Eids Through the Years!

 Today is the biggest holiday of the island year. Most holidays are tied into the local faith and so we don’t usually celebrate them, but the Eid at the end of the month of fasting is different. It is a time of community. It is the only holiday where people go around and greet all their neighbors, friends and family, sharing treats and blessings. The men and children dress up and go around to different homes, while the women and older girls stay at home to receive the visiting men and children, handing out candy and homemade baked goods.

First Eid on Clove Island

We have been on the islands for many years now. When we first got here, we saw Eid as a great chance to establish ourselves in the community. Tom would take the kids and walk around the neigborhood and go into any open door that they saw— meeting some neighbors for the first time, making connections that we hadn’t realized (that certain people we saw around the neighborhood were all one family or connecting a person to the house they lived in).

Back together again just in time for Eid!

We used to wake up early, anxious to be all ready before the first visitors came. Our kids were excited to start going out, remembering from previous years all the candy and treats that they would accumulate through the long morning of walking all over the place.

As I woke up this morning I realized how things has changed. For one thing we have teenagers, who are not as enticed by candy and more excited about sleeping in longer. Not to mention that our two older kids only got home late yesterday afternoon after three days of travel! We didn’t rush to get our door open or to get outside. We took our time and even told some early kids to come later, that we weren’t ready yet. Tom and the boys headed out, but they went to the people we know. They went to both our current and old neighborhoods, but still it wasn’t super long before they came home to rest before a second short outing. In many ways, I think we are more like other islanders now. Going to every single house in the neighborhood is usually only for the kids who want to get as much candy as possible, filling their bags as fast as they can. We don’t feel the pressure to establish ourselves and are content on reaffirming the relationships we have, which is what most islanders do on Eid. It isn’t usually about new connections but more about strengthening the ones you have….. and maybe also about eating lots of yummy treats!

Sampling of this Eid's hoard

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Thank you for praying for the islands during the month of fasting— we were encouraged by the increased chances to share truth and plant seeds of the good news. Our two older kids made it safely home (on our older son’s birthday). The travel was long and all three of their flight times were moved later, but God sustained them and brought their bags along too! We’re thankful to have them home. We are thankful for our son’s 15 years and all the ways that he has grown and matured and we look forward to celebrating properly after Eid. Tom and the boys had a good time visiting friends and neighbors this morning for Eid.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for the islands as we transition back to the non-fasting rhythms of life. Pray that the seeds planted during the month of fasting would not be forgotten but would be nutured and grow. Pray that our two older kids would be able to rest and recover from their travels and have a good break at home. Pray that we can have some good family time together.  Bako has been sick this week, nothing serious, but a chance to for Tom pray with him for his healing.  Pray that he would know where his healing comes from. 

Testing

 We were recently reading the famous story of Abraham and Isaac.  As you may know, it says that one day God decided to test Abraham.  He told Abraham to take his son, his only son, up on a mountain and there, sacrifice him to God.  Abraham agrees and is about to kill his son when God intervenes and stops him.  Abraham sees a ram in the bushes and sacrifices that instead of his son.  Then God blesses Abraham for his faith and obedience.

A calm day on the islands

Whenever we’ve read this story with islanders, they have latched onto the very first words of the story.  The part about the test.

“Life is a test,” they will say.  “We only have this life, and God is testing us.  If we pass the test, we will go to heaven.  If we fail, we will go to hell.  All of life is a test.”

We have heard this reply from so many different islanders that it is seemingly part of their world view.  And every time we hear it, it rubs us the wrong way.  Why?  What is wrong with their assessment?  Doesn’t it say that God tested Abraham?  We couldn’t put our finger on it, but it just sounded off in some way.  Not exactly wrong, but not exactly right.  But how can you explain what it is wrong, when it says it right there in the story—Abraham was tested?

Why does it seem wrong-headed to think of life as one big test? It all has to do with the test.  What happens if you prepare for the wrong test? like reading Moby Dick to prepare for a Calculus exam; or learning to crotchet for a cooking evaluation?  All your preparation will be wasted for the actual test.  In islanders’ minds, the test of life is assumed to be answering the question, “Have you qualified for paradise?” But this is the wrong question—the wrong test!

Secondly, tests are always linked to the test-giver.  Why are they giving the test?  In an ideal sense, teachers say we give tests to evaluate the student and the teacher— reveal what is lacking  so the student can learn better and the teacher can teach better.  The goal is learning, understanding, wisdom, flourishing.  But in reality, tests and teachers often serve as bouncers—who is allowed in and who isn’t.  In the worst case scenario, the teacher cares nothing of the student, learning or wisdom, only the final score—pass or fail—are they in or are they out? What kind of a test-giver is God?  In the minds of most islanders, he is the bouncer—weighing up your balances, and impersonally deciding whether you are in or out.

But as we think about Abraham, we think differently about the test and the test-giver.  First of all, the test-giver is not impersonal.  He speaks to Abraham personally, just as he has spoken to him many times before.  He never mentions the outcome of the test.  He does not give him promises of rewards or threats for failure.  This is clearly not the bouncer.  This is the teacher who wants to see his student learning, growing, flourishing.  He is both gentle and challenging.  He knows what his student is capable of.  Have you ever thought about that?  God knew what Abraham was capable of before this test.  He knew what the outcome would be. So why do it?  A good test draws out the best in a student and puts it on display, as this drew out the best in Abraham.

And as for the test itself—paradise in never mentioned.  The test is not about his worthiness for paradise.  Actually, if we were to sum up the test in a question it would be, “Do you trust me?”  Could this be the test God has been asking each of us through the ages, again and again?

Tom and our son working on meal prep

“Do you trust me?” is a very different kind of test.  You prepare for it by getting to know the one you will put your trust in.  You prepare for it by putting your trust in them again and again and seeing they are faithful.  But passing this test is not based on how much you’ve studied, or learned, or achieved.  Passing this test happens when we put our life in the hands of the one whom we have trusted.  

As we thought about testing some more, the Word’s favorite way to talk about testing is not in terms of school exams, but in terms of refining—burning away the dross to reveal the purest gold.  That fits with our understanding of the test-giver.  He is not waiting to decide our fate—he knows it already.  Instead, He is lovingly working to refine and enhance the best in us and remove the worst.  Do we trust him?  Will we let him cut away the dross—even when it hurts?  Will we put our life in his hands?

 “Life is a test,” they say.  “We only have this life, and God is testing us.  If we pass the test we will go to heaven.  If we fail we will go to hell.  All of life is a test.”

Is life a test?  Perhaps the answer is yes—but not the way you think my friend.  It is not the bouncer asking, “Do you have what it takes for me to let you in?”  It is a loving father, wanting to draw out the best in us by asking, “Do you trust me?”

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Thank you for your prayers for our daughter.  She has been feeling progressively stronger and in less pain.  She has been able to participate close-to-fully in school activities which are pretty busy with the end of term.  Thank you for praying for our meal with Muki, Mtsa and Mtsa’s family.  We had a wonderful time together.  At the end of the meal we read 1 Cor 13.  Mtsa insisted we read through it line by line and consider the implications of each verse.  His wife, sister, and daughters weren’t overly engaged, but they were listening.  His daughter seemed pleased and surprised when I told her she could keep the paper with the passage on it. Megan had a good catch-up and talk with Ma Imani.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
We are entering the final week of the month of fasting.  Pray for continued opportunities to share the difference between fasting for points and fasting out of love.  Two island friends, Bako and Sahé, both recently had deaths in their families.  Pray that loss would open up possibilities for life.  During this final week there is a special night called the “Night of Power” when many believe fervent devotion to prayers all night can result in receiving the thing you most want.  Pray that they would discover the one they most need instead. Our two older kids travel back the islands at the end of the week— pray for smooth travels and that traveling wouldn’t be too exhausting for them.  We are entering the final week of the month of fasting, but it is not too late to join us in prayer for the islands. If you want to get a special weekly email with ways to pray, let us know.

What’s Happening to the Islands?

When bad things happen, word gets around on these islands.  And it feels like recently, there has been more bad stuff than usual.  The islands have no big cities like Johannesburg or Nairobi.  Life works on a system of who you know—and everybody knows everybody.  As annoying as this can sometimes be, it is a great crime deterrent.  I can remember the time many years ago when a friend from the other side of the island came to visit.  I asked him what he was doing on our side of the island.  He said his motorcycle had been stolen and he had tracked down who had taken it and where it was!  I remember being amazed.  It’s hard to get away with things when everybody knows what everybody else is doing.  

Chatting about news after breaking fast

But in recent days we have heard some of the kinds of stories that we never used to hear on the islands.  I don’t want to be alarmist.  I still believe our islands are a safe place to live.  But some of the things that have happened in the last 6 months were virtually unheard of before.  They are still isolated cases at this point, but just the fact that they have occurred sets minds uneasy.  In the past few months, 3 armed robberies, a kidnapping, a murder and a rape have all been widely-known stories.  People on the islands are talking and there are signs of more fear setting in.

It was our teammate who noticed it.  When we first came to the islands we would have said that people here have an open door policy.  Front doors are always open and everyone is always welcome.  But our teammate told us that this was no longer true.  If they live on the ground floor, now islanders keep their door closed.  The fact is, you don’t know who might come in your house.  We confirmed with others, people don’t leave their doors open like they used to.

A podcast I was listening to reminded me that cities and  perhaps countries go through phases—times when crime rises and times when crime falls.  Not surprisingly, it is very difficult to know what causes these changes.  So we cannot say what the asnwer is, but we are aware of some factors that might contribute.  The capital city on the big island has grown a lot in the past few years, due in part to a centralization of government.  Its growth has certainly contributed to the possibility of anonymity for would-be criminals. Signs of increased crime are worst in the capital.

Chatting on our porch

Another factor may be the French island.  For years, islanders have been sending their children to live on the French island, putting them into the hands of distant relatives or even the state, hoping that they would find a better life.  But a majority of these children, without parents watching out for them, fell through the cracks, don’t go to school, might become servant slaves in households and are in danger of all kinds of abuse.  Gangs now plague the French island. Many would say it is a result of all these children growing up parent-less.  Islanders look at the crime on the French Island and shake their heads and blame the French government for being soft on crime.  But now the French Island was ravaged by a cyclone and lots of people left there to come back to these islands.  Could some of those lost and forgotten ones who have learned the ways of gangs and crime, be bringing the only life they know back to the islands?  

Or could it be caused by the slow deterioration of justice bubbling over as the local government withholds the rights of its citizens with increasing regularity?  Or is it the slow grind of economic forces—people desperate to get by as prices climb and the basics of life get more difficult to possess?  

Things are not better off than they were 5 years ago.  We perceive the change and although we aren’t trying to be alarmist and we don’t suddenly feel unsafe, we all wonder, “Will it get better or will it get worse?” No one knows. We join islanders in lamenting the changes for the worse and the accompanying increase in crime and the more serious types of crimes being committed.

One of our friends said, “And it’s just terrible that these [crimes] are happening during the month of fasting!”  Many in the group nodded their heads.  Then one young man turned to the first and wisely said, “It’s terrible that things like this happen any time.”  Amen.  

PRAYERS ANSWERED
The weather cleared and our colleague from the medical team flew safely back to Clove Island and got her bag too (after a couple days). Praise that power has improved this past week with fewer long outages (which means we have fans for more of the day). Megan got to share the story that was studied at the women's gathering with one of the island sisters that didn’t make it last week. Tom is co-teaching a new English course and it led to him getting to share truth with some new people. Another former student contacted Tom asking where he could read about the good news.  All of us continue to get more chances to share the good news as people ask us, “Are you fasting?”

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for the islands— that whatever the factors, there would be an end to this rise in crime!  Our daughter is in a middle of a flare-up of her rheumatoid arthritis and they are in the last two weeks of her school term, which are full and more stressful. Pray for her healing and for encouragement for her heart. We are planning to break the fast with Muki and Mtsa and Mtsa’s family. Pray that this would be a good opportunity to deepen relationship with them. Our older kids’ school in mainland Africa jus posted their staffing needs for next year— pray that God would call the people to serve there. Keep praying for the increased chances to share during the month of fasting. We are already halfway through the month, but it is not too late to join us in prayer for the islands. If you want to get a special weekly email with ways to pray, let us know.

Let the Little Children

This morning I read the famous words, “let the little children come to me and do not hinder them,” and as I reflected I was momentarily sad that we don’t do more with kids here.  

Megan and friend's daughter last night

In this part of the world, foreigners exerting too much influence on children is seen as highly suspect. So in our effort to be above reproach we don’t focus on children too much, and instead we make a point of focusing on engaging with adults mostly.

But that doesn’t mean we don’t have interactions with kids. We see kids all the time. Our home is right next to a school, so every morning, midday and late afternoon there is a whole wave of kids walking down the street right in front of our house. Islanders have lots of kids. On the islands, it is actually considered a religious obligation to have children and households are mostly multi-generational. So any time we visit an island home, there are usually kids around.

Some kids are kept at home and are given a lot of attention and parenting. Other island kids are left to their own devices most of the time and might even wander the streets with their friends, potentially from as young an age as 7 or younger if they are boys.

Everpresent groups of kids in the background

In big households, kids are often used as messengers. There are a handful of kids that are regulars at our doorstep simply because they are constantly sent to our house with messages or requests by their moms or grandmas.

Some island kids are deathly afraid of foreigners (in villages the ‘white person’ is sometimes the boogey man in scary stories). We’ve even heard parents say, “Look, here come the white people, they’re coming to take you away!” Island kids are also sometimes taught in school that people that don’t follow the majority faith here are bad. I remember our kids coming home upset one day because their friends after one such lesson had asked our kids, “So is your dad a bad man?” Still, in spite of this, there are plenty of island kids that are drawn to us because we are outsiders and different. They will run after us in the streets in the hopes of touching us or giving us a high five. They will yell out greetings from inside their houses as we pass, seeing their chance to practice their French or English if they have it.

Probably our biggest fans are our friends’ kids. They will yell our names, run up and give us hugs. One little boy makes his mom climb the flight of stairs to see us anytime they pass by our house.

English Club after breaking fast meal

As I kept reflecting this morning, I realized that for many of these kids, we may be the only foreigner, the only person of a different faith that they have had significant interactions with. We’re here and they can see us, touch us, and sense that we are not bad people. We are members of their community and real people, not just subjects of scary stories.

Sometimes knowing a person that is different can have a powerful potential to tear down stereotypes and misperceptions. So as I reflected this morning, I was encouraged. We can trust that our presence here is having an impact on the children with whom we interact, and even removing barriers and hindrances from these kids’ paths. Let the little children come to him and do not hinder them.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Women’s gathering went well. The month of fasting meant we met earlier than normal so the heat kept some people away, but those that came were engaged.  We have gotten some rain which has brought some needed relief to the heat. Megan got her skin biopsy results— two were fine with no problems, the doctor is seeking a second opinion for the third biopsy but it looks okay so far. Thanks for praying. We had a nice visit from our colleague from the big island and she made it back there safely. Tom had a particularly good study with Mtsa today and was encouraged. We got to break the fast with a bunch of people from our English Club and had fun with some of their kids too.
 
PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray that we could be a positive and loving presence in the lives of many island children. Pray that we would have chances to share with their parents and them. Our daughter caught a cold and had to pause her immunosuppressant medications that are treating her rheumatoid arthritis. Last time she did this she had a bad flare-up in her arthritis. Pray that this would not happen this time, that she would be healthy, painfree and not have any flare-ups. We are catching the edges of a cyclone (that is well south of us), so it has been a rainy and windy day. It means that a colleague from the medical team was not able to fly back to Clove today, pray that the weather clears so that she can make it back. Continue to pray with us and for the islands during the month of fasting. If you want to get special emails with ways to pray this month, let us know— it’s not too late!

Standing Firm During the Fast

 The month of fasting is upon us and with it a whole host of questions.  How should we conduct ourselves?  How should our brothers and sisters live?  How do we answer the constant question of “Are you fasting?”  How do we answer the question from an island friends, “Should I fast?”  Before you jump to an answer, take a moment to ponder what life is like during this time.

Crescent new moon starts month of fasting

EVERYONE is fasting.  If you were to eat or drink in public you could be arrested.  If your family is part of the majority faith then they are all fasting.  That means they are waking up in the middle of the night to eat and drink before sunrise.  Will you get up with them?  Will you eat with them?  In the morning and during the day, there will be no breakfast or lunch prepared for you even if you wanted it.  If you were to prepare breakfast for yourself, the smells of cooking and the sight of you eating would be a cruel and unwelcomed temptation for those fasting around you.  How could you do it in such a way that would not be offensive?  Then as evening comes and everyone with great relief begins to eat and drink, could you celebrate with them, if you were not fasting along side them?

And yet, in your heart you know you are free.  You know that no amount fasting will forgive your sins.  You know that the action is futile as a points towards heaven and an undue burden.  Do you take on this burden as well for their sakes?  Is this what it means to become all things to all people?  Yet all around you are people who think their fasting is paving their way to paradise—they are even proud of it.   In your efforts to honor and respect them, it would appear that you are no different—that you agree with their fasting—even support it.  In your efforts to respect have you simply hidden your light under a bushel?  Can you stand by and do nothing when you see so many suffering needlessly?  Can you do nothing, say nothing?  Either the truth will burn inside you until it bursts forth, or you will feel the fire inside you smolder and die.   

Snuck in river trip before fasting started

It’s easier for a foreigner, or for a family.  What you do in the privacy of your own home is your own business.   No one expects a foreigner to fast, but they ask us all the time if we are.  They try to compel us and cajole. “Try one day! Just give it a try.  It’s good for the body.  You live here, don’t you?  You speak our language.  You wear our clothes.  Why don't you fast with us?”  

Often they mock us, “Oh you can’t do it, can you?  It’s too difficult for you.  You’re too weak.”  Implying at the same time that we are weak in spirit as well as body—that a true follower would be strong in such disciplines.  The ones like this very rarely listen to our thoughtful heartfelt responses, but rather just laugh at us—those poor foreigners.  If this is the reaction to foreigners, what might it be to a local.  I fear a much nastier answer would be given, along with insults and threats.

It is no easy thing to navigate this month.  Just today our house helper brought her seven year old daughter to work with her.  Why?  To force her to fast.  They feel it is time for her to learn to fast—even if just for a few days and they don’t trust her.  So she has to be watched. They even follow her into the bathroom to make sure she’s not sneaking any water.  The days have been hot—miserably hot.  She’s a seven year old girl.  We feel for her.  We wouldn’t go so far as to offer her a drink against her mother’s wishes, but if we caught her drinking while her mom wasn’t around—we wouldn’t say anything.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Muki and Mtsa have been eager to keep studying even during the month of fasting! All of our colleagues on the small island made it safely back! Our older kids had a choir concert and our daughter had a solo, we’re thankful that the school was able to livestream it so we could enjoy the performance. We removed the stitches and Megan’s skin biopsy incisions are healing well (no biopsy results yet). Our island sister Elewa just had a opportunity to share and answer questions with 12 women in her community— may it bear great fruit!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Pray for our island brothers and sisters as they navigate this month of fasting. Pray for the women’s gathering as we start a new study— pray that women still come in spite of the heat and the month of fasting. Pray for some rains— it is miserably hot right now and didn’t rain all week. We have a worker from the big island visiting, pray that her visit might be mutually encouraging. Pray for our friends on the French Island, crime has been increasing there and a few mentally ill men have become violent and destructive in their neighborhood, leading to some scary incidents. Pray for peace (both spiritually and physically) and for the continued post-cyclone recovery of that island.

Coming Home Surprises

You never know what you will come back to after a time away from your island home.

Our plants are alive!

When we’re gone a long time, we have come to expect that we’ll find something gross or unpleasant on our return. Once it was a dessicated rat that had been trapped in the room with our belongings and had obviously starved to death after trying various inedible things in the room. Sometimes it is to find that clothes or other fabrics have mildewed in the tropical climate. Other times we return home to signs of different infestations (whether ant, cockroach, mice or rat). We have come to expect that our plants will be dead (sometimes from lack of water, sometimes from over-watering).

But this time we hadn’t been gone that long. I can’t say we were expecting any real surprises. There was the pleasant surprise that our plants looked okay (it was long enough for them to suffer). Some of our rooms smelled a bit musty, but opened windows and doors helped sort that out.

It wasn’t until I opened our kitchen door that the surprise came. It took me a little while to understand what I was seeing. Across the wall was a splattering of red, dramatically across our kitchen knives, but it wasn’t just that one spot. Extending all the way to the opposite corner, spots of dried red could be seen. I quickly turned to our pantry shelf and discovered ground zero. What was left of the canned tomatoes was sitting in a tarlike substance with remnants of canned tomatoes on everything in the vicinty.

On closer inspection it became clear that one can had ruptured, but another had completely exploded with force. The can’s pull back lid was completely blown off, the impact on the ceiling of the shelf showed the impact and a bottle of oil had been knocked to the floor. Three of our four kitchen walls were splattered with tomato remains.

Unfortunately for us, it must have happened early in our time away, because if it wasn’t dried on, it was sitting in putrified layers on our kitchen shelves.

As we cleaned, we had to marvel… we’ve gotten used to coming-home surprises, but we hadn’t expected this one!

Ground zero

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We had a good week at our kids’ boarding school, getting to see their life there while our youngest got his annual standardized testing done and we were given more help and strategies for homeschooling.  We are so thankful for the school our kids go to and for all the people in our organization who work hard to make sure our kids are thriving and that we are teaching them well in homeschool.  It was very encouraging.  Our youngest had a great week hanging out with other kids his age, which was nice to see.  We managed to get back home without too much hassle about our daughter’s medicine.  Our daughter seems to be feeling better this week.  We also managed to clean up the tomato explosion without too much trouble. Our former teammate had a baby this week!  Her little girl is beautiful and mom and baby are doing well.  

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for us as we get back into island life and into our normal routines of homeschool, studying with friends, and everyday life in a very hot place!  Megan seems to be healing well, but pray that her skin biopsies will all come back negative.  One of our colleauges missed their flight.  Pray they wouldn’t have too much trouble finding their way back to the islands.  We’ve had some very saddening news from an expat family on the big island.  We don’t know this family well, but they have the same heart for the islands as we do.  The wife and mother of three little children has been diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. Join us in praying for miraculous healing.  

MONTH OF FASTING: The month of fasting will begin this coming weekend— if you would like to get special emails about how to pray during the month or links to a website dedicated to praying for the islands, let us know (those of you on our newsletter mailing list will get an email invitation soon).

Noticed in Translation

 Muki and Mtsa come over every day to study.  Sometimes our studies go really deep, sometimes one of them is falling asleep.  We never know what it might be like on a given day.  As we are away in mainland Africa for a few weeks, we are wondering, hoping that Muki and Mtsa would continue to study and learn and grow without us there.  This may be an important time, an important lesson for them to learn who their real teacher is.  We are hopeful that they are discovering that God will lead them and give them all they need to grow and find joy in the words of truth.

Beauty in our midst

Talking about finding joy in the words of truth, it has been fun to study with these guys who don’t know the standard answers, who are reading these stories for the first times, and are noticing things I’ve never noticed before.  Here are a list of some of my favorite recent “insights/confusions.”

Insight #1: The great teacher never gives a direct answer.  I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed this, but it’s quite true.  Recently someone told me that of the hundreds of questions addressed to him, he only answered directly 3 times.  Usually he answers with a question or a story that brings out so much more than the initial question asked.  Muki and Mtsa picked up on this early on and whenever they saw the teacher answer with a story they would laugh and say, “He’s doing it again!”  They see it as a sign of his great wisdom, and they’re right!

Insight #2: People named Anisi are liars.  Anisi is a common name on the islands.  It is also the name used to translate the name Ananias.  As you may remember Ananias and his wife die suddenly for their lies and disobedience over the sale of some property.  Muki and Mtsa agreed that lying is serious, especially concerning things of God, but then Mtsa said to Muki—Anisi’s are always bad.  Then he listed 3 different Anisi’s he knew who had got into some kind of trouble.  Muki nodded his head in agreement, “Watch out for anyone named Anisi.” He told me gravely.  I decided to just let that one slide.

Insight #3: Rich people are bad; poor people are good.  Okay, this is not so much an insight as a confusion.  It highlights how culture can get in the way of proper understanding.  When we read the story of the rich young ruler and the teacher says, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven.”  Muki and Mtsa nodded their heads and then started telling me stories of all the terrible things rich people do.  I tried to point out that, in that time, it was thought that rich people were good—that they had clearly received God’s blessing.  That is why the teacher’s friends ask, “Who then can be saved?”  But they were not too interested in that.  They instead took the time to rag on rich people and how evil they are.  This is a shame, because where the original story challenged people’s assumptions, in our context it affirms them.  Islanders firmly believe that the poor are blessed and will receive salvation for their suffering in this life.  Muki and Mtsa are poor, so they take comfort in this—and completely miss the point.  None of us are good enough.  A poor man—many a poor man—spends his life searching for and putting his trust in riches just as much rich men, and so do not see the things of the kingdom.  

Son excited about conference prizes

Insight #4: God provided for Cornelius’ servants. When Peter has a vision on the roof of the house and shortly after Cornelius’ servants arrive at the door. Muki and Mtsa were intrigued by the mercy shown to Cornelius’ servants, because if Peter had already eaten, then there would not have been food for them, but because he had the vision before the meal, he was able to inform the ones cooking that they would be having guests.  This gives an insight into island culture around food and hospitality.  If the food is gone, there is not necessarily the expectation that the host will cook again!

Insight #5: The good news is for everyone—even islanders.  When we read the story where many people heard the good news in their mother tongues, they loved the long list of languages that were spoken.  We took out a map and looked at all the different places the people came from and all the different languages they spoke.  Their conclusion:  it’s for everyone—every language—even islanders.  Amen and Amen.

These are just a few of the insights and confusions that come.  There is struggle but there is joy!  And the Word is living and active.  May it continue to live and act in all our lives.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Muki and Mtsa say they have been studying together in Tom’s absence.  Pray that those times will be fruitful and encouraging. The conference we attended went well and we were able to enjoy a weekend with all our kids (and some of their friends) away from their school. We were able to get the rest of our daughter’s medication for her continued treatment for the rest of her school term (not an straight-forward process).

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for all our island friends that they would be studying, learning and growing. Pray for our son as he has academic testing this week. Pray for our daughter as she continues to recover from a flare-up, and that she/we would continue to grow in our understanding of her disease, what triggers flare-ups, and how we can best encourage her . Pray that we wouldn’t have any trouble bringing her refrigerated meds back to the islands for her next break. Megan got to see a dermatologist and will have some suspicious moles removed at the end of the week. Pray for a smooth procedure and good results. Pray for our travels back to the islands.