Ants & Vans

Christmas morning!

As our final blog of 2018 we thought it would be appropriate to appreciate something about our island home that is pretty astounding.  This very week, there were two things in particular that have stuck us by their particular power and resilience.  One is rather large and the other is rather small.

A few days ago we went on a tour of the islands with one of the English programs.  This was a chance to have fun, promote the English program, and bond with students.  To do an island tour (or really to get anywhere on the island, assuming you don’t have your own vehicle) you will be going in a van or minibus.  To be more specific, a 1987 Toyota HiAce.  These are the type of van found all over Clove Island.  These vehicles are nothing fancy on the outside, but they’ve got it where it counts. 

A van on the tour

A high suspension, strong but efficient motor, and an ability to carry far more than the 15 capacity suggestion—these vans keep the island moving.  It’s amazing enough to see one of these beauties loaded down with 22 people, plus a load of cargo on top that makes you wonder how they balance it all up there, then throw a couple of young guys hanging on the back. You can see how resilient these things are. 

But we were especially impressed by these Toyota minibuses when on our island tour this week we took the new road that has just been “completed” which crosses straight across the island over a high mountain pass.  Completed is a relative term and based upon the guy in the big bulldozer we passed we were clearly passing at our own risk, but our van driver seemed unfazed, and proved himself to be so no matter what we saw on the “road” ahead.  At many points it seemed to be no road at all, merely a muddy slice out of the side of a mountain.  Yet, despite the ruts, gullies and mud our driver drove without the least concern and took us over the mountain in that Toyota HiAce as if it were no more than leisurely drive.  Yes, they may not look like much, but these vans are something.

The "new" road

Which leads us to another equally resilient, mighty, and nearly unstoppable force we’ve experienced this week.  Though in size it is tiny, it is a force to be reckoned with.  I am talking about island ants!  At most times of the year we are in an everlasting battle with ants.  They come from all directions, take any route, and have an ability to find food that must rival a bloodhound.  They can even work their way into some types of packaging. Their trails can lead for yards across walls and floors, and once they have infested a food source, driving them away is nearly impossible.  Bread is particularly bad as the yeasty air bubbles allow for long and complicated passages like their own colonies so even after you brush ants off the outside, ants continue to crawl out of the loaves with astounding regularity.  This time of year, you leave any food on the counter for any length of time at your own risk.

There are ways to hold them off.  Toxic spray is most effective.  It will wipe out the entire line in moments and seems to have a lasting effect that keeps them from following that same path.  But as already mentioned, they are resilient.  And when they can pass through floors, walls and ceilings, and distance is not an issue, the sprayed area merely becomes a detour.    Before long, they have found a way over under, over, around or through and have returned to your kitchen counter as if they owned the place.

Ant trail from roof, past bookshelf, under map

So as we reflect on the creatures and machines that keep going despite great odds, we see a lesson in all this.  May we too be like the ant and the mini-bus this year.  Undaunted, resilient, never giving up and finding a way through.

Happy New Year!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We had a very nice Christmas and were blessed by some neighbors and friends remembering that it was a holiday for us and giving us treats and their holiday greetings. There was a gathering with some local brothers and sisters (a belated holiday gathering). It came together last minute so there weren’t lots of people but it was encouraging to hear different stories of sharing good news with friends and neighbors. We currently have a house guest from Australia (who works in Kenya)— the kids love visitors and it has been fun to have her.  2018 was an eventful year with lots of difficult situations, but at the same time we saw God’s provision throughout, so we thank God for this year and look forward to the one to come.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Our kids go back to school on Jan 2nd but they were in the middle of exams when they unexpectedly went on break. Pray that they would remember what they need to in order to get through exams without stress or anxiety. We’ve heard that the debated island elections will happen in March (the constitution says the next presidential vote shouldn’t be for a couple more years, the president pushed through a new constitution that most islanders don’t accept). While it is possible that we won’t see any unrest until March, it is also possible that the lingering tensions could bubble up before then. Keep the stability of the islands in your prayers. A good friend is preparing to have a hard conversation with her family, pray for her relationship with her parents as she tries to be honest with them.

I'm Dreaming of a Wet Christmas

Let it pour! (Christmas Eve downpour)

Although we’ve been on the islands since 2009, this is only our 5th Christmas on the islands. It is very tempting to leave the islands at Christmas-time, because the islands are pretty miserable! Not because of homesickness though, because of the oppressive heat and humidity! This is our hot season. The season when the days are long and our hair and shirts are almost always soaked with sweat.

For our first few years on the islands, we made a point of vacationing off-island with our young kids and meeting up with family for the holidays. We went to cooler climates and had a break from the heat. But it’s a little strange to celebrate Christmas in a rented apartment or hotel room in a strange city. Christmas is a time for family traditions and it’s hard to do that at a vacation spot. Also we missed the opportunity to share with our island friends about the holiday and why it is so important to us.

Leading carols with English Club

So for 5 of the last 6 Christmases we’ve braved the heat and stayed at home on the islands and we’ve had the chance to create some of our own family traditions.  Albeit with two major limitations: it’s the wrong climate/season and no one else is celebrating.

Wrong Climate:
We may still listen to songs like “Let It Snow” on the islands, but we do not hold out hope of a white Christmas. Our daughter has taken to singing “I’m dreaming of a wet Christmas…” because it is the sporadic downpours and the accompanying cool breezes that provide relief to the heat! But with the Christmas heat comes some special Christmas treats— mangoes, pineapples and lychees in abundance! We have transitioned some traditions to the climate: playing in the snow becomes playing in the rain, snuggling by the fire becomes cooling off around the fan, Christmas fudge becomes Christmas fudgsicles!

Christmas celebration food

No One Else is Celebrating:
Now in the States, people are bombarded with the Christmas season (especially once Thanksgiving is over)— on TV, radio, in the shops, in neighborhoods…everything is decorated, carols fill the air and all products and activities become Christmas-themed in red and green. On the islands, our home is a little island of Christmas in the midst of crowds of people that don’t even know that there is a holiday coming up. So none of our traditions can depend on others… there are no Christmas concerts, no sleigh/hay rides, no Christmas tree lots, no services. But we do decorate our home and play Christmas music. We’ve slowly accumulated decorations when we travel to places that celebrate Christmas and there are always homemade ones (especially snowflakes). We celebrate advent with an advent wreath/candles and different calendars. The kids like to decorate our chalkboard.

Mary, Joseph and donkey with innkeeper

Others may not be celebrating, but we tell them about it. We have a Christmas party every year with our English Club. We give Christmas cookies to our neighbors. We answer islanders’ questions about the holiday.  We may be alone in our neighborhood, but we are not completely alone on the island, so most years we gather with the others who celebrate in the days around Christmas (whether our team, other foreigners or islanders) for a time of prayer or fun. We always manage at least one re-enactment of the nativity play each year (though improv style, with no rehearsals and limited props) and we usually have some kind of gift exchange.

The scene on Christmas morning might not be that different from people across the globe.  Our kids wake up early and will be impatient for us to wake up. We will be slow to open up our front door/gate so that we can have some family time together that morning without neighbors interrupting. We try to remember the amazing gift we have been given— unto us a Savior has been born!  Because once we do open up our front grate, we are reminded that outside our house, it is just an ordinary hot-season day on the islands.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We got the encouraging news that we have a new island sister! We have been praying for her for a long time and our colleagues on the small island have invested a lot in her. We were so excited to hear of her decision. Our kids have been healthy and enjoying their break from school. We’ve had some good chances to celebrate Christmas with our teammates (before they traveled) and with islanders at our English Club party. Despite rulings in the political trials on the big island, things have remained calm with no widespread unrest.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
The local brothers and sisters wanted to wait until some of them got back from traveling before celebrating— pray that it isn’t forgotten but that we do all gather to remember this important holiday. Some colleagues with a different organization are in the middle of a very difficult situation— pray for wisdom, humility and peace for all involved. The political rumors going around range from humorous to troubling- continue to persevere in prayer with us for peace, justice and good governance on the islands. We pray for a good Christmas for all our loved ones, here on the islands and abroad. May we all remember the hope, peace, joy and love found in the good news!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Setting Precedent

Island sunset this week

A few weeks ago one of our island sisters lost her grandmother.  Her grandmother lived far away.  The following week we were invited by some of our island family to go and pay our respects.  This is a pretty common thing to do.  When someone dies far away, since there are none of the normal island ceremonies, people come by and pay their respects to the grieved.  Sometimes, even groups of friends will come together to do this, so it was no surprise to us for someone to organize such a gathering.  They even asked Megan to say something.  That seemed a bit odd, usually these are more casual visits where people just sit and speak some encouraging words. But sometimes our friends like to be more formal and sometimes with a group, people will choose one or two to speak on behalf of the group. 

When we got there we were surprised to find such a large party present.  And it soon became clear that this was going to be different.  The friend leading the time had us pray and sing songs and then brought a chair out for Megan to sit and teach from.  Megan, shared some thoughts that she had prepared and then our grieving sister came and started to tell us about her grandmother.  She pulled out a picture and passed it around, as she talked about her life.

It was at that moment that it dawned on us: this is nearly the same thing we did for Megan’s grandfather when he passed away a few months ago.  (You can read about it here.)  The format, the things shared, none of it was very complicated, but they had taken the form and used it again.  They had taken something we had modeled and made it their own.

Date night thanks to teammate babysitting!

The things our sister shared about her grandmother were hopeful.  Her grandmother had heard good news and had been deeply touched by it.  There was cause to have hope.  If you would like to know more of that story, you can write to us and we will tell you about it.

Seeing something we have done be copied and repeated is greatly satisfying and at the same time intimidating.  With Megan’s grandfather’s memorial we were very intentional and thoughtful about what we did, knowing that there wasn’t a clear precedent for what we were doing and wanting it to be understandable for islanders. But what about all the things that we have done in the past without necessarily thinking or realizing that islanders might be looking to copy us? What else might they have seen us do?  It makes me think back to Christmas celebrations in the past where it was as much about American traditions as it was about the true meaning of Christmas.  What have we modeled?  What will they copy?

And yet, we’ve not seen islanders putting up stockings or Christmas lights, those things are difficult to reproduce because they are foreign. No, as we think about the memorial service and our efforts to be thoughtful and island appropriate—we know that it made it easier for them to copy.  Maybe they saw something there that they said to themselves, “Yes, we can do something like that.”  We’ve been scared of modeling before because of the weighty responsibility and the fear that no matter what we did, it would still be “foreign”. But sometimes people need to see something first before they can make it their own. We model whether we want to or not, so we are challenged to continue to be more thoughtful and intentional. At the same time we let go of fear. We take comfort and are thankful that it is not all up to us, or even up to those observing us. God is faithful to guide and correct, so we look to Him.

Helpers do the dishes for Tom

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Thank you for your prayers for our kids, especially our 8 year old, who seemed better able to deal with the stress of exams as the week went on.  We said goodbye to our teammate—I think she managed to say goodbye to everyone on the island, which is quite a feet, and will ensure her being well received on her return!  So far her travels have been good.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
We were surprised to learn that our children were starting vacation this Monday.  Apparently, unbeknownst to them or anyone else at their school, and despite the fact that they were in the middle of exams, the government announced that all schools must go on vacation.  So our children are free for the next two weeks.  Pray for the governance of this island, and our patience with it, which seems so arbitrary sometimes.  Our 6 year old woke up and vomited twice this morning. He already seems to be feeling better but pray for complete recovery.  There are some political court cases happening right now that could have effects on island stability.  Pray for peace and justice.  We aren’t sure when or if our island family will celebrate Christmas as some had to travel last minute, causing existing plans to go up in the air.  Pray that we would know what role to play in encouraging gatherings. 

Being Genuine 2: Speaking Hard Truth

Our living room at night

“How is that training going?”  I asked the man sitting across from me.  He’s a regular visitor. We see each other every week.

“Oh, it didn’t work out,” he said. 

I expected this answer.  It was one I had heard many times before.  Every time there is an opportunity, it doesn’t work out.  Was I just going to accept it or was I going to say something this time?...  The time had come to say something.

“It never works out with you.  You never have time.  I think you don’t really want to grow.  I think you say these things, but you aren’t really interested.” 

He regarded me with an offended look.  “No, it’s not like that.  I want to do these things.”

“I don’t think you do.  I’ll believe it when I see it.”

A few weeks ago we wrote a blog called Being Genuine.  It was about being honest and truthful in how we portray ourselves and the spin we give to facts.

Sweaty Tom with a friend at a ceremony

We’ve noticed a cultural tendency on the islands.  There are many relationships that aren’t genuine and both parties know it, and yet everyone continues with the charade to save face.  (Saving face is important here.) Sometimes it is harmless, like the man who tells me every time I see him, “I’ve been so busy, but I’ll come to the English Club this next week,” and yet never comes.  My usual reply to him is: “I look forward to seeing you, God willing,” even though I don’t actually expect him to show up. We smile. We nod. We go our separate ways. From the outside this isn’t very genuine, but culturally we both know the truth and are just saying what is polite.

But sometimes it has implications beyond just politeness.  Like the guy above who calls me a friend and brother and yet whenever I try to talk to him about serious things, whenever I want to visit him, he simply doesn’t have the time.  He talks a good game, but he has nothing to show for it.  What does it mean to be genuine with this guy?  Can we play the charade or does our relationship require an honesty that is more truly genuine?  Aren’t we obligated to speak truthfully to one another? 

If we are to be genuine then we need accountability to keep us honest.  This is why we send our newsletters and blogs not only to those we love that are thousands of miles away, but also to our colleagues here on the islands with us.  It is important that those who can see with their own eyes what is happening in our lives can be a check that we are being genuine in our communication.  As we wrote a few weeks ago, it would be easy to mislead others but we can even deceive ourselves.  If we don’t have accountability, we may not only be tempted to be less than genuine, but we might not even be seeing our own faults clearly. One sign of this self-deception is not running away from accountability. If we don’t want accountability, then we probably are not being completely honest with ourselves or others.

Accountability should be a two-way street. It should be something we get from others, but also something we give. And that means speaking hard truths sometimes.

After I said those hard things to my friend, there was a long silence that followed.  Eventually we switched to the subject of politics and he became talkative again.  We prayed as usual and then he left.

I’m not sure what happens now. Will he come back? Will he be willing to go deeper next time?  Or will he act like the conversation never happened?  Will he accept accountability and the challenge it represents to his status quo? I hope so.

Our team

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We are thankful for our sister on the little island. She was taken to court and answered truthfully the questions she was asked. Thankfully she was released and we continue to pray for her relationships with her family and neighbors. We were encouraged to attend an event for kids organized by island brothers and sisters— it was fun to see all their and our children together and to see truth being shared with them. We are excited that there are plans for more gatherings to happen on a regular basis as well as for the upcoming holiday.


PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for the brother mentioned above and others like him and our interactions with them. Pray for an island sister who recently lost her grandmother.  We were encouraged to spend time together with her and others and to hear that there was hope for her grandmother’s eternity. Pray for her mother who, due to travel restrictions, cannot be with family and is feeling alone in her grief.  Continue to pray for our teammate who leaves this Saturday for her home country, for a four month time away.  Pray for strong goodbyes and her safe travels. There have been lots of rumors about the president this past week. There is video of him collapsing during a speech which ignited speculations about his health and various possible reasons. The government says he is perfectly healthy but others say he has been taken abroad for treatment. We don’t know what to believe but continue this small nation and for good and healthy governance. Our kids have started their end-of-trimester exams at school. It is our youngest’s first time doing them. (He’s only 6.) But it is actually our middle son (8 years old) that gets really nervous about them. Pray for peace for him. Finally it has been really hot. Pray that we can get good nights’ sleep in this awful humidity and that we would win the battle against heat rash!

A Thesis Defense

Preparing for Defense

About a month ago I had the opportunity to go to a thesis defense.  If you’ve never experienced a thesis defense it’s basically a hearing where a panel of judges (professors) put your thesis (heavily researched paper and work) on trial.  I have been to a few of these in other places, even experienced it once myself.  When the students are well prepared, it can be an impressive display of knowledge and learning.  When the students are not prepared, it can be a seriously uncomfortable affair.  But nothing had quite prepared me for a thesis defense here on our island.

It started out very formally.  Everyone was seated, the room packed with family, friends, students and teachers there to support the presenters.  A camera man moved about making sure the event was well documented.  The four professors of the panel were introduced one by one and then the two students, (two young women who did a joint project) were introduced and told they would have thirty minutes to present their thesis.

The first presenter rose. She was dressed in her most formal island wear.  Taking a microphone in one hand and her paper in the other she stood in front of the audience and professors and read from her paper, never making eye contact or engaging with anyone.  She then proceeded to share their thesis, “The importance of encouraging e-commerce in the islands”

“E-commerce,” she began, “is very important for our island.  E-commerce will greatly help our island to increase its economic capacity.  With e-commerce we will see a bright future for the islands.  Businessmen will be able to do more business, because of e-commerce.  The benefits of e-commerce will be seen throughout the society, in education, economics, and health. E-commerce...”

And so it went, on and on, every sentence lacking any sort of substance at all.  When she had finished, there was great cheering.  Family members came and laid flower necklaces on her as her partner stood up to continue from where she left off.  If the first presenter summarized their paper, I suppose the second presenter summarized the summary of the paper, because she said more of the same glowing language without any real substance to speak of.  When she had finished there was more cheering and more flower necklaces.

Decorating the tree

But now the professor stood to speak.

“May I congratulate these students on their excellent presentation summarizing their work on this important subject of e-commerce.”  The room exploded in applause.  After a moment the professor asked for quiet before proceeding, “I said at the beginning that they would have 30 minutes to present and summarize their topic and they have achieved that in under 15 minutes!”  He said to more thunderous applause.

When things had settled down, he then began the laborious job of explaining that though he would not wish to bring shame upon anyone, it was their job as professors to ask questions so as to encourage the further advancement of knowledge, and so, they would ask some hard questions of the thesis presenters.  The audience grew quiet as the real challenge of the defense began.  Would the students be able to answer the tough questions coming their way?

“Though I do not enjoy challenging you with these questions,” the professor apologetically began, “I must make note of ways you can improve your work…  I noticed that in your table of contents you list your sections with roman numerals, only for your third section you used the number 3 rather than the roman numeral.  We must be consistent in these things.”

And so it continued. All of the questions to the students were just as superficial as the paper itself: a punctuation problem, an illustration that was not clearly labeled, a spelling mistake, etc.  Nothing of substance came from any of the professors.  As the fourth professor, the youngest of the group, finished his appraisal of their bibliographic data, he lowered his head and asked, without looking at his colleagues,

“The difficulties of infrastructure and the slow delivery of goods in our country would certainly impact the effectiveness of e-commerce. How would you address this important issue?”

The Stockings are Up

I perked up.  Finally, a substantive question.  What would they say? They’re in the hot-seat now.  The professor raised his eyes to the presenters.  I also looked their way, wondering about how they would respond.  But if they had heard the question at all, it seemed they were being careful to ignore it.  Their heads looked down at their papers as they flipped through their pages, seemingly looking for an answer?  There was a brief moment of silence as the question hung in the air.  It was clear that they had no intention of answering it.  What would happen now? I wondered.  The awkwardness was finally relieved by one of the other professors who, with a clearing of the throat, remarked on the excellence of the question and then turned our attention to the width of the margins on page six…

PRAYERS ANSWERED
The consultant checking ended well. By putting in a lot of hours, they were able to finish checking the first book! We are thankful for this accomplishment and for the team that worked so hard. We were able to have a few conversations about the too-young bride in our neighborhood. We were encouraged to hear that many of our neighbors did not approve and have spoken against it.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
We pray that more islanders would learn to think critically and be able to discuss things of substance in meaningful ways. Pray for our teammate, who has less than two weeks on the islands before going to her home country for several months. Pray that all the logistics of moving out of her house and saying her goodbyes would go well and that her interactions with island friends would be blessed.  An island sister on the small island may be taken to court by her father for her faith. Pray for strength, courage and wisdom for her and also pray for her relationships with her family. Continue to pray for the islands, the president has installed his own governor for our island after arresting the elected governor. We haven’t heard about any backlash yet, but it feels like people may just be biding their time.

Thanksgiving

Our team by the Thanksgiving table

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone.  We hope you were ale to enjoy your holiday with family and friends.  We ended up celebrating on Friday this year because of schedules, but that did not dampen our joy.

We have a tradition of writing out the things we are thankful for in the previous year for our Thanksgiving blog.  Even more goes into our Thanksgiving book, but we always share some of the highlights right here.  It has not been an easy year, but we still have much to be thankful for:

We have a great team!  We have said goodbye to some members this year, but we were blessed by them when they were here and we have continued on.  Currently we have only two teammates, but they are amazing women. We are blessed to call them teammates, friends, sisters, and aunties.  What a joy it is to serve with them, be challenged by them, and to learn and love with them as we serve here together on the islands.

We have great kids!  It seems like everyone is gaining or losing teeth these days.  The youngest and oldest have new molars coming in, while our middle one has lost so many teeth in 2018 there is hardly a picture this year where there isn’t some kind of gap.  All signs of growing up.  We are so happy to see them doing well in school and learning.  Reading skills have had a definite increase this year!  As well as the fun we are having going on hikes and swimming and now even karate!

We got half a pumpkin just in time to make pie!

We work together with great people!  We are not the only people on this island with a heart for the islands.  We work with some great people here on this island.  We work and pray with island brothers and sisters.  We talk to, pray with, and learn from colleagues on the other islands too.  There are times when working with others can be hard, but we are very thankful for the unity that we have, may it increase!

We’ve had some great visitors this year!  Our short-termer from Madagascar joined our team for just one month, but we were enormously blessed to have her.  Others have come through for shorter visits, but each visit has encouraged us.  There are great people out there, looking to serve with heart, soul, mind, and strength and we are thankful for the ones we get to meet.

Yum for Thanksgiving pie!

We get to do some great things!  It may not seem great to everyone, but we think seeing English programs grow, seeing translations happen, seeing people hear the story of 2 Kingdoms, seeing people studying the deeper truths, seeing spiritual growth in ourselves and in those we work with are all amazing things.  We are thankful for them.

We are thankful for a great light shining on these islands!  I wanted to write “we live on a great island” but I felt that would not be true.  For though there are great things about this place and people, there is also great darkness here.  But a great light is shining in this place and one day it will be transformed and then we will say with confidence, “We live on a great island!”  But until that day we will rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation and be steadfast in prayer!  I hope you’ll pray with us.

P.S.  We have great people on our support team!  If you’re reading this blog, then you are probably one of our support team.  We love and depend upon you to continue in this work. We cannot do it without you.  So often we see the fruit of your encouragement and prayers. Thanks for all that you do for us.  We are thankful!

We didn't eat turkey, but Tom saw some (a rare sight here)

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We had great day celebrating Thanksgiving— we even found pumpkin so we could have pumpkin pie! We had an encouraging meeting with brothers and sisters on the islands, sharing what they had recently learned at a seminar. It was nice to see them learning and challenging one another.


PRAYERS REQUESTED
The consultant checking is going smoothly, if not as fast as they hoped. They still really hope that they can finish checking the first book. Pray that they would continue to work well and would have peace about how much they are able to finish in this second week of work. We were invited to a neighborhood wedding but after one event learned that the bride is only 13 years old! This is not not a common practice on the islands, but not unheard of either. Pray that we would be able to respond in ways that challenge people in our neighborhood to think and question such practices.
We’ve heard that there is a sick sister on the big island that needs to seek medical care abroad. Pray that she would find healing and the needed funds for getting care. Continue to pray for the political situation. Not much has changed and we anticipate the tensions to lead to unrest again whether in coming days, weeks or months.

The Harvest is Plentiful

The other side of the island

It has been a dream for some time to see another team come to our island.  In particular there have been great hopes for a medical team to start on the other side of the island.  The medical needs here are great.  For several years, we have prayed and hoped and surveyed and encouraged, but still we wait for a team.  Last week we were joined by some colleagues who have been doing medical work on the little island.  They had come to do their own survey—another shot at the medical team.  We are the ones with the most experience on Clove Island and we are quick to help out in any way we can.  So that’s how I found myself (Tom) chauffeur and guide along with another teammate for a handful of days last week.

Here were some of my takeaways from the time:

Car trouble

I’m glad we don’t have a car! I discovered that I don’t really like driving on our island.  We don’t have a car, but we rented one for the survey (one of only two cars advertised for rent on the island).  I don’t mind the city driving, but driving over crumbling roads with enormous potholes or a strip of asphalt only wide enough to accommodate one car going in one direction—not “Fahrvergnügen.”  Plus there is the pain of cars breaking down and needed parts rarely being available. Thankfully the rental car only broke down once and island mechanics were able to improvise with what they had even though they didn’t have the part. Overall, I am glad to walk, take a taxi or sit on a bus.  Sure there is greater freedom with a car, but is it worth it?  After two days driving around the island, I’d say no!

Photos thanks to S.P.  on survey trip

Five years of English teaching means we know lots of people. It didn’t seem to matter where we went, or what kind of establishment we were in, even on the other side of the island—somebody there always knew us.  “Teacher!” We would hear it over our shoulder all the time, and turning around would be a student from years gone by.  They may have forgotten most of their English, or they may be eager to show how they can still use it, but they’re happy to see us! In Africa it is often about “who you know” and it certainly helps to know someone when navigating a new place. So we are excited to see medical work get going here, but English teaching still opens lots of relationships.

You can do a lot by just showing up.  We did the whole survey without making one official rendezvous.  We tried to call and set up some meetings.  We tried to go and come back at one office, but none of the official meeting plans seemed to work.  It was much more effective to just go and meet people and talk.  Could you imagine trying to tour a hospital in the States without an appointment?  Here, we tried to make an appointment. Failed.  Showed up anyway and were welcomed into every area.

There is so much opportunity. One thought struck me more than any other as we toured around the island.  We spent a good deal of time in a number of towns and villages.  We walked the streets and talked to people many people.  All the time the surveyors were asking themselves, “Where is the right place for a medical team?”  But I found myself looking around and thinking, “We could put a team here.” 

Exploring a town

We moved to the next town and I thought, “We could put a team here too.”  We drove past three large villages and the thought occurred to me, “You could spread a team through these villages.”  By the time the survey was done I had seen three or four strong places where teams could be formed.  Imagine, three or four more teams!  Imagine the impact! Imagine the possibilities!  We went looking for a place to put a medical team, but I saw opportunity after opportunity.  It was an “Open your eyes, the fields are ripe for the harvest” moment.  If only we had people to fill those teams and leaders to lead them.  If only this island could be filled with good people serving and loving islanders, not only in one place, but in four, five, six places.  Imagine the island filled with teams of people reaching out to help islanders. This place could be deeply effected.  
The harvest is plentiful. The opportunities are there.  If only more were willing to come.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Last week we asked you to pray for better relationships and people being more genuine and open in their communication with one another.  Although many problems still persist, we have seen at least one breakthrough in communication with brothers and sisters which is very encouraging.  We are hope that it is the start of something very good.  May it continue.  The survey trip went very well.  They were able to talk to many people and logistics went well.  (we are thankful that the rental car only broke down once!)  The language consultant had a rough trip getting here, but we are thankful that she has arrived and was able to get a good night’s sleep last night.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
The language consultant will be here for two weeks.  They hope to cover a lot of ground.  Pray that it goes well and for clear communication.  It’s Thanksgiving this week!  Pray that we would be able to share a blessed day with our team and bless others as we give thanks to God.  At the same time, there is a big local religious holiday this week and extending through the month.  Pray that even this could be used to open hearts up to a search for truth.  May we be sensitive to those who are searching.  One of our teammates is getting ready to leave on home assignment in mid-December.  Pray for her preparations this month. 

Being Genuine

Megan with good friend on big island

A number of years ago when we first came to Africa we were challenged to be genuine wherever we were and with whomever we were talking. That is to say that we don’t make ourselves to be a different person with different people, but to be always who we are. It could be easy when you are living abroad to portray yourself one way to people back home and portray yourself differently to the people you are living among. Forget whole groups, you can paint yourself in different lights as you move from an individual person to person. It becomes less about who you really are and who you think people want you to be. Whether in nuanced or truly deceitful ways, we see that the temptation exists for all of us not to be completely genuine. It is a temptation that strikes many: ourselves, colleagues and islanders.

The temptation to be less than genuine for islanders is very strong because culturally, lying is often not considered wrong if it gets you what you want. For example, we’ve heard islanders admit to lying about their age or background to get scholarships abroad.

Islanders don’t trust each other very much. They are very suspicious of each other’s motives and often assume the worst. We don’t want to be plagued by this same mistrust, but we cannot deny that we have to be careful with islanders and try to decipher their motives for coming to us. What do they want from us? They may be telling us what they think we want to hear in order to get what they want.

There is also the temptation for islanders to misrepresent the truth—not for selfish reasons, but in order to honor or please someone they respect or care about. Islanders may know what we are hoping for and so they give us the impression that our hope is happening to please us.  They don’t want to disappoint people. This is especially a problem with foreign investors or people who only come for short visits. We have seen islanders go to great lengths to deceive a foreign visitor with the idea that great things are happening on the islands when in fact nothing is really happening.

Hot Season coming, means fruit is in season!

The temptation is there for us and colleagues to do the same thing. Won’t supporters be more excited to invest if they think that big things are happening on the islands? Maybe we can just omit the struggles and failures and only tell the encouraging stories? Maybe we can say things in a vague way that, while not quite lying, gives people a different impression than reality? In our group on the islands we try to send our newsletters and updates to each other, so we can keep up-to-date with each other, but also to provide accountability, to make sure we are not being disingenuous with people.  It sometimes happens that someone will write a newsletter that sounds happy and upbeat when we know they’ve had a horrible month filled with struggles and disappointment. So we challenge each other. How can people truly support and encourage you if they don’t know the truth about what is going on?

There are also subtler temptations. It isn’t about lying exactly, but there can be a temptation to make light of things that are serious or make a big deal about things that are minor. Or romanticizing events or downplaying difficulties. This can be a real temptation with our blog. How do we write an interesting blog each week? Some weeks do we end up making a big deal about something that isn’t? Other times do we skip over something significant because it doesn’t sound good or we’re blinded to its significance? Sometimes there are concerns about confidentiality or general security that inspires us to be too vague or gloss over events. Or sometimes we are just worried about our audience misinterpreting things. We can’t give them all the details, so how do we shape their understanding?

For example this past month with the unrest on our island, there was a double temptation. First there was the temptation to describe events with a dire or dramatic flare because we want people to be concerned so that they are praying for the situation. But there is the second temptation to downplay the realities and leave out significant details because we don’t want family back home to get upset and demand our immediate evacuation. In this situation, we tried to stay honest, but we probably leaned towards omitting details so as not to overly alarm people.  But now that the danger is over, the temptation to dramatize the retelling returns.

This whole issue of authenticity and portraying oneself genuinely and honestly has actually been a big crisis for our greater group on the islands lately. There have been a few difficult situations where islanders and colleagues have apparently been giving false impressions to outsiders or to us. We hope that they have had good intentions and will be willing to come clean but we know coming clean isn’t easy. Especially for islanders in an honor and shame context, it is hard to confess and admit to deceiving people.

We just saw Ma Imani this week while we visited the big island. She was pretty worked up. “They haven’t called me for a long time. Then a visitor comes and they are calling to say we’re having a meeting. Why aren’t we always meeting? Why do we only meet when there is a foreign visitor?” We shared her frustrations and asked her what she thought should be done. She came to the conclusion that we needed to pray and that she didn’t want to be a party to deception.

Our family enjoying pool on big island

So we pray and try to ask ourselves in what ways are we not being authentic or completely open about who we are, what we do or what is happening. Feel free to push us and ask!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Our friend has made it back to the islands. He missed one consultant checking but has made it back before the second round this coming week. We had three days on the big island this week both to connect with our leadership but also to have some vacation time. It was nice to relax a little after a stressful month. We were thankful to see Ma Imani and know that even though she is frustrated with others that she is doing well. She is very thankful for how God saw her through her surgery and we are thankful that it seems like she has been a good encouragement and challenge to others while she has been on the big island.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for the issues mentioned in the blog, especially for those positioned to give accountability to those who are not being honest and genuine. Pray for the potentially difficult conversations that may happen and that people would be willing to repent and grow in transparency. We are currently hosting and participating in a group doing a vision trip on the other side of our island with the idea of having another team start there. Pray for the next two days that they would make the right connections, see the right things and have unity and clarity about how to move forward.  On Sunday, a consultant comes to do two weeks of checking for the language project. Pray that the consultant would make it here safely and that everyone involved would be healthy and ready for a productive two weeks.

Our Island Grandma

Koko and our son (old photo)

We wanted to introduce you all to our island koko (the island word for grandmother). But first, you need to understand that the house where we rent is part of one plot of land that was split among six sisters. Our koko is the mother of those six sisters. She is originally from the old downtown, but after she had 6 daughters, her husband bought this plot of land. It is customary for parents to give each daughter a house and there just wasn’t enough room in the old town. When the koko and her husband bought this plot of land it was just a field among other fields for growing food, now it is the center of a busy neighborhood without a field in sight.

The koko’s daughters have done well. All have married and had kids. All studied off island where they went on to find jobs and settle down. Her daughters come to visit regularly, but the koko lives alone with a Malagasy woman that has been paid to stay with her. Her daughters’ homes all have renters or distant relatives living in them.

Often we see Koko coming to our back gate. She opens the latch and steps into our house. She always has a warm, calm smile. She greets us and pours out blessing on us with every visit. Often she will take her leave right away,  making her small, slow steps back to her house. Koko doesn’t remember well. She has good days and bad days. Sometimes she will come and greet us and then 15 minutes later, she will come back with the same greetings and claim that she hasn’t seen us at all that day. So sometimes she comes to say hello multiple times a day. We’ve made sure to tell the kids that they need to greet her with the same level of politeness and respect each time, even if they’ve already done it that day. She is very sweet and she loves our kids. Whenever we ask the standard greeting, “Are you well?” She will answer, “When I see you, I’m well,” with an affectionate smile.

Megan testing proverbs with Koko

It just so happens that our team is trying to collect some island proverbs. Our teammate had some that she wanted us to test with friends (to see if they were well-known, if they were said differently and if people understood the meanings). At first I didn’t know if Koko would be a good person to test with. Older people tend to know the old proverbs but depending on how lucid Koko was, I didn’t know how she would do. I told the team I’d try and that very afternoon Koko walked into our kitchen. After our normal greetings, I grabbed my phone to look at the list of proverbs. I started to read the proverbs to her slowly. Most of the time she took over and finished the proverb before I could and then launched into a long explanation of its meaning full of explanatory stories. At first I thought we’d just do a couple. But instead of taking her leave, she asked to sit down and we went through the whole list. Whenever she recognized the proverb her face lit up.

It’s sort of wonderful the way these proverbs connected us.  It gave us some common ground and a feeling of good will.  In between proverbs, she would smile at me and say, “You really want to learn the island language.” It didn’t seem to matter that I’ve only ever spoken the island language with her, learning proverbs (island wisdom) meant I was really learning. We got to the end of the list and Koko asked if there were any more.  She clearly could have kept going—enjoying every minute of it.  But when I said no, she returned to her regular conversation.  She spoke about her family and her daughters and where they were and what they were doing.  Very soon she was repeating information, telling me something she had only just told me. Shortly later, she said her routine leave-taking phrase, “I came to see you all, but now I’m going.” She smiled her normal contented, good-day smile and walked slowly out the back gate to her house. She’ll be back soon. : )

Our son and his lego monuments

PRAYERS ANSWERED
The language project consultant checking went very well.  Most everything cooperated and they made great progress.  We continue to have good conversations with neighbors and friends.  The group that Tom meets with continues and the time is usually fruitful. Pray for dreams and visions and light to shine.  Kids school and homeschool continues to go well.  We never want to take that for granted. 

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Please continue to lift up the friend who was supposed to help with this language check who is still trying to get back to the islands.  Pray that he would be able to travel soon so as to be able to love and support his pregnant wife.  Although things are peaceful now, the situation is still very tenuous.  We hear reports of people being arrested and we even know of a few acquaintances who have fled the country.  Pray that peace and stability could be restored and for humble, servant leadership.  Everyone on our team (including us) is taking a mini-vacation this week.  We are all headed off to different islands to visit friends and find some time to relax.  Pray that the time, though short, could be rejuvenating, and that everyone’s travels would go smoothly.

Turning 40

Tom turns 40!

As many of you know, I (Tom) turned 40 a few days ago.  A big deal, right?  Not so much on Clove Island.  Birthdays seem to be something of a recent import to the islands, so that even though everyone knows how to sing the “Happy Birthday Song” in multiple languages, it is not really something that is of great importance to them.  Birthday parties are mostly for the very young or teenagers and in both cases are an excuse for excessively loud music and sketchy dancing (now that makes me sound old doesn’t it).  In fact most people won’t talk about their birthday unless they are having a party. We have to be careful because we’ll often casually say, “Next week is so-and-so’s birthday,” and the islanders will follow-up by asking the time and location, assuming that we’re mentioning it because there is going to be a party.

But most birthdays just pass by unnoticed. A lot of people here simply don’t know and don’t care.  I’ve had people tell me their birthday and then when I wish them a happy birthday weeks later, they seem surprised to learn that today is their birthday.  I know people both young and old who do not know exactly how old they are.  They might be able to do some math and figure it out, but the necessity of keeping track or marking the passing of another year is not of great concern.

I used to be amazed, when teaching about birthdays in English classes, to discover how many of my students were born on December 31st.  It seemed like an unusually high number until someone explained to me that this meant they didn’t actually know their date of birth and that for the purposes of official documents the government would simply assign the date of December 31st for the year they thought most likely to be their birth year.

Kids put finishing touches on cake

So birthdays are not a big deal here and yet, for us, birthdays remain important.  A chance to honor people, remember and celebrate. And turning forty—it’s kind of a big one.  Well, many of you made it special with the messages you sent me.  Megan spaced it out throughout the day, so that it seemed like every time I turned around I was receiving another letter, another message wishing me well and remembering something special from the last forty years.  In many ways it was just another Thursday, and even though hardly any islanders wished me Happy Birthday as I went about my normal island routines, I had a very wonderful day reading message after message, amazed that so many people would take the time to write to me.

In case some of you were worried…we still did many of the typical American things…we had a nice meal and cake (Megan and the kids made a wonderful cake with a chocolate pudding layer and vanilla frosting—delicious) and we celebrated a small party with our teammates.  I received some presents, and of course my teammates made sure to make me feel old!  (Those whipper-snappers do that a lot these days…)

At end of birthday hike

PRAYERS ANSWERED
The calm has continued on our island and people have returned to work and kids back to school. We had a good time celebrating Tom’s birthday, including a nice hike over the weekend. We continue to be very thankful for Tom and his 40 years! We’ve made plans to go to the big island next week to get a couple days to step back and relax.



PRAYERS REQUESTED 
The language project started its consultant checking today over Skype. The first day went well. Pray that the rest of the week would also go well, for clear communication, good internet connection and no technology problems. Unfortunately on of the translators didn’t make it back to the islands in time (he has been delayed in returning from his travels), but pray that everything would go well in spite of his absence. Continue to pray for the islands, there have been more arrests of political opponents this past week. Islanders are still nervous about the future and expect more conflict and unrest in the coming weeks/months (though potentially in different ways and locations). We continue to pray for light to shine in the darkness and especially for good and healthy governance on the islands.

A Week of Unrest

From our roof looking toward town center

It didn’t start out that abnormally. It was 7am on Monday morning, the kids were dressed for school and heading out the door when our neighbor called out to say there was no school because of unrest.

We like to think of these as the island-version of snow days. We get a handful of them each school year. Usually the troubles are some kind of protest related to a strike or some other grievance with the government. Islanders are very cautious with their kids and don’t want them traveling between school and home if there might be trouble on the streets, so out of caution they will cancel school. When this happens we stay close to home until things quiet down. Usually by the end of the day, even within a few hours, life has returned back to normal.

This time was different. It wasn’t 15 minutes later that we started to hear gunshots. Islanders are generally very peaceful people. There is nowhere that sells firearms on the islands and I don’t personally know an islander that owns a gun. Gunshots meant something much more serious was going on. First the reports came that major roads across the island had been blocked and barricaded with trees, broken down cars, boulders, old fridges, etc. The pictures showed up on Facebook (islanders love Facebook). Throughout the morning we heard more gunshots and then some bigger booms. It would quiet down and then start up again in spurts. Stories and rumors flitted back and forth on WhatsApp and Facebook, while most islanders stayed inside. We locked up early that night and prayed that was the end of it.

Get some energy out: Family exercise time

The next morning it was quiet. Perhaps that’s it?? Neighbors warned that it wasn’t over, but a local shop owner complained, “When you have war, it should just be 24 hours and then everyone should stop and take a rest? Isn’t that right??” Seemed like an okay plan to me, but everyone was waiting for things to start again. We made the quick decision to move our one teammate to our other teammate’s house. We almost waited too long. When Tom left the house with a neighbor, it was only 8:15 but by 8:20, the gunfire started again. Thankfully Tom was being led by a neighbor who is both cautious and knowledgeable about these things. He guided Tom and our teammate through back trails from her house and back to ours. The normally 10-15 minute journey was twice as long but they still did it in 15 minutes, moving at a fast clip the whole way. Once we had our two teammates together and at a safe distance from the fighting we could take a breath of relief. Now we were the ones closest to the fighting but we had food, we had water, we had a contingency plan in place if we needed to leave our house or even evacuate from the island. We were in contact with islanders, our leadership and in turn with embassies. All we had to do now was stay inside, wait and monitor the situation.

We spent 6 days in our house. The normally busy and noisy streets of our neighborhood were empty and quiet. They were not easy days. We have three energetic kids and most of the time we felt like we were just trying to find ways to occupy them:

Puzzle time with new haircuts

Homeschool time!
Get the big puzzle out!
Let’s do family exercise time!
The boys need a haircut!
How about we make some popcorn!
Let’s read another chapter of Boxcar Children!
Who wants to help me make cookies?
Time for a family movie!

You would think that a week at home would have been productive in some ways, but it wasn’t. Between keeping the kids occupied, there was listening to the gunfire and trying to assess the situation. Tom’s phone rang off the hook with island friends (people living in the middle of the fighting, people checking in on us from further out, people sharing information or looking for information on the situation), not to mention colleagues from other islands and our leaders. We found these days both boring and restless, but trying to wade through all the raw information and make wise decisions was stressful. Still each time we felt a peace with the decisions we came to.

Breadfruit chips

Each day had its blessings too. A shop would open briefly so the neighborhood could quickly get a few things. In a calm, I was able to go up the block and find both flour and eggs! A neighbor gave us a couple breadfruit from the tree by his house. The water came on and we were able to fill our barrels. We were able to speak to neighbors about being freed from fear.  We were surrounded by the prayers and encouragements of people back home and around the globe.

The kids knew there was “fighting” going on but they were mostly oblivious to the sounds going on outside. Used to a noisy neighborhood, the kids just tuned out the background noises and went about their days. At one point on the third day our eldest asked, “Is someone popping a bunch of balloons out there??” “No honey, that’s the fighting.” “It’s guns,” our youngest offered. After that revelation, there was some nervousness and questions. “How long is this going to go on?” “What if it goes on for a month?” We assured our kids that if it lasted that long that we would go away somewhere. Already we had seen some neighbors leave, not being able to handle the stress of the situation any longer.

But by the fourth day, the gunfire was less and there were rumors of talks happening on the big island. On the fifth day, there was almost no gunfire at all and we heard a tentative agreement had been reached to end the current fighting (not to mend the greater underlying conflict). Everyone remained nervous and unsure. Soldiers were stationed in our neighborhood and people still stayed at home.  Unfortunately on that fifth day, our daughter came down with a high fever and we briefly wondered if after all this, we’d have to evacuate for medical (not political) reasons.  By the sixth day, the fighting seemed to have completely stopped.  Though movement was still difficult at this point, our team and island contact helped us to get our daughter to a clinic and tested for malaria. She was negative for malaria and thankfully started getting better, and the outing to the clinic showed that other towns and neighborhoods were coming back to life.  The armed dissidents had dispersed and that whole day and night was quiet.

Waiting for malaria test result

On day seven, we woke up to a new day outside. Many of the normal neighborhood sounds were back. Shops were open. Kids were outside. We all got dressed and walked to our teammate’s house to sing, study and have fellowship together.  It seemed fitting that on the seventh day the unrest was over.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Thank you for all your prayers this week. (Our last blog accidentally didn’t get posted but many of you are on our email list and got several updates about this situation as it unfolded. If you wish to be added to that list, please send us an email.) God is good and we saw His hand providing for us throughout this week whether it was through island friends, providing for our needs, giving us encouragement, peace, wisdom when we needed it. We are thankful for our teammates and for the unity that we had with them and our leadership as we made decisions. We are thankful that the fighting has stopped and that more people weren’t hurt or killed. We’re thankful that our daughter is feeling better.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Please pray for the islands. This armed conflict is over, but the greater problems and conflict are not resolved. We don’t know how it will come to a head in the future, but we pray that there could be dialogue, that there could be international mediators and that the islands could find justice and good governance without more violence. Pray for the decision makers in this nation. Pray for the transition back to normal life on our island. It will probably take a few days for schools to open and for business to get back to normal. Pray for us personally that we could have opportunities to relax and recover from the strain of the week. Tom’s birthday is this week, pray that we can celebrate it well.  The language project is supposed to be doing consultant checking next week— pray that the one member of the project will make it back to the islands in time for those checks.