The Grinch

Christmas morning!

It almost seemed like the cliché plot of a kids’ Christmas special. On Christmas Eve, an island grinch announced that Christmas was outlawed. No joke. A government official wrote and signed a proclamation declaring that Christmas was forbidden on the islands. No celebration, no gatherings. He even called on the police and military to enforce the edict.

We were surprised. We’ve never seen a proclamation that would seemingly limit the religious freedom of both islanders and foreigners alike. The current government has been less tolerant than previous ones, even insisting that islanders all practice the same form of the local religion, but nothing like this. And if they wanted to crack down on religion, why wait until the day before Christmas to make this proclamation?

Right away we had a couple theories where this last-minute proclamation had come from. Sometimes the islands do things for appearances. We doubted that they were actually going to go door-to-door and stop people from celebrating Christmas, but maybe they wanted to look like they were taking a hard-line on religion. It could be for political reasons or to ingratiate themselves with a country that has similar laws. The islands are dependent on aid from other countries and it wouldn’t be the first time that we had seen the island government do something for the sake of international aid money.

Making Christmas cinnamon buns

Someone sent us a link of the actual proclamation. Reading it, we realized the a big motivator was fear and confusion. It talked about defending their way of life from colonial powers. It talked about young people not knowing their own religion and being drawn into the debauchery of Christmas—a holiday for drinking, dancing, and promiscuity. It was obvious that the writer of the proclamation saw Christmas as a depraved celebration that went against the basic morality which the islands prize. So the edict was really going against the alcohol-infused dance parties thrown by some of the island hotels this time of year. But the edict said any and all Christmas celebration or gatherings were forbidden, even in homes.

We got news of the edict on Christmas Eve afternoon, but it didn’t actually effect our plans. We were going to celebrate quietly at home as a family. But it did make us wonder what this meant for the future. We always have a Christmas party with our English Club—would that be illegal in coming years? Our son overheard us talking about it and asked in a nervous voice, “Are we breaking the law by having Christmas?” We reassured our son that everything would be okay. But in all honesty we were uncomfortable with the direction in which it suggested the islands were headed.

So how did it end up?  Anyone who has seen one of those Christmas specials on TV knows how the story ends. The grinch can’t stop Christmas from coming! Especially when he is totally wrong about what Christmas is all about. Go ahead and get rid of the drunken hotel soirees, that doesn’t get rid of Christmas!

Christmas puzzle & read-aloud

Ultimately, the island grinch was brought down by another government official. The next day a higher ranking official threw out the proclamation and in his brief announcement suggested that the “grinch” was now in trouble for having made the decree in the first place! 

So it looks like Christmas on the islands is still safe, but its clear that we still have our work cut out for us to inform islanders what this holiday is really about!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Our island friend was married a week ago and it seemed like everything went well.  We were thanked profusely for our participation.  Our travels over to the neighboring island have gone well.  It’s been good to see our friends and meet up with some of their friends again.  We were able to give a training on the 2 Kingdoms (mostly in French!) which was very well received.  We thank God for all His faithfulness to us in 2019.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
An island sister was just struck by tragedy as her pregnant sister just died along with the baby. Apparently she had been sick, but her death was not expected. Pray for peace and comfort in this difficult time and that the right people would be able to come alongside her and the rest of the family. We continue to struggle with health issues: colds, Megan’s back, and even stomach bugs have slowed us and gotten us down.  Pray for restored health.  We’ve heard of some possibilities for new team members to join us.  Pray that God would lead the right people to join our team.  Our teammates will be coming back from vacations and home assignments in the coming month.  Pray for their safe travels.  Pray for a great new year!

How to Celebrate Christmas?

Singing Carols at home

We’ve spent several Christmases on the islands. It is always a little surreal to be in a country that doesn’t celebrate the holiday. There is nothing in shops or along the streets that remind you that Christmas is coming. No carols are being sung or played in shopping areas or on the radio.

We have a little Christmas haven in our home. We decorate and play Christmas music. Many islanders have seen Christmas depicted in films and are curious and excited to see our living room change for the season and we get chances to share about what Christmas is to us. But for islanders it is just another day.

In the past, islanders have closed schools for the last couple weeks of December to mark the end of the first trimester of the school year.  So even though they haven’t recognized Christmas day, there has still been a lazy, vacation-y atmosphere for Christmas morning. But it won’t be that way this year… the government pushed up the vacation to mid-December, so our kids are set to start their new school term today on Dec 23rd. That means Christmas day will be just an ordinary school day on the islands. People will be getting up early and going to work, kids will trudge to school at 7am, the streets will be filled with everyday traffic.

Fun and Games at Annual Christmas Party

So this year we have to think, how many days should we keep the kids out of school for Christmas? Just the actual day? Should they go to school Christmas Eve? What about the day after?

On a normal day, we have lots of visitors coming to our house unannounced. People selling stuff, neighbors visiting, students coming with questions, people coming to exchange books from our home library. In keeping with having a welcoming island home, we open our front door at 7am and it stays open almost anytime we are home.  On a normal homeschool morning, we are usually interrupted at least 3-4 times by people coming by.   So what do we do on Christmas? This year it won’t be the quiet vacation morning where islanders tend to sleep-in, so are we ready for our family Christmas celebrations to be repeatedly interrupted? How will we handle it? Will we draw people into our celebrations or try to keep their visits short?

Decorating ornaments

What about islanders who want to celebrate Christmas? Should we recommend that they not go to work that day (even if it means they could lose their job)? Is it okay to celebrate a different day? What about waiting for the weekend or just for a day that is convenient? Now that we think about it, we are struck that the event that we went to at the end of last month was really a Christmas gathering. We came together, had lots of yummy food, and we studied the Christmas story. Does it matter that it wasn’t in the right month?

We have some tentative answers, but we continue to contemplate these things. Say a prayer for all of us on the islands this Christmas.  No doubt we will feel homesick for family on Christmas morning as we are surrounded by people just going about their day.  And as you think of us, maybe there is an exchange student or immigrant in your midst who can tell you about the holidays that they miss from their countries and maybe you can welcome them into your Christmas traditions.

Have a very Merry Christmas!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Our English Club Christmas party went well, several people who had never been to one came and heard the Christmas message. Tom was able to visit and pray again with the older couple. The wife has had some improvement! Our colleagues on the big island were able to pray with a mother of a brother— may powerful things happen in her life and in that family. 



PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for the islands to recognize and appreciate the significance of Christmas! Pray for us and others on the islands as we try to share about the holiday with our island friends and neighbors. Pray that the island brothers and sisters will be encouraged and united in love. We will travel to the French island for next weekend. Pray for safe travels. We will be doing a training on the 2 Kingdoms method of sharing. Pray that it will be well-received and that we’d communicate well. One of our island friends is getting married and we are being included as if we were part of the immediate family, may we be lights. Megan’s back is hurting her— pray for healing and relief, especially during wedding events. Our family has had various health complaints— Tom was very sick this week and there has been lots of coughing, sniffling and sore throats. Pray for health.  And let us all pray for peace on earth and goodwill to mankind!

Trade Language

1st time- English Club led by an island woman!

We are firm believers in knowing people’s heart language. Someone’s heart language is the language that they think in, dream in, pray in and that pours out of them when they are upset. If you want to touch people with new ideas, then they need to understand it at their heart language level. Usually this is their first language, the one that they grew up speaking, their mother tongue.

Many people have seen how people open up when we have been able to say something in their own language because it shows an investment in them, in their culture and it touches their heart. But it isn’t possible to know everyone’s languages.  In lots of places in the world there are too many mother tongues and we rely on trade languages to communicate. A trade language is a common tongue that will connect various people groups together.

People who have a trade language as their mother tongue aren’t usually as captivated by people speaking their language. We grew up speaking English, but when someone comes to us speaking English we aren’t touched by the idea that they are speaking our mother tongue. No, we assume they are speaking it because it is a useful trade language. As our island students always parrot, “English is an international language!”

So on the islands, we teach a trade language (English) and we learn islanders’ mother tongue. But there is a third language of the islands that we often skip over in our day-to-day lives. The primary trade language of the islands is not English, it is French. Islanders love English, but their government and schools are run using French. We studied French for a year in France and have found it a very useful tool, but we don’t use it regularly. We use French words all the time (since educated islanders mix the local language with French vocabulary constantly), but we rarely use “pure” French (just as we rarely hear pure French on the islands).

Often times we get a little intimidated when we have to speak pure French. We are confident throwing French into our local island language because we are usually speaking with islanders who do the same thing. French isn’t the mother tongue for islanders so they don’t care about mispronunciations or grammar mistakes. They make them too! Even if an islander insists on speaking French, we usually just respond in the local language and we end up having a nice conversation, mixing the languages with abandon and with no one batting an eye.

Christmas fun with our teammate

But there are times that we have to use pure French. Every once in awhile a foreign French speaker will come along. Suddenly the educated islanders will switch to “pure” French and uneducated islanders will fall silent or only speak in broken phrases. We wish we could make the clean switch to good French like some islanders. Unfortunately, our “pure” French switch is a little rusty and try as we might the local island words keep slipping in. We understand the pure French but have a harder time producing it, still in those limited situations where we encounter a French speaker we persevere and communicate. Still in general, we try to promote communication and writing in the local language and play down French.

But last week, I was surprised to find myself having whole conversations in French without the usual intimidation. I was telling stories, giving directions and leading a discussion! Now I should confess, it wasn’t great French. But my audience was very unique and very forgiving. They were all non-French kids!

I was on our porch on the islands with my three native-English speaking kids, two native-German speaking kids and one native-Portuguese speaking kid. What did we all have in common? French! All the kids are going to French-speaking schools and were at least a little comfortable in French. I chose a familiar story and asked simple questions. The older ones responded confidently but it was encouraging to see kids that I haven’t been able to communicate with in the past, watching me, understanding, connecting with the story and even hesitantly offering up answers to my questions. It brought a smile to my face, these three groups of kids could all connect over one story and interact together because of French!

Multilingual kids at play

I’ve seen the imbalance of power of trade languages when the native trade language speakers are talking to language learners. Whenever one person is just learning and the other is a native speaker, there is that imbalance. I’ve feel it as people struggle to talk to me in English or as I get embarrassed by my French mistakes with a native speaker. 

So as I played and chatted with this mixed group of kids, there was something beautiful about having a trade language.  It meant that there was no imbalance.  It was connecting us as language learners who otherwise would never be connected. And even as I would love to learn both German and Portuguese, I was thankful for the trade language that allowed us to connect and communicate.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We are thankful that we can study the good news with children in one language and the blessing it represents of God sending families from 3 different continents to these islands.  We are so thankful for each of these families.  May God bless them and strengthen them.  We are thankful that our traveling friends have all arrived safely at their destinations.  Our other friends have just signed a contract on their new rental house!  May they move easily and may the new house be a blessing to many.  We were able to spend a fun evening reading lessons and singing carols with our teammate before she left for vacation.  We are so thankful for our teammates and look forward to having 3 of them return in the new year! One of our sisters owns a car that was involved in an accident that totaled the car, she calls on us to thank God that the driver wasn’t hurt and for peace for those involved.


PRAYERS REQUESTED
May we keep up and use our French!  It is difficult to do so without practice, but it is a wonderful tool to have in our toolbox.  Every year our NGO produces calendars as a gift to give to our island friends.  The print shop has had some problems with their printers.  Pray that these problems would be fixed and the calendars could be printed soon.  Every year we have a Christmas Party with our English Club.  That will be this coming Wednesday.  Pray that we can make it an instructive and joyful event.  We have made the acquaintance of a very kind older couple.  The wife has been suffering from a number of medical issues and we have had multiple opportunities to pray for her.  Pray that these opportunities would lead to lasting friendship and new life.  Finally, pray for the unity of the body here in the islands.  Pray for good team dynamics on teams, respect and harmony among collaborating groups and servant leadership, good planning, and cooperation among islanders.

Different Chapters

Mini-Reunion of old teammates

This week we had an impromptu mini-team reunion. Back in 2013-2016, we were first time team leaders of a group of 8 other adults. This week we had 4 of those adults back on Clove Island with us. Our memories quickly went back to those years— we still had young kids, we were passing through the fires of team leadership, many times uncertain and fumbling as we guided a team through various struggles, crises and conflicts.  It was a humbling time.

Life has different chapters. Sometimes the close of one chapter and the beginning of another is clear and distinct and you are very aware of the transition. Maybe you are moving to a new place or starting a new job or a relationship is beginning or ending.  Other times the movement and change is gradual and it is only in hindsight that we realize that we’ve entered a new chapter of life.

Our life in Africa has had some pretty clear chapters. We renew our commitment with our organization in roughly three year chunks. Each chunk of time (or term of service) is separated with months in the US in between and each one (so far) has been clearly distinct— with different houses, different teammates and different responsibilities each time.

This mini-reunion weekend brought several reminders of these chapters to us.

Our youngest (right) isn't a baby anymore

First, two of our former teammates with us this weekend now have a baby and a three year old (they didn’t have kids on our team). We see how much their lives have changed, but us too. This weekend we were reminded of that chapter of parenting little ones with all the feeding, teething, diapering and tears. Now our kids have homework, regular chores, spirited arguments, ask deep questions, and can be left to themselves for long periods. Our lives have changed a lot.  We loved having a baby in the house with her ready-smiles and babbling baby talk, but it is nice having older kids now too. 

Another of our visiting former teammates has been here on a vision trip. He’s exploring how God is leading his family as they consider coming back to Africa. Hearing some of their big ideas it is easy to get excited about what the next chapter of their lives will include! Often times we look to future chapters with lots of hope and anticipation, almost wishing we could fast-forward and see what it will be like. On that first team, I think we looked forward to being more experienced team leaders with the wisdom and discernment. Now we look forward to God expanding the work on the islands into new areas and wondering what our role will be in that, but something we’ve learned is that you can’t speed through or skip chapters.  Each chapter is important with its unique challenges, its unique lessons and its unique blessings.

Tom & friend at weekend ceremony

Yesterday we helped our teammate (also from that old team) pack up her house and move into a new one. So we were reminded of some of the hassle and unique challenges of transitioning between chapters. There is the tension of trying to close one chapter well, while at the same time preparing for the new one.  Then there is just the tediousness of the transition (in this case, lots of packing, transporting, unpacking and cleaning). I can’t say that we look forward to packing up our own house in a few months and all the travel ahead of us next year, but we know that even the transitions have value. They provide unique openings for change, for starting new with new habits, or new commitments and getting rid of things and practices that we no longer need. 

So we rejoiced in having some of our old team back with us (though missing of course the other 4 adults). We rejoice at the memory of the lessons learned during that past chapter. We rejoice in the chapters we are all in now. And we rejoice in the future chapters at our doorstep. We don’t know what they will hold but we look forward with hope and great anticipation. 

PRAYERS ANSWERED
The kids have survived exams and even though they were nervous, each day they came home feeling okay. Thanks for prayers for that.  The island was under threat of a cyclone this week and there was a lot of anxiety and prayers related to it, but it ultimately changed course and didn’t hit us at all. We give thanks!  We had a wonderful, full, exciting time with all our old teammates here.  There were many good conversations had, many visits made, and hopefully, wisdom, discernment, encouragement and strength received through this time of iron sharpening iron and friends gathering together in love.  Our teammate is moved into her new house and it seems like a good house.  The moving process couldn’t have gone much smoother.  To my knowledge, nothing broken and the whole trip happened in under an hour!  We are thankful for good friends and good connections that made moving so easy.  Of course, our teammate still has a lot of unpacking to do now… 

PRAYERS REQUESTED
This is a busy month. Pray for us as we try to find the right balance for our time. We continue to hear intermittent rumors about possible civil unrest, so far it has all been rumors, but continue to pray that the islands will be a place of truth, justice and stability. One of the new island sister’s grandmother died this past week, pray that the island brothers and sisters can come around her and encourage her. Pray for our teammate as she gets to know her new neighbors, that she would make good connections and good initial impressions. Pray for our one former teammate, for safe travels as he goes back to his home country and for clarity and discernment as he processes his trip with his wife and kids at home. Pray also for the work on the French island, a new group of local people has been started for weekly gatherings, may they thrive and grow together.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving (celebrated on Friday)

Per tradition, with the passing of the US holiday of Thanksgiving, we will take a space in our blog to reflect upon the many things we are thankful for this year.  And this year, especially we are thankful for the reminder to be thankful.  It is easy, with each day’s troubles, with task upon task, with one day flowing into the next, to lose track of the prayers that have been answered, that the growth that has occurred, the changes among us that we’ve simply missed because we stand to close to it all.  Giving thanks pulls us back from that place for a moment, and helps us to find some perspective.  We take a breath and rest for a moment and reflect and discover, as we take another look at the familiar, that there is much to be thankful for.  And so this year, we find ourselves giving thanks for some of the less perceptible things, and yet still greatly worth giving thanks for.  Things like, faithfulness in daily tasks, steady and persistent growth, and hopes for the future.

Boys help make the mashed potatoes

There have been many times this year when we’ve felt like we have been doing little that is new.  Classes, visits, studies, school, team days, prayer, local events, meals, chores.  All of these things are our regular tasks.  There is little glorious in them.  And yet, we have much to be thankful for when we look more closely.  Our steady and regular presence has meant that we have deepened relationships with many people this year, allowing us to speak into the lives of people we’ve known a long time and people we are just getting to know.  We have seen our kids grow far more comfortable at school and with their friendships there.  And though our work has been the same it has not bee without improvement, as we have been revising along the way and improving the things we have.  Some of the events and meals we have shared this year have been truly things to be thankful for, despite their traditional appearance, they are a mark of fellowship among the island body that are reasons for rejoicing.

This has been a year of steady and persistent growth.  Sometimes growth comes in leaps and bounds.  Sometimes it happens suddenly, and sometimes it happens without our perceiving it.  Now as we step back and think about this year, we realize that we should be thankful for this growth that we’ve seen.  Children are often the easiest ways to mark growth, and we are thankful for all the growing and learning our kids have been doing this year.  We also see growth in ourselves.  Our team may have been small but our studies together and the trials we have faced have helped us to grow in self-understanding, compassion, surrender to the Holy Spirit and hospitality.  We may be most thankful for the strong and steady growth we’ve seen among the island body this year.  We’ve seen leaders growing in wisdom and strength, we’ve seen new people come to understanding and acceptance, and we’ve seen households open their homes for gatherings.  We’ve seen the body grow in maturity as brothers offer to help other brothers in need on a monthly basis, as they deal with disciplinary issues, as they create new traditions for celebrating their new identity.  None of it it is explosive change, but steady signs of maturity and life that we are thankful for.

No cranberry sauce, so mango chutney!

Finally, we are thankful for hopes for the future.  We have two veteran teammates joining us in January and February. We have the hope of new workers and a new team on our island. We have the hope of our group moving into medical work. We have the hope that our island brothers and sister will continue to grow with whole families joining in and entire neighborhoods and villages being impacted. Through the encouragements of this year we can glimpse a bright and promised future and we have hope! So as we begin this week of Advent we are thankful for the hope we have and the One who gives it to us.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Tom and our son were sick over the weekend but we are thankful that they seem to be feeling better and it was a short-lived illness. We were thankful for the technology that allowed us to chat with family in MA and CA on Thanksgiving. We’re thankful that our little neighbor is doing much better, she spent a day and night at the hospital on oxygen and has some medicine now. We are praying with them for guidance and the opportunity for seeking a longterm solution for her breathing problems. Our former teammate arrived safely on the islands! Some island brothers and sisters have formed a group to help each other meet financial needs, may it be a blessing!

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for our youngest son (7 yrs). The schools here are doing exams this week and it has revealed a lot of stress and anxiety he has about not understanding completely at school. It is all done in French and language doesn’t come easily to him. Unfortunately the teachers are not known for being patient or compassionate, so please pray that he would be comforted and encouraged and that we would know how to best support him. Our older two have exams too, but don’t seem overwhelmed, though we appreciate prayers for them too. Pray for our former teammate as he spends the week here that he would gain good insight for how his family should proceed. Our other former teammates (who now live on the French island) will come on Friday to spend the weekend so we will have a partial reunion of our old team— pray that it would be encouraging break for them as life and work on the French island is challenging and there aren’t many other workers there. Pray for our island brothers and sisters as they think about how to mark the holidays this month, may it be a meaningful time for them.