give a window into our daily lives. It is what it is. And, frankly, it is not that exciting. We often go to bed before 9pm. How's that for being party animals?
We look forward to the day - prayerfully soon - when our time will be focused on ministry. We are doing ministry now, but not in the way we would like. I sometimes ask myself why we bother to do so much to our house when we already live in luxurious circumstances compared to our Christian brothers and sisters. Would it not be better to be content?
I come to the answer that we have repeated to ourselves many times: we are in it for the long haul. We need to do what is necessary to keep us here. If spending time on this now helps us to stay the course for many years to come, it is what we should do. There are others who would be more content to do without a hot shower. We have dear friends, in fact, who lived that way for years and saw it as only a minor inconvenience. Perhaps we are spoiled.
But we are all different. I, for instance, need color. I paint my walls - the living room is blue, the kitchen red... It rejuvenates me, whereas staring at extra glossy cream walls (that is the norm here) drains the life out of me. I need books and sewing and crafty things. I need to be silly and fun and different.
Am I getting too far off the ministry subject for this blog? Not sure, but welcome to my world. These are the things we think about as we live here. How best to balance our time. What our priorities should be. How to make it for the long haul.
These are matters for prayer as you think of us. Some missionaries think that prayer letters and requests should only be for ministry. I think that we need prayer as much or more than our ministry. We can be the weak link in the chain, and we fight against that. We are humans with feet of clay and we patch up the cracks daily.
But don't think that there is not joy. Our house is full of laughter. We make fun of ourselves and life as much as we can. I can't imagine taking myself or life too seriously. I am much too much of a fool to be given such importance. I hope that the people who see us on a daily basis think of us as people of laughter. That would be a very high compliment. Unfortunately, you tend to see my serious side!
We love you and we thank God for your interest in our lives. And most especially for your prayers.
Blessings.
By the way, if you look to the right side of the page you can now sign up to be emailed when the blog is updated.
I think that sometimes what I say can seem overly dramatic. Part of the reason is that I try to share what I think is interesting, different, or unusual about our lives. Another part is that I share the prayer needs, and they tend to be a little more on the edge than our moment to moment living.
Actually, we are quite boring. Seasons of life determine our days. The last several weeks have been the season of unpacking (finally!!!! after 3 years!!!) the boxes in our house onto the shelves and dressers that came in our crate. A lot of time at home.
A lot of our time since being back has been spent in construction. Putting in the rain catchment system (Praise the wonderful name of Jesus!) took months. This is Africa. It required that David stay around the house so that he could go out several times a day to check progress and make sure that the decisions made were good ones.
Right now, David is dealing with trying to get our on-demand gas hot water heaters to work. They came in the crate and we are thrilled to have them but now we have to work out the kinks because nothing, yet nothing, can work easily the first time. That is a prayer request. It would be horribly disappointing to have finally gotten these heaters and not be able to make them work.
I will admit that homeschool has suffered lately. I feel guilty, but try not to. Chloe is very young for her grade and we have decided to repeat 6th grade next year, so we have some wiggle room. I keep her doing bits and pieces, but have focused on other things since her schooling is not so urgent.
These sound like little things, but nothing is simple here. Everything takes a great deal of time and energy. There is little multitasking in Africa. It means that we have not focused as much on ministry. This is not something we like. David is often, in fact, brought down spiritually and emotionally when he is tied to the house. So, I could ask for prayer there, too, that we quickly come to a place where we are released from our house. David likes to say that the more stuff you have the more it drains your time and energy. And yet, a lot of this is necessary to our home being a relaxing place to re-energize.
I am not complaining. Really. I just want to give a window into our daily lives. It is what it is. And, frankly, it is not that exciting. We often go to bed before 9pm. How's that for being party animals?
We look forward to the day - prayerfully soon - when our time will be focused on ministry. We are doing ministry now, but not in the way we would like. I sometimes ask myself why we bother to do so much to our house when we already live in luxurious circumstances compared to our Christian brothers and sisters. Would it not be better to be content?
I come to the answer that we have repeated to ourselves many times: we are in it for the long haul. We need to do what is necessary to keep us here. If spending time on this now helps us to stay the course for many years to come, it is what we should do. There are others who would be more content to do without a hot shower. We have dear friends, in fact, who lived that way for years and saw it as only a minor inconvenience. Perhaps we are spoiled.
But we are all different. I, for instance, need color. I paint my walls - the living room is blue, the kitchen red... It rejuvenates me, whereas staring at extra glossy cream walls (that is the norm here) drains the life out of me. I need books and sewing and crafty things. I need to be silly and fun and different.
Am I getting too far off the ministry subject for this blog? Not sure, but welcome to my world. These are the things we think about as we live here. How best to balance our time. What our priorities should be. How to make it for the long haul.
These are matters for prayer as you think of us. Some missionaries think that prayer letters and requests should only be for ministry. I think that we need prayer as much or more than our ministry. We can be the weak link in the chain, and we fight against that. We are humans with feet of clay and we patch up the cracks daily.
But don't think that there is not joy. Our house is full of laughter. We make fun of ourselves and life as much as we can. I can't imagine taking myself or life too seriously. I am much too much of a fool to be given such importance. I hope that the people who see us on a daily basis think of us as people of laughter. That would be a very high compliment. Unfortunately, you tend to see my serious side!
We love you and we thank God for your interest in our lives. And most especially for your prayers.
Blessings.
By the way, if you look to the right side of the page you can now sign up to be emailed when the blog is updated.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Battling Circumsion
In my last entry I left you hanging as to our last ministry vision idea. It is a daunting task, as I will explain.
This vision is the most important and in some ways the most dangerous. The Kuria do male and female circumcision during the month of April. Most tribes have an initiation process into adulthood. These almost always involve witchcraft of some kind and often include a sexual initiation. We are not sure of all that is involved with the Kuria's tradition but we know one thing - it is more evil than most.
Whereas some witchcraft is usually involved, we feel that the Kuria traditions are much more tied to Satanic rituals. I will tell you why we think that. The Kuria people have different clans and not every clan circumcises every year. The leaders of each clan come together at a certain place at a river. They place food offerings on the ground and then turn and leave for a little while. When they return, whoever's food was eaten are the clans that can circumcise.
Then the highest ranking boy from each clan comes to that sacred place in the river. They go under the water and when they come up they have been circumcised. The pastor who was telling us about this truly believes that this happens. He is a strong man of God that we highly respect. I am not sure what to believe, except that I believe Satan has the power to do it.
There is another story, one even more scary. A female government official who was not Kuria came to this region and began trying to enforce the laws against female circumcision. One night the spirits came while she was sleeping and circumcised her. She left immediately. Was this Satan or was she drugged and attacked? I cannot say. I just know that it is evil.
Our plan is to create an initiation process that glorifies the Lord. It would be a time when the boys or girls are gathered together and taken through a time that signifies the entrance into adulthood. This would include some physical tasks as well as teaching Biblical principles about being a man or woman of God.
Our process would start with bringing this to our pastors, gathering together other evangelical pastors, and bringing in teachers from places where it has been done successfully. We would then look at our particular people group and make a plan that would be the most meaningful.
This is risky business because it is where Satan reigns over these people. Breaking this could be a huge breakthrough in reaching the Mara area.
Please continue to pray for us. Bathe this in prayer. We have not yet taken these ideas to our pastors, but hope to do so soon.
Blessings.
This vision is the most important and in some ways the most dangerous. The Kuria do male and female circumcision during the month of April. Most tribes have an initiation process into adulthood. These almost always involve witchcraft of some kind and often include a sexual initiation. We are not sure of all that is involved with the Kuria's tradition but we know one thing - it is more evil than most.
Whereas some witchcraft is usually involved, we feel that the Kuria traditions are much more tied to Satanic rituals. I will tell you why we think that. The Kuria people have different clans and not every clan circumcises every year. The leaders of each clan come together at a certain place at a river. They place food offerings on the ground and then turn and leave for a little while. When they return, whoever's food was eaten are the clans that can circumcise.
Then the highest ranking boy from each clan comes to that sacred place in the river. They go under the water and when they come up they have been circumcised. The pastor who was telling us about this truly believes that this happens. He is a strong man of God that we highly respect. I am not sure what to believe, except that I believe Satan has the power to do it.
There is another story, one even more scary. A female government official who was not Kuria came to this region and began trying to enforce the laws against female circumcision. One night the spirits came while she was sleeping and circumcised her. She left immediately. Was this Satan or was she drugged and attacked? I cannot say. I just know that it is evil.
Our plan is to create an initiation process that glorifies the Lord. It would be a time when the boys or girls are gathered together and taken through a time that signifies the entrance into adulthood. This would include some physical tasks as well as teaching Biblical principles about being a man or woman of God.
Our process would start with bringing this to our pastors, gathering together other evangelical pastors, and bringing in teachers from places where it has been done successfully. We would then look at our particular people group and make a plan that would be the most meaningful.
This is risky business because it is where Satan reigns over these people. Breaking this could be a huge breakthrough in reaching the Mara area.
Please continue to pray for us. Bathe this in prayer. We have not yet taken these ideas to our pastors, but hope to do so soon.
Blessings.
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