How Important Is This?

Megan & our daughter heading to event

At first it can be overwhelming— so much happening and yet so much left unsaid.

Someone might tell you that someone died today, expecting you to realize that that means there are people gathering at the closest relative’s house that day and again in two days time and that all acquaintances should be giving their condolences in person sometime during the week and close friends should give money to help with the expenses. Or they might tell you about a wedding and tell you the day of the biggest event, expecting you to naturally deduce the dates of smaller events that are held on the preceding days, not to mention what time such events are and who should attend them, what they should wear to each and whether they are expected to contribute money at said events.

At first islanders don’t know what to expect from us. “Do they go to things? Will they come to our cultural events?” Some assumed we wouldn’t go, but others dared to invite us. Then as soon as everyone sees us at events, they start to see us as part of the community.  Sometimes they assume that we are now “in the know” and understand all the unspoken rules and values of island culture.

So we’ve made mistakes. We’ve not made it to events where we were expected and missed. We’ve gone to events to which we afterwards wished we hadn’t gone. We’ve gone to the wrong location. We’ve gone overdressed. We’ve gone underdressed. We’ve shown up way too early. We’ve shown up late. Every time we learn something. But the most important thing we’ve learned is that much is unspoken, so we need to ask a lot of questions.

Daughter at event

It isn’t always appropriate to ask the person inviting us, so we have our trusted friends (cultural informants) who we know will give us good advice. “Where am I supposed to go? Will someone come and get me? What time? Will it really start at that time? What should I wear? Do I need to bring anything? Can I bring my kids? Is this the only event I need to go to? How important is it that I go to this?”

We get so many invitations (sometimes even from people we don’t know). So the last question (how important is this?) is often our most lingering query as we decide how to spend our time. This is where we have to be careful not to let our Western minds make this judgment call. Sometimes we need to look at these events as opportunities instead of burdens.

Take one recent wedding invitation…our western minds say, “Surely it isn’t important that the wife of the English teacher that gave her an exam last year come to her wedding event! She doesn’t even know our names!” Instead I have to look at it from her perspective. English has been very important to her. She’s invested months of study. Being able to communicate with foreigners and invite us to her wedding is a culmination of those efforts, plus everyone will notice us at the wedding, adding to her honor and highlighting her studies in front of her family. Several times, they will rewatch the hours of video (that will focus on our faces multiple times throughout the proceedings) and she and her family will remember us fondly forever for having gone.

Or take the news of a death this past week…we learned about the death of an acquaintance’s mother-in-law (who died to a village far away). I didn’t know the dead woman. I barely knew her daughter-in-law. The main house of mourning and funerary events would be in the distant village. It didn’t seem like there was much for me to do, and on my own I may not have done anything but offer brief condolences when I next happened to see her. But one of our island friends saw an opportunity. She called all the women who had been at a few meetings with this woman who is grieving her mother-in-law and told us to gather one afternoon to pay our respects together. We all gave a little money, we went, we sat, we said words and prayers of comfort and we left. It didn’t take long, but I do not doubt that it was a significant testimony that not only increased our credibility but the credibility of the good news.

Tom and friend at event

So maybe we need to ask ourselves and our cultural informants a different question. Maybe the question shouldn’t be “how important is this?” (aka, “do I have to go???) and instead ask, “what opportunity does this event offer us? Could I bless others with my presence?”

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Our son’s gash on his head has healed well! Our close neighbor and daughter arrived safely in Madagascar for medical treatment and have already been seen at a hospital. Not sure on details beyond that but we pray it is good medical care! The kids made it through their local school exams and only have a couple days of school left! Tom’s friend has finally had the dream he has been praying for, but he doesn’t understand what it means. Pray that God gives him clarity.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Unfortunately our colleagues on the small island have not yet recovered their stolen electronics. It seems like the investigation is still open and there are some leads but we’re not terribly confident that the local law enforcement will do much more. Pray for a miracle and for peace for them. There hasn’t been any movement towards unrest since the month of fasting ended (as was rumored might happen). We continue to pray for constructive change in this country by peaceful means! Last year we had a short-termer from Madagascar, now she is back on the islands, married and set to work on the small island. Pray that she can get her long-term visa easily and without incident (this has occasionally been difficult on the small island). There have been quite a few illnesses floating around our family and team. Pray for healing for all!

Lasting Connections

Short-termer & Language helper

As we mentioned in our last blog, we have a short-termer with us.  This brave young soul has agreed to not only join our team, but spend his two months with us living and eating in a Island home and with a Island family.

The home where our short-termer is staying is about 5 houses down from the place where our Canadian teammates stayed (3 years ago now).  It is wonderful to see, in general, the lasting effects that all of our teammates have had over the years.  Though many of them only stayed for a few years before moving on, none of them have been forgotten by the friends and neighbors with whom they connected and with whom they shared their lives. 

In setting up a language partner for our short-termer, we called up a young guy who had been a good friend to our Canadian teammates.  He was eager to help out our new guy as he had many fond memories of practicing language with our Canadian teammates.  So with only a single phone call from us, he arrived at our house eager to help. It was amazing to me that he had not been with our team for more than a few minutes before he was talking about holy books, fasting, and faith.  We were not bringing up these topics, he was. It was a reminder that our teammates had a lasting impression. 

Our youngest hurts head

Eventually he was helping our short-termer with language. When the language session was over, I decided to send a picture of him to our old Canadian teammates.  Almost immediately I got a call from Canada and these old friends were reconnecting across the world by video chat.  The joy on this young islander’s face was unmistakeable.

A few days later, I was taking our short-termer out for a language walk.  This is a wonderful and awkward experience all new language learners experience.  It involves walking up to complete strangers and using the little bit of broken island language they have learned and watching the reactions of islanders.  As we headed out of the house, we saw three ladies sitting on a bench preparing food for dinner.  One of them looked vaguely familiar, but this was our short-termer’s game, so I was leaving the talking to him.  I noticed, as he struggled to form his first words of greeting, the lady who looked familiar was smiling and nodding like this was to be expected.  When he finished she replied in slow, loud, well-enunciated island speak:

    WEL-COME. MY…NAMMME…IS…TU-LA  !!!  WHAT…IS…YOUR NAMMMME?

Protecting against future injury

You also have to imagine the appropriate gestures that went along with these phrases.  She knew how to speak to a new language learner.  It was like she had done it before.  I smiled as soon as I heard her name.  Of course, Tula!  Tula had been a very good neighbor to our Canadian teammates and had helped them learn quite a bit of language.  It was no surprise that she would fall back into her teacher mode.  After a few more exchanges, I entered into the conversation and we talked about her good friends in Canada and shared their news.  She was delighted. 

One of the things we have tried to share with our short-termer is that though he is only here for a short time, though he will not be able to get to a level of language that will allow him to discuss deep things of the soul, the friendships he makes and the life he lives among them is important.  Most islanders have never met, let alone lived with someone of another country, another language, another faith.  The light that shines is not quickly forgotten. 

Father's Day- breakfast in bed

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Our teammate who has been studying with some seeking women, had one woman ask to pray to accept all she has been learning about. This is very exciting! Pray for her and her family who are also hearing these stories and for our teammate as she continues to meet with them. Our short-termer is doing well. The family he is staying with is very kind and he’s even been taken to a wedding already! Continue to pray for him- he has four more weeks living with the island family. Our kids love homeschool so much that they’ve urged us to start the next school year! So we started today, we are thankful for how our kids are learning and growing. 

We had a good Father's Day and are very thankful for Tom and the wonderful father and husband that he is!

PRAYERS REQUESTED
We’ve had some hard discussions over the past week over the difficult situation with some fellow foreigners that we had you pray about, but they went well. Continue to pray as we strive to be mediators of unity and reconciliation between others. Some islanders have speculated that now that the month of fasting is over that the political situation on the islands will heat up again. We’ve heard no concrete rumors of unrest, but we continue to pray for justice and good governance on the islands. Our youngest son hit his head last week and got a good gash. Pray that it heals well and that he can play safely so as not to re-injure it as it heals. Our kids are in the middle of exams at the local school— pray that it would be stress-free and that they would shine brightly among their classmates. Our close neighbor has traveled to Madagascar with her daughter for medical care. This is her first time leaving the islands and she asked us to pray for her. Please pray that they would find good medical advice, that there would be healing and that we could continue to show our love for them during this time. A colleague couple living on the small island have had a hard week. Their motorcycle was stolen and found a few days later on the other side of the island as it was being dismantled. Then their house was broken into as they slept and all their electronics were stolen (phones, computers and kindles). They have a tracking app on one of the devices and so have a general idea of where it is. Pray for the safe recovery of their electronics and for their peace of mind as they recover from the theft.

Welcome to the Islands!

Our short-termer made it in time for the holiday!

We don’t get a lot of outside visitors on Clove Island.  We kind of live at the end of the world.  Over the years, we’ve had a few people on their way to mainland Africa suggest stopping in to visit us (thinking it would be simple), but once they saw the price-tag and amount of travel needed to get to us, they reconsidered. We don’t begrudge their decision. We wish it was easy to get to us.

But because it isn’t easy, we try to be prepared for visitors. We have a document typed up with all sorts of details and logistics for someone trying to travel to us, plus we often have a tentative back-up plan in case of a missed or canceled flight.

This past week we were anticipating our short-termer, coming to the islands for 2 months from the US. He was supposed to arrive on the big island on Saturday morning and would connect same-day to Clove Island. To be safe, we put him on the last flight to Clove island leaving at 4:30pm. It meant he would have to spend most of his day at the airport on the big island but our colleagues arranged for an English-speaking islander to go up to the airport to help him with logistics and to pass the time with him. By sunset on Saturday, he should arrive at our house.

On Friday evening we got word that his flight from mainland Africa had been cancelled. He was put on a later flight, arriving at 2:30pm. Now he would only have 2 hours to make the connection to Clove island (two hours which needed to include passing through immigration and getting his tourist visa). We called the local airline to check, but it looked like he might still make it.

On holiday with our neighbors

Then we found out that the inter-island flight was hoping to leave an hour earlier (at 3:30pm), even though they hadn’t informed anyone. So ultimately our short-termer only landed around 2:45 and was still finalizing his visa when the flight to Clove Island left!

But we had thought of this eventuality! Our island friend just needed to settle him into the hotel right next to the airport…But once they got there, they found out that the hotel had no electricity and no food!

Okay, new plan…our island friend and colleague will help him find a hotel in the capital (plus something to eat), and then they’ll help him to the airport the next morning to get him on stand-by for the first morning flight to Clove Island.

Unfortunately our island friend overslept and so they missed the first flight. All the others were completely full and no one on stand-by got on. Checking at the desk… the next day’s flights had no openings. It was now Sunday, so no offices were open. Would he ever make it to Clove Island?

Finally we were able to secure a reservation for him—on Tuesday—two days away. He was not keen to be alone in a hotel for two days, but housing options were scarce. In the end our colleague arranged for him to sleep on a floor with a bunch of guys from a short-term team passing through.

And so, it was on late Tuesday morning, after 7 days of travel, our short-termer finally arrived on Clove Island! He looked beyond-tired, but he is recovering well.  Travel to the islands—not for the faint of heart!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We are thankful that our short-termer made it and that he remained in pretty good spirits. We are thankful for our friends and colleagues on the big island who stepped up to take care of him. We spent the day after his arrival celebrating the biggest holiday of the year! We saw and hopefully blessed many island friends and neighbors on the big holiday! We are thankful for all the islanders that God has brought into our life. Ma Riziki, our old neighbor, burned her arm badly with hot oil. Megan helped take care of the burn with regular cleaning and bandage changes. We’re thankful for how well it is healing and also for the opportunities to pray with Ma Riziki each time. 


PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for our short-termer.  He has been staying with us but last night he moved to his new place, staying with an island family. He has jumped into a world of culture and language that can feel pretty overwhelming.  Pray for his patience, understanding, and ability to communicate, as well as his stamina and strength.  Pray that he would be a blessing and be blessed by the family he is staying with.  With the month of fasting and the big holiday finally passed, we return to more normal life.  That means school and English classes.  Pray for our transitions back to these things.  We hope to start recording portions of a Great Book this week.  Pray that it goes smoothly.  Continue to pray for Megan and our daughter who continue to feel a bit under the weather.  There is a difficult situation with some fellow foreigners here that requires some hard discussions.  Pray for wisdom, patience, and grace for Tom and the group as we face this dilemma.

The New Guy

Island rainbow

Imagine you’re helping out with a youth group and a new kid shows up.  He says he’s just moved to town from another place and shares his beliefs with you openly.  What would you do with him?  Most likely, you’d be rejoicing, inviting him to every event possible, and hoping that he will be a new positive influence and encouragement to the group.  Now what if it turns out that he’s not what he says he is and that actually he is a difficult kid who needs a lot of love and mentoring.  What would you do then?  Most likely you’d be thankful for his interest, invite him to every event possible, and hope that the kids in the group would be a positive influence and encouragement to him.

At this point you might be saying, “So what?”  What’s the point.  But this hypothetical episode reveals a situation of freedom and trust that is not present in other places.  Here on Clove Island, we must be more circumspect.  What is their motivation? Can this person be trusted?

Case in point:  A few months ago we heard through the grapevine that a guy who was living on one of the other islands had moved over to our island.  Our friends over there gave us his number and they gave him our number. They gave a good report of him.  A few weeks later, we talked on the phone once and then we didn’t hear from him again.

Unfortunately this is all too common.  It is difficult to know what motivates someone’s heart, why did they initially befriend a foreign worker.  Do they care about money, learning English, networking with foreigners, gaining wisdom, gaining job opportunities?  Any of these and more could be a reason for befriending us.  And we have learned from long experience now that friendships do not transfer easily.  We also find that islanders may present themselves differently in different places.  They may live a very different lifestyle in a place where they are known as a student versus the place where they are known as the first son of So-and-So. Maybe this guy was a friend of our friend over there, but things may be very different here.  So when he didn’t get in contact again, we thought, “Oh well, I guess nothing is going to come of that connection.”

Preparing for breaking-the-fast feast

But then, after not hearing from him and giving up on him, we suddenly got a call from this guy.  And he wanted to come by and visit.  So just two weeks ago I came to meet Yakub.  So we sat and talked, I liked what I heard.  He told me some of his story—about his life, and his work.  He seemed unassuming and not interested in getting things from me.  He did seem to know a lot of foreigners—which made me wonder.  But at the same time, he didn’t talk about the things they did for him or anything along those lines.  All in all, he seemed like the real deal.  So with prayer and trepidation I invited him to some events.  This is no small thing.  We do these things cautiously and carefully for the good of all involved.  It may seem strange, but it is important in our situation.  Our group is small and one bad apple can ruin the whole bunch. Not just with a bad attitude but with a bad report.  So, in a sense we need to play the role of bouncers even as we play the role of bridges.  The funny thing is, Islanders can smell a rat a lot faster than we can.  We do our best to introduce slowly, but we often see quickly whether it was a good idea or not.  This gets to another important factor—just how inadequate we are to do this job.  Despite our many years of living here, we still lack the understanding of cultural nuance to see things as islanders do.  We simply need wisdom and discernment beyond our own capacity.  Another reason why we pray about these things and hope that we don’t make decisions in our own strength.

The good news is that Yakub seems like the real deal.  He was warmly welcomed by the group.  In fact, one of our brothers is full of joy because Yakub lives near to him.  This brother has been asking for a long time to have another brother nearby for mutual encouragement and growth. He was practically beaming as he talked about how God had answered his prayer by bringing Yakub.  And so we look cautiously and optimistically to the future.  It’s not an easy thing to be both bridge and bouncer, but then again, it’s a problem we’d love to have a lot more often!

Mid-feast

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We had our big breaking the fast meal on Saturday evening. We are very thankful for all the help received from an island sister. There were 21 adults and 17 children! It went well and we had a time of prayer and sharing together afterwards. We are thankful that Yakub has connected well with other islanders here. We are thankful that Elewa’s husband is doing much better. He is out of bed and in much less pain. He came to the feast on Saturday and thanked and blessed us all as “true friends”.  We’re thankful for our teammate and former teammate who both had birthdays this past week. We are blessed with many great co-workers on the islands. 



PRAYERS REQUESTED
Our short-termer was supposed to arrive on Saturday but he still hasn’t made it! Once he got to Africa, the airlines started changing flight times and he missed his connection to Clove Island. We’re thankful to some fellow workers who have been able to take him in, but please pray for him that he would remain in good spirits and arrive well on Tuesday. The biggest holiday of the year will most likely be on Wednesday (though possibly Thursday). It is a day of greeting and blessing all your friends and family (and kids are given candy). Pray that we can use this day to shine light and blessing as we interact with all our friends and connections. The month of fasting was a great month for islanders on our island praying and gathering together. Pray that it would continue! Megan hasn’t been feeling well for the past few days— pray for healing.

A Needle of Power in a Haystack

Sunsets last week on the French Island

There is a night, during the month of fasting, that is of particular importance.  Of this night, their book says, “[it] is better than a thousand months,” and “Peace it is.”  Many things are believed about this night.  It is said that their book was delivered to their prophet on this night.  It is said that a person who prays ardently with their whole heart will be guaranteed salvation.  To pray through this night and find its blessing is believed to be of more spiritual merit than a thousand months of daily prayers.  Some say, on this night, if you pray with fervency, you will see a great light, and in that moment, when the light shines on you, you may ask for any good thing in the world and it will be given to you.  With incentive like this you can understand why for many of this faith it is a night of great importance.

But, as with most things here, nothing is certain.  One might pray through the night and not see the light.  One’s prayers may not be ardent enough.  Moreover, no one is exactly certain of the day.  Just as no one knows for certain the day they will see the new moon which begins the month of fasting, no one can be exactly sure which night will be the night of power.  So, this causes some confusion.

But we’ve noticed that this special night seems to be less of a “thing” here on Clove Island.  Where it seemed like a big deal on the big island, it seems like people here are less likely to talk about, so we decided to ask around and find out what was going on.

It certainly became clear that people do not put much stock in this special night here on Clove Island for the simple reason that they don’t know when to find it.  Whereas most places that celebrate this special night believe they can narrow it down to one of two days, (a manageable amount to work with) Clove Islanders have been told that the night of power could be at any time throughout the month!  Some say during the first ten days. Some say during the middle ten days, and still others say during the last ten days.  With 30 days to choose from it’s no wonder that many have simply given up on this night.  In fact, most people we asked seemed to treat it almost as this impossible feat.  “Yes, it’s possible, but who really can find it?”  When we asked if they knew of anyone who had experienced this miracle on the night of power, they answered with a dismissive laugh, “God only knows.”

Our kids on ferry to airport on French Island

A brother of ours was talking to an Island friend who was telling him about the night of power and the bright light that would shine on the person who is faithful to pray on that night.  “And when the light shines on you, you will see God’s glory and be able to ask for whatever you want.”  Our brother, without skipping a beat, agreed that a person who saw that Light would indeed see the glory of God and know the truth, and proceeded to explained to him about the Light of the World.  There are always those who are searching. May they see the Light.


PRAYERS ANSWERED
Our time on the French Island ended well at the beginning of the week. We were able to connect with our landlord (who lives there) at the last moment and carry gifts for her to her family on Clove Island. Our sister Elewa is feeling better.   We are thankful for opportunities for good conversations, for regular meetings of study that are continuing to happen, and regular times of prayer that have continued throughout this month.  Time of prayer with women on Thursday included several neighbors of Elewa hearing the story of Hannah and receiving the invitation from our island sisters to hearing and learning more.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Our sister Elewa is feeling better, but her husband has been in a great deal of pain.  Many people have prayed for him but he is also stubborn and does not do the things he needs to do to be in better health, both physically and spiritually.  Pray for a change of his heart.  Tom’s friend is waiting to have a dream, he is ready and willing to receive one.  Let’s keep praying.  We will be having a big fast-breaking feast at our house this weekend (something we’ve never hosted before).  Pray that we could show good hospitality to all who come.   Tom just met a brother who has been living on the Big Island for some time.  He seems like a good man.  Pray for his integration into the community here.  Despite Clove Islanders’ lack of enthusiasm for the night of power, there are many around the world this week who will be praying for a glimpse of the Light.  May we pray that many, many will see that light.  Our short-termer is traveling to the islands this week and will arrive on Saturday.  He will be with us for 2 months.  Pray for his integration into our team and for all the logistics involved in finding him a place to stay.

Prejudice

View over French Island capital

During the month of fasting, its difficult to keep our normal schedules.  We’ve tried in the past to teach classes but have found student attendance to dwindle and those who come to class are too tired to concentrate, so we’ve given up teaching classes during this month.  The one exception is our English Club.  Out of a sense of continuity we like to keep it going even during this month, but since we can expect a low attendance and late starts, we’ve taken to watching a film during this time and using it as a platform for discussion.

This year we decided to use just a single film clip and watch it every week and then use it for different topics of discussion.  We decided to use a clip from the classic film, “12 Angry Men”.  If you’ve never seen this film, it’s a good one.  In one scene one of the characters reveals a deeply held prejudice about immigrants.  He rants and raves about how good-for-nothing they are.  This is the clip we used.  (If you want to watch the scene, click here.)

So, using the clip as a starting point, we began to talk about prejudice.  It was interesting to hear our students’ responses.  First of all, many were unconvinced that prejudice was a bad thing.  They had two reasons for this.  Their first point was that stereotypes help us know what to expect from different groups. They said, if you know that a group of people tends to be a certain way, then you will be on your guard and not taken by surprise. Their second point was that prejudice might be a catalyst for positive change. As an example, they pointed to the small island and how everyone thinks that people from that island are stupid (the small island has historically had the least developed educational system). “But now the small island  is working harder to learn and become intelligent.” “Or take the airport town, everyone there is greedy and mean. They don’t share,” they explained to us. “Maybe they will hear that everyone thinks this about them and they will get angry, but then they will realize it is true and they will want to change.”

We realized that as Africans, the idea of grouping people together and individuals bearing their community’s reputation was not an uncomfortable idea. Thinking communally is normal for them. So we were intrigued, but a little disappointed by their answers. We wanted them to see the injustice of prejudice, but they kept coming up with examples of people they were prejudiced against and basically defending why their prejudice was justified or how it was founded on fact. We needed to think of another example that they could understand, that would place them on the other side of prejudice.

Our kids on our short French Island visit

Then we remembered the French Island. On the French Island, Clove Islanders are seen as a social menace. They are primarily illegal immigrants and are blamed for all the societal ills.  Crimes, gangs, overcrowded schools, overburdened hospitals are all blamed on Clove Islanders.

We asked our Clove Island friends at our English club, “Is it true that Clove Islanders are liars and thieves?” Of course, they vehemently denied this characterization, while at the same time recognizing that this was how they were stereotyped on the French Island.  By the time we finally got them to understand this ugly side of prejudice we were already overtime.  We left them with the final challenging thought: If you don’t like how people talk about Clove Islanders over there, how do you think little islanders feel when you call them stupid?  We’re not sure they really understood.  I would not call empathy a strong trait among the young people who attend our English Club.  We’ll watch the clip again on Wednesday and see what, if anything sank in.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
The month of fasting always gives us opportunities for sharing.  Tom found himself in front of a captive audience at the bank this past week when the bank security guard wanted to know if he fasted.  About ten people got to hear about the Kingdom of Light that day.  Tom continues to have good meetings with his friends.  Megan was able to explain some things with a difficult neighbor.  We are thankful for opportunities that we get at this time of year.  Megan’s parents are feeling much better and starting to heal from their surgeries.  We are thankful to have this opportunity to be mutually encouraged by our friends and colleagues on the French Island for the brief visit we have had this week.


PRAYERS REQUESTED
One of the men Tom meets with is hoping to have a dream about the Light.  Join us in praying that he receives it.  Our sister, Elewa has been sick with pain and fever.  Pray for her quick recovery.  We have been hearing about some of the challenges of working on the French island from our friends.  Pray for openings and interest among a whole people who seem both uninterested and unwilling to listen. 

Conformity

Mat set for breaking the fast

We’ve heard this week that the island president is calling for more religious conformity.  Apparently there have been some variations in how islanders pray. This is no longer to be tolerated.  All islanders must pray in the exactly the same way. (We haven’t heard yet what the penalty will be for not complying.)

The island national anthem proclaims that they are one people, one blood, one religion.   It announces with pride and delight that they are all the same and that this is the source of their strength and unity.

It is a verifiable fact that the islands are one of the least diverse countries on the planet— culturally, ethnically, and religiously. That doesn’t mean there is no diversity, but it is more subtle, small differences rather than major contrasts. Still the president is calling for even more conformity.  And by so doing he is presenting to all that he is a man of faith, who takes his religion seriously.  The religion of the islands, which is followed by millions of people around the world, calls people to conformity.   It provides lots of rules and guidance on what that should look like.  It instructs you in everything from how to pray to how to enter a bathroom.  It is legalism of a very high order, and though it is dominant in dozens of countries and dictates the lives of people from thousands of languages, it demands conformity.  Islanders and millions like them, think that conformity is what ensures their unity.  But conformity is not unity.  True unity does not happen when people conform but when people truly agree.  Conformity brings about the appearance of unity but it is only a shadow.  Yet islanders, and millions like them are fooled.   In fact, they are often puzzled when we try to explain what true unity looks like.

In America, we champion non-conformity (although most of us still conform to many unwritten rules of our culture, like everywhere else).  But in movies and literature, we often praise the rebel, the outsider, the one who doesn’t fit in.  We see value in the things they can teach the establishment and believe they add an important check to our society.  But neither is this unity.  And so we see in America the glorification of independence.  We don’t believe in being told what to do and we respect the man who wants his space.  We believe it makes us strong and in some way, unites us.  But this is not unity either.

Our daughter & neighbors waiting for sunset

But there is another way.  It looks both as wild and various as the “non-conformist” culture of America and as uniform and consistent as the “conformity” of island culture.  It is the way of the Spirit.  For what the Spirit offers that no other system, religion, or philosophy can is true unity—unity in diversity.  Heartfelt agreement expressed in a myriad of forms.  Whenever you see unity in diversity you can be sure the Spirit is at work.  And this unity is tenuous—it is so easily lost, as we have seen in two thousand odd years of history, but time and time again it appears.  Unity of heart that is spell-binding.  Diversity of expression that is mind-blowing. 

How can you teach this?  How can someone understand it?  How can someone raised in a culture of conformity or non-conformity expect to appreciate this?  One will look on the unity of the Spirit and reject it as chaos.  The other will see that same unity and imagine it to be a prison.  But the person with eyes to see…  The person who has been searching for something more…  They will look on it and see it for what it really is—harmony, peace, and freedom. 

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We’ve had a great response from our invitation to pray for the islands this month. It’s not to late. Send us an email if you want to get the daily guide/emails to help you pray. Prayer is powerful so we’re encouraged to have people lifting up the islands. We were able to gather with many local brothers and sisters for a meal on Saturday and prayer afterwards. It was encouraging to have so many together. The women gathered for prayer on Thursday, sharing a story with some who are seeking. Megan’s parents’ both had unexpected surgeries (her dad for his blown out knee and her mom for kidney stones that she didn’t know she had). Both surgeries went well!

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Continue to pray for the islands during this time of fasting that those who seek would find and that more would seek! Pray for Megan’s parents that they would both recover well and quickly from their surgeries and that Megan’s mom would be able to go see her own mom (whose health is failing) before too long. Pray for this call for more religious conformity by the president— pray that it would create a conversation among islanders about religious freedom. An island brother we know is seeking religious asylum on the French island. We’re not sure if this is the right decision for him. We pray for guidance and wisdom for him and others.