Understanding

In our son’s homeschool, we have been studying the history of astronomy. Some great thinkers of the past looked at the night sky and tried to find explanations for why things moved like they do. Elaborate explanations and models were made. Some of them were able to predict a lot of the astronomical events correctly, but then they’d find that one thing was off. There was some star or planet’s movement that wasn’t explained with their current model. This was because one of their conclusions was wrong (for example, thinking the earth was the center of the universe) or missing a key piece of information (that heavenly bodies often move in ellipses instead of perfect circles). Until the wrong idea was corrected or the new idea accepted, the calculations wouldn’t fall into place. 

Afternoon sky over the islands (see the bats?)

Another example of this:  Our son has a 3D puzzle that has to be put together in a certain order. He’s memorized how to do it, and enjoys seeing people struggle to figure it out. The key is that if you don’t get two pieces into their proper places first, the rest will never fit together. Those early astronomers need some key ideas in place before they’d be able to understand the rest. 

This applies to people too.  People are complicated. Sometimes we see their actions and decisions and wonder what they are thinking! Our brains fill in possible motives and explanations for why people do what they do, but we can be wrong. We can create a narrative that explains the events, but it may not be right. 

Our island friend has been complaining about her family and how their actions towards her have been seemingly mean and inexplicably antagonistic. They are mad that she is studying English. They don’t want her to go to the doctor to follow-up on some medical concerns. They are upset  about her planting flowers around the house. It paints a picture of a really unloving, unkind, unreasonable and erratic family life. Our friend said she was clueless as to why her family is always bothering her. She isn’t good at reading people.  All she could think was that they didn’t love her and/or were jealous. But just this week, we finally learned the missing piece of the puzzle that helped the tableau all fall into place. 

Our friend’s family want her to get a job. She graduated from the local university awhile ago. She has left and/or refused a few jobs in the past that were not to her liking. This is in a place where most people are poor and jobs are scarce. To put it simply, they are tired of her being a financial drain on the family without contributing anything. That’s why they got upset when she decide to start taking English classes (which cost money). That’s why her going to the doctor again (money) rubs them wrong. That’s why her spending lots of time gardening (and not looking for a job) is a source of conflict. This was the missing piece of information that has helped us understand her family dynamic. Suddenly their reactions don’t seem so unreasonable or incomprehensible.  We may not condone their petty ways of showing irritation, but we can understand where they are coming from and why they are so frustrated. 

Son's 3D puzzle

We (Tom & Megan) are very thankful that we have each other— because sometimes we don’t understand people and it can be easy to make assumptions and judgments about their motives and/or priorities. In our better moments, we remember to challenge one another and imagine what missing pieces there might be that could explain or make reasonable that which seems initially unreasonable. 

Sometimes the needed insight only comes after a hard conversation, where we speak and act based upon wrong assumptions, only to receive information that reframes our understanding of the situation.  But we often need each other to help process and get a new perspective. We need to realize where we are filling in gaps of information with our own narrative and be able to realize that we could be wrong. Ultimately, we need to give people the benefit of the doubt, learn to ask questions and listen to the answers.

Astronomers went thousands of years embracing wrong ideas that frustrated any progress to truly understanding what was going on. We pray that we will be quicker than that at realizing our mistakes.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We’re thankful for a nice visit with people from our organization’s regional office.  We are thankful to hear that a new leader of the Coast Guard has been chosen which we hope will help the boat business get approvals and paper work more easily.  We have a new sister who got dunked over the weekend.  We’re excited to hear that her two adolescent children are happy for her and hope to go get dunked some day too.  We’re thankful that in the midst of crisis we have lots of great people whom we work with, who are quick to listen and not jump to conclusions.  We wouldn’t be able to endure these things without their support.  We’re thankful for the One who carries our burdens.


PRAYERS REQUESTED
It has been a difficult couple of weeks dealing with a couple of crises that have resulted in two families leaving the islands, one from the little island and one from our Clove island.  This has resulted in a lot of work, emotional stress, and sadness.  Pray for the colleague who is out of hospital but waiting for further test results.  Pray that she would be healthy and that she and her family would be able to return.  Pray for healing and safe travels for the other family as they leave.   Pray for the boat business to get paperwork and approvals more easily, for good personnel—especially experienced boat captains and mechanics, and especially people with these skills who have a heart for the kingdom.  It’s been difficult meeting with Muki and Mtsa lately because of scheduling and unforseen changes to plans.  Pray that we could get back into good rhythms of study and for them to be sharing with their family.  Pray for our daughter who is struggling with an arthritis flare up this week. Pray for our son who has a drama performance coming up this weekend. Pray for the island women as they gather this week to study and potentially to discuss plans for how to celebrate the holidays as a group. Our water situation hasn’t been great lately, pray that would water would come to our house so we can fill our barrels and cistern. 

Crisis Mode

 The past couple weeks has been a mini season of crises.

Making it back to Clove Island on boat

We talk about being in ‘crisis mode.’ Different personalities respond differently to crisis.  For some, this means a rush of adrenaline that gives them the energy and clarity to make decisions and push through until the end of the crisis— but if the crisis keeps going that energy-surge might leave them exhausted and burnt-out. For others, ‘crisis mode’ can mean that emotions are high and they are in a fragile and sensitized state. Things that would normally not be a big deal or even bothersome, might be the straw that breaks the camel’s back in a crisis situation.

Some of the difficult events of the past few weeks have not been serious but they have added to the sense of ‘crisis mode’ because each is just another stressor during a stressful time— so things like travel plans being canceled and having to rearrange our schedules, or the fact that we came home to a rat in our house which stubbornly refused to be caught in the rat trap, or even the fact that it has been really hot the past few days. They aren’t crises in and of themselves, but they are more things to potentially tire and stretch us. Crisis-mode is a hard place to be in and means people aren’t at their best. We need to have grace for ourselves and others in crisis.

We have not been at the center of the actual crises, but our leadership position means that we have been emotionally invested and have had roles in decision-making and in supporting those more directly involved and in facilitating conversations and answering questions with different levels of leadership.  Discerning what people in crisis need most can be difficult and as leaders we don’t always get it right. 

Finally got the rat!

Thankfully, God does not desert us in crises. He answers prayers— giving us pockets of rest and relaxation, bringing healing, and this week, literally making a looming cyclone weaken and change direction.  He provides the direction and energy that we need. He gives us good gifts along the way— finally killing the rat, finding some surprisingly good ice cream for Tom’s birthday, and the windy weather (instead of a cyclone) blowing away some of the heat today. 

We are praying that this season of crises is short-lived. We are praying that God would protect all involved and help us to learn from the mistakes that we make along the way. We’re tired and there are others even more tired, but we’re hopeful. 

PRAYERS ANSWERED 
The sick colleague from the small island was able to travel to mainland Africa with her family. She received care and was released from the hospital. There’s still some follow-up needed, but we are so thankful for the healing she has received and all the people on the islands and in mainland Africa who facilitated her care.  We made it safely back to Clove Island. The cyclone weakened and ended up going well north of us. Lots of answers to prayer.  We got rid of the rat that had snuck into our house while we were gone. The women had a well-attended meeting while we were gone and the one of the groups in our area is back to meeting regularly. 

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for colleagues that are still dealing with crisis and the lasting impact it will have. Pray for wisdom in tough decisions and for smooth paths moving forward. Continue to pray for the boat project— they have struggled to find trustworthy staff that understand their vision. Pray for the right people and for things to get easier— they have hit road bumps at every turn. Pray for Mtsa and Muki— that they might get back into a good rhythm of studying. The men didn’t meet in our absence, pray for a desire for the brothers to learn and grow together. 

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.

Wanting Others to Succeed

 Can you rejoice in someone else’s success? Maybe that seems easy, or maybe you automatically sense that it depends on the situation or person. What if we elaborated…can you rejoice in someone else’s success when you are failing or struggling at the same thing? 

A view from hills on our island

It is a struggle that is as old as humanity. We see with the first two brothers that Cain is overcome by jealousy when his brother’s offering is accepted and praised and his is not— ultimately he let his jealousy and anger over the comparison lead him to murder. 

A friend and former neighbor sent me so many long voice messages this past month, many as long as 15 minutes. Her son has passed his Baccalaureate exam with honors and by all rights should be in line for a scholarship to study abroad, but she was struggling to know how to proceed and instead of asking other islanders (who would know much better the local scholarship systems), she kept coming back to me for advice and practical help. When I explained that we were not the best source of information and help, she insisted that she couldn’t go to other islanders for help. “There is too much jealousy. No one wants to help someone else succeed.” She seemed to feel that having a son do so well isolated her.

Our friend running the new boat business has run into many obstacles and frustrations, and some of the most prominent theories on why he has been given such a hard time have been that people don’t want the project to succeed, even if it can benefit the larger community and is a needed improvement on the older modes of transport. The problem is that there are all those owners of the older, smaller, generally-unsafe boats, who don’t want to see a better mode of transport arise and they have families, clout and influence. 

Another friend came to us just yesterday very upset because her sister had destroyed all her plants and flowers and had become violent when our friend tried to stop her. Growing plants at home isn’t that common among islanders and apparently our friend always got compliments when people came to the house and saw the flowers. She thinks that is why her sister wanted to destroy them. She didn’t like her sister being praised. 

People waiting for certificate ceremony on Sunday

We’ve had some friends from mainland Africa talk about an attitude that sometimes stops their communities from thriving and advancing. There was a proverb they quoted that went something like “the grass that grows tall gets cut”. The meaning being that you shouldn’t try to be better than those around you or you will be cut down to be the same as everyone else. Another person told us that where he was from ‘PhD’ was short for ‘pull him down’ because anyone who pursued advanced eduation was trying to be better than his people and needed to be stopped or at least humbled. While we agree that humility is good, we see that jealousy is not.  When individuals strive to be better and to try new things, it does not have to be done in pride, arrogance or competition.  When done with humility, it can help the greater community and can inspire others to do likewise.  

We hear these stories and we see this attitude of not wanting others to pull ahead among islanders and it grieves us, but at the same time, we can see the seeds of jealousy in our own hearts. 

We warn our new team members and remind ourselves that comparison is dangerous and can potentially lead to jealousy, resentment and discouragement. This comes up a lot with language learning. It’s hard when you are still struggling to piece together simple sentences to see your teammate using advanced grammar and already having deep and meaningful conversations with people.  But it’s also easy to succumb to the lowest denominator.  If you’re the best on the team, why not sit back on your laurels and take it easy rather than pushing forward? But it is in the team’s best interest to have the individual’s thriving and nuturing their gifts. 

Ultimately the challenge is to rejoice in the victories and accomplishments of others, allowing it to motivate or inspire us, while not allowing it to drag us down. And hopefully it goes without saying that we don’t want to hold people back or tear them down, we want to help each other succeed and reach even greater heights!  May God guard our hearts and help us cheer each other on!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We are happy to hear that the interpersonal conflict that was holding back weekly meetings in one town have been resolved and that they are meeting again!  The boat with gasoline arrived and so the gas shortage is at an end.  Tom went to an English Ceremony on the other side of the island over the weekend.  Taxibuses don’t run in the afternoons over the weekend so he got a ride back on a motorcycle.  We’re thankful for a safe trip.  Tom completed another teacher training this past week.  The new teachers all did really well on their practicum exam.  Megan continues to have good conversations with Hashiri.  Muki and Mtsa continue to study well and seem to understand a bit more each day.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Two of the people Mtsa was sharing with left for the French island and probably won’t come back.  Two others seem willing to listen, but are not really engaging.  Pray for a change of heart there and for encouragment for Mtsa.  We leave tomorrow for 3 weeks of travel.  Pray for safe travels and good meetings.  Pray that the local groups which have been struggling to meet would have a new vitality and passion for weekly meetings—especially the one that recently overcame the interpersonal conflict.  Pray for the boat project—the need for reliable and honest boat workers is so pressing that our colleauge is traveling to a nearby country to look for staff.  Pray that the Lord would bless this endeavor with honest reliable people who can shine for the Kingdom. Pray for Hashiri as she struggles with conflict in her house and wants to be forgiving and loving in the midst of it. Pray for our kids at boarding school as they are facing a busy, stressful season. 

The Same Questions as Nicodemus

There’s something wonderful about reading a familiar story with someone who has never read it before.  Even more so when that story is a life-changing one.  A few days ago Muki and I were reading together about a man named Nicodemus who came to ask questions of the teacher at night.  The teacher, as he was prone to do, spoke in a way as to provoke Nicodemus to think.  

Sat AM tradition- pancake art by Tom

“No one can see the kingdom, unless you are born again.”

Muki read the statement, and then he read it again.  Then he said, “I don’t understand.  How can someone be born again?”

I couldn’t help but smile.  Anyone who knows the story will know that Nicodemus asks nearly the same question in the very next sentence of the story.  I grinned and said, “Excellent question!  Keep reading!”  Muki went on to read:

“How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

At that he laughed and slapped his knee, “That’s the same question I had!”  So now he was engaged in the story (not that it takes much to get Muki engaged in the stories these days).  As we read on, there were things he understood and things he didn’t understand.  But so much of it he loved.

After a little while he returned to a thought he has a lot.  “These things are so important,”  he says. “People here need to hear these things. They don’t know these things that are so important to know. But no one has heard them.  Nobody…zero…,” he says with a sigh. 

I remind him, “That’s why we have to share these things.”  

At English Ceremony on Sunday

“Yes,” he agrees.

“Yes,” I agree.  That’s the point.  Good news should be shared.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Megan continues to improve post-surgery, residual pain has been clearing and she has woken up the past couple days completely pain-free. Mtsa is sharing with people in his community and he has five different people coming to him and wanting to study with him. We are so encouraged to hear this! Ma Imani made it back to the island safely (after being away for medical treatment). Her husband complained that she had gotten skinny, but her health is much better. Our daughter has been feeling just fine. She’s eating better and has had no reoccurrence of light-headness or fainting. All our kids are doing well right now. Megan was able to share more clearly the good news with Hashiri and she seemed to understand better the bigger story. 

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Continue to pray that Muki and others would truly understand, accept and share with others. Pray for Mtsa as he shares in his neighborhood. Pray for Ma Imani’s transition back to the islands and that her return would spark gatherings to restart in the town where she lives with reconciliation and unity. We have heard the gasoline shortage continues but there should be relief by the coming Sunday.  The boat project is changing up their schedule and working through different difficulties— continue to pray for encouragement for those running the project, a clear way forward, and other skilled and like-minded workers to join them, even if just for a few months. 

New Meters

 We heard that they would come months, maybe even years ago.  The government-owned electric company was going to update the electricity meters across the country, but nothing happened for a long time, so we began to wonder if it was just talk. But these past few weeks it has actually begun—new meters being installed.  Workers moving from neighborhood to neighborhood… and people are not happy. 

One of the new meters

The old-style meter had to be read every month by an employee of the electric company. They would come to your house, write down your meter’s current reading and then the following week a bill would be delivered to your door with what you owed for electricity from the previous month. You were given a couple weeks to pay before they added fines to your bill and eventually if you didn’t pay for several months, they would send out an employee to your house to manually shut off your power—cut the lines. 

The new meters are computerized with a pre-pay system, where people have to buy credit from the electric company, get a code, and enter the code into their meter. If the credit runs out then their electricity is immediately shut off until they recharge their meter with more credit. No grace period, if you don’t pay in advance then your power is off. 

The benefits for the electric company are easy to see. No need to send employees to read meters, no need to deliver paper bills to each household. There is also the benefit that people won’t go into debt with the electric company and don’t have to worry about fines and late charges. The lack of debt is also nice for renters who sometimes have inherited the debt from a previous tenant and have had to clear the debt if they wanted power themselves. 

But most islanders won’t hear of any positives. They see it as another sign that the government is bad and just taking advantage of them. “They’re thieves, always taking more and more of our money” is the oft-repeated complaint. 

The new meters come with some free credit on them, but people complain about this as well. “It only lasted for a week! At one house it was gone in three days!” They don’t seem to want to hear that that credit was free for them and it really depends on how much power you use whether it is gone in a week or three days. For them it is just more examples of the government’s malfeasance. 

Tom and our son headed to a wedding together

I think the nature of the government’s ‘wrongdoing’ in the eyes of islanders is that it is going against the culture. Islanders are used to being given and giving a lot of grace around money issues. This is why government employees don’t usually strike until their salary has gone unpaid for several months! In other countries the strike would begin at the first delayed paycheck. The same goes at school— parents may not pay their school fees at the beginning of the term (when the schools say that they are due), but it isn’t until after the end of the term that they won’t release the kids’ grades if they haven’t paid, and often they won’t actually kick the students out until more warnings over the following term or school year. Often times a sob-story or explanation of extenuating circumstances will allow debt repayment to be delayed for perhaps months. 

But these cold, impersonal meters have no grace, no room for extenuating circumstances, no months of patience before they cut off service. So they are looked upon as evil invaders in island homes, coming to new neighborhoods every day!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Thank you for praying— Megan continues to recover well from surgery, seeing improvements each day. She is off prescription meds and the incision is almost completely healed. We are thankful that some of the approvals on which the new boat company was waiting have come through. Both Muki and Mtsa are feeling better and were able to study again this past week. We’re thankful that our two older kids at boarding school are getting new opportunities to grow in responsibility and learn this year— our daughter will be a teacher’s aide for the younger kids’ choirs and our son has a student job at the library and is helping with a weekly praise service. Ma Imani, who had traveled for medical treatment, is doing well now and will return to the islands this week. 



PRAYERS REQUESTED
One of the main Clove island sister leaders will now be living a big chunk of the year on the big island. Pray for the adjustment for her and the other island brothers and sisters. She often hosted gatherings-- pray that gathering would not decrease in her absence. Pray for the group in another location on Clove Island where conflict and hurt feelings have currently stopped the brothers and sisters from meeting— pray for repentance, forgiveness and love for that group. Our daughter had a fainting spell this weekend— it seems easily explained by lack of eating— pray that is all that it is and that she would remember to eat and would stay healthy. Continue to pray for Megan’s recovery as she will start trying to increase her activity levels this week. Pray for Ma Imani’s return and reintegration into her family and community. We have heard that there is a petrol/gas shortage on Clove Island— pray for the shortage to be short-lived. Continue to pray for the new boat business— it has been a tiring first couple weeks for them. Pray for the energy to persevere.  They have been hassled a lot by officials and are still waiting to have their boat given a different classification than the other much smaller boats so that they don’t have to operate under the same restrictions as the smaller boats. Pray that corruption and jealousies wouldn’t stand in the way of this business thriving. 

Replacing Yourself

 As leaders and as cross-cultural workers, we are always looking to replace ourselves. That is not to say that we are looking to leave where we are, but just that it is a healthy for us and the work if we are actively training others to do what we do. This can apply to our teammates that we train, as well as islanders that we hope will continue a lot of what we do. 

On ward awaiting surgery

The hospital where I had surgery is a teaching hospital. So some of the doctors that were treating me had ‘RESIDENT’ on their badges and some of the nurses had ‘STUDENT’ on theirs. The thing about teaching and training is that the new people usually aren’t going to do it as well as the experienced ones. They will make mistakes. One of the residents had trouble placing my IV before surgery— ultimately the senior doctor stepped in and put it in while the resident watched. One of the brand new student nurses didn’t tape the gauze over my removed IV with appropriate pressure and I ended up dripping blood on the ground when I stood up. The senior nurse came and redid it with lots of tape and pressure for the student to see! We tell our English students all the time not to fear mistakes, that they help them learn!  As trainers and teachers, we have to avoid the tendency of hovering too much or taking over too quickly, while still modeling, supporting and setting people up to thrive. 

 

Tom is helping to teach a brand new curriculum that one of the English centers purchased. Even though he has trained many teachers in that center and they are comfortable with the old curriculum, they wanted him to teach the new curriculum. He made sure that there were two island teachers doing it with him, and after watching him teach the first handful of classes, one of them realized that he could do it, so he volunteered to teach the next unit and the other teacher said he’d do the one after that. A little modeling empowered these teachers. 
 

Sometimes we’re challenged with the question— is there anything that you do that no one else can do? If there is, how are you going to train someone else to do it? 

Tom teaching new curriculum

The idea is that even if you left suddenly, things would be able to survive fine without you. My being suddenly gone for an extra week revealed that Tom and our son can handle most of the household and homeschool things. The women’s gathering happened without me. I still did some of the admin from mainland Africa (maybe I should be training someone else to know how to do that), but generally there wasn’t much that absolutely needed me. Not to say that it isn’t easier for people if I am around to do these things, but they get by fine on their own. 

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We are very thankful that Megan’s surgery was successful with no complications. She was given the all clear to travel back to the islands and arrived home yesterday. We are very thankful for people that helped her at the hospital and for strangers who helped her lift bags at the airport. Our kids at boarding school had a good first week of school and seem to be settling back in well. Tom and our youngest did well on their own. We are thankful that the women’s gathering happened even without Megan helping to organize. The boat business is up and running— it was a long first week with some unexpected hurdles but they got to rescue two small boats that were overloaded and struggling in open ocean. We just heard about a new person joining our island familyon the big island.  She is the actual (biological) sister of a brother here on Clove Island— he is rejoicing and praying for the rest of his family. 

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Continue to pray for Megan’s rest and recovery from surgery. Continue to pray for the boat business as they are pestered by different officials on the different islands and continue to work out the kinks in how they operate. Pray for energy and stamina for them. Pray for the second monthly men’s gathering that should happen this week— may it help build momentum towards it becoming a regular habit for the month. Both Muki and Mtsa have been sick— pray for their healing and for their continued growth. 

Here I Am

 I recently did an at-home retreat study that asked me to read and reflect on the use of the phrase “Here I am!” in scripture. ‘Here I am’ is usually a response to a call— evidence of willingness and readiness to obey. There is an attentiveness and openness in the phrase that seems to imply, “I am at your service.” 

Our island home

One of our kids is very good at responding when I call with a “Yes, Mom?” said in a way that suggests they are ready to be helpful and follow-through with whatever I may ask them. It is such a relief to hear that response versus the disgruntled “What?”,  that I sometimes hear, said in a tone that suggests the responder is anticipating a request that they do not want to do and against which they are already planning to protest or revolt. In both situations, my child doesn’t know what I am going to say next, all they know is that their name has been called, but the attitude reveals where their heart is at. Then there is the non-response, the silence that requires me to find the child in question because they haven’t heard my call because hopefully it isn’t because they are ignoring me. 

As the study guided me through different passages, I read about different people being called by God and their response of “Here I am”.  The narratives had different paths— sometimes the person was given a difficult task, sometimes a message, sometimes reassurance or help. They didn’t usually know for sure what was coming next, but the “Here I am” showed that they were ready to listen. 

 Break is over, leaving the islands

When I heard the topic of the study, I had anticipated this theme of looking at my own hearts and seeing how I respond to God. Do I stand before Him ready to obey, ready to follow-through with however or wherever He may call me? Am I actively listening and seeking out His voice so that I can respond? 

But then the study flipped and showed that it is sometimes God that says “Here I am,” that the phrase can be used on both sides of a parent/child relationship. But for me, the sense of the ‘Here I am’ changed when it was the parent or God saying it. Suddenly it isn’t about subservience or obedience, but about love, about fulfilling relationship, about providing. 

Sometimes God is standing there waiting to be called upon. He is saying His “Here I am” to people that refuse to call out to Him. 

What a comfort to know that we have a Heavenly Father ready to say ‘Here I am’ when we call. That He is close enough to hear and will draw even closer to respond. That He is ready for whatever comes next. Whatever question or emotion or request that might be in our heart, He can handle it and will know just what we need in response. 

Settling into new dorm room

As I just said goodbye to my own children at boarding school and head into a week with surgery looming before me, what a comforting thought that God loves each of us enough to say, “Here I am” when we call. It makes me all the more excited to train my heart to say, “Here I am” in return. 

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Megan and our two older kids made it safely to mainland Africa and were able to do all their pre-school shopping and settle in at boarding school over the weekend so they could start school today! Our daughter saw her rheumatologist who was generally encouraged by the state of her joints. Megan got to see a specialist about her back, was able to get an MRI and ultimately be scheduled for surgery for tomorrow with insurace approval! We are thankful that there are people able to come alongside her while she is in the hospital. Tom and our youngest son had a good weekend visiting the family working with the medical team on the plateau.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for Megan’s surgery on early Tuesday morning— for no complications and a quick and full recovery. It is minimally invasive surgery, so we are hopeful she could be back on the islands within a week and hopefully pain-free. Pray for our kids as they start a new year at boarding school that they would establish good habits and be able to invest their time in ways that will help them grown and prepare them for the future. Pray for Tom and our youngest as they have to survive without Megan for longer than expected. Tom has classes and teacher training starting up which will have him out of the house for long stretches at a time— pray for our son as he is home alone more and pray that they can both get some homeschool, welcome our usual daily visitors and not get stressed or too tired by it all. The boat business is set to start running today! Pray for these first days that everything would run smoothly and that word would spread so that they get lots of passengers!

What If I’m Being Had

 We had caught him in a lie. It was blatant and his attempts to cover it up with more lies discouraged us further. Were we wrong about this guy? How deep do his lies and pretending go? Is he just trying to use us for what he can get from us? 

Sunset on Clove Island

 

As we’ve written about numerous times in numerous blogs—money and relationships are intertwined in island life.  Rather than seeing money as something that gets in the way of relationships, it is seen as something that enhances them.  It is taken for granted that friendship has many benefits, and if that doesn’t include potential financial benefits—well then it’s not much of a friendship.  

That’s not to say that islanders don’t recognize that friendships that are only and all about money are false.  They understand the phrase, “He only loved me for my money.”  And they agree that that’s not good.  But a phrase like, “He partially loves me for my money,” would probably be acceptable to island ears (not that I’ve ever heard anyone say that).  It’s just taken for granted that relationships come with benefits and those benefits are seen to strengthen the relationship.

We haven’t decided if this is truly a good thing or a bad thing or just a different thing.  One could make the case that it comes from a misunderstanding of love that goes right up to the top.  If you see God as loving you only for what you can contribute.  Or if you see yourself as paying your way to an audience through ritual prayers, perhaps there is an assumed transactional nature to all relationships that reflects a warped understanding.  A true understanding reminds us that we are loved for who we are—or considering our sinful state—who we are meant to be—not for what we have done or achieved.  This relationship cannot be bought or earned.  Neither can it be approached with the attitude of “What am I going to get from this?”  Such attitudes worship the blessing and not the blesser.

On the other hand, it is impossible to remove from a relationship the acts of giving and receiving—often in the forms of gifts—gifts that cost a great deal.  God says He will provide our daily needs.  It’s part of the relationship.  We delight in serving Him and giving Him praise and glory and thanks.  It’s part of the relationship.  We give Him our money too (often in the form of a tithe).  He gives us so much more—providing for us again and again all that we need.  We feel no qualms in asking Him for things.  He delights in giving us good gifts. 

But what happens when it comes down to the here and now?  Most islanders see us as rich. We live in a comfortable house, we have enough to eat, we have health insurance and can send our kids to boarding school.  Some of our island friends don’t have enough to eat on a regular basis.  Accidents and sickness are major financial crises.  Sending kids to a local private school is a real strain on their budget.  From an islander perspective:  

Our kids watching sunset on last night together

Wouldn’t it be great to be friends with Tom & Megan?  Think of all the benefits!  And if you like to read stories, they will make time for you and read with you!  They’ll give you things to eat and help you out when you’re in need… 

Yet we know that there are also many people searching for something else—not money, but life.  They too are coming and wanting relationship with us.  The longer we’ve lived here, the easier it seems to be able to tell the difference, but that doesn’t mean we know for sure.  And so there is can be that doubt that lingers…What if they are just in it for the benefits?

But that’s not a very helpful thought.  We prefer to remember something Hudson Taylor and his wife used to say:  “Better to be had, than hard.”  People come with all sorts of motives.  We can think of a good friend who ended up finding and embracing the truth when he was originally just interested in a girl.  So, we try not to worry about their motives, and instead hope for a transformed heart.

Let the homeschool year begin!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We had a wonderful vacation time with our two older kids.  It has come to an end and they are on their way back to school this week, but we are thankful for all the good days we got to spend with them.  Tom had that tough conversation with a friend.  It went pretty well.  Let’s hope for good to come from it.   Megan’s studies with a friend continue on and she shows interest in learning more and applying it to her life.  

PRAYERS REQUESTED 
Our youngest is starting homeschool again and the older two will start their classes next week.  Pray for a good start to the school year.  Our friend and colleague continues to work hard to prepare for the launch of the new ferry boat business between the islands.  Keep praying that an experienced boat captain and/or mechanic could be found to join the work even short-term.  We’ve heard of a few promising leads! (Let us know if you know someone!).  Pray that we would neither be “had” nor “hard”, and if we are had, to forgive, and if we have become hard, to soften.  Most importantly pray that false motives might be transformed and hearts be changed.  Pray for Megan’s back.  She has not been doing too well and will see the doctor while taking the kids back to school.  Pray for our daughter to continue to be in good health as she goes for a check up with her rheumatologist.  Pray for healing for both of them. 

Honor and Shame of Exams

 Island students have to deal with a lot of pressure-filled exams. At the age of 6, they start taking the exams at the end of each school year which decide if you go on to the next grade or not. They keep students in a grade until they pass, meaning sometimes a few kids will tower over the rest in their grade because they are several years older than the other students. 

Tom with successful student at celebration

These every year exams are one thing, but there are three times in the life of an island student when the exams are a really big deal. The three exams are going from primary school to jr. high, jr high to high school, and high school to university. These are high-stress events— with parents asking for prayers for their kids months in advance. The whole school year of these three exam years include increased intensity and extra tutoring sessions. 

The most difficult is the Bac (the internationally recognized exam which allows students to go to university). Only about 20% of islanders usually pass the exam outright, with another 20-25% passing after having to complete a second round of oral exams (because their first round results were borderline). 

The results are announced on the public radio. Everyone you know is listening as each names is called out over the radio followed by their score. If you passed outright or made it to the second round, then you’ll hear your name. If you failed, you will listen until the end and never hear your name. If you don’t pass, everyone knows it, and your life is basically on hold. It’s a barrier and you can’t move forward until you succeed. 

We didn’t turn on a radio on results day, but the whole neighborhood was quiet and we could hear the broadcast being blasted by others. It takes a long time to get through all the names and we weren’t listening closely, but all of a sudden a cheer went out from our neighbors. Our next-door neighbor had passed! We went out on our porch and caught her eye and yelled our congratulations, while other neighbors came over to share in the joy. 

Megan & our daughter at neighbor celebration

Another student came to us the night after the announcements with his mom and a backpack full of sodas. It is island tradition that when someone passes a big exam that they will gift anyone who comes to give their congratulations a soda! He honored us by coming to us with 5 sodas and not waiting for us to come to him. 

A few days after the results, another student’s parents had a short prayer of thanks at their house to celebrate, giving all those who came a goody-bag with soda and snacks. A week later our neighbor had an event with hours of chanting their holy book, including snacks and ending with an elaborate meal, to both honor their daughter’s success and to show their gratitude to God. Students come to our English club, announce their success in order to receive everyone’s congratulations. We try to honor and congratulate these students, while also emphasizing thankfulness to God.  

Meanwhile there are those that didn’t hear their names. I’ve heard that several people don’t even listen to the broadcast or won’t listen around other people, because they can’t handle the shame of possibly not hearing their name in front of everyone. The parents of these students pull us aside and tell us quietly that they didn’t pass, partially I think so we don’t ask the student themselves.  In these cases, we’ll repeatedly hear “Next year, God willing.” We don’t tend to see these students again in person for awhile. 

Another one of our next door neighbors didn’t pass her exam to go into high school this year. We haven’t seen her since the results were announced. Her mom says she doesn’t want to see anyone. She’s ashamed and upset because she had worked hard and studied. Her cousin is the one who passed the Bac and she didn’t even go to the celebration. It doesn’t seem like her mom has any words of comfort for her beyond telling her “Next year, God willing.” We wish she would come out and we could let her know that God loves her and hasn’t forsaken her, that there is more to her life and worth than whether or not she passed an exam.

We rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn, and we pray for both those who succeed and those who fail to realize that life is about more than just exams. 

Anniversary hike-- 22 yrs!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
The first monthly men’s gathering was a success with several men in attendance. We got news that Ma Imani’s medical treatment abroad is going well so far— we continue to pray for her healing. We celebrated 22 years of marriage and found a new hike to mark the occasion. We were thankful that the hike ended with a nice view and that the trail never got too treacherous. We’re thankful that Megan’s back (which hasn’t been in a good place for the past couple months) did well on the hike as well. 

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Tom needs to have a tough conversation with an island friend— confronting dishonesty. Pray that Tom could do that in a way that speaks the truth in love and maintains relationship while also making it clear that honesty is essential to us and before God. Our friend and colleague is working hard to prepare the launch of a new ferry boat business between the islands. They have had some expat personnel fall through and so a lot more of the hands-on boat work is falling on him. Pray that an experienced boat captain and/or mechanic could be found to join the work even short-term (let us know if you know someone!).   We have one more full week on the islands with our two older kids before they have to go back to school— pray that we’d have some good family time, while also getting errands done, including routine blood work for our daughter and some new clothes for our growing son. We continue to pray for those that took exams this year— that those who didn’t pass would be comforted and for those that passed their Bac and are making plans for university. 

Social Media Mediation

 It all started when one of the members of our English Club’s mother passed away.  An announcement was made on our English Club WhatsApp chat.   It was suggested that we could all meet at the local place of prayer and then go over to the house of the bereaved family to offer condolences.  In response to that, my good friend, Fakhadi (he’s the one that acts and talks like a modern day Pharisee) wrote a seemingly innocent, but actually a provocative message to the group.  

Tom teaching English class

“I’m not really sure our teacher knows how to recite from [our book].  This way of praying to Almighty is different from what he knows.”  

As a Westerner reading this, it may make you uncomfortable because it speaks so openly about religion, but that’s not actually the issue.  The issue is one of shame.  He is drawing attention to the fact that I will not be joining them in their prayers (something most everyone was probably already aware of) and so attempting to bring shame on me in front of the group.  Perhaps this shaming seems as subtle to you as it did to me, but let me tell you, it was not taken this way in the group.

From my perspective, I actually welcomed the question.  Anytime I can distinguish myself from the surrounding faith is an opportunity.  So I was very happy to explain that I would not be joining for prayers, and I am not a follower of their faith, but I am a friend and I would like to join in visiting the bereaved family and showing love and care.  I thought that would be the end of it.  

At celebration with English students

But the next morning when I checked my messages, it became apparent that others had decided to chime in.  If Fakhadi meant to subtly shame me with his question, these others meant to both defend my honor and openly shame Fakhadi. Fakhadi was quick to defend himself.  A battle of words ensued. I won’t put all the back and forth, but here are a few of the responses (be aware that these are English students, so sometimes they make mistakes):

 - “I myself was offended but I don't know if Mr. Tom was offended I really cried I cried a lot when I saw your message😭😭😭😭
- I just thought to myself why he posted this message for what purpose” 

- “[Fakhadi] in everything you think that you are on the right way but, I can swear that you are lost far away this time , you exaggerated. 
- If you feel that Tom didn't feel offended for us other we find your words disrespectful and offended.”

A few others joined in, trying to bring reconciliation, or just saying, “Let’s talk about something else,” or just telling Fakhadi to stop. But Fakhadi was offended and his last message read:

“For now on, I won't write anything or say anything at all in this group. Now you can have peace! 🤐”

By the time I read all these messages, the argument had already come to an end, but it didn’t feel too late to write something.  So prayerfully I responded:

- “This makes me very sad. 😔 I hope, [Fakhadi], that you will not leave the group. This group should be a place where people ask questions and discuss with respect.  I think some of the things said to [Fakhadi] were not respectful.  I think you were trying to defend me, which is very kind, but don't worry, I am fine.  And in your desire to defend me, you have attacked [Fakhadi]. That is not good. Words can be like swords.  They can hurt.  I ask you, please put your swords away.  🙏🏼

Our 13 year old!

I would ask, if you have a problem with someone, write your message privately, not to the group.  That is more respectful.  In the group, let us talk about ideas and opinions about ideas. 👍🏼
Let us not talk about people and opinions about people. 👎🏼

I love all of you and want the English Club to be a place for making friends, not losing them.  So let's forgive one another and start again.”

There have been no further messages in the group since then, except for a few 🙏 ❤️ emojis.  One man came up to me personally and apologized for his rant.  I accepted and reminded him how easy it is to say something in a message that we would never say to someone face to face.  It reminds me that posts and messages, no matter what the language, can be such a temptation for our tongues (or our thumbs) to set a forest on fire.  But there is also an opportunity for us in these interactions and their aftermath to be a witness for the light and for peace. 

PRAYERS ANSWERED Our colleagues (a family) on the medical team returned to Clove Island safely after several months away in the their home country. Women’s gathering was well attended last week. A plan for a monthly men’s gathering has come together. Our youngest son turned 13! We had a nice celebration and are thankful for him and how he is growing and maturing and for all the ways he makes us smile.  We are thankful for all the ways we get to shine, whether in a Whatsapp group, at a funeral, or at a celebration for passing an exam.  Tom’s studies with Muki and Mtsa continue to go well. Tom has started a new English Class that has been encouraging.  Megan continues to meet with Hashiri, who continues to ask good, and sometimes perplexing questions.  Our daughter’s health continues to be good, despite people with coughs and colds around her.


PRAYERS REQUESTED
The first men’s gathering will happen on Wednesday— pray that this could start a pattern of island brothers meeting together and going deep with each other.  Pray that  they would show up!  Pray that they would learn to trust one another and learn to love the word that has been translated into their own
language.  Pray that they would feel equipped to share that word with others.  MaNadjma has shared with us that her daughter has been having a persistent health concern that hasn’t been going away with medication. Pray for her healing.  The summer is flying by, which means so is our time with our kids.  Pray that we could continue to balance family time and island life.  Pray that our daughter would continue to be illness free so that her meds can reach their full potential.  Pray that she would be free of her rheumatoid arthritis.