Weathering the Storm

 One of our island sisters that we’ll call ‘Dunga’ is in the middle of a storm.

Pressure to follow the crowd is strong

Many people ask us what happens here on the islands when people make decisions to follow, when they let go of the commonly held beliefs of the islands and live a life that is different. It is hard to respond to that question because part of it depends on the person and whether they were open during their journey of seeking, questioning and finding answers. People whose families walked through the process with them are much more likely to accept where they ended up. Mostly it is from their own families where trouble and pressure to conform usually comes. If the greater community gets involved it is usually indirectly, to pressure the family to clamp down on their errant family member. If police or other authorities get involved it is often only at the request of the family.

Dunga is not very close to her family. Hurts and conflicts in her younger years means that they have not had a front row seat to her journey. She changed her path several years ago, but it is only now that strict followers of island traditions within her extended family have felt the need to call her out. There was an organized confrontation with her mother’s side of the family (and she’s heard one for her father’s side is being planned). They brought up various accusations (some false, some misunderstandings, some true). She was able to say her piece, but ultimately they left her with the threat that they would give her time to conform or she would have to leave the family home.

One of our brothers knows about the storm. Years ago he went through it and it was hard. He was attacked with words and fists. He was put in prison for a time. But he made it through to the other side and his advice to others is to hold tight, don’t run away, it will get better. Now he is very open with what he believes and how he chooses to live his life differently. He is not keeping any secrets. Everyone in his town knows and leaves him be. He speaks words of encouragement and words of hope to those facing pressure and suffering at the hands of their family and neighbors— they can get through it. The storm will pass.

Pressure to conform starts young

What gets you through a tough storm? The first week of advent (which just started on Sunday) is about hope— not a flimsy hope—but a secure one of trusting and waiting. This is a hope backed with promises, power and assurance. Hope like that is what gets you through the storm. Hope like that allows you to imagine yourself on the other side of the difficulties. Hope like that helps you know that you are not alone even if you sometimes feel like you are. Hope like that sees that there is power working for your good.

May Dunga be filled with hope and peace! The storm won’t necessarily be short or easy and we don’t minimize the suffering that might be ahead of her, but we pray for strength, wisdom and love to flow through her throughout these difficult days.

Thanksgiving feast!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Our short-termer made it over to the French island where she will be for the next six months.  We had a very good time with her and think she had a good experience too.  We hope it will inspire her towards long-term work.  Though COVID still seems to impede travel, our vision tripper is on her way.  We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with our team and visitors—we even had imported cranberry sauce this year!  The food was delicious and the fellowship was sweet.  It’s been raining the last few days—which is a blessing we are very thankful for as it breaks the heat.  

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Please keep Dunga in prayer.  Especially as she may have to endure another confrontation.  May she be strong, firm and yet loving, humble and patient.  May this time of testing be used to bring many more to the light…who knows, maybe there are many among her family who have been searching.  Keep our medical team in prayer as they are still waiting for the green light to start work at the hospital.  Thankfully they are making the most of this time in the village now to build relationships before medical work begins.  Pray for our vision tripper—she’s on her way, but travel is complicated.  Pray for her good health.  We haven’t had any cases of Omicron here that we know of, but it could easily be coming this way and that could certainly make things more difficult.   We had been hoping to visit our friends and colleagues on the French Island after Christmas but when we went to get boat tickets we learned that all our possible dates were already sold out (a surprise for us), so now we are having to reconsider those plans. Pray for wisdom about how/when to reschedule that visit. Also since Wednesday, Megan has been suffering with vertigo, dizziness and nausea. Evaluation by our medical teammates indicate that her inner ear is to blame. The worst of the symptoms have passed, but please pray that any lingering dizziness and nausea would leave soon too. 

Reading with Friends

Ananas comes by every weekend.  He’s from a village about 20 minutes away by car.  Ananas is probably in his 50’s or 60’s.  His skin is weather-beaten from his work as a farmer. 

Reading with a friend

I’m never quite sure what to do with him.  

He sells us eggs and bananas at a terrible price and the quality of the products are often sub-par.  It feels like charity really.  But Ananas is faithful to come each week and before he leaves we always pray together.  Where is his heart?  I don’t know.  Sometimes he seems genuine, other times he seems caught up in the things of this world.  I hear stories about him, but I don’t know whether or not to believe them.  For a long time I’ve wondered and pondered and thought, “Should I challenge him?”  Should I stop giving this charity?  Is there something I could do to find out more about his life?  Or should I just let it be?  Mostly I’ve been led to the conclusion to just let it be.  But recently we received some kids books.  

These books are wonderfully illustrated and in the local languages.  They tell the stories that are most dear to us.  We love to share these stories with islanders and this is a wonderful new way of doing it.  There are 25 of these little books, each a couple dozen pages long, with simple language and simple storytelling.  A few weeks ago I took one out and gave it to Ananas.  He loved it.  He read it without too much trouble and repeated the story back to me and then shared with me all the things he liked about the story—the truth he saw in it.  I was delighted.  Not only that he liked the story, but that it gives me something to do with him for the next 25 weeks—something that could be life giving, even if it does come in a small square book with simple stories.

Playing games with friends

Muki comes by at random times.  Mostly he comes by to get some frying oil.  He often brings a little plastic water bottle for us to fill.  Muki might be in his 60’s or older.  He is small and wiry, but strong.  Most times he’s got an impish grin on his face, spitting out bits of tobacco from between his teeth..  He still gets by as a day-laborer or doing odd jobs for people around town.  This has gotten harder as he’s gotten older—his body just doesn’t hold up the way it once did.  I’ve prayed for his knees and his back.  The knee pain was healed of after prayers.  We often have meandering conversations and he is another example of someone I‘m often not sure what to do with.  He takes pride in being able to read the island language passably well, so a few weeks ago I thought I would show him a book—just for him to take a look at.  But he enjoyed it so much he was determined to take it home.  I told him if he came back another day we could read another book.  Sure enough, he came back asking about it, so now I have something to do with Muki when he visits!

I used to see a lot of Mnyawe.  We had a regular weekly meeting with him and Bwe.  We would study and talk and pursue the truth.  But those times came to an end, and Mnyawe got busy when he found work as a fisherman.  I thought perhaps that was the last I’d see of him.  

I’m not quite sure what to do with Mnyawe.  He’s like a puzzle piece that doesn’t fit.  There is evidence of change in his life and a desire for it, and yet life goes on the same as ever.  Could I challenge him, or should I just let him be?  The other day he came over to help me out with something.  We had some time before we had to go off to the job, so I took out one of the little books.  He read it beautifully, told the story back to me and shared with me the light he found revealed in it.  I was pleased.  So I told him, if he came back I’d give him another one.  He’s been back once already.

These little story books have been a blessing—originally we thought of them as just for families with children. But even with these adult men, it’s something to talk about, something to make our time together valuable and give it purpose.  As I write this I find myself wondering, who else might like reading a story?

Do you ever get stuck with people?  Like you’re in a rut—you don’t have much to say to them or vice-versa but you just keep on visiting because—that’s what you do?  I don’t like being there.  It bothers me.  How do you get unstuck?  I’m not sure what this might look like in your context.  I doubt a children’s story book would work for most.  In many countries a children’s book in your own language isn’t anything special and would probably be seen as patronizing.  But here, children’s books are a novelty, and one in the local language is almost unique.  So, what could be a novel and unique conversation starter in your context?  

Yay! First lychees of the season!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Our short-termer has been doing well. She has jumped into language learning and has been living with an island family. Tom got to see Fakhadi who has barely been leaving his room for weeks. Tom found him more open than he has ever been. He shared some stories with him and was able to pray for him. The next day he came to our English Club for the first time in a couple months. There is definitely things going on in his mind and heart— please continue to pray for him. Our prospective team member has decided to come on a vision trip. She comes next week! We are thankful for this progress and the movement towards a decision about where she might be longterm. Also on a lighter note— lychee season has begun. It’s short and it’s sweet and we eat lots of lychees which makes us happy. Also, Thanksgiving is coming.  Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

PRAYERS REQUESTED
The medical team were surprised to learn that the head guy at the health ministry that they had talked to in the past was moved to another job on another island. So they ended up meeting with a completely new person who doesn’t know anything about them. Please pray for them as they wait to hear back from this new health guy and that everything would be cleared for them to start working at the hospital on the south side of the island in December as planned. Pray that they would find favor with all the health administrators on the island. One island sister wants to encourage more corporate prayer and fasting— please pray that God would show a clear way forward in the midst of security concerns and difficulties hosting big groups. Please be praying for our island sister ‘Dunga’— her extended family had a gathering to confront her about her beliefs. She was able to speak and clear up some misunderstandings, but the meeting was left with them saying that they would give her time to change or that she would have to leave the family house. Pray for her whole family— pray that she would have peace and a love in her heart for her family members and that she would be able to show it in a way that breaks down barriers.

Pure Joy

A well-known verse tells us that we should consider it a joy (pure joy!) when we face trials and different kinds of difficulties. Another book, which we are reading, has been talking to us about the dangers of responding to difficulties with frustration, anxiety or discontentment. Yet another book we are reading is an old biography about a man that sought out some hardships in his early life because he was confident that he was being called to even greater hardship and he wanted to be prepared.

Finding joy in learning to wear the local wrap?

All of these sources have been challenging us to rethink how we look at, consider, react to and pray about difficulties. So here came a test (more for our short-termer than for us, but the difficulties hit us too)…

First, our short-termer tested positive for COVID right before she was supposed to come. This meant a scrambling with both her international plane tickets and interisland plane tickets, as well as letting various people know and rearranging our schedules. Good thing was that she had already had symptoms for 10 days. We rescheduled her arrival for a week (safely past the two-week post first symptoms marker). A week later she still tested positive and though her symptoms had faded and she wasn’t contagious, we were told that in some cases one can still test positive for weeks if not months. We pushed her arrival off for another week (less confident this time that the new plan would work).

Finding joy in a long hot-season ceremony?

But the next week, she tested negative! We were full of thanksgiving and awaited her new travel itinerary. Unfortunately website problems and bad customer service meant that she spent two days on her phone before she was able to reinstate her international plane ticket— only to learn that the flight times changed making the idea of making a same-day connection to our island not possible.

But we adapted. We organized transport and a place to stay on the big island. We changed her interisland flight. When she finally arrived on the big island on Wednesday all those things were in place…but then her bag didn’t come!

Fast forward a few more days and she was reunited with her bag, but not after more delays, hassle and expense. Not to mention that during the two-week delay, the circumstances of her host family had changed and our teammate was forced to renegotiate where our short-termer would be staying.

Now we have been impressed with our short-termer’s attitude through all this, but it’s safe to say that almost nothing about her coming has seemed easy. So how do we look at all these difficulties? Do we think of them as ‘pure joy’?

Finding joy in a difficult class?

We will readily admit that it has been stressful and we have shook our heads a few times when yet another complication appeared with an incredulous ‘again?!’ ringing in our thoughts. But it has also made us wonder…perhaps we can expect great things from this short-termer. Perhaps all these small difficulties are preparing her for bigger challenges in the future.

Maybe you don’t find that thought comforting, but for us it adds excitement. All these annoyances could be building a resilience in her that God will use to great purpose in the future! While I am not to the point where I react to all the difficulties as ‘pure joy’, a new outlook on them does push me towards accepting them as possibly good things and towards having a heart that can rejoice and be thankful in all circumstances. God is good, we await what He will do next!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We are thankful that our short-termer has finally made it here and has settled into her homestay, and we are thankful that all of us have been able to maintain a mostly positive attitude throughout!  We are thankful that our medical teammates down on the south-side of the island are making good inroads and good connections.  Their meeting to establish what their medical work will look like with the government health administrators appears to have gone well.  Tom’s first week of online training went well and he’s thankful for the internet holding up well.   We are thankful that we have a new long-term worker/colleague on the big island and that our island brothers and sisters returned safely from their training trip to mainland Africa much encouraged.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for our short-termer to have a blessed two weeks full of language, relationship and opportunities to be a light.  Pray that our south-side medical team could figure out the final details for their medical (hoping to start in December) and find the final items they need for settling into their new home.  Pray that Tom would have another good week of online training and that the internet connection would continue to work well.  Keep praying for “Fakhadi”,  Tom still hasn’t seen him, but at least Fakhadi has started responding to messages.  Pray that they would be able to meet this week and that Tom could be an encouragement to his friend.  Pray for discernment to understand what is really going on with Fakhadi and how to help him.  Pray for opportunities for each of our teammates to share good news this week.

What Are You Going to Apply to Your Life? Nothing.

There is always an application question, right?  A good teacher will ask, “What have you learned today?”  No small group study is complete without the question “What things in this study apply to your life?”  Every seminar, training, conference, lecture or training begs the question “What changes are you going to implement after having learned these things?”  Imagine if everyone in the lecture hall turned to the teacher and said, “Nothing.”

Tom & friends at a meal

For the last few months I’ve been studying with some men I know.  Each week we have a good discussion.  We probe the passage, we think about the meaning.  We think about humanity, good and bad, lies and truths, and at some point we get to the application question and for four straight weeks, in answer to the question, “What can you apply to your life?”, one man has told me, “Nothing.”  

Why does he say, “Nothing”?  You can probably figure it out.  He doesn’t agree with the things we are discussing.  He sees things differently.  So he is happy to talk about the subject and share some deep thoughts, but when it comes to applying things to his life, he is a stone.  He wants none of it.  I can’t help but look at myself and be challenged by that.

It is easy to write him off and say that he is foolish and stubborn.  But am I any different?  Are we?  If I were listening to something I didn’t agree with, isn’t it my temptation to say the same.  “This is rubbish.  I don’t agree with it.  There is nothing for me to learn from this.  I certainly don’t want to apply it to my life.”  Don’t we all do the same thing most of the time?  It is a foolish and stubborn thing to do.  Yet, so often we all respond this way.  Shut down. Shut off.  Conversation ends here.  

Friends studying at English Club

But aren’t we called to something more?  
What if we believed there was always something to learn—always something to apply to our lives?  How would that change our conversations?  How would it look to respect another opinion enough to continue to engage with it?  How much more might we learn?

It strikes me that, even if we say that the things to apply to our lives are the opposite of what is being presented we can still draw applications.  For example, if I make a forceful argument on why you should hate others, you might be repulsed by my teaching.  You might find it deplorable.  But you can still find something to apply—perhaps it is “I will do the opposite. I will love instead of hate.”  But if you shut down, turn off and take nothing away, then maybe you have missed an opportunity.  You may have been able to grow in your appreciation of love, by the contrast.

So why can my friend study diligently for an hour and then say in terms of application, “Nothing”?  Why do we do the same?  I think it is fear.  We fear other ideas. We fear what it might demand of us—especially in terms of application because application is about change.  And we fear change—especially in our own hearts.  Change means there is something that needs to be corrected, and we hate being corrected.  We hate admitting we are wrong.  In fact, I think generally we hate application questions.  Don’t we usually look for the most vague and abstract application possible.  “We should love more.”  “We should be kind to people.”  Nice and vague and easy enough to not really do nor bring about real change.  No we don’t like clear application, correction or change.  So we shut down, shut off, end the conversation and conclude there’s nothing that applies.

I recently came across a verse in Proverbs that gets to the heart of this quite bluntly,

“Whoever loves correction loves knowledge.  Whoever hates correction is stupid.” (Proverbs 12:1)
Don’t we all tend to be stupid?  

 Maybe the next time I’m tempted to be stupid, I’ll think of my friend and how sad it has made me every time he has said, “Nothing.” Maybe it will help my heart to be a little softer, a little less stupid.  Maybe you can think of him too.

Our boys back to school

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Our short-termer has finally tested negative for COVID! Her time with us will now only be two weeks but we are hopeful that we can give her a good taste of island culture and some principles for language learning that will hopefully help her as she goes to work on the French Island in December. Our boys have started school! The back-to-school day was a lot more organized this year and not as much of an ordeal as it has been in the past. The first couple days have gone smoothly. Our medical teammates have had a good first week in their new house/town and are already making some good connections with people there. Megan was able to go to visit them today and her back seems to have tolerated the bumpy roads okay. Our teammate has made it back safely to the islands. Unfortunately she was unable to fly to Clove Island today as planned because her baggage didn’t arrive with her! But thankfully today she got word that her bags have arrived and she will be able to make it back to us tomorrow!  Over the weekend, we explored higher up a river we have been to numerous times and discovered some amazing waterfalls and pools— we are thankful that even after several years, Clove Island still has beautiful surprises for us.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for the man mentioned in today’s blog and others who have closed their hearts to change. Pray for our good friend “Fakhadi”. Tom usually meets with him each week and he usually attends our English Club each week, but we haven’t seen him in many weeks. We’re not sure what is going on with him, but we are concerned. Pray that Tom would be able to make contact with him and that he isn’t getting into things that he shouldn’t. Pray for our short-termer as she is having trouble redeeming the ticket she had to cancel for a flight this week. Pray that she would make it to us without any more difficulties and that her short time with us would prepare her well for her work on the French Island. One of our colleagues on the islands has been planning to travel back to her home country for months, only to test positive for COVID. Pray for her physical health (that she would have a mild case), but also for her spirits as this is a discouraging blow to what had already been stressful planning. As part of our organization’s leadership training, Tom is taking an online seminar this week and next (6 days, 3.5 hours each day). This is being added into an already busy schedule. Pray that Tom would see the applications to the training and that he would have the energy throughout to appreciate it. Several island brothers and sisters have been sent to mainland Africa for some meetings— pray for the learning and discussions had there and for fruitful reflections on what God is doing on the islands.

A New Chapter

 There is always something exciting about a new beginning. There is so much potential. There are so many first experiences to be had. So many new people to meet and new places to explore. It’s exciting!

Being helpful packing cars for the move!

At least we think it’s exciting. At the moment we are living vicariously through our two colleagues who just today left our team in the capital to move to the far side of the island to start a new team. They have a new house, a new neighborhood, a new climate (everyone likes to tell us how cold that side of the island is) and a new team dynamic.

There’s a lot about which to be excited. But new chapters aren’t always met with excitement. Sometimes instead of excitement, fear and uncertainty are the predominant emotions. New chapters mean untested challenges, unforeseen obstacles. All those new places, people and responsibilities can be intimidating.  So really, these new beginnings create a big mixed bag of emotions.

Being slightly less helpful

And in that emotion bag around this new chapter is a lot of thankfulness and relief. This new beginning has been a long time coming. As soon as we came to Clove Island in 2013, there was talk about starting a medical team on the far side of the island. I think it had been a dream for awhile before that. The need for better medical care was obvious.  Moreover, our organization has a history of bringing medical workers to the islands and a legacy of solid teams. A medical team made a lot of sense and for years people have been excited about it. There were vision trips and scouting trips. Lots of interested people. Lots of prayers said for it. In 2017, there were leaders chosen and possible team members being vetted and a start date for 2018 was set. Everyone was excited. But within a few months it all unraveled.  The prospective leaders went in a different direction, no members were able to join a leaderless team, and the start date was canned.

Jump forward to 2021 and there have been several more false starts for this medical team as health issues and then COVID got in the way. Lots of anticipation and disappointment at different delays. But that’s all in the past now. It’s here! It’s a new chapter! God has provided a leader with a heart and vision for this medical team and the first team member is on site and ready to serve. It has begun!

So what should be our response to all this? We should pray! First we should pray in excitement and rejoicing, in thankfulness and praise. Then we should lift them up with in petitions and requests, that they would be guided, equipped and used powerfully. There is so much potential in a new chapter— may we have a vision for what God will do through it! 

See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? Isaiah 43:19

Tom screening windows on new house

PRAYERS ANSWERED
There is so much to be thankful for— that the house was ready for our teammates, that people came to help with loading and unloading of the moving van, that the move went smoothly.  Tom has come to the end of a multi-week study with two island men, and they want to celebrate the completion of it.  Although there has been no clear fruit, we are thankful for good listening, thoughtful reflection, and exposure to life-giving truth.  Tom was able to reconnect with his friend, Mnyawe (someone he’s spent a lot of time studying with).  Mnyawe is working as a fisherman now, and he still shows a love for God’s word that is encouraging.

 

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Our short-termer didn’t arrive last week because she tested positive for COVID. She tested again today and was still positive (though almost all her symptoms have past). So we are still not sure when she will be able to arrive. Pray that she would fully recover and make it to our island. Pray for us as we have tried to keep our schedules clear so we can do an orientation with her when she arrives, but it is difficult to keep that time open with an uncertain arrival. Pray that we’d all stay flexible and adapt well to the changing circumstances. Please pray for our medical teammates that they would transition well to their new house and that they would develop good patterns and habits in this new chapter!  Our boys go back to school this week.  Pray for an easy transition and for our family to quickly form new school routines.

Immortality??

 A lot of islanders aren’t great at telling light-skinned foreigners apart. They just aren’t used to seeing many of us and so often get us confused for each other. Sometimes it is completely understandable— people of similar heights and hair color. Sometimes one is tall, the other is short, one is blond, the other brunette and you wonder where the confusion comes from. We usually just correct them (at least the first time) or just politely wave at the wrong greeting in hopes of representing the other person well.

Our sons- know which is which?

 I’m convinced that only a small group of islanders can tell our two boys apart (though to be fair, even other foreigners get them confused).

Then there is Megan and our daughter. Since she was little, people have always commented on how much she looks like Megan. One old teammate persisted in calling her “little Megan” instead of by her given name. Generally our daughter is very good natured about it. It annoys her a little and every once in awhile she’ll give an eye-roll in response to a comment. But other  times she’ll laugh and even talk about it as an anecdote.

Megan & our daughter

When our daughter got glasses, she chose ones that were shaped like Megan’s, increasing the comments. Then she hit her growth spurt. She’s now as tall as an adult. She wears the traditional outer-wrap of a woman.

“I saw your daughter yesterday. She’s grown! It’s like it’s you walking around. I think that is so great when a child looks just like you! Because then it’s like you never die! Because your likeness is still walking around and whenever people see them it is like they are seeing you!”

The shopkeeper who went on this little rant kept it up for quite some time, repeating the idea again several times. She talked about different scenarios, like at a wedding or other event after you had died. If your look-alike is there it is like you are there because everyone will see them and think of you and remember you. She was sincerely happy for Megan, happy that she had this blessing, this slice of immortality, all in a look-alike daughter. “It’s like you’ll never die!”

Megan just smiled and paid for her flour, slightly puzzled and amused by this perspective. Later as we talked about it, we were struck by the emphasis she had placed on being seen and remembered, like that was what being alive was about, being a visible part of community. It also struck us as a little sad for the look-alike— can they ever be their own person in such a small community or will their lives always be tied to their predecessor?

Makes you hope that your look-alike (whether older or younger than you) is a good person, since they will undoubtedly be representing you whether you like it or not. (A reason why we are always on our best behavior when someone we don’t know greets us warmly— who knows who we are representing in that moment?)

Makes you think about God making us in his own image. Was He as excited as this woman is, by the idea that with His image-bearers walking around that there was no way that He could be forgotten?

Tom the birthday boy

PRAYERS ANSWERED
All of our teammates (except one) have returned safely from various travels. Our two medical teammates had good homestays with local families on the far-side of the island, making connections that will hopefully help them to build relationships when they move there. Tom had his birthday today! We were happy to celebrate with him and are very thankful for his 43 years! Elewa and her husband have made it back and have a new diagnosis that will hopefully help them get his health under control, easing her mind and giving him a better standard of living than he has had lately.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Our short-termer arrives on Wednesday. Pray that she’d make her same-day connection to our island and that her days of orientation living with us would go well. Pray also for the island family that she will be living with during her time here that she could have a positive impact in that household and learn a lot. Pray for our final teammate that is still off island as her return flights have been changed. Pray that her final days with family would not be stressed by her return travel plans. Pray for our medical teammates as they use this final week to buy what they need and pack up for their move. Pray that their new house would be ready for them! Pray for us as we continue to talk with others this week about what our future role in leadership could look like— pray for unity and clarity for all involved in these discussions. Pray for one of the men that Tom was studying with as Tom has learned that he traveled to the little island. Tom has no idea when or if he would return and no way to contact him—pray that he would continue seeking and be drawn to the Light.

Determination

 “What are your dreams?” is a question we ask our upper-level English students.  

Most of our students are in their twenties and they have high hopes of doing something great with their lives.  Yet the answers we get to this question are regrettably mundane and repetitious.  In fact, most of the time we hear one of three answers:

El-Azima and some fellow students

“I want to become a doctor.”  While this is certainly an honorable profession and excellent dream.  Unfortunately, I think most students just desire the money and prestige that comes with such a position rather than the less selfish reason of serving and healing others.  

“I want to be rich and have a big house.” This is also an understandable dream in a poor country where most people live on less than $5 a day.

“I want to go to America and finish my studies.” This one is said with a grin as if not in their wildest dream could this ever really happen.  But that’s what dreams are for, right, dreaming big?

It is a wild dream—studying in America.  Most students only barely pass high school.  Even our best English students would struggle to write a college level paper.  And, at the root of even the best student’s dreams is the money issue.

Over the years we’ve had many, many students ask what it would take to study at an American university, and for most we try to discourage them.  It is too hard, too expensive and not a real possibility.  Often just a discussion of the amounts of money required and the tests and hoops one would need to jump through are enough to scare people off.  If they still push, we send them to a few web sites, articles that explain what is involved in applying to American universities.  Usually we don’t hear from them again. So in short, we’ve never seriously helped anyone apply to schools in the US.  But for the past two weeks I’ve been helping a young man do just that.  

El-Azima is determined.  He is bright—perhaps not the brightest student I’ve ever taught, but certainly up there.  He has done quite a lot with very little and that is commendable.  But what really sets him apart is his determination and his faith that studying in the US is a real possibility.

Tom with emerging teachers in El-Azima's village

It’s been more than 20 years since I applied to college, but the process certainly hasn’t gotten much easier, except for the fact that you can do it all online—a boon for international students.  So together we’ve waded through the piles of questions and forms necessary to apply.  El-Azima’s intent is unwavering.  He writes essays, answers obscure questions, calls people on the phone, and finds a way forward.

One of the roadblocks has been the school guidance counselor.  It is the guidance counselor’s job to send school transcripts and a recommendation.  El-Azima’s counselor is behind him, willing to help him in any way he can—but the older man doesn’t even have an email address and doesn’t speak English.  So El-Azima has to do all the work—create an email account for the counselor (with his permission), and send all the transcripts and recommendations in his name.  Does this sound a little sketchy to you?  Me too.  But then again, what choice does he have—and the counselor is happy to vouch for him.

Then there are financial aid forms to fill out.  For about 2 hours last week we worked together to fill out financial aid forms.  It felt like a nonsensical exercise—How many ways can a person say they are poor?  His father is a farmer, his mother sells the produce in the market.  They have no income.  Again and again we answered ‘no’ or ‘zero’ to questions about possible assets, savings or funds.  We told them the details of his 9 siblings—El-Azima calling family members on the phone to get their correct birth dates—who are in various levels of school or unemployment.  It was ridiculous, but finally we reached the end of the questions and hit the submit button.  It was at that point we were told to pay a $9 application fee and $16 per school.  I felt my heart sink.  He barely has money to get a taxi into town, let alone pay 100 times that in application fees—and this is for financial aid!  You have to pay for the application for financial aid???

But El-Azima is undaunted.  “I’ll find the money somehow,” he tells me.  And maybe he will.  I remind him again, that this is what it will be like.  There will be lots of fees—the airline ticket alone is thousands of dollars.  Then there will books, clothes, housing—all of it really expensive in the US.  How will he afford it?  It’s going to be really hard.  But El-Azima is undeterred.  With a smile he says, “Yes, but it will be worth it.”  

While we don’t carry his confidence that it will, we do what we can to be both realistic and supportive. Who knows? Maybe his dreams will come true.

Our youngest & oldest on river hike

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Some of our teammates are back, the others are still (hopefully) enjoying their vacation.  We’ve taken the lessening of team responsibilities as an opportunity to go on some hikes as a family.  It’s been nice.  The October rains have been helping the weather stay a bit cooler, but we can feel the heat and humidity rising. But hot season means fruit—mangos are back!  One of the men’s groups continues to go very well.  The other group will hopefully meet again this week.  Tom had an encouraging conversation with a neighbor and sent him home with a copy of the story of Zaccheus and the plan to send him home with other stories in the future. 


PRAYERS REQUESTED
The study for one of the men’s groups is drawing to an end.  Pray for wisdom as to what to do next.  Our medical team is getting really close to launching.  They will be spending some time with local village families this week as an opportunity to experience village life first hand and to make some connections in the village before moving there at the end of the month.  Pray for good health, good bonding, and good experiences.  We have a short-termer coming very soon.  Pray for her preparations and ours.  Keep praying for the divisions among brothers and sisters on the small island.  As far as we know things have yet to be resolved.