Is it the Thought that Counts?

Barrels line the sidewalk

There are many different associations on the islands. Some are just clubs, others have projects. Many groups will start things and then lose momentum and fade. But there is one group that is not like this.  Their members are excited and motivated. They want to make a difference. They aren’t looking to line their pockets. In fact, they have money and they want to use it in charitable acts.  They want to make their island and city better. They are the ones that helped get trash collection up and running, which has made a huge difference in our city. So when they organized a fundraiser before the month of fasting, our team was excited to support them and buy some of the food they were selling. But the following week, we saw what they used the money towards:

Big, colorful plastic barrels were placed sporadically in the middle of the sidewalk on a few of the main blocks in town. The plastic barrels are meant to hold water, but these barrels were filled with dirt and in each was a small tree.

Immediately we understood the thought behind it— they want to beautify the city. (Yes! We are all for beautifying the city.) They want to counterbalance all the concrete and deforestation with more plants. (We are all for more plants and trees!)  And it would be something to make the city a more aesthetically pleasing place to be. (We are all for that too!)  

But it was a hot week of no rain when the barrels were set out. From experience we know these plastics don’t survive well in the sun— how long before they crack and become worthless? Immediately we saw the tree suffering. Most were in the direct sun.  There didn’t seem to be a plan in place for someone to water them. Many of them didn’t survive the week. Some barrels where the tree had withered, started to see trash collect in them.

Drowning plant

But then this week we got some serious rain and another problem presented itself. The barrels don’t have holes, so they just filled with water— probably drowning any surviving trees. Not to mention that the barrels are right in the middle of the sidewalk, impeding foot traffic and forcing pedestrians to squeeze around them.  

Then there was also the cost. These barrels are expensive, usually running about $50-75 a piece and good dirt is hard to come by— how much money went into all this? Couldn’t they have come up with a better plan? Something that would last?

Yet even as our minds want to criticize and complain, we are humbled. Haven’t we had well-intentioned plans that fell flat? Haven’t we sometimes not realized all the factors ahead of time? Haven’t we seen time, energy or money seemingly be wasted? We’ve spent time and energy on resources that never got used. We’ve invested in English programs that weren’t well managed and fell apart.

We’ve learned from our mistakes (hopefully), and we’ve tried again. We do research, we ask for lots of opinions before committing. We pray for guidance. We don’t want our time and efforts here to be wasted. We don’t want people to shake their heads in dismay at the way we used our resources. We too want to make a difference.

We often challenge islanders by saying that God looks at the heart, that is what He cares about, not the things on the outside that everyone sees. So in that sense, perhaps it is the thought or the intention that matters most, but we still long for good solutions, long-lasting change, and projects that are useful.  Can we have both?  Yes, but it takes time, and might include some plastic barrel mistakes along the way.  But if we persist and grow and learn, God will use what’s in our hearts to do things that will last.

Boys got wet on walk home in rain

PRAYERS ANSWERED
The paperwork for the medical team has been submitted! Praying that it will be accepted and that there won’t be anything more that they need to do. One of our colleagues on the big island finally got to travel home after waiting months for flights to her home country to open up. Praise God for the cooling rains breaking up the heat and humidity! The stories of opportunities to share good news and islanders showing new interest continue— keep praying for more!!

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for island brothers and sisters as they try to balance respecting their families and the local culture while still being markedly different. Pray that more and more of them could be effective lights to their communities. One of our colleagues (who works on the small island) was on her way back to the islands and found out already at the airport that her COVID test had come back positive— pray for her as she has had to rearrange all her plans. Only one week of fasting left which includes the night where islanders believe their prayers could have extra power and so some will stay up all night praying. Pray that God would send dreams and visions to those seeking Him. There was a bit of a tummy bug being passed around— pray no one else gets sick.

Easter in the Time of Fasting

Yesterday (Sunday) we celebrated Easter—the day when love gave the greatest gift ever given: life and forgiveness for anyone who wants to receive it.  At the same time, this past Sunday was the exact middle day of the month of fasting, a month when people attempt to pay their way to forgiveness and life through the means of fasting and prayer.  What follows is a parable reflecting on that juxtaposition.

Sun setting on Good Friday

Once upon a time there was a father who had two children, a little boy and a little girl, only a year apart.  He was a loving father.  He gave his children everything that they needed and raised them to be polite, wise and helpful.  He would discipline his children, as any good parent would, but he loved them and forgave them even after the harshest discipline.  Though he was a good father, all children experience things in different ways.  They build stories around those experiences and the stories become their reality.

The son, as he grew, came to realize that his father’s ways were fairly simple.  If he disobeyed his father he could expect discipline, but if he repented he was welcomed back.  Obedience was rewarded with joy.  He came to see his father as generous and merciful.  He trusted his father in every situation.  

The daughter, being smart and clever, observed the world and saw her father differently.  It seemed to her that people always had motives for doing things, so she saw her father as manipulative.  If you wanted to get on his good side you had to agree with him.  Going against him resulted in punishment.   To get back in his good graces took time and effort.  You had to earn his respect.  In short, she knew the measure of her father and how far she could trust him in any situation and guarded herself against the motives she read into his actions.

The two children grew and came of age and both planned to go off to college.  Colleges are expensive and their family was not rich.  It did not look at all likely that they would be able to attend the college of their choice, if at all.  But it just so happened that at this very time their father came into a good deal of money.  Surprised and delighted by this, he saw it as the perfect opportunity to bless his two children and told them they could go to any college they wanted, as he would use all his windfall to pay for it.

At the beach for Sunday sunrise service

And so the two children went off to college.  The son spent his time studying and making friends, soon graduated and pursued a career, always thankful for his father’s gift that allowed him to do so much.  But the daughter’s experience was different.  She went to the college of her choice, but from the first assumed that one day the bill would come due and she would be expected to pay her father back.  So she worked a job as she went through school.  She was tired and could only go to school part-time.  And she began to pay her father back for the generous gift he had given her.  “Why?” the father asked, “Why are you trying to pay me back for something I gave you as a gift.”  But the daughter knew better.  She guessed the gift came with strings attached.  

“But, my child, there are no strings,” the father pleaded.  “I did this because I love you.”  But she would not be convinced.  

“Daughter,” he asked, “Do you love me?”

“Yes, of course,” she would answer.  “You are my father.”

“Then why do you not accept my love?”  

“I do accept it.  And I’m paying you back,” she replied.

“But if you pay me, then it is no longer a gift.  And if you do not accept my gift, you do not accept my love.”

“Ah…,” said the daughter, “See, I knew I needed to be careful.  There are always strings attached to your love. If I don’t pay now then you’ll make me pay later.  I know that’s how it works. But don’t worry, I’m good for it.”

Dyeing Eggs

“Oh daughter, ” said the father, with tears in his eyes. “You don’t need to pay anything.  I am happy to pay because I love you.  And love does have strings attached, but those strings are bonds of life.  Will you not accept them?

The daughter stared blankly as if she hadn’t heard, and then walked away, saying over her shoulder, “Don’t worry Dad, I understand what’s required of me…I’ll pay you back and we’ll be even…That’s the way it works, right?…”

PRAYERS ANSWERED
He is risen! We had several opportunities to share with friends and neighbors about the holiday. Tom sent out holiday messages to over 150 islanders and got lots of friendly responses and one debate. The month of fasting limited gathering options, but island brothers and sisters sent lots of messages to a group chat encouraging one another and celebrating the risen One! We also heard about two islanders getting opportunities to share the good news with family members this past week. Very encouraging! We are halfway through the month of fasting and lots of extra prayer for the islands is happening— if you want to join the group praying daily let us know and we can still send you the information so you can participate!

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Continue to pray for opportunities to share truth and be bright lights during this month for our team and all believers on the island. Continue to pray for the medical team’s authorization to begin work at the hospital— they are working on an accord with the ministry of health— pray that this would truly be the last step. One of the main airlines that travels to the islands canceled two out of three of their flights this coming week, causing problems for several of our colleagues that had tickets to travel. It also makes a family traveling to have a baby next week and us (traveling in a couple more weeks) nervous that these cancellations might become a common practice. Pray for peace for everyone traveling, and that  they would see God’s provision of new flights and easy changes if cancellations do happen. It has been very hot and humid, pray for some cooling rains on the islands!

The Local Language is Lovely

We were sitting in a circle on a mat. Someone hands out pieces of paper with the story we are going to study printed out in the local language.

New books promoting local literacy

We start to read and immediately I recognize the posture of two of the women. They are holding the paper down in their laps and looking up or off to the side. The first time I saw this posture my reaction was to assume that the person was being rudely disinterested. But soon I learned to correct this assumption. More likely, they don’t know how to read. They don’t even bother to look at the piece of paper because it means nothing to them.

Illiteracy is more common with women, more common with the older generations and more common among the lower classes, but there is a significant number of islanders who can’t read, especially Roman script. More can read in Arabic script since poorer families are more likely to insist on going to the religious schools where kids are taught to sound out the Arabic letters. But even then it isn’t their own language.

Even the women with their heads down looking intently at the paper sometimes have trouble reading the words. It’s their language and it is written phonetically, but the years of reading French make reading difficult. They get better. One of the women in the circle reads the story beautifully, when I remember a couple years ago her reading was halting. It takes some getting used to, even for literate people, but it does come.

After we had read the story a few times, we tried to retell it orally. When it was my turn to tell a section of it, I saw one of the women who was looking off into nowhere lock eyes with me. She was listening and reacting to my words. It was like she was actually engaging for the first time.

Islanders enjoying new books

Tom has been inspired by this story to change the way he studies with his friend Uhaju.  Uhaju is a good reader, but by telling the story orally the first time and then reading it, he is seeing Uhaju engaging the story more fully.  The oral telling engages him so then when he reads the story, he is really understanding what he’s reading, making comprehension and retention that much stronger.

These experiences create three reactions in us. First, it makes us want to reconnect with our oral storytelling skills that we haven’t brushed up in awhile. We’ve been so excited to finally have reliable translations that it has been easy to forget about how much islanders are oral communicators. Second, it makes me realize the importance of audio recordings of God’s word.  These are time consuming—a project that takes many weeks to complete, but it is of incredible value. Thirdly, it makes me want more islanders to get comfortable reading their own language!

Oral storytelling with the written translation there as a check and a reference could be a powerful tool in more islanders’ hands. Now we just need to get islanders excited about learning to read their own language. So our group has started a campaign. We have little, simple books in the local language and we have videos with an audio reading of the books. It is our hope that it will create excitement for local island literacy. We are proclaiming that: “Local language is lovely!” (It alliterates in the local language too.)  And it’s true.  It is a lovely language able to explain and contain lovely truths, carry good news, and bring hope to the brokenhearted.  It is worthy and deserving of its own books, videos, music and prayers. And we are excited to proclaim it: “The Local Language IS Lovely.”

Enjoying day off from local school

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Thank you for your prayers concerning government bureaucracy and the authorization of our colleagues to work at the hospital.  The meeting with the ministry of health was productive.  Although the minister was standoffish and proud, our director had all her ducks in a row and all the proper paperwork, and apparently made friends with the office secretary.  A formal accord still needs to be created and agreed upon, but we hope this will be the final step in gaining authorization.  So far we’ve been able to have a good attitude about the month of fasting and the teasing we receive.  It’s led to a number of good conversations.  Tom’s meetings with Uhaju have been going very well.  There is much to hope for there.  We were able to connect, via zoom, with a Sunday school class yesterday.  The internet has been very unreliable lately, but it worked perfectly for the duration of the meeting!

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for our continued perseverance through this month—that we would be joyful!  Pray for Uhaju and his wife—that they could get pregnant, as this is something that they are both praying for.  Uhaju told Tom today that he would share the stories they studied with his wife.  May these two find life together!  Pray for the local language books and that many people would learn to read.  There is even a campaign on the small island to teach the local language in schools.  Pray that it will be a success and that it will catch on on all the islands.  Pray for the audio recordings which have suffered a long delay because the reader has been unavailable.  There are only 2 chapters away from finishing the present project.  Pray the reader would make it a priority to finish. Pray that we could discover more ways to get people to engage, whether through oral story telling, listening or videos.  Pray for the body to grow as they listen to or read the word and are fed by it. Pray for a good Holy Week for all the brothers and sisters on the islands!

A Special Month

Earlier today (the second day of the month of fasting), I hop into a taxi.  It’s just me and the driver.  As we drive through town we hit some traffic, so the driver and I start talking to each other.  He asks me if I’m fasting.  I tell him no, that I don’t follow his faith.  “Everybody has a choice,” he says to me, which is an interesting answer.  Then we start talking about how the price of everything is going up.  Everything is becoming more expensive.  It’s true.  Inflation is hitting the islands too.

Tom and farmer friend with a view

Then, 2 minutes from my house, and unsolicited, my taxi driver says to me,“Everybody around here are hypocrites.”

“Why is that?” I ask.

“During this month, people are supposed to help each other.  This is the month, they say they will help each other, but they don’t.  They help themselves.”

“We believe you should help people, no matter what month it is,”  I told him. “But the problem is in this world, people don’t want to help others because their hearts are full of darkness.  Maybe we want to help people, but we don’t have the power.  We need new hearts…,”  I said a bit more building on that idea, but in the next moment I was getting out of the taxi.

On street in fasting month

I think this incident is a good example of what happens during this month.  We have more conversations this month than in perhaps any other month of the year.  Some of those conversations go well like today.  In the midst of a lot of religiosity there is a lot of emptiness and discontent and people are ready to hear something different.  On the other hand, sometimes, the conversation is a one-way street of being told of the wonders of the month of fasting, when all your sins are forgiven and every prayer counts 10,000 times more than a normal prayer.

The conversations almost always begin the same way during this month.  “Are you fasting?”  We are asked time and again.  “No.” We reply with various explanations. “We don’t fast like you do.  We don’t pray like you do.  We don’t believe that one month is more special than any other month.” But we are often answered with various degrees of ridicule, though sometimes curiosity and puzzlement.

The funny thing is that even as we might argue that all months are the same, this month is very special.  In a different way than our island neighbors, we enter into this month with intensive prayer and fasting too.  Over the years we have begun to pray and fast more this month than possibly any other.  And over the years more and more people have joined us in prayer.  In fact, more and more there seems to be a movement of prayer around the world that has taken hold—meaning both people of our faith and islander faith pray a lot this month!  But the motivation and quality of those prayers could not be more different.  For one group the prayers are outward, other-centered, asking for life, freedom and joy.  By contrast in the island group each individual is praying with the hope that their prayers and good works will be enough to keep them from the fires of Hell.  (So ironically, in a sense then, we are all praying for the same thing.) 

Our 12yr old enjoys birthday ice cream

All around us, islanders look on this month as special—the most important month of the year.  More and more we agree with them.  In the same way a surgeon must concentrate at the most critical part of the surgery or an artist must focus on the difficult part of the painting, we focus on this critical month with added fervency.  

So in one sense we firmly believe that this month is just like any other month.  But in another sense, it is a very special month indeed.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We’re thankful for conversations like the one with the taxi driver, may there be many more like it.  One of our colleagues had a promising conversation this past week too.  There’s been some coming and going this week—a family with whom we have partnered and prayed for many years left the islands for good this past week.  We are thankful for all their years of service, friendship and their safe travels back to Europe.  Another family that formerly worked on the islands is visiting this week.  Pray that their visits and reconnecting with friends would be fruitful and good.  

PRAYERS REQUESTED
The month of fasting has begun and it is an opportunity for much prayer.  We hope you will join us in this month.  If you want to know more about how you can pray, please contact us!  For every good conversation, there are also hard ones to be had in this month and sometimes a feeling of persecution and ridicule.  Pray that we would not be ashamed and would answer teasing and insult with love and respect.  Keep praying for the authorization for our colleagues to work at the hospital.  Things are proceeding slowly.  There is an important meeting that is set to happen this week.  Pray that we would be able to find an advocate in the health department who would champion our case.