The Same Story

Angel Gabriel in 2013

Over the years we have created some family Christmas traditions on the islands. Remember, it is our hot, humid season. So instead of Christmas fudge, we have fudgsicles. Instead of bundling up and playing in the snow, we get in our swimsuits and go to a river to cool off. Every year we do a Christmas party with our English club where we explain about Christmas and try to help them understand the religious versus secular significance. On Christmas Day, we usually do a puzzle, and while people do the puzzle, someone reads The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson. We make a variety of snacky creations and eat throughout the day. We video chat with people back home. And at some point we read through the Christmas story from Luke and Matthew, acting it out as we go.

Traditions give us things to look forward to and can be comforting sources of stability when so much around us changes. We like that it is the same every year. That’s the point! The downside of traditions is that sometimes they get old. Sometimes we forget why we do them and they lose the significance that they may have carried at the beginning.

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is a little book about people rediscovering the Christmas story when the main roles of the pageant are taken over by rough kids who don’t know the story at all. In the end everyone ends up seeing the story (that had become old and familiar) with new eyes.

Mary & Joseph from 2015

Our English Club Party has lots of the same components each year. We sing, we have snacks, we play a few games, and we share the Christmas story.  But we try to mix it up and make each year unique. It can be a challenge. Especially the story…how can we come at it in a new way? We worry about the people who have come every year and hear the story each year— how do we help the story impact them anew?

Our Christmas enactment is not a rehearsed or polished pageant. Costumes and props are grabbed and created with what is on hand. The casting is usually done on the spot. But every year we have fun and we engage with the story in a new way. It helps us to remember details that had been lost to us. It’s the same story, but it is different each year and is always a memorable experience. 

We’re thankful that tucked into our traditions are things that force us to look at the same, old story with fresh eyes each year, because it is an amazing story. It may be old and it may be the same each year, but we pray that it never grow tired or stale in our minds.

A people walking in darkness have seen a great light, on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned… For to us a child is born, unto to us a son is given….

Shepherds visit in 2018

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Our teammate had her stent removed without issue and was able to return to the islands with our other teammate, they arrived on Clove Island on Christmas morning! (They were able to be sheep/shepherd and wisemen for our enactment!) Our island sister on the small island who was being threatened had an island brother stand up for her and talk to the man who was threatening her. Seeing that she wasn’t alone or unprotected, the man pulled back his threats!  Continue to pray for her reception in her village. Our Christmas party Club went well and we had opportunities to share the significance of the story— we pray that it leads to more good conversations and questions. The house that we want to rent has water! The landlord set-up a cistern and pump, so that there is now a working water situation, meaning we’ll sign a contract and hopefully move in mid-January!

Wisemen in 2020

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Our teammates’ house was broken into on Christmas Eve and some money was stolen. Thankfully they didn’t find much and thankfully the landlord has already been working on making their backdoor more secure. Please pray for the thieves and that our teammates would feel secure in their home. We know of two island sisters who had gatherings for their extended families for the holiday where they shared the story and good news. Pray for the seeds planted and for their opportunity to follow-up with their families. We have colleagues that have been trying to get off the islands for months to go to Madagascar (where the wife is from and where they need to go to get a passport for their newborn)— pray for supernatural intervention to open up the way! COVID is making a reappearance on the islands— the smallest island is seeing an increase in cases with a steady rise this week. So far we haven’t heard of any new cases on our island, but we continue to pray for God’s mercy on these islands and its inadequate healthcare in the midst of the global pandemic.

Happy New Year Everyone! May 2021 be full of joy!

Braving Something New

Watching the competition

 “I want to do an English competition. I want to gather all the English centers of the islands and have the students compete and get prizes.”

While this might not seem like a shocking idea, it had never been done on our island. It was something new. A competition at a single center wouldn’t be a big deal, but the idea of coordinating with lots of centers  and doing a big scale event was new and to be honest daunting. In our experience islanders like pomp at their big events and it is often hard to get islanders to agree about event logistics even when only one English center is planning. Combine several English centers together and the headache grows.  Add the competition aspect and there were more logistics to agree on with questions about rules and how to make it fair.

It’s not easy to do something new. It takes a certain amount of courage and bravery. You’re doing something untested, so there are risks of failure. But the reward is that you are breaking new ground and could do something great!

The Competition stage

Islanders don’t generally like to do new things. They are more likely to do what everyone else has done. Someone wants to open a shop— they will probably open one that looks exactly like all the other shops on the islands, carrying all the same products that everyone else sells. A woman wants to make some money— she’ll make the same baked goods that everyone makes and sell them from a tub on the road, just like everyone else.

As you walk around the islands, you see a lot of the same repeated again and again.

This doesn’t mean islanders never adopt new practices, but usually they have to see someone else do it successfully first. Once it is successful and accepted, then you can see lots of people doing the same thing (assuming it doesn’t require too much money to do it). For example, as soon as there is some kind of innovation in wedding favors, we often see the same change in lots of weddings.

Ultimately the natural risks of ‘being the first’ combine with island culture (which pushes conformity and shames public failure), so that not many islanders push the envelope and try new things. But there are exceptions, like our friend, Moja.

To be honest, when Moja first came to us with the English competition idea we were skeptical that it would happen. We knew it would take a lot of work and doubted he’d actually have the stamina to see it come about. But he was tenacious, he came to our house almost everyday for a couple weeks pushing the idea. Tom kept giving him suggestions of what he needed to do to make it happen, insisting that we could be advisers but we wouldn’t do the work for him.

Tom, teammate & Moja give out certificates & prizes

It was a lot of work. He created rules. He organized a gathering of all the English center administrators. He compiled lists and photos of students. He met with the mayor. He got permission and a date to use the big hall downtown.  He worked with Tom on competition categories and questions. He got prizes. He printed certificates. He planned a schedule of events. He organized a large lunch for all the participants at the big hotel. He had the hall decorated and chairs put up. He got a sound system and generator with gas. He made it happen.

Now like many “firsts” it wasn’t all smooth sailing. One of the centers from the other side of the island got the dates mixed up and came hours late. Rain poured on the actual day slowing everything down. The electricity was out and though the generator had gas, it ran out of oil and didn’t work. So the English competition that was supposed to be from 2-5pm, ended up being from 6-9pm! Time will tell whether it was successful enough for people to copy it in the future, but we’re proud of Moja. He went out on a limb and made something new happen!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
The training for brothers and sisters included long days, but the reports are that it went well and there are great hopes that it will encourage groups to meet on the different islands in enduring ways that will lead to continuing growth. Our teammate will get her stent removed tomorrow and if all looks good, she and our other teammate will make it back to Clove Island on Christmas day! We have been pleasantly surprised with the guardian of the house we hope to rent. The water issues haven’t been solved but he is working on a solution and has shown great initiative to fix other small problems we pointed out (all without us fronting any money or signing a contract yet, which is unheard of in our experience). 


PRAYERS REQUESTED
We pray that more islanders would dare to do new and different things in their country. On Wednesday night, we will have our annual Christmas party with our English club. Pray that the right people would come and understand the significance of the Christmas story. Pray for island brothers and sisters as they consider what to do to mark the upcoming holiday. Pray for two island sisters on the small island. One is planning on having a gathering on Thursday with all her extended family and plans to share the good news openly with them. Pray for open hearts and the right words. The other sister has been bold and has recently been threatened by a man in her village that they would break into her house and force her out. Pray for peace for her and her village and for honest truths to break down walls and misunderstanding. Pray for our team as we celebrate together, fighting homesickness and battling the heat, to make Friday a fun day. 

Merry Christmas everyone!

Losing Elevu

Scene at English Club at our house this past week

 A long time ago in 2014 I wrote a blog about a friend named, Elevu.  This is what I said about him,

“He’s a smart kid.  He comes from a poor family and he’s gotten into the premier school of Clove Island and he’s doing well.  Many of the hopes and dreams of his family rest on him.  But he is also a deep thinker and a poet.  Long before meeting me, he seems to have been on a search for truth.”

That is still how I think of him.  An eager, responsible, young man with big dreams and great potential.  Five years ago, he left to study abroad.  I never saw him again but have thought of him often, and the many conversations we had.  One in particular has stuck with me: the day we discussed the story of Hosea.  We had been speaking about the deep love of God—how God’s love can overcome any sin, any shame—how God does not stop loving us no matter what we have done. It seemed natural to study Hosea together.  I remember how affected Elevu was by this story.  It was like he was really believing in God’s great shame-removing love for the first time.  There were tears gathering at the corners of his eyes, and I remember thinking, You are not far from the Kingdom.  Not long after that he left for his studies.

Yesterday morning, a gossipy neighbor came over telling a story of someone who had died abroad.  All of sudden we realized she was talking about Elevu.  The story could not have been worse.  A disagreement with an ex-girlfriend led to her publicly shaming him on facebook.  The shame was so great, Elevu drank rat poison and died a slow and painful death far away from his family and friends.  

At an event in our neighborhood

I didn’t want to believe it.  Elevu! My friend, with whom I had shared the good news, who had been so close to the kingdom—how could this have happened?  

Elevu had a keen sense of honor and shame.  I remembered him talking about the honor of his family and the importance of his sisters being kept pure and marrying well.  He kept high standards for his sisters and himself.

The vast majority of island men studying abroad find themselves a “girlfriend” or even a “wife” while they are away.  It is well understood that they will not keep this woman or care for her beyond their time there.  This is such a frequent occurrence that it is expected of island men to do this, and no one blinks an eye at this indiscretion (no matter how horrible it is in actual practice).  So it is not surprising that Elevu had fallen into this temptation/expectation.  Yet, at the same time, I know he would have hidden it.  He would have known in his heart that it was not upright.  He knew it was not worthy of an honorable man.  Unlike other men, who would have ignored the hurt and pain they caused and brushed it off as a passing phase of their youth, I think it would have stuck with Elevu.  Partially for what he had done, but possibly more deeply because it meant that it was proof that deep down he was less than an honorable man—something he had always strived to be.  He had seen darkness in his own heart and he was ashamed of it.  Then that deeply-felt shame was exposed to the world and it was too much.  Life had taken some dark turns and compounded against him into tragedy.

We went to visit his family yesterday.  It was a somber scene.  Islanders are taught to be stoic in the face of death.  “This is what God wanted” they say, but it was clear their hearts were breaking for this special boy, this good son, this loving brother.  And what hope do they have except that the capricious and far-away awesome God they follow might possibly be merciful.  Words fail them as much as their worldview.  There is no silver-lining to this for them. Only grief.

Lonely plants at our teammates' empty house

But I hold onto hope.  Elevu and I had studied about the kingdom.  He had heard of a hope greater than shame.  Could it be that in his dying moments Elevu remembered the things we had studied? Is it possible he remembered the story of Hosea and the unfathomable love of God who takes our shame on himself so that we might be free?  It had been many years.  Maybe he had forgotten.  Maybe he was lost in shame, but I know that Elevu, at one time in his life, heard good news.  At least I know he had that.  And I can hope that in his last moments, like a thief on a cross, he could call out and say, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.”  I hope you have found your peace, Elevu.  You were deeply loved and will be deeply missed.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Our teammates made it safely to mainland Africa. Our teammate went under general anesthesia and had a procedure to break apart the kidney stone and place a stent. It went well and her pain level is greatly decreased. Our other teammate made it safely back to the big island, she arrives on Clove Island tomorrow! Ma Imani went to the village she dreamed about and even met a woman from her dream. She hopes to go back and share more!


PRAYERS REQUESTED
Please pray for Elevu’s mother especially, she hasn’t been able to sleep or eat since she heard about his death. A training for brothers and sisters is happening right now on our island— hopefully equipping them to reach out to others. It came together very suddenly, but we pray that it would go well and lead to much fruitfulness. Our teammate is waiting to hear how long she has to have the stent in for her kidney stone— she hoped to be back on Clove Island before Christmas, but we’re not sure what the doctor will say. Pray that she would have peace and that both of our teammates could use their time in mainland Africa to be rejuvenated and rested after this time of crisis. Pray for our new prospective house— the water has been turned off for a long time and we said we needed to see water flowing through the pipes before we signed a contract. A week has passed and they haven’t called us to show us that the pipes work and have us sign a contract— it has us worried that they may be hiding a significant water issue. Pray that if this is the right house that we’d be able to find a solution.

Don't Get Sick on Sunday!

It was 1:30am on Sunday morning when we heard the phone ring.  Bleary eyed, we wondered if it was a wrong number, but there was the name and the picture of our teammate.  Something was happening, and it couldn’t be good.

Our boys going back to school

“Hello?” We put the phone on speaker so that both of us could hear.  There was moaning in the background.  
“She’s in terrible pain.  What do you think we should do?”

We have one piece of excellent advice for everyone who comes to serve on the islands that should absolutely be followed:

Don’t get seriously sick or injured.

Unfortunately, we ourselves, and our teammates have trouble following this excellent advice.  We do our best, but sometimes our best is just not good enough.

Getting sick here is complicated.  Medical emergencies are not simple procedures.
Where you might think, “Medical Emergency—Call 911. Call an ambulance. Let’s get to the emergency room.”  We have no 911, no ambulances, and the emergency room—well, we just don’t want to go there if we can help it.  Is there a hospital?  Yes.  Is there an emergency room? Yes.  Would we trust them to carry out basic emergency care in a proper way?  No.  And there is the rub.  What do you do when you don’t trust the medical care close at hand?  You exhaust other avenues first. We are thankful for doctors we can call even at 2am (and they wake up!)  We are thankful for the medical knowledge (having a nurse on the team is wonderful) that is already among us, and we proceed from there.

After consulting our doctor contacts the conclusion was simple:  Get some pain medication and get some tests and scans done.  That’s when the corollary to the first piece of advice came back to us:

If you do get sick or injured, don’t do it on Sunday.

First day of school line-up

Where do you get medicine and scans on Sunday???  Sunday is the island day of rest—and they take it seriously.  Doctors go home to their villages, the hospital virtually shuts down and almost nothing is open.  Thankfully, there is always one pharmacy that is open.  Since we don’t have a car and there are no taxis at 2am, we had to call on another friend to get us to the pharmacy to buy pain medications, but the tests and scans would simply have to wait until the daytime.

At 7am we started trying to reach the doctor.  There are only two doctors on the whole island who can do ultrasounds who also have personal generators (did we mention there is usually no electricity on Sundays).  One was on the other side of the island and the other’s phone wasn’t ringing. Fortunately, we’ve been here long enough to have connections who can get through to a doctor not interested in coming in on his day off.  By 10:30am and with some miraculous provisions, we had the ultrasound.

Thankfully the situation was not life threatening, but our teammate would still have to travel.  The reality is, for anything serious, we have to at least leave Clove Island and probably the islands altogether to receive advanced care.  The good thing is, we have an insurance company that is ready to send a med-evac airplane to get us to a good hospital if necessary. Lest you think this is a Westerner problem, rest assured islanders deal with the exact same issues.  They don’t trust the hospitals here any more than we do.  They have their own form of “med-evac plane”—it’s in the form of a small motor boat to take them to the nearby French island.  The passage is dangerous and expensive, but if you can make it to land, the French medical system will take care of you.  

At ceremony this past weekend

Getting hurt or sick here isn’t easy. So we join with our island friends and neighbors in praying that none of us gets sick or injured. When someone is seriously sick or injured, no one on the island is surprised when that person travels for medical care, but having to travel suddenly isn’t easy. And in case you didn’t know, traveling on a Sunday is even harder. Just another reason why we maintain and still advise, don’t get sick on a Sunday!


PRAYERS ANSWERED
Our teammate was able to travel to the big island last Monday (not Sunday). We’re thankful for our other teammate who is a nurse and traveled with our sick teammate and has been taking such good care of her. We’re thankful for our leadership on the big island and in mainland Africa for organizing her continuing care. Our boys have restarted local school and while they are still nervous, the first few days have gone well. Please continue to pray for them. We believe we’ve found a new house to rent with the kids’ blessing— we’re just waiting for confirmation that there aren’t water issues at the house and we’ll sign a contract to move mid-January!


PRAYERS REQUESTED
Please continue to pray for our hurting teammate. She has a kidney stone that seems to be stuck and is causing her a lot of pain. She’s spent a week on the big island and will travel to mainland Africa tomorrow. Pray for smooth travels tomorrow and that her pain would lessen, and ultimately for full healing! We have two teammates heading to mainland Africa and one teammate coming back to the islands in a week. Pray for our team in this strange time. One of our good friends is coming up on his first wedding anniversary and is already encountering significant marital problems. He is coming to Tom for advice— pray that he would listen to good advice and to the greater truths he needs to accept in order to see real change in his life and marriage. We’re still hoping to see a new island sister connect with another island sister, pray that the connection will happen this week. Ma Imani (who lives on the big island now) had a dream that she went to a village there and shared good news- pray with her as she considers going to this village in response to her dream. Pray for another sister on the small island who was inspired by a dream to share with her extended family— she hoping to have them all over later this month. Pray for more dreams to inspire boldness and sharing from our island brothers and sisters, and us too!