Getting Things Done: Presence Required

I left the printshop grumbling…I had come in last week and had been assured that they could do the printing in 30 minutes.  It would be as easy as that.

“30 minutes…ha!” I muttered to myself, “Try 3 hours.”   I was annoyed.  

View looking over our town

I had arrived at the printshop at 11:30.  I had even called ahead to let them know I was coming.  They told me to come, that it would be no problem.  But when I got there, the print shop was busy.  It took 30 minutes to be seen.  “Why didn’t they tell me they were busy?” I asked myself.

Finally, they got started on the job assuring me it would not take very long.   Two and a half hours later, I was still waiting for the job they said would “not take very long.”   That’s when they came out from the back and said to me, “It’s 2pm, we’re done for the day.  We’ll finish the job tomorrow.”  

Grumble, grumble grumble…why couldn’t they have told me to 'come back tomorrow' two hours ago???…why couldn’t they have told me they were busy today???…why did I have to sit around there so long???…grumble, grumble grumble…

Somewhere half way home my grumbles turned into head shaking, and then even a grin.  Why am I surprised???  Shouldn’t I have known it would be like this?

First of all, time is relative on the islands—30 minutes can easily stretch to two hours.  I know that.  

Secondly, everything closes down at 2pm, so should I have been surprised when they told me to come back tomorrow?  Not at all…

“But what about making me wait all that time???”  my mind complained.  

Then I thought about my landlord, sitting patiently as the plumber fixed the shower, or watching as the construction crew put the roof on, or as the electrician redid some wiring.  He was there for every moment of it.  Did he have better things to do?  Surely.  But the reality is work does not get done unless you are present.  

The final product was nice

It’s like your presence is the generator.  There is no power to do the job until you are present—even if the job takes hours.  We have seen this so many times, we should not be surprised by it.  It’s why you can’t tell a restaurant to start preparing the meal before you arrive.  They will only start the fires when they see you.  It’s why you can’t expect house repairs to be done in your absence unless you have a landlord willing to sit and watch them.  And it is why the new calendars will not get printed unless you are sitting quietly waiting.  This is the island way of things.  Why am I grumbling about it now?

The next morning I was not surprised when the remaining job (punching a hole in the calendars and printing the bill) did not start being done until my arrival.  Even though I had been assured the job would be finished when I arrived the next morning.  (I even went late and called ahead to give them more time and opportunity to get the job done—alas!)  

So I began to sit and watch again.  But that’s when my American culture got the better of me.  Yes, I knew this would happen.  Yes, I knew what to expect, but I wanted to get back home to join a meeting and all that they needed to do was punch holes in the calendars. I could see the guy every once in awhile pausing from his other work to punch a few holes in just a few more of our calendars with a manual hole punch—the same punch I have at home.  I could do that and even do a better job of it!   I couldn’t take it anymore.

“I’ll just take the calendars now and punch the holes myself,”  I said, trying not to look too exasperated.  “Is the bill ready?”  

“Oh yes, the bill.”  I rolled my eyes and grinned as the printer sprang into action to make my bill.  10 minutes later I was leaving, bill paid. The stack of calendars still needed holes punched in them, but I was free. Maybe next year, I will need to remember to clear my schedule for a couple days for the printing of the calendars…

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We were able to get our annual island visas renewed without any problems (something we don’t take for granted as colleagues on other islands have had difficulties). The planning of the island worker gathering is coming together. We are thankful for the team of people working with us on that. Our short-termer continues to do well and as she has a different background from us, she has had unique opportunities to share with islanders. Tom has several men now interested in studying with him.


PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for Tom that he would discern how to proceed with these men and generally how to encourage island men to greater growth and lasting maturity. One of our island sisters that we had you pray for last week was in the hospital for two nights this past week. She is back home, but pray for healing for her and for clarity about her diagnosis. There is a religious holiday this week and elections for town mayors, which will make for a strange week with schools closed for three days. Pray that the unusual schedule would lead to unique opportunities for our team and local brothers and sisters to have good conversations with islanders. One island sister sent a message encouraging everyone to pray that God would open hearts/minds across the islands. Let us join her in prayer.

Too Tired

 A week ago Sunday was voting day on the islands— and like other years, both in the lead-up and on the actual voting day, there were signs of corruption and manipulation of the voting system. Opposition candidates were told they couldn’t run, were arrested and convicted on spurious charges. On the voting day, there was a stealthy video taken of a polling official stuffing filled out ballots into the box and other stories of polling places having ballots listed for deceased or absent people (in these small communities most people know each other).

Our beautiful island

Now in previous years this could have led to protests and violence, but as I talked to people, the expectation was that nothing would happen. “People are tired” was the sentiment. Protesting hasn’t gotten them anywhere, and they’re tired of fighting what seems like a losing battle. They’re too tired to protest, too tired to hope that anything can make a difference. Plus, they’re scared. Scared of arrest and imprisonment or worse if they are too vocal.

It’s a dreary state of affairs. There is part of us that is glad that an election day went by without unrest and violence. Don’t we long for peace and stability?  Don’t we pray elections can be held without incident or casualties?   But we don’t long for a country where peace is won by the fear and apathy of the population, where truth and justice are stifled. That’s not real peace or stability. 

Tom at recent wedding event

So we continue to pray for justice and peace.  We pray for good governance and freedoms without war or revolt on the islands. We mourn for the slow but persistent erosion of freedoms, community action, and equal rights. We mourn for this tiredness that is fed by apathy, fatalism and hopelessness.  And we pray for it to be changed into a new awakening of light, life and hope.  And we do not lose hope.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We have had some encouraging news from people on the neighbor island that was devastated by the cyclone, stories of restored power and water and schools even preparing to reopen. Several island sisters were back from travels— two having received medical care and doing better. We are thankful to have them back and for the women’s gathering that we had this past week. Our short-termer is doing well and is very engaged in language learning and building relationships.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
The two returned sisters are not completely healthy. One learned that she has out of control diabetes with accompanying complications— pray for her as she tries to change her diet and lifestyle to become more healthy. Another left the country where she was getting care before the doctors wanted her to, she wanted to get back to her husband and kids, but it means that she is still doing the prescribed treatment without the benefit of a doctor to follow-up with— pray that she would continue to find healing and full recovery. Pray that now that these women are back that the local group could start to meet with more regularity and numbers again. The past few months the group hasn’t had as much life and activity. Pray with our short-termer for clear guidance of where she should serve long term— pray that if she is meant to return to the islands that it would be clear to all. Pray for our preparations and planning for our annual gathering of island workers that will happen in February in mainland Africa— we are trying to firm up the details this week and praying that we would follow God’s lead.

Coming Back to Old Books

 We are a team that reads.  We encourage all our teammates to read and share about what they are reading.  Moreover, we are always reading and discussing a book together as a team.  Each month we make our way through a book chapter by chapter.  In addition, there are certain core books that we make all our new teammates read.  We do this because these books have been impactful on our lives, how we approach the work we do, how we engage in life in this place.  These books have become so integrated into our thinking, reading them feels like talking to an old friend, or colleague—someone you respect highly, and know all their stories and their examples.  You can almost guess what they’re going to say before they say it.  But that’s not a reason to stop listening to them.  It’s always good to go back and talk to Rolland, Rick,or Nikki (to name just a few).

Tom reading

We’ve got a short-termer with us this month, and we wanted to expose her to as much of our life, our work, our experience, our strategy, so we decided to go back and read a few chapters from some of our core books together and discuss them as a team.  Just this past week, we had a wonderful discussion about what it means to be a credible messenger— a person accepted by the community, appreciated, valued, who has earned respect.  It was all familiar to us, but familiarity doesn’t rob Rolland’s words of their challenge:

“As you meet new friends, try and find things that are of common interest between you. If you have no common interests, then develop some. This means that you have to become interested in the things that they are interested in. Over the years I have had to develop an interest in the history, politics, economy, religion, sports…”
This paragraph got us to talking.  What common interests do we share with our island friends?  Lots of people talk about politics and the economy.  There are some who talk about sports, but mostly people talk about their families.  And we were convicted.  Families are so complicated here, full of drama, multiple marriages and polygamy (with confusing vocabulary in the local language to describe the different relationships) that we often let our eyes glaze over a bit as someone takes several minutes to explain how they are related to so and so.  But, it’s something that islanders care about.  So if care about them, we should try to care about their complicated family relationships, too!
So this morning I sat down with Muki to ask him about his family.  I even got out a pencil and paper, knowing that it would be complicated.  I wrote down their names and relationships and where they live.  I must admit, I learned a lot.  Muki’s father had 3 wives and a total of 10 children.  Most of them (Muki’s siblings and step-siblings) still live in the neighborhood, though a few have died.  Muki himself has 14 children!  (I did not realize it was so many) from two wives. His second wife gave him 10 children.  He is divorced from both of them.  In total, he has 29 grandchildren and counting!  
I think it makes our relationship a bit deeper for him to have shared these things with me.  I hope it does.  Thanks for the idea, Rolland.  It’s always good to sit down and chat with you and get some new ideas.  
 

Our son enjoying the heavy rains coming onto the porch

PRAYERS ANSWERED
A second tropical storm is passing the islands but thankfully so far (especially for our neighbor island still devastated by the cyclone) the storm has been less intense than early predictions. Our short-termer is doing well and keeping a great attitude as she learns local language and spends time with islanders. Two of our island sisters are back and a third is on her way back this week. We have heard second-hand reports that their health is greatly improved. The nightclub (that recently reopened near our house) has been not nearly as loud as they were when they first reopened at the New Year. We are thankful for the less-disturbed sleep for us and our neighbors.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for Muki and his large family. Despite the size, he seems to be on good terms with very few in his family. Pray that his studies with Tom would challenge him to seek reconciliation within his family. Continue to pray for our neighbor island recovering from the cyclone, we know that some Clove Islanders are continuing to take illegal boats to immigrate to that island despite the devastation there. Our island friend (Ma Nadjma) has a man interested in marrying her. She is a widow with two young kids and has been praying for a new father for her children. He already has a wife on another island. We have expressed our thoughts about polygamy.  Ma Nadjma seems keen to accept, we are encouraging her to at least go slowly and pray about this decision and see God open or close the doors. Pray for God’s guidance for her and for us as we try to share God’s hope with her.

Lifting Up a New Year

Some islanders will still say, “We don’t celebrate New Year’s Eve, we have our own new year,” (referring to their religious lunar calendar).  And in the past, islanders would say, “Oh, today is your holiday” on Dec 31st/Jan 1st. But the truth is, it seems like more and more islanders are now celebrating New Years.  It’s a bank holiday, so some people have the day off already. And though some may claim allegiance to a different calendar, the reality is that everyone here uses the same international calendars that can be found all over the world.

An island New Years Eve picnic

Still, it feels like a relatively new holiday.  Sort of like they’ve been given a holiday, which they are happy to have, but now they have to decide what to do with it.  Thankfully, they have no interest in celebrating the holiday like New Yorkers—watching the ball drop in chilly Time Square.  No, in fact we kind of like how islanders handle it.  They see no great need in staying up late that night.  “What’s the point?  If you’re tired, go to bed!”  Instead the holiday (for those bothering to celebrate it) consists of a picnic and social media messages (mostly gifs).

When Tom was a kid, he can remember going to his aunt’s house for a big New Year’s Eve/birthday celebration (his aunt’s birthday is December 31st), but as a married couple, we haven’t made much of the holiday.  We don’t do anything special during the day.  We usually find a way to stay awake till midnight—usually a movie—count down the last seconds, give a hug and a kiss and a “Happy New Year” and head right off to bed.  This year was no different, except that it’s a lot easier for our kids to stay awake than it used to be.

One of many received gifs

But one tradition we do keep is the habit of looking back on the past year—remembering the good and the bad, joys and sufferings.  We’ve had a share of each this year as is probably true for most anyone.  

We have a habit of praying daily prayers for friends and loved ones, situations, hopes, dreams.  Many of our prayers are answered.  A sick friend gets better.  Travels go safely.  Classes go well, etc.  

Some of those prayers we are still waiting for something to happen—like an end to wars in places like Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan—apparently a year is not enough for these things to end.  Or there are new disaster or big overwhelming problems— like the chaos and devastation caused on our neighbor island with the cyclone. Sometime, we have to celebrate the small victories, look for the individual stories of hope and light in the midst of complex and dark situations. We keep praying.

Then there are prayers we pray where it seems like our prayers have been answered, but not permanently.  We need to keep praying— for things like consistent weekly fellowship of our brothers and sisters, or for opportunities to share our hope, or growth and maturity, or fruit.  When we pray, we see those prayers answered, but when we stop praying or become complacent, we soon see the situations slipping back. Then we are reminded that we need to pray for them again—almost like keeping plants—regular attention and watering keeps them growing and healthy!

Celebrating a new year for Megan!

What is in store for 2025?  What prayers will be answered?  What prayers will require consistency and perseverance?  What prayers will be on-going with small victories?  Only time will tell, but we keep praying.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Things are still very difficult on our neighbor island ravaged by the cyclone, but we are thankful that flights and boats have restarted, that emergency supplies are being delivered and areas are getting water and electricity restored. We are thankful for all the good things from this past year—people growing and maturing, a sister bravely facing persecution, people studying, more  translation happening, kids doing well, Megan’s back doing okay, new workers joining our group—we could go on and on.  We have a visitor staying with us for a month who just arrived.  We are thankful for her safe arrival and adjustment into island life.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
There is still a lot of work to be done to recover from the cyclone, let’s keep praying.  It seems like many of the poorest people are choosing to stay, even if there is very little let to stay for—schools are closed, crops are devastated, most of the fruit trees have been toppled. How will they survive?  These are questions yet to be answered.  Our daughter’s arthritis is in check, but how we would love to see her healed.  How we would love to see those who seek learn to follow and those who follow learn to lead, and individuals become groups, and for all of that to multiply.  Our visitor has just moved in with an island family.  Pray that she would learn to live with their rhythms and that she would be included in their lives.  Pray for her ability to learn language and make friends.  There are at least 4 of our island sisters who are having health issues and 3 of them have had to travel.  This is a blow to regular gatherings as well as their own personal encouragement.  Pray for healing, for encouragement and for things to continue even with these sisters being away.