Glass Blowing and the Theology of Making

 “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in …, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”

Blowing the Glass

I have been reading a book by Makoto Fujimura.  It challenges us to think about the importance of making and creating. Fujimura is an artist, so it is not surprising that he believes strongly in the importance of making and creating.   He is saying [my paraphrasing] that we should not be in the mindset of fixing, but rather creating.  That idea has been rolling around in my head, back and forth, back and forth…

I had the chance to do something I’ve always wanted to do:  glass blowing.  What an amazing experience!  You slip a long steel rod into a blazing hot furnace full of white hot molten glass.  The glass sticks to the steel like honey on a spoon.  As you raise the rod a great glob of glass hangs to the end.  Immediately you have to start rotating.  Glass blowing involves a constant rotating, back and forth, back and forth, to keep the honey glass from dripping onto the floor.  Then first breaths are needed.  Strong steady breaths start to open the glass from the inside. After that you sit down at a workbench with the rod and the bulb of glass on the end waiting to be shaped.  The first step is to cradle it in a thick wad of wet newspaper.  It’s like holding it in a blanket.  With gentle pressure, the blob of honey starts to take on a more cylindrical shape—always rotating, back and forth.  

Shaping with wet newspaper

More heating, more blowing, then swinging to let gravity lengthen the cylinder.  More heating, more rotating, then tongs for opening and a paddle for flattening and a file and a tap—just a tap for breaking off the opening.  More heating and tongs are required to smooth out the opening, and voila, you have yourself a glass tumbler.

Fujimura has a lot other say about our devotion to efficiency—how dangerous it is—how utilitarian we become.  Personally, I love efficiency.  I love self-check out, and paying bills online, and getting things done.  But as I made that glass tumbler, Fujimura’s words and my own hands challenged me to think differently.  Glass blowing is not efficient.  Machines can churn out thousands of perfectly flawless glass cups in minutes or hours.  I asked the man guiding me how many glasses he could make in a day.  He said he can (astonishingly) make 50-70 per day.  That’s a lot, but it is not nearly as many as the machine produced ones.  And yet, I will cherish the two tumblers I made, and even more so, I want to cherish the experience of making them.  

Forming the finished product

Taking the time to do something artistic, beautiful, creative—what a gift.  We need this in our lives, if only to realize that is how our lives truly work.  Life is not very efficient, instead it often looks like art.  We are God’s masterpiece.  We are not glass cups churned out of a mold, but each of us is unique.  We are at times thrown in a hot furnace, we are breathed into, we are cradled and shaped, flattened, swung, squeezed, opened, broken off and smoothed.  It is a slow process, but the glass blower knows his work.  Always aware, always watching, rotating back and forth, back and forth, doing the slow work of creating a masterpiece.  If He is willing to take his time, why aren’t we?  If God takes His time with us, why are we so unwilling to allow Him to take his time with others?  Imagine if we approached our friends, our enemies, our problems, our sorrows, not as things to be fixed, but as opportunities to create something new…

I think that means we would be following in the footsteps of the master glass blower.  

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We got back to the islands safely and felt like we were thrust back into life and work immediately.  We are thankful that our travels went smoothly and that we can quickly serve meaningfully here even after absences. The Oct/Nov rains have started coming, bringing some periods of cool and needed water to crops/homes. 

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Both our boys have come down with a virus at school meaning they’ve had to spend a night or two at student health rather than in the dorm.  It’s always a little lonely over there and it’s no fun being sick, pray that they recover quickly and can go back to their dorms (our younger son has already spent two nights at Student Health, our older son just got sick today). Pray that we could faithfully share with others what was discussed at the leadership meetings and facilitate good discussions with our colleagues on the islands. Our organization has collected nominations for the new regional director— pray for wisdom and unity among the selection committee as they start to consider who should get this important position. Tomorrow is supposed to be a day of concentrated prayer— may our intercessions lead to powerful change and answered prayers. Mtsa’s wife is sick— pray for her healing and that he would be paid his back-pay so that he can care for his family. There is a young family visiting the islands as they consider potentially working here in the future— pray for a clarity for them as to where God is leading them. 

Confronting Racism

 This past week we’ve been going to leadership meetings with a diverse group of leaders from many nations .  Part of those meetings was to sit and think about how the past effects the present.  Specifically, how ideas of colonialism and racism have shaped the way things are and the way we are.  It’s not a very comfortable topic.  But we cannot deny history.  And the history of Africa cannot be told without talking about uncomfortable subjects like colonialism and racism.  And the history of our organization, right up to the present, cannot be told without acknowledging these uncomfortable subjects.

Beautiful jacaranda of East Africa

It is undeniable that racism and the impact of colonialism still exist in Africa.  I’m not talking about the overt “I believe my skin color makes me superior to you” type racism.  (Although that too still exists in some circles.)  I’m talking about the assumptions rooted in racist ideas and everyday stereotypes we hold onto whether we realize it or not.  For example, the speaker shared how, despite the fact that he is a college professor with years of experience, when he brings his young college students to a big cosmopolitan African city the people want his students to come and speak at their gatherings, not him.  Why?  His students are white Westerners and he is a black African man.  We would be lying if we were to say we’ve not seen many similar things like this happen in our time in Africa.  On the islands, whenever we go to a wedding, we are asked to sit in one of the places of honor.  Why?  We might sooth ourselves with thinking it is because we are foreigners and all foreigners are supposed to be honored.  But we wonder if they would so quickly realize we were foreigners if it were not for the color of our skin.  And if our skin happened to be black or brown, would they notice us??? 

As distressing as this is, it is much harder to admit that these things going on in our very midst.  Within the organization we work for, some of the attitudes and decisions that are made, often with the best of intentions, are done in a way that makes Africans in our organization feel like second-class citizens, outsiders, and strangers among us.  The meetings this week encouraged people to open up and share about their experiences.  It was so disheartening to hear these first hand stories from people we love and respect being treated badly by other people we love and respect.  We shed many tears.  Our eyes were opened.  Things we thought were in the past, we have learned, still go on, and (more heart-breaking) often happen without the perpetrators realizing what they have said or done.  Before you start thinking our organization is terrible, realize that the speaker was challenging us to say that all organizations are like this—not just ours.  There are mentalities so ingrained into us, that many times we fall into the patterns without conscious intent. 

The common defensive phrase is: “I’m not racist.”  We have to stop saying this.  Here is an important insight from the week: I am racist.  You are racist.  We don’t need to know who is reading this blog in order to say that.  We don’t need to know the color of your skin to say that.  Whoever you are, know it’s true.  In fact, even if we didn’t have hundreds of years of racist slavery and colonialism in our past history (and we do) we would still all be racist.  Saying “I’m not a racist” is like saying “I’m not a sinner.”  Many of us have been taught that we are inherently sinful.  Whether we are intentionally doing something or not our normal state is that of a sinner.  Often times, as the Anglican confession puts it, we sin out of omission “for what we have left undone.”  Is this not also the case with racism?  Whether we are doing it consciously or unconsciously, we all have tendencies in us—to make our group and our way of doing things is the best, to look down on other people, to put people into classes and relying on stereotypes to decide how to interact with people.  Add to that a few hundred years of slavery, racial ideology, and colonialism—it’s a battle for any of us to avoid being bigoted.

Enjoying weekend with our sons

Why go there?  You might ask. For the same reason we need to admit that we are sinners, or an alcoholic needs to admit that they are an alcoholic.  Only when we have named it and accepted it can we move forward.  Only then can we see who we really are and start to address it.  Only then can we start to call it out in ourselves and others.  Only then can we extend grace when we see someone else blindly, naively or unintentionally doing something racist.  Only then can we start to forgive each other, empathize with each other, and confess where we need to grow.  We won’t confess what we don’t acknowledge.  More deadly still, when we deny it and say, “I’m not a racist.” We are destroying the only path to change and growth.  We are declaring the discussion over.  We are saying we have nothing here to learn.  But if we own it.  “I am a racist.  But I don’t want to be.”  Then we open ourselves up to change.  

“You’re a racist and so am I.  You’re a sinner and so am I.  By God’s grace, we can change.”

PRAYERS ANSWERED 
We are privileged to work with amazing people from all over the world, who recognize they are sinners, are willing to listen and wanting to grow—may it be true of us also.  We are thankful for the meetings we’ve had this week that were so challenging and for the many relationships strengthened because of the time together.  We are thankful that we’ve gotten to be with our boys this weekend and are having a wonderful time with them.  Women’s gathering happened this past week with bigger numbers than the past few months, though still with several missing. 

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray that the lessons learned this week would stick with us and lead to continued change in ourselves and in organizations.  Pray that we would not become weary in doing good—including talking about uncomfortable subjects.  Pray that we would have safe travels back to the islands and that we would be able to continue to figure out what our new rhythms of life should look like in this new season of life.  We have several island co-workers that are expecting babies (one recently gave birth to a little girl). Pray for safe and healthy pregnancies and babies. 

City Living

 I’ve been reading books about nature lately—the Serviceberry and the God of the Garden.  They’ve got me thinking about wilderness and nature and plants and trees. I love nature, but I live in a city.

Looking down from hike above our little city

Our city has only 20,000-40,000 people in it.  Not much of a city, you might say.  But everyone who comes to visit us comments on how urban it feels.  Our city may be small but it is also densely packed.  If you ask wikipedia it will say that our city is 12 square miles.  That is ludicrous.    I can walk around the entire city in about an hour, there is no way the city is 12 square miles.  So with a little help from google maps I tried to determine a more accurate size of the city.  My results: about ½ a square mile.  Crunch 40,000 people into ½ a square mile and you get a population density of 80,000 per square mile!!!  According toWikipedia that’s higher than the density of Manhattan with all it’s skyscrapers and high rise apartments.  

So the city is small—tiny even—but it is very much a city.  Complete with honking cars and motorcycles, traffic jams, concrete jungles, crime, trash and people everywhere—people laughing, yelling, crying, fighting, moving, talking, visiting, and doing business.  There is little beauty to be found here.  The city is poor so there is little budget for fixing things, let alone beautifying the surroundings.  Roads are broken down.  Houses are broken down.  Crumbling concrete and rusty tin are a constant.  Paint jobs don’t last because of a combination of low quality paint, harsh ocean salt breezes and a relentless tropical sun.  Trash is everywhere, so ever-present that people hardly notice it.  Cars and trucks are not required to pass inspections, so many of them belch out back, white or blue smoke.  In certain places they burn piles of trash.  There used to be rivers here, but they have dried up and in an effort to keep people from making the river bed a trash dump, in many places the river access has been boarded up.  You wouldn’t even know there was a river there anymore.  All of this is disheartening.  All of this can feel quite ugly.  

Beautiful sky and silhouette of distant volcano 

There are two great respites from all of this ugliness.  The first is to look up.  The city sits in a coastal plain, beneath towering green volcanic mountains.  These mountains are often skirted by clouds with a brilliant blue sky behind them.  One need only look up and find some hope.  Or you can turn around and look in the other direction—out to sea.  The ocean is always changing.  It can be blue or gray, flecked with white caps or sparkling and shimmering like glitter.  The view is framed by the edges of the island on either side, and at certain times of day, you can even see the mighty active volcano on Volcano island rising out of the sea.  It is most idyllic at sunset, but it is always beautiful.  There is beauty to be found here.

The other great respite is found in faces.  The neighbors who smile at us and greet us as we pass by.  The children shouting “bonjour” and then running away laughing.  The babies crying, crawling, nursing, sleeping.  The old men and old women who speak blessings as soon as they hear your voice.  This is the part I would like to talk more about to those nature writers.  I love a tree and a wilderness and a walk in the woods.  I hate to see wild places decimated to make way for houses or farm land.  My heart breaks with the way our tiny island is being used up, scarred, ruined, trashed.  And yet, this is where the people are.  Forty-thousand people scrunched up on one another.  People who—like all the trees and plants of the garden—need light and water and care.  Many of them are bruised and broken and dying.  Where are the gardeners, people wiling to bring light and nourishing care to those that need it?  Have they gone off to the country side, where everything looks beautiful and growing things is easy?  Where they can breath fresh air and drink in bird song and forget about these hard, ugly concrete monstrosities, full of beautiful, needy people? Maybe they go with a bit of regret, sighing for those far off ugly places called cities.

Porch plant!

I grow plants on our porch. It helps.  It is one more respite.  Sometimes they thrive.  Sometimes they don’t.  Sometimes I am faithful to water and tend them. Sometimes I neglect them.   I love to see new growth.  I love cutting away what is dead so that things are only green and beautiful.  I love to see the occasional flower.  I’ve had plants die for lack of water or too much sun.  I’ve also had some die by violence - killed by children, hungry goats, or over-watering.  I like to think that if plants can grow and beautify my porch, then the city itself can change.  Oh it will take time—to bring life and trees and hope to these people.  But I choose the ugly city because this is where the people are.  This is where opportunities abound.  I love the country.   But the people of the city call to me.  I need to get away from the city from time to time—I must, but I cannot leave them.  They need me and I find that I need them.  

PRAYERS ANSWERED
 We are thankful for an island sister opening up her home to more gatherings and inviting us to attend from time to time.  Our teammate got back and we were happy to reconnect with her. Unfortunately, she was sick the last few days of her break, but we are thankful that she was getting over it.  We were able to talk to all our kids this week and happy to hear some good reports from them. We traveled to the continent for meetings and got to attend an encouraging gathering of fellow workers on our way through the big island. We had safe travels and meetings are going well.   We are very privileged to work with people from all across the world including many from the African continent.  We are so thankful to be able to work with and learn from them.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for our city, that it would be transformed, both its ecology and its people.  Pray for continued reconciliation from the recent controversy among the island family, there is still some bridge building and relationship work that needs to happen.  Pray for us as we talk about some new responsibilities and connect with people at our meetings this week. Pray for us to have humility and love and to grow in unity.  Pray that the women's gathering would happen this week and that it would be well attended. 

Making Plans

 I don’t know if you can relate, but for us it’s that time of year when we make plans.  We are thinking about the end of 2026 and anticipating everything that might come our way in 2027 and beyond.  The funny thing about making plans is how much depends on other people.  Even as we sit down to discuss the year ahead we realize we will need to talk to a whole host of people in order to get anything like a plan together.  We simply can’t make plans without including others and considering the effects our plans will have on them.  It is a bit of a logistical puzzle sometimes, but ultimately it is a good thing. 

Tom at ceremony that could have had more planning

Another thing about plans is how we make them and then have to hold them with open hands.  I love the quote by Dwight D Eisenhower (perhaps one of the greatest planners to ever live). “Plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”  How true this is.  We make our plans, but to hold onto them tightly is to cause unnecessary anxiety, stress and pain.  It’s not the plan that you need to stick to, but rather the time spent in planning that has opened your heart and your mind to the things you may encounter.  Of course the flip side of this is also true.  If there is no planning, then there is a great deal of unnecessary anxiety, stress and pain caused by all the waves of responsibility breaking against your unprepared existence.  

Local kids watch ceremony unfold

I was reflecting on this recently as I read about King David.  In a fit of thoughtless hubris and perhaps some political maneuvering, He thought to bring the ark of the covenant to his newly conquered capital—Jerusalem, the City of David.  I can see how he thought this a good idea—it would bring glory to his city and his kingdom.  It would help to centralize worship closer to his field of influence.  It would be a great unifying action.  He was also a deeply reverent man who rejoiced in worship and prayer.  So with the best of intentions, but very little planning, David set out to do what he thought was a great idea.  For those of you who don’t know the story, it does not turn out well.  In naive exuberance they place the ark on a cart and when Uzzah reaches out to steady it, he is struck dead.  The celebrations immediately cease, the ark is shunted off to a barn and David goes back to Jerusalem to sulk.  But after a few months, they try again.  This time planning takes place.  This time they do it thoughtfully.  They think through all the details and the result is a triumphal entry into the city.

I am struck by how often we are all like David.  How many times have I seen good intentions but poor planning result in failure, pain and disaster?  The “developing world” is literally littered with failed charity works of this nature.  Island businesses seem to fail constantly for the same reasons.  In my own life I can think of many a relationship that has suffered because of my “good intentions” but lack of planning to spend quality time with them.  Or when I’ve barreled ahead with a plan without talking to the members of my team and getting them on board—assuming they would agree with me and when they don’t, sulking like David did.

David had another plan—to build a house for the ark.  He went into great detail in the planning.  But then he was told he would not be the one to build the house.  This time David didn’t sulk.  He let go of his plan and accepted this change in plans with joy.  May we be equally as thoughtful in planning and still open to change. 

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Our daughter had her follow-up appointment. It went well and the travel to the hospital and back wasn’t stressful.  Two new island sisters went for a special swim and we were there to celebrate with them and hear their stories. We’re thankful for how their lives have been changed.  Sisters on different sides of a recent controversy met together and were friendly and warm with each other. There was a large gathering on the big island this past week that was a unifying and encouraging event for many. 

PRAYERS REQUESTED
We are having to be patient about future planning but we hope to make some progress this week as we talk and meet with more people. Pray that we would be sensitive to all the different factors and plan with open hearts. Our teammate comes back from vacation this week— pray for good health for her and for a smooth transition back. There is a new couple that have come to be lights on the small island— pray for their integration into the community there and that they would be able to shine brightly. Our youngest son has settled in at boarding school but he doesn’t seem like he is thriving yet— pray for good friends and outlets for him. 

Soft Hearts

 When we were dropping off our youngest at boarding school at the end of August, it was interesting to see the new bunch of adolescents together for the first time.  They were quiet and guarded. They weren’t being playful or silly as they might have been if they had been meeting as younger kids. These are junior highers, they can’t afford to be too silly or weird. It felt like they were hardening a part of themselves in order to try to be cool or at least to avoid embarrassment. We harden ourselves so that we don’t stand out in a bad way. We harden the heart to not let our true selves out for fear that we won’t be accepted.

Finding joy in star fruit

Another hardening happens in hard places. If we constantly are confronted with overwhelming suffering, or with evil deeds it can harden our hearts.  We had a friend who, as part of her work, is constantly interacting with people in incredibly hard and heartbreaking situations. She talked about being confronted again and again with unsolvable problems.  How do you keep your heart soft when that’s your reality? If we are surrounded by the dark too long we can become jaded and cynical. Hoping for a happy ending feels naive and like an invitation to disappointment so we can close ourselves off.  We try to protect our hearts by hardening them.

Last month we listened to a podcast about being easily edified. The idea is that you can be encouraged and uplifted and taught by lots of things. The podcaster suggested that people don’t value this as a trait but that they should. People tend to value being hard to edify— they frame it as being discerning or intelligent.  This too is a hardening of our hearts— to immediately look to tear apart and critique rather than to learn and be encouraged, to dismiss something as too simple or unsophisticated to impact us.  We can think it is more impressive to tear down a piece of new information rather than to allow it to impact us.

We harden our hearts as a survival tactic. Whether for junior high or hard situations or just the critical culture of our time— this self-protecting hardness feels necessary.  Our hard exterior is like an armor.  We are less impacted by the negativity around us, but we also become less teachable, less compassionate, less able to see with God’s eyes. We lose hope and a willingness to engage with others. We close ourselves off even to our own emotions.  

There is a stubbornness that we associate with being hardened. To be hard often means not only an unwillingness to be soft but a negative association with softness . A hardened person often appreciates and values their hardness and doesn’t want to change. Perhaps they have forgotten what they have lost. 

Being encouraged by a pretty island sunset

Keeping our hearts soft means staying vulnerable, staying willing to be impacted by the world and the people around us. It means to be teachable, willing to listen and learn even from the simplest or strangest things.  It means the real possibility of being hurt and experiencing pain.  How do we couple wisdom, discernment and resilience with soft hearts?. 

A couple verses may give us a clue. “And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” 

We need new hearts, ones not guarded and not changed by our own will— but ones given to us.  It requires us to walk humbly before God and allow Him to give us a new heart and to sustain it. A heart that holds onto the light even in the darkest times, one which sees glimpses of light all around them and is encouraged, and a heart which is willing to shine that light for others to see by.  A heart that does not run from pain and hurt, but rather, enters into it, knowing with supernatural certainty that the pain and the hurt will not overwhelm them.  We can’t do it on our own. We need the Light of the World!  He offers the possibility to be both strong and soft—like a brave middle schooler who sits with the lonely kid at the lunch table, or our friend who continues to love and care in the midst of  unsolvable problems, or the person who is edified by even the smallest things.  May our hearts be soft.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Our first set of colleagues made it safely home to the small island and we have enjoyed having time another family from the small island visiting Clove Island. We were able to attend and support Hashiri during her brother’s funeral and help her process some of her initial grief.  We are thankful that our youngest seems to be settling well into boarding school now and he seems to be keeping up with his classes fine. Praise that our daughter was able to switch out of a class that wasn’t a good fit for her and that now she is happy with all her classes at college.  Our teammate made it safely off island for vacation. 

PRAYERS REQUESTED
We had three sets of house guests in our first week back home on Clove Island, so it is only tomorrow that we will be entering life with just the two of us at home. Pray for good rhythms and as we look over plans for 2027 and beyond that we would be sensitive to God’s guidance as we plan.  Megan was able to have conversations with a couple of the sisters on different sides of the recent controversy.  Pray that the group would discuss things and be open to learning from each other and be united in the best ways to move forward in the future. Our daughter has her first medical follow-up appointment without us around at the end of this week. Pray that it would go smoothly and wouldn’t be stressful for her. Continue to pray that this new medication would lead to a marked improvement in her fatigue and pain levels. Pray for healing for another island colleague who is experiencing medical problems. 

Catching Up and Settling In

 We weren’t really gone that long. As we drove into town from the airport, things looked basically the same— a few new signs or paint jobs, but no major changes.  Most of our plants are still alive! We have someone who is supposed to water them, but given long enough the plants usually don’t make it.

Our plants on the porch are still alive!

But what does it look like to arrive back home after a few months?  Here’s a taste:  Over two months is long enough for a healthy layer of dust to cover every surface. So almost as soon as we got into the house, we were looking for the broom and dust cloths. I was unlocking our bedroom and wiping down furniture. Tom was sweeping the dusty floor. I started unpacking while Tom immediately dug out the replacement hinge for the fridge and started to work on fixing the fridge (knowing that we wouldn’t be able to start buying food until our fridge was functional).  In the afternoon we made our way to some shops to restock the fridge.That’s typical.  The first few days after getting back are a lot of cleaning and a lot of going around town, shopping to restock our food supplies and learning which shops have what at the moment. 

We were gone long enough that as we walked around town, even people that we don’t really know would ask: “Did you travel?” We’d confirm and they’d ask how the travel went. We’d say fine and continue on our way. It was long enough for people to notice our absence, but not long enough for them to make a big deal about it.  By island standards it wasn’t that long. We left at the end of the island school year and returned to see kids just heading back to school this week, so we were only gone for the summer break. 

At the same time, by island standards, we missed some important months. And the very day we arrived visitors started to arrive (good friends are sure to stop by as soon as possible).  Summer break is a time when people get married (we missed the entire wedding season including the wedding of a good friend), students pass or fail their big entrance exams (we missed both the exams and the announcements of exam results, which is a big deal), people die (we just missed a funeral the day we arrived, and already have another this week).  So there is a lot of catching up to do. It’s a lot of listening time. People will ask about our kids and our families back home, but they basically just want to hear that everyone is well and move on. Then we listen. 

Tom fixing fridge door on arrival

We heard about specific weddings and the new wedding fashions (silkier fabrics are now in and worn almost exclusively to weddings). We congratulated proud parents whose kids passed exams (one good friend had all three of her sons pass their exams and another neighbor girl passed well after having failed the previous year). We learned about the things that haven’t changed— people still suffering with high prices and inconsistent pay, projects that sat with no progress as money went to weddings instead (our landlord was apologetic that our buckled, broken tiles on our porch didn’t get fixed as was promised). We’ve heard about new controversies, scandals and accidents (a disagreement among the island sisters, a bride who left her new husband only a week after the wedding and ran away to the French island, a young child hit by a car). All of this takes time and we know that our first few days will be filled by numerous visits.

There may be other places, other cultures when you can hit the ground running, act as if you never left, and jump right back into routines.  Or places where everyone would leave you alone right after you return from a trip.  It doesn’t work that way on the islands.  It is important to take this relationship time, to get up to date on people’s lives and what is important to them. It also gives time for our minds to resettle into island life.  Catching up with people and hearing their updates surrounds us in the language, the culture, and the local attitudes.  It helps us settle in.  

Routines and busyness will come soon enough, but for now it’s important to just be present— catching up and settling in. 

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Tom got his new passport and got to spend one afternoon with the boys at their boarding school before we left for the islands. We made it back to Clove Island safely. We didn’t get as much time on the big island as we had hoped (because of cancelled flights), but we are thankful for the chance we had to reconnect with some of our colleagues there. Our youngest son had a much better second week and his dorm mom thinks he has turned the corner— this was an encouragement to hear. We are thankful that we got to overlap with our teammate for couple days before she left for vacation. 

PRAYERS REQUESTED
We have colleagues visiting from the small island this week— pray that we could host well and that we would all be blessed by our interactions.  One of Hashiri’s brothers died and we will be attending the funeral with her this week— pray that we can speak words of truth and comfort. We are diving back into regular studies with Mtsa, Muki and Hashiri. Pray that we would know what to study and how to encourage their growth.  Pray for Megan as she talks to sisters about some recent disunity, that she could be a mediator and help move them towards understanding, reconciliation and forgiveness. Pray for us as a couple as we talk and decide how our rhythms and habits should change when all our kids are away. Continue to pray for our oldest and youngest in their continued transition to college/boarding school— pray for good friends and for academics not to overwhelm them (this is our daughter’s first full week of classes after over a week of orientation). 

Homesick

 There is something nice about being in a place that feels like ‘home’. Home is a place of comfort, ease and belonging, where you know what to expect and what’s expected. It is a place defined as much by the people and culture as it is by a place and furnishings. 

Our son in his new dorm

Yesterday I was talking with someone about whether ‘home’ is more about the people or the place— it was in the context of pets and whether when people leave Africa for good, if they should transplant their pets across the globe or leave them with others in the only place they have ever known.  Tough decision. 

When our kids were little, we made efforts to help make them feel at ‘home’ no matter where we went. We developed family routines that were transportable and doable in various locales— our evening devos, our singing grace at meals, our family movie night. I used to pack thin blankets in their little backpacks that I would lay on whatever bed they were going to sleep in to mark it as ‘their bed’ even though it might be in a strange place. 

Our kids were great travelers. But after a lot of time away in various places, I remember our kids would be excited to get home to the islands— to be back in their beds, to be back with their toys, to be back in the heat, back eating some island foods— back into what felt like normal life. There’s that relief of being fully comfortable again… it’s nice to be home. 

Tom and I will be returning to the islands this week but without any kids.  As I have pondered what it will be like to return, I think there will be some of that relief to be in our own home after being away, but it will also feel strange because our kids are part of what makes it feel like home. Partially it is them as people, partially it is a rhythm of family life that they bring, but also I think it might be the familiarity of the role of being a parent and a homeschool teacher that has been part of home for many years now. 

Our oldest and our youngest are having the double shock of a completely new place and completely new people. It isn’t easy. We had several calls from our son this week. People are friendly and he’s getting to know his schedule, but he’s still homesick. He hasn’t mentioned the islands, he’s homesick for us. People and community are a big part of making a place a home.  

We saw our older two kids develop that sense of home at boarding school— they found friends and staff that helped them feel connected and comfortable there. In our daughter’s new transition to the US, it is some of those connections within her high school class that she is reaching out to in order to comfort and ground her as she starts anew. They might not be at college with her but they know her and are going through similar things. 

A sense of home isn’t automatic but a new place, a new community can become home.  It takes some intentionality.  It takes being willing to make it home. It takes time. In the meantime, there will be some homesickness— the natural grieving of what you don’t have at the moment.  

Her meds finally arrived!

There will be some grieving and homesickness in our family this week as we miss each other and the familiarity of home. But we take comfort that we are told that this earth is not our home. We have a heavenly home based on being in the presence of God and He is someone who is with us wherever we go! May we rest in the familiarity and comfort of His presence. 

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We are thankful for our great kids and the good schools that they are attending. We rejoice in the fact that after over a month of struggles with the US health and insurance system, our daughter has her new medication! Our older son auditioned and got the lead role in the 1st trimester drama production! Tom made it safely to mainland Africa late last night and we heard from the US embassy that he will be able to pick up his new passport tomorrow (he had been traveling on a temporary emergency passport). 

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for us to not wallow in homesickness but to rejoice in where God has placed us at this time and season. Pray for smooth travels and transition back to the islands. We’ve heard news of an issue that has caused a division among some of the mature believers on Clove Island. Pray with us for unity— for good discussion and listening to one another and growing together in truth and love.  During the summer months, the island brothers and sisters have not been gathering as regularly— pray that with the school year starting that they would get back into healthy rhythms and not give up meeting together. Hashiri continues to struggle with her health— pray for healing for her and the courage to follow God’s leading.  As our daughter starts this new medication— pray for healing and that it would agree with her body and be effective. May she no longer struggle with pain and fatigue, especially as she starts college. The first week of school was a little tough for our son. Pray for both our daughter and youngest son that they would be willing to step out to make new friends and find community in their new schools and that academics would not overwhelm them.

Being Fully Present

 I just listened to a devotional about being fully present wherever you physically are. It talked about the specific struggle for cross-cultural workers who are pulled in different directions between different places, countries and cultures. It recognized that we are often in one place, but our minds or focus is somewhere else entirely. 

Sun setting over kids' boarding school

 We felt this struggle in the US. Usually when we are in the US, we try to really shift our focus to the people we are seeing. This means intentionally separating ourselves from everything going on in the islands and really trying to engage with the life and rhythms of where we are in the US. But this time we didn’t do that in the same way we have in the past. Partially it was because we were in the US for such a short time, but also because our purpose was much more focused on our kids and preparing them for the upcoming transitions. So while we had good time reconnecting with different people in the US, it didn’t feel like we got to be fully present in normal life with them. It felt like a pass-through, even as we were entering their world, we already had a foot exiting. 

I (Megan) was just at our kids’ boarding school this whole past weekend for their New Student and Parent Orientation. The boys and I were surrounded by other families coming from various countries across Africa and also coming from various passport countries across the globe. Several times we saw families that we rarely see, and while we made some efforts to chat and catch up, there was a sense where we weren’t fully present with each other. We were there for our kids and this big transition, so it was with no hard feelings that parents often broke off chatting to refocus on their kids. 

Right now our family is split in two different countries and in not too long the norm will be three different countries: our daughter in the US at college, our boys at boarding school in mainland Africa, and us on the islands. 

I wonder what it means to be fully present on the islands with all our kids far from us. In a very real way, our loyalties are split. As much as we love the islands and islanders, our hearts will also be with our kids. We still want to be available and accessible to them— we don’t want our kids to feel isolated from us, but we also don’t want to be absent with islanders when we are there. 

I think the devotional wanted to challenge us about where our minds and focus is during a specific conversation—which is perhaps easier to deal with.  Are we focused on the person we are talking to or are we partially looking at our phone or going over our to-do list? But as we expand the idea of being present to a bigger scale, we ask ourselves— how much are we engaged with what is happening in the “here and now” rather than in some other place or time? Are we fully committed to what God is doing with us right here and right now or is our focus really on our next chapter or on what is happening back home?

Megan getting boys settled in for new school year

The lesson may come back to contentment and trust— do we trust that God has us in this place, at this moment with these people for a purpose? Are we ready to be fully present where God has us in each moment or season? It means being content with where we are and to trust other places/people/circumstances into God’s hands. It’s something I need to grow in. 

The beautiful thing is that God is fully present everywhere and with everyone. May He help our distractible hearts to see where He has us and to be guided towards His purposes. 

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Megan and the boys made it safely to mainland Africa and got the preschool shopping/errands done before the school orientation. The orientation went well and both of our sons seem to have great dorm parents this year. We are very thankful for the school and the amazing staff there. Megan is also very glad to see and reconnect with lots of old friends and colleagues while in mainland Africa and to hear how God is moving in their lives and places of service. We are very thankful for the additional week that Tom and our daughter have had with friends and family in the US. We rejoice also that after an appeal, our daughters medication has been approved by insurance! 

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Today is the first day of boarding school— pray for our sons as they transition to this new school year. Pray especially for our youngest, that he would make some good friends and that he wouldn’t find the academic or school schedule too overwhelming. Pray for Tom and our daughter as they travel back to Minnesota to settle her in at college this week— pray that she would find a great community there. Continue to pray for her medications— though approved by insurance, she still doesn’t have them in hand yet. Pray that would be figured out without any more frustrations or obstacles. Please continue to pray for the big translation workshop happening on the big island— they have done one week and have another one to go. Pray that the checking and training being done would bear much fruit both through the lives of the participants and also in the ultimate translation. Pray for a quick recover for Megan’s back— after all the travels, meetings and moving boys into their dorms, she is quite stiff and uncomfortable. 

Packing

Megan and the boys leave for Africa this evening.  Their plane departs in just a few hours.  My daughter and I (Tom) will hang around the Boston area for another week before getting her settled in at college in Minnesota.  So today we spent most of the day packing.

Megan and boys at the airport

We are packing for 5 people going to 3 final destinations.  My own travels will take me from Boston to Minnesota to Africa to the islands.  Not an easy thing to pack for.  Between us we have 8 bags not including carry ons.  The process took most of the day.

At one point when we were taking a break for lunch my sister (we’re staying at her house) looked over at me and said, “You guys don’t seem too stressed.  I guess that comes from doing it a lot.”  As I thought about it, I think she is right.

Most people seem to find packing very stressful.  I can remember a time when I would have said, “I hate packing.”  But after so many years of learning to pack our things and unpack our things, it has become easier.   Not that I love it—it’s simply a part of life—like doing the dishes or driving a car.  You come to accept it, you learn how to do it and you might even learn how to do it well.  I don’t know if we “pack well” these days.  But I think practice and experience means we do okay.

I has become less stressful.   Why?  Is it because we worry less about our stuff? Is it because we don’t need to take as much stuff as before?  Are we better at not forgetting things?  Maybe.  Or maybe we’ve just learned that bags get packed, things sometimes get forgotten, most things are replaceable, and wherever we put whatever it was we were looking for, it’s somewhere.

Tom and our daughter

But there’s the other side to packing—the acknowledgement that our time in this place is coming to an end.  It means it is time to say goodbye again.  It means separation and pain.  Packing my bags means “I’m leaving.”  And inevitably that means leaving loved ones behind.  I don’t know if that has gotten any easier.  Sometimes the packing itself is a distraction.  I’m so busy packing, I don’t have time to be sad.  But it doesn’t really work.  Behind all the shuffling and weighing and reorganizing things—the ache of the coming goodbye is still there. But even that has gotten a little easier.  When you say goodbye a lot, for better or worse, it generally does get a little easier.  

Because of the strange configuration of our travels, I packed my bag today only to unpack it this evening (we needed to know how much Megan and the boys needed to take in their bags versus what I’d be able to bring). I’m not actually going anywhere yet.  And yet, part of me is off with Megan and the boys, even as I stay here—a strange feeling.

The pastor this past Sunday looked at the passage when Paul says, “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation” He spoke to the fact that we can find contentment despite our circumstances.  That in want, in plenty, in good times and bad—it is possible to learn to be content.  But it has to be learned through experience. Perhaps that’s part of it too.  We’ve had many opportunities to learn.  Perhaps we’ve learned a thing or two.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We have had another full but nice week connecting with family, groups, and old friends. The time in the US has been full but we are so thankful for all the people we’ve been able to see. Both our older kids have had chances to practice driving and our daughter is growing in confidence (she’ll attempt the road test on Friday!). We are thankful for groups in mainland Africa showing growing interest in reaching out to the islands and sending people there. Our youngest son finished his rite of passage challenges-- we are proud of all he's learned. 

PRAYERS REQUESTED
After some delayed flights and figuring out logistics at the location, all the participants for the translation meetings have made it to the big island location— everyone agrees that the training will be very helpful— pray for good health, focus and communication and that they would have a wonderful and fruitful time together. Megan and the boys are beginning their travels back to mainland Africa. Pray for safe travels and easy transition to the time zone and for any pre-school errands that need to happen before boarding school orientation on Friday. Tom and our daughter have another week with family in the Boston area. Pray that we can get our daughter’s medications—there has been very little progress this past week despite repeated messages and phone calls. Pray for quick responses and for the medication to be in-hand soon. Pray that our daughter would not have any flare-ups of symptoms in spite of this interruption in her treatment. 

Everywhere Has Its Pros and Cons

 Being in the US, there are constant reminders of the similarities and differences between here and the islands and even mainland East Africa.  One of those areas is healthcare. It can be easy for everyone- Americans, mainland East Africans and islanders— to be down on their own healthcare systems for different valid reasons.  

Learning to Drive in the US

Once when we told an East African that we often came to his country for our healthcare, he was absolutely shocked! His impression was that the healthcare in his country was either poor quality or too expensive (if not both). We let him know that compared to the islands the quality is very good and compared the the US the costs were inexpensive.  Sometimes comparison changes your perspective. 

This week we have been reflecting specifically on getting prescription meds.

No one can deny that the US has a huge number of highly trained doctors and specialists. In the US, there is the best, cutting-edge care of the world.  But access, wait times and cost are concerns.  Also, the system of medical insurance is known for its fine print and run-arounds. We experienced it this week as we spent a great deal of time on the phone and computer— on hold, being forwarded to new people, being asked to call new numbers, sending messages through online portals, receiving denials and trying again. We still don’t have our daughter’s new medication— even though it was prescribed three weeks ago. 

In comparison, East Africa has a growing number of specialists and some good quality care— but it is generally in private hospitals that are too expensive for most local people (though cheaper than the US). Some medications, treatments or specialists are not available. Access is less of an issue.  Our daughter was able to see a specialist right away and started a good treatment plan. Payment for meds is pretty straight forward there.  We front the money and are usually reimbursed by insurance in a relatively quick time. But every time we had to get the meds from the pharmacy it was a pain. The medications being specialized, meant the pharmacy had to do special orders which meant included longer waits and more hassle than promised. Then when it was time to try a new treatment— the options weren’t as good— the depth of treatment options couldn’t compare with the US. But at least there were some options— on the islands neither specialists nor medications would have been available at all. 

The islands don’t have much. The healthcare system is improving, but there are still many types of specialists, even basic types of diagnostics, treatments and medications that are completely unavailable. Funding and maintenance of hospitals is lacking and medical staff often go without pay. On the flip side, access is much quicker and easier, if you have the money and know what you want/need.  There are fewer hoops and approvals required on the islands.  Normally, you can show up at a private clinic and just ask for the test or appointment you want and have it done immediately. You don’t necessarily need a prescription for meds either.  As long as you know the name of the medication and the amount that you want, most pharmacies will give you what you ask for—no questions asked. The problem is not permission but availability.  Several times we have walked around the capital to different pharmacies with the name of a medication written on scrap of paper, asking at each one if they have it.  If the medication is not common, more often than not we won’t be able to find it. But in those cases when we can, normally the price will be a small fraction of the cost of what you would pay for the same meds in the US—without insurance!

Each place has ways in which their medical systems could improve. We are so thankful for those on the islands trying to improve the healthcare there.  We are thankful for all the treatments, procedures and diagnostics we’ve been able to get in East Africa.  And now we are thankful that our daughter has access to the specialists and treatments that she couldn’t find elsewhere… and we’ll be even more thankful once the insurance approves and pays for her new treatment!

Anniversary Hike

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We made a huge dent in our to-do list this week— we are thankful that what is left feels a lot less daunting. We are thankful for reconnecting with family and old friends in the Boston area, including a fellowship on Sunday. Our two older kids successfully passed their permit tests and got their driving permits and have had some beginning driving lessons with Tom. We are thankful for our 23 years of marriage and getting some time to take a little hike for our anniversary. 

PRAYERS REQUESTED
We have had repeated difficulties navigating the speciality pharmacies and insurance to get Grace’s new medication. Please pray that it can be sorted soon with the three parts: doctor, insurance and pharmacy so she can start her new treatment soon. She has now finished the meds we brought from East Africa, so we need to figure something out this week. Megan and the boys leave in just one week and it will be a full one— pray for our continuing stamina and good use of time. Tom and our daughter have two weeks before they head to MN for her college orientation. She would like to get her full license before then— pray that she can have good chances to practice driving and get more comfortable behind the wheel. The islands are preparing for a major meeting at the end of the month of the translation projects from all three islands— pray for the planning and logistics of that gathering and for those traveling from abroad. 

Bringing Stuff

 Part of being a good friend in Island culture is bringing gifts for people when you return from your travels.  In the past we’ve tried to think of small gifts that we could give to multiple people— t-shirts, flashlights, candy—Small gifts (so as to avoid too much added weight to our luggage) and not too expensive (as we usually needed a lot of them).  

Catching a soccer game on West Coast

But that has changed over the years.  As our friendships have deepened, the expectations have deepened.  Some friends expect better gifts, others might not ask us to spend more, but to facilitate their spending.  What do our top gift requests look like these days?

Medicines:  Medicines are a funny thing.  There are many medicines we can get in the island for a fraction of the price of what we would pay in the States.  But there are other medicines that cost a great deal more and are often very hard to get.  We currently have requests for diabetic blood testing strips, topical pain medications, and fixadent (the stuff for dentures).  The medicines can be an expensive gift, but most of the time, we are happy to get them.  We know there is a need for them, so it feels like we are really helping out.  Medicines also tend to be small, which is nice for packing.

Phones:  I would say the number one thing we get asked to bring people is phones.  Most of these are hoping to get a smart phone as a gift.  The funny thing is, they don’t like iPhones.  Apple products aren’t very compatible on the islands where everything is android.  We always do our best to bring back at least a few phones for friends (often used), but if new phones an expensive gift and we wonder about the precedent we are starting.  But it’s true that the quality and price for phones in the US is much less than what people would pay on the islands, so it is not an unreasonable request.

No one asked for a puzzle

Tablets:  This has been the surprise request this time around.  Not only that we’ve had so many people request them, but that a number of people have said they will pay for them themselves.  They are simply asking us to be the middlemen—to help them find a good product at a good price and deliver it to the islands.  So this time around we find ourselves playing the role of Amazon delivery services!  Why all the excitement about tablets?  Sadly, we think they are mostly coveted as child-minding devices.  All the people that have requested tablets have young kids and have requested the durable ones that can show kid cartoons.  Though we don’t mind helping out a few friends—especially if they are willing to pay for it, a tablet is not an easy thing to travel with as it has to come with us in carry-on luggage, and at some point it starts to look a bit suspicious.  We’ve set a limit to the first 3 who asked for them.

So part of our limited luggage allowance will be given over to these gifts.  In case you were interested, some other requests we’ve had both presently and in the past include:  an xbox, a power wheels (yes, like one of those cars that toddlers drive around in!!!), reading glasses, purses, a hair cutting kit, dictionaries, cameras, water bottles, big screen tvs, backpacks, shoes, boots, uniforms, rain gear, seeds, luggage, and laptops.  Some people have better sense of what is easily transported on an airplane and what isn’t.  We know that we are sure to disappoint a good number of people, but we’ll try to have something for them.  “Sorry, I didn’t get you that big screen tv you wanted, but here’s a T-shirt.” 

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We made it safely back to the East Coast— we are thankful for the wonderful week on the West coast. Megan’s lip and leg are mostly healed now— we are thankful that the injury was not serious. Our younger son turned 14— we are very proud of all the ways he is growing and for the fun and loving young man he is. 

PRAYERS REQUESTED
We’ve had news that an island brother (and good friend) lost some family members to a boating accident when a group was going to another part of the island for a picnic. One of those lost was a child. Pray for this family in their grief and that our friend might be able to be a light and comfort to his extended family. Megan and our boys only have two weeks in the US— pray that they could get our to-do list done while also having rest and good time with family. Pray for our daughter and older son as they both have appointments to get driver’s permit. There was a taxi strike on the islands this past week— the strike appears to be over for the moment but things still seem volatile on the islands. Our colleague has been struggling with her solar system (a recurring and exhausting problem)— pray that she can get the right advice and parts so that she can have consistent power. 

Like Limes

 
pedagogy |  noun (plural pedagogies): the method and practice of teaching, especially as an academic subject or theoretical concept.

A lot of my (Tom’s) work these days in the area of ESL involves training English teachers.  The training consists of 8 classes about an hour and a half each with lots of practice.  The members of the class (between 10-16 members) are all required to practice teaching their fellow classmates in every class.  The lessons may seem very basic to a Westerner, but for many islanders these classes are often surprising, strange and unorthodox. 

Tom with teachers training class

A few months ago I was conducting the training in a village about 2 hours away from the capital.  The ones organizing the training were able to procure a classroom from a public elementary school.  The training would start near the end of the day, but not before classes got out, so there were always a pile of kids peeking into our classroom to see “the foreigner.”

Working with English programs, I rarely go into public schools.  It was a reminder of what education looks like for a lot of islanders.  As I walked into the building I witnessed one teacher hitting a 10 year old girl multiple times with a piece of electrical cord for tardiness.  As I passed down the hall and looked in the individual classrooms I noticed that every teacher held a switch and in one case was actively using it.  I have been told by many islanders that corporal punishment is ubiquitous in islands schools, but it was a little disconcerting to see it in action.  Corporal punishment is not only administered for bad behavior but for incorrect answers.  Answer a math question wrong, get a swat on the palms or shins. 

How different to then sit down with my class and tell them to absolutely NOT beat their students, insult their students, or make their students afraid.  Instead we talk about how to make the classroom a safe space, where we lower stress, stimulate speaking, accepting and encouraging mistakes and trying to make it fun.  These ideas are nothing short of revolutionary!

I think that’s what I love so much about teacher training: not only are we giving them better ways to teach English, but we are giving them better ways to teach.  Many of the teachers I am training are young, and they catch on quickly.  They’ve also experienced learning in this new way and have seen its effectiveness and enjoyed the atmosphere. (Most of the teachers we train have already gone through all of our English classes with teachers trained in our pedagogy.)  But for older teachers it can be hard to accept.  Even some younger teachers who already have some teaching experience using the island pedagogy will struggle with this positive approach.  

Enjoying bike ride in US

That was the case with one of the teachers I was training in the village school.  Though only in his late 20’s he was already a seasoned teacher and as I was teaching about encouraging mistakes, and making the classroom safe, he raised his hand and said, a bit sheepishly,

“Teacher, you know it’s very different here…What you are saying is very different…We have a saying here…among the teachers… ‘Students are like limes.  They need to be squeezed.’”  As he said it, he made the gesture of a squeezing, downward thrusting fist.

The picture is vivid.  Squeezing the juice out of a lime takes strength and pressure.  The result is perhaps a teaspoon of juice.  The rest of the lime, the peel and the broken capillaries are of no use and discarded.  I thought of a teacher thinking about a student in that way.  As if there is only a little bit of intelligence or useful thought inside the student’s mind and that the only way to get it out is to squeeze and beat them.

How differently I view students.  If I were to create my own proverb, I would say, “Students are like plants, they need time and attention, sunlight, watering and pruning, but with patience you will get an abundance of fruit.”

As a final reflection on our ‘revolutionary’ teaching pedagogy: Where did it come from?  People may argue about it but I’m inclined to think it comes from the teacher who said, “A farmer went out to sow his seeds…and some fell on good soil” and “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit” and “Do not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time, we will reap a harvest, if we do not give up.”  Even in English teacher training course, the great teacher has lesson for us.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We are very thankful that we made it safely to the west coast and have had a good weekend reconnecting with family and friends here and sharing some about the work on the islands. We are thankful for technology that allows us to stay connected with our friends and colleagues back on the islands. 



PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray that education on the islands would improve and that all would have the opportunity to learn and thrive. Pray for the island economy— many finish school but still are not able to find paying jobs. Hashiri continues to message Megan regularly— she is coming to the end of an unpaid internship which rarely lead to paying jobs, pray that she could find good and regular employment. We have heard reports of increased crime on the islands— pray that this pattern would stop. We are still working on getting our daughter’s specialty meds— the process being complicated by all our travels. We have time, but pray that we can get it all figured out without too much stress. Pray for Megan’s healing after a scooter accident left her with a badly bruised leg and a fat lip. Praying that our remaining days with Megan’s family would be a fun and restful time. 

Sachets

 Islanders love their sachet (pronounced sa-shay). An event isn’t a good event without a sachet.

Getting organized for sachet filling

Sachet is the word most commonly used for plastic bag in the island language.  But in the context of events, it takes on the meaning of ‘goody bag’.  No good island ceremony with the exception of funerals can be completed without sachets.  Whether a wedding, circumcision, coming of age celebration, birthday party, or religious ritual, there is the expectation that everyone will receive a goody bag— a sachet.  

What goes in the sachet does not vary a whole lot.  Normally you’ll find a drink (juice or soda), some kind of baked good (locally made or highly processed snack cakes), a chocolate bar (or something to that effect), and some hard candies.  This being an opportunity to show off wealth, the quality of the items in the sachet will vary.  A poor host’s sachets will be a simple plastic bag, and the cheapest versions of all of the above. A rich host’s sachets will be a decorated paper bag, brand-name soda, and boxed baked goods from a local bakery, etc. 

Since, every person who attends the ceremony is expected to receive a sachet, this becomes both a big job and an expensive part of hosting an event.  On occasion, we’ve been asked to help out with the preparation of the sachets, like we did a couple months ago when our friend’s daughter was to have her coming-of-age party.  Since our home is conveniently located near downtown, they gathered everything at our house and we stuffed sachets together.  We made an assembly line, one person opening the little plastic bags, one person stuffing the drink, another adding the cakes and candies and another adding the chocolate bar and tying the top.  This event was small but we still did more than 125 bags.  For a wedding, it could be in the from 500-700 sachets, maybe more.  It’s monotonous but not hard work and it is fun working together.

At the same time I felt somewhat dismayed by all the trash we were creating.  Everything we were putting into the plastic bag was individually wrapped and then going into yet another plastic bag.  Any foreigner who goes to the beach in our town is appalled to see the plastic bottles that clutter the shore.  In some places the trash is so thick that you can’t see the sand.  Where does it all come from?  I had my answer as I stuffed another bottle of cheap soda into another plastic bag.  Think of all the ceremonies happening all the time; the thousands of empty bottles being discarded; the thousands and thousands of plastic bags and wrappers discarded every day!

It made me wonder what things were like before— in the years and generations before all this plastic and processed products came to the islands.  Did they pass around a jug for the drink?  Did they wrap things in a banana leaf?  The sachet may be a modern innovation but I have asked and no one seems to know what was done before and if there was a time when people didn’t expect to receive a sachet. 

Pile of finished sachets

If it is a modern innovation, it is one that has become firmly grounded in island culture.  It is seen as the greatest shame if not everyone at the event receives a sachet.  When sachets are given out, people take it very seriously, demanding that they receive their share and getting angry if they are accidentally passed over.  Sometimes there is even a rush on the ones handing out the sachets. They have to hold the container of sachets far over their head to keep people from grabbing the sachets willy-nilly.  If you know the host well, they may give you a second sachet as an extra honor.  On occasion I’ve been given 4 extra sachets—one for each member of the family.  

Whatever the history, an event isn’t over until the sachets are given out.  At one of the men’s wedding events, many will leave as soon as they are handed a sachet even if it is in the middle of a prayer. Even if the organizer yells at people to sit down, he can not often stop the mass exodus.  They got what they came for—their sachet—so it’s time to leave!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Our road trip has gone really well (only one day remains).  We have been blessed to see so many friends and family and even to make some new friends.  We’re especially thankful to see some friends and family we didn’t expect to see.  What a gift!  Despite what looks like a hectic schedule on paper, the pace has not been too bad.  We feel like we’ve gotten to have lots of good quality time with people (although we could always wish for more) and there have been moments of rest within the travel—like one new place we stayed where they had a swimming pond out back!  Our daughter got her phone back (the one she had left on the plane).  We got to visit her college and see the doctor, all of which went very well and was very reassuring.


PRAYERS REQUESTED
Please do keep us in prayer as our whirlwind tour of the US continues.  We’ll finish our road trip tomorrow and fly off to California a couple days later.  Pray that we can get needed rest and restoration in the times between travels.   It is wedding season in the islands and we’ve already heard from one good friend that he has gotten married (sachets and all).  We pray that he will have a good marriage and be a loving husband and father.  We pray for transformation for him and his wife.  Ma Nadjma let us know that she hopes to be married again soon— pray for her and her kids in this transition— pray for a healthy marriage and family and that they all might embrace and follow truth together.  Our daughter will be starting a new treatment— the medication will have to come via a specialty pharmacy— pray that we can figure out the logistics of getting the meds not only now but also once she’s at college.