Sharing New Ideas

Making a new little friend

If you want to see real change in a community or country then it has to be passed on. If you share a new idea or even life-changing information, but it stops with the people that you shared it with, then your impact is minimal. Only those people who have direct contact with you can be changed by what you have to share. But if a desire and ability to share is transmitted with the new information, then it has the chance to be passed on and your impact has exponential possibilities. Every person you have direct contact with can represent countless others among their families and acquaintances.

On the islands, we’ve seen lots of isolated individuals who welcomed new ideas for themselves but never passed them on to others. Usually fear held them back. New ideas aren’t always welcomed in traditional, homogeneous societies like the islands. They fear rejection and being ostracized, so they keep the newfound information to themselves.  Some of these same people have lamented that they feel alone but we always push back and ask about if they have shared with anyone.

Playing on the porch

So it is with great joy that for a second week in a row we have celebrated news of new people accepting and embracing new ideas.  Not because of outsiders making new contacts among islanders, but because islanders themselves have felt burdened to reach out, share and encourage other islanders.

Last week it was a wife of a man who has been alone in his ideas for a long time. (Truthfully, we wonder if he has truly really embraced these ideas).  But Island women came to his house and met with his wife. She seemed to think that these types of ideas weren’t really for women to think about, but seeing a group of women who embraced them opened her eyes to the way that they might apply to her.

This past weekend it was three more women hearing and accepting.  Again it was islanders sharing with islanders that have led to these exciting developments.  Two of the women were accepting for the first time and one who had lost her way and is now, we hope, back on the path. One of the women is the wife of a man who had already accepted these new ideas. It is exciting! 

Now some cynical part of us always pushes us to curb our excitement. We weren’t at these meetings so we don’t know how much was explained. It is possible these four women don’t fully understand what it is they are embracing. But then we push back and silence our own cynicism— Even if these four women aren’t changed yet, it is the fact that other islanders are the ones sharing with them that is exciting. Even if their information was incomplete, other islanders are rejoicing that their loved ones have begun to hear and accept.  Islanders are catching a vision for sharing with more and more people.  So we are thankful, we rejoice, and we look forward to more!

Lost another tooth

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We are very grateful for the news that three more women have embraced good news. Our kids are feeling better and are back to school. We’ve heard that one of our colleagues is going to get the medical clearance to return to the islands (she has had health concerns and we’ve been praying a lot for her)!

 

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray that more isolated people would share with their close family and that we would see more couples and families embracing new ideas together. Pray for these four women who have made decisions, for their growth and protection. The translation project is doing long-distance consultant checking this week. Pray that the logistics of the technology would work well so that the work can go well.