Learning Patience

 I think we’ve learned to be more patient.  Tuesday I left the house, giving my kids a quick hug knowing that the errand I was trying to run might mean I wouldn’t get to see them again before they went back to school.  I was trying to pick up some medication for our eldest, the hope being, I would get it to her before they left and send it back to school with her, but we know how things go here, and so I said goodbye just in case things didn’t go to plan.

Doing homeschool in hotel room

This is not the first time we’ve had to be patient getting her medication.  In fact, we’ve had to be patient every time.  This time, as has happened before, the full amount of the medication was not available on the first visit, requiring a second visit.  This despite the fact that we have “a guy” on the inside whom we let know a week ahead of time to help streamline things.  Heaven knows what it would be like if he wasn’t around to help out.  But there’s still a lot of hiccups.  My visit to the pharmacy ended up taking multiple hours.  I missed saying goodbye to the kids and we had to arrange another way to get the meds to our daughter at school, and yet, somehow we were prepared for this outcome.  It was frustrating but not out of the range of my patience.

To add to the comedy of the situation, my Uber driver on the way home, asked if we could make a “quick stop” to pick up fresh batteries for his electric motorcycle.  Needless to say, it wasn’t very quick.  I wrote to Megan, “…driver is changing out his batteries, so I guess I'm learning patience today…”  It turns out, this was just a warm up.

Arriving for our flight back to the islands the next day, we learned once we were at the gate that it would be delayed by 5 hours.  We were told to go to the information desk to get meal vouchers.  After some patience required to reach the front of a very slow line, the kind woman behind the information desk informed us that our flight was cancelled…we’d have to wait until Friday (two days away) and they would be putting us up in a hotel.

On boat to small island

So we wrote this blog from a hotel room and reflecting on patience.  There was a time and place when such an announcement as we received yesterday at the information desk, might have caused great alarm.  What do we do?  What about all the things we will have to rearrange?  Should we look into another flight?  As well as anger with the airline—How can they do this to us!?  Are you kidding me?!  What incompetence!  I would be lying if I said that such thoughts didn’t go through my head, but not in the same way they once did.  Not in the heart-pounding, mind-exploding, emotional rollercoaster way it once would have.  Living here has taught us a degree of patience.  Here was just another opportunity to practice patience, like waiting for medication at the pharmacy or for my Uber driver to pick up new batteries.

I not only see how we’ve grown in patience, but we’ve grown better about anticipating the need for patience.  We put more margin into our schedules.  I know to hug my kids and say goodbye before going to the pharmacy.  We know that things can happen with travel to and from the islands, so we are more prepared for the unexpected.  We pack homeschool supplies with us and have everything we need to do admin work if we are delayed. We had lots of plans for the week on the islands (including travel to the small island and meetings with the team there), but everyone knew that things like this happen and we were all ready to adjust. These are lessons we have learned and they help us to be more patient.

In the end, plans change. The changes will be inconvenient and unfortunate and the like, but we will eventually arrive at our destination.  In the mean time, we can think about all that we’ve learned and try to appreciate the extra time we’ve been given—another possible lesson related to patience.  When travel plans fail, we have more time for other things—in this case, homeschool, writing a blog, or just getting some rest.  We can’t change the circumstances, so we might as well try to be thankful for them.  Thank you Islands, for teaching us many lessons about patience.

PRAYERS ANSWERED 


We are thankful for the time we had at the hotel, which included getting to swim in a pool (swim lessons with our son are so much easier in a pool than the ocean)! Since writing the blog we have traveled and arrived on the little island to run a small conference with the team there.  We are thankful that our boat trip to the little island was completely uneventful on calm seas.  We are thankful that that means Megan’s back was unaffected by that trip.  The new boat business is such a blessing—a world of difference in comfort, safety, and reliability compared to other smaller boats that take people between islands.  We had a few really good days with the team on the little island (we had to end a day earlier than expected but we are thankful for the time we had).  They’ve been serving there for a year and have really done well as a team and integrating into their communities.  It was wonderful to see how much they have accomplished and grown.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
A colleague from the small island is very sick necessitating travel to another country.  She has made it to the big island, but cannot receive the proper care with the limited services on the islands.  A whole team of people (including us) have been dealing with the stress and logistics of arranging for the care and travels of her family.  Pray for healing for her and safe travels for them to mainland Africa tomorrow.  We are also traveling back to Clove Island today.  Pray for our safe travels as well.  Pray for positive reconnection with our friends and neighbors there. There is a cyclone coming our way later in the week.  It doesn’t look too serious, but we are more cautious after last year’s big storm.  Pray that it would blow out, down grade and/or switch direction.  

Birds & Listening to the Holy Spirit

 This past week we attended leadership meetings.  It was held at a nice quiet spot.  In the morning one could go out and see and hear all kinds of birds.  Each morning you could see at least a dozen different kinds of birds if you were quiet and looking.  But more about birds later…

Weaver bird

This past week we attended  leadership meetings. It was not a huge group—just people from our region of the organization gathering together to listen to the Holy Spirit and to receive from Him direction for the years ahead.  It is not a simple thing, to bring some 30 people together and discover a single direction to go in.  Different cultures, languages, personalities, responsibilities, burdens, ways of making decisions, ages, and more, all come into play as you try to hear from the Holy Spirit.  Is it reasonable to think that 30 odd people can come to agreement—not by majority vote, but in unity with one heart and one mind?  So often that seems like an impossible task.  We are a diverse group, hailing from at least 8 different countries. Such diversity makes unity difficult to achieve. Would the Lord really bring us to a place of unity?

And yet, we are promised these things in His Word:

“But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come.”

“Holy Father, protect them by the power of Your name, the name You gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.”

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as You are in me and I am in You. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that You have sent me. I have given them the glory that You gave me, that they may be one as we are one — I in them and You in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity.”

So why should we doubt?  And yet, I had my doubts…could we really think as one?  

Southern Boubou ((c) Jaunne-Marelize Van Tonder)

This is where birds come in.  In the morning, as I sat with the Lord, it seemed like He took delight in pointing out to me the different kinds of birds.  I watched a weaver bird for quite some time.  There were red-faced mousebirds that love to bob up and down, up and down.  The swifts would dive bomb like World War II fighter planes and tiny little Cape White Eyes—which look like little balls of fluff—it’s a wonder they can even fly.  There were bigger birds too: guinea fowl, grey louries, and the ibis with their loud and obnoxious call.  And so many other bird calls—a few in particular that stood out, for their clarity and beauty—melodic calls that rang out like someone playing a few repeated notes on a clarinet or a flute.  One call in particular caught my attention.  It was three clear notes, repeated again and again, a sort of “loo-dee-loo.”  Thanks to the internet, I could look up all the names of these birds I was seeing, and even listen to their calls, searching for the illusive bird call, but I struggled to find it.  I listened to dozens of calls but nothing seemed to fit.  

The next morning I heard the call again—what was making that beautiful call?  In a bit of frustration, I prayed about it “Lord, you love to give good gifts, would you help me find the bird that makes that call?”  A moment later a bird I hadn’t seen before perched on a branch almost directly in front of me.  I noted that this bird was a Southern Boubou before it flew away and continued on with my quiet time.  It wasn’t until later that I had the thought, “What does the call of the Southern Boubou sound like?”  Sure enough, this “shy shrike” makes the loo-dee-loo call.  Along with most of the other beautiful, clear calls that I was hearing each morning.  The Boubou is rather prolific in its variations, making all sorts of beautiful calls and often doing so in duet.  Now as I listened, I heard it.  The calls and answering calls, the variations—not just “loo-dee-loo” but, “loo-dee” and “loo-de-whoop” and many others.  All those beautiful clear calls coming from the same source—The Southern Boubou.

And it hit me that this was not only the Father, giving me the gift of identifying a bird call, but also the Spirit encouraging me to trust Him.  The Southern Boubou can have all sorts of calls, but they all come from the same source, and they work in harmony with each other.  Is this not the same things the Holy Spirit would do during our meetings?  Many voices, many variations, but all coming from the same source, the same Spirit, weaving into one.  And so it was with our conference.  With all our diversity, we were able to find unity of thought and direction, because despite the variety of voices, they all emanated from one source.  When God’s people humble themselves and listen, the Spirit’s voice comes through with clarity and power.

With kids at a museum exhibit

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We are thankful for all the leaders in our region and the opportunity to be with them and be inspired and challenged by them. We are very thankful that we got to spend the weekend with all three of our kids, having fun together. We are thankful that Megan was able to squeeze in a second PT visit in the midst of our meetings and for the improvement she has already seen in her symptoms. 

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for our region of Africa that there would be many who would catch the vision for working cross-culturally and that God would prepare the way for organizations and countries to welcome them. Pray for Hashiri that she would have peace and understanding within her family— she has sent several messages to Megan while we’ve been away asking for prayers. The young daughter of MaNadjma (our long time house helper) needs a specialist opinion for a health concern. Pray for peace for MaNadjma and that the diagnosis would not be anything serious. Pray for Madagascar as their government says that it is in the middle of a coup— pray for peace and justice to reign and for that country to return to a place of stability. Pray for our daughter as she continues to manage her rheumatoid arthritis— she has been struggling with more pain and fatigue this school term. Pray that her stress levels would be low (even as she prepares college applications) and that the changes to her treatment plan would bring relief without side effects. 

P.S. If you want to listen to some Southern Boubou calls : https://youtu.be/O_PpPnxM5JQ?si=GVs3ZwnbFFU_uMHP

Still Sticking to Your Guns?

 After I thought of the title for this post, I realized that I didn’t know where the expression comes from. I know its meaning— sticking to your position in the face of push-back or opposition—but the use of the word ‘guns’ makes it sound violent. So I looked it up, it comes from the idea of a soldier staying at their post and continuing to man their gun/weapon even under heavy attack.

Generally, I think of ‘sticking to your guns’ as being a positive thing, showing strength of character and commitment to your beliefs, but I wonder if sometimes sticking to our guns doesn’t create or prolong conflict. 

I have an island friend, a sister, who is very good at sticking to her guns. She will come to a conclusion or personal decision, often with well thought-out reasoning and then she will dig in and cannot be moved. In the past, we have applauded her ability to do this-- it has allowed her to stand strong and withstand persecution and temptation. This is a needed ability with all the opposition on the islands. But lately I have seen that sticking to her guns isn’t always a good thing. 

Ran into Clove Island friend at the airport

I come back to that noble picture of a soldier refusing to abandon his post as he fights off the enemy. It is a picture of war. But what if it isn’t a war anymore? What if the people approaching aren’t attacking, aren’t enemies? Suddenly the soldier sticking to their guns isn’t noble but unnecessarily hostile and combative. 

Our friend has some good ideas and thoughts about how other brothers and sisters should probably be changing and growing. She isn’t wrong, but she is fed up and has decided to draw a line in the sand, stand her ground and to make it a conflict. 

I guess the debate about whether to ‘stick to your guns’ requires contemplating some questions. Is this worth fighting over? Do we really want to call the people on the other side 'our enemies'? Is this a stand that God is calling me to make?

Heading to regional meetings

It is hard when we have an ideal in our head but then have the people we are asked to live and work with far from that ideal (or perhaps they don’t even accept our ideal as the goal). I have been encouraging our friend towards patience and bearing with others, to not declare them enemies and cut ties. I’ve tried to express it to her that sometimes we need to pray and allow God to work. He loved us while we were still sinners, his enemies, and he asks us to do the same for others. Sometimes we can’t just bombard people with our opinions, we have to give people time for God to soften their hearts and for them to come to those conclusions on their own. 

I think maybe I just don’t like this expression of 'sticking to your guns'. There is already a lot of war and conflict in the world.  I would prefer an expression that doesn’t commend guns—something that encapsulates standing strong but with a sense of perseverance, patience, hope and love.  Ultimately, we pray that we can find ways to walk with others, have the humility to fully consider their opinions and to help them to see our perspective without declaring war and seeing our brothers and sisters as our enemies.  Perhaps a single expression isn’t enough…

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Romans 12:9-12

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We made it safely to mainland Africa for our annual regional leadership meetings. We’re halfway through and the first half has been encouraging. We thank God for the work happening across the region. Our youngest son has been having a great time playing with a bunch of kids near his age.  Megan got to see a physiotherapist and was given a bunch of exercises to aid in her back recovery. We had some encouraging reports from both the big island and the French Island of how God is moving in new ways and bringing more like-minded people together on the islands. 

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Tom is helping to lead some of the final sessions for the meeting where we try to bring everything together— pray that he can facilitate that time well and that as a group we could discern how God is leading us. Continue to pray for Megan’s back recovery, that the PT would help her to move in ways that will keep her back healthy.  We’ve heard that the gatherings in airport town haven’t been happening regularly since one sister traveled to the big island— pray that they would prioritize meeting and growing together.