Exploring Possibilities

 Our daughter is turning 17 next week, she’s taking the SAT on Saturday and finishing up her junior year of high school (that’s the second to last year).  Her school sent us a handbook for the college search process and encouraged us to talk to our kids about it over this break from school. It’s a big decision and there are so many different paths and factors and options to consider.

Tom and son on French Island

People respond differently to big decisions and to exploring the options and possibilities for the future. Even within our own little family, our older son and Megan like to imagine the different potential paths in their mind and can have fun thinking about how things could play out.  On the other hand, Tom and our daughter will only usually do it if they have to, but don’t gravitate towards it. While our younger son actively avoids it and would much rather someone else do the planning for him. This doesn’t mean that any of us are terribly decisive. Megan likes to explore the different possibilities, but that doesn’t mean that she’s quicker to making the final decision.

At our most recent English Club we talked with islanders about making decisions and what people do to help explore the options and make those decisions. It became clear that they weren’t very conversant on this topic. They weren’t used to thinking about decision-making as a process. By the end of our time, it seemed that usually for them decisions were just made and there wasn’t a drawn out process of research or getting advice or making pros/cons lists or comparing different options. On reflection, we think that many islanders don’t know how to do the research needed to explore different possibilities. Without research, they don’t really know what is possible unless someone presents it to them or they see someone else doing it.

We remember that when we first came to Clove Island, we were under pressure to start an English center. Clove Islanders saw this as something foreigners did, but then we took some Clove Islanders to an English teaching conference on the big island. They saw that islanders there were starting their own centers and programs. They came back with this new possibility in their minds and now we have the privilege of coming alongside 16 different centers/programs spread across Clove Island run entirely by islanders!

Unfortunately, not knowing how to do research well, means that islanders are often victims of scams. Possibilities are presented to them via email or online ads, and they don’t always know how to independently verify that something is legit. They don’t always question that they have to wire money in as an application fee or a formality in order to open up some great opportunity, not realizing that there is no opportunity. We know an island family that sold everything and gave up their house because they were sure that they had gotten a job in a different country and were just waiting for the airline tickets to be delivered any day. No tickets ever came, it was all fake.

Heading back to school

Our daughter was given a handbook and access to a database of different colleges, with search options, filters, side by side comparisons and more! She can trust the information. It was provided by her school and has been verified by others. She is privileged to have such resources and whether she likes the process or not, she has the tools to guide her.

Or at least they can start to guide her. There is still the most important factor.  The God factor. All the resources and charts and information doesn’t necessarily help you know what you should decide. God can use those things as tools, but ultimately we look to Him to give us the discernment— to close and open doors, and to grant us the peace as we step forward into the future.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Thank you for praying for our daughter. Her fever and other symptoms resolved and she was able to travel as planned. They made it safely to mainland Africa and back to school. Today is the first day of third term. Meanwhile Tom and our youngest son made it safely to the French island— they didn’t get sick on the overnight boat ride and were even able to get some sleep. They had an encouraging time visiting our colleagues there— the island has found a new normal post-cyclone. It is still not ideal and lots of repairs to buildings still need to be done but people are getting by, mostly in much more cramped living, working and school situations.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for islanders to not be the victims of scams and to be aware of different legitimate possibilities for their futures. Pray for God to guide us and our daughter as she begins to think about college. Tom and our youngest are just arriving back on Clove Island— pray for them as they jump back into life, work, and homeschool. Tom’s friend is supposed to meet with him to pray for a dream to decide which path is correct. Pray for the truth to become evident to him and for his heart to be open enough to accept it. Megan takes our daughter to the rheumatologist tomorrow— it has been a discouraging past few months for her arthritis. Pray for healing and better months ahead. Pray for our daughter— that she would stay healthy— colds/viruses hit her harder and lead to flare-ups in her arthritis. Pray especially for the first couple weeks as she has SAT and AP exams. Pray for Megan’s travels back to the islands and that she can travel back with some of our daughter’s refrigerated medications.

Figuring Out Food

Food is a central part of celebration. It is a central part of bonding together as a group or a community. So as we were coming together to celebrate resurrection and new life, we needed to figure out food!

The idea was that everyone bring some food or drink and we all share. In the US, we call this a potluck, and it is a cornerstone of most shared meals in larger communities that we’ve been a part of in the US, but for the islands potlucks are not normal.  An islander had suggested it once before and we did it successfully, but several key players hadn’t been present and they were still skeptical.

‘What about drinks?”
“People bring their own water and maybe some people will bring drinks.”

“What about a snack when people first arrive?”
“Maybe some people will bring some snacks.”

“What about poorer people?”
“They can just bring something small.”

“What about single men who can’t cook?”
“They can just buy something small to bring.”

“What if there isn’t enough?”
“Then people can go home and eat more. But don’t worry, there will be enough.”

Tom and boys after   potluck

 On the islands, the normal way to do food at an event is for the person/family hosting the event to provide the food for said event. If a group is coming together for an outing, then they might set a price that everyone will pay in order to participate and then a big part of the event is preparing the food together as a picnic. Food can become an obstacle that stops people from getting together.  
If a participation price is set, then the poorer people may just not come. Or if there is no wealthy person to host, then the event may just not happen.

We wanted to have a service and celebrate together, so we didn’t want to take up the day with preparing food like at a picnic. We wanted people to feel like this kind of event could happen again, even if there weren’t wealthy people carrying the brunt of the expense.  We wanted everyone to come and everyone feel like they had a part in making it happen, not just a few hosts. So, as a group, we planned a potluck.

There was plenty of food. There were snacks. There were drinks. There were starches, greens, meat and dessert. People had extra plates, spoons, cups and water for those that forgot. No one had to miss any of the proceedings because they were in the back preparing the food, everyone was there to hear and sing about resurrection and the promise of new life. There was food leftover at the end. It was enough.

We thought it was a success. Time will tell whether the islanders liked it and see it as a model for the future. But we’re always praying for ways of doing things that seem doable and reproducible for average islanders with the hope that gatherings and celebrations keep happening even without the wealthy, even without the foreigners.

Celebrating bday with food!

We pray that islanders will see that God loves to stretch what we bring together. He will make sure it is enough!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
The celebration went well with only a few minor mishaps. There were some people there that are new to the community and it was encouraging to see them getting to know people. Hashiri has continued to message Megan a lot and remember things that she has studied in the past. Tom has had two new men show interest in studying with him.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray that island brothers and sisters would continue to meet together and wouldn’t allow obstacles of location, transport or food to stand in the way. Pray that they would be led to creative solutions. One of Tom’s old friends, Fakhadi, has set down a challenge that they should both pray to their own God and see which one answers. Tom has suggested that they ask for a dream. Pray with us for a miraculous end to this challenge. Our daughter is not feeling well. Pray for her healing and that she would be well enough for the planned travels back to mainland Africa for her new school term. Megan will travel with our older two kids and take our daughter to the hospital for her follow-up. Meanwhile Tom and our youngest will travel by boat to the French Island to visit and encourage our colleagues and friends there— this requires an overnight boat trip. We all leave Clove Island on Wednesday— pray especially for calm seas and no seasickness and for our daughter to be recovered.

Coming Back to Same Questions

We have had a number of colleagues and teammates come and go during our years on Clove Island. Each person has had their own friends and contacts, and as they leave it is often the hope that the seeds that they planted with islanders would continue to grow. Attempts have been made to pass on relationships to people who are staying on the islands, but in our experience it has rarely worked. You can’t just transfer the friendship from one person to another. People have different personalities. A new person won’t have the same trust and connection that had been built with the person leaving.

Island sunset this week

But sometimes we will have an islander that was a friend of a colleague show up at our house and want to befriend us (now that our colleague has left the islands). We don’t allows know their motives. Maybe it was because they used to practice their English with our colleague and they really want to have a new conversation partner. Maybe they enjoyed the prestige of having a foreigner friend whom they could take along to events. Maybe they struggle financially and want a new contact from whom they can ask for help. Or maybe they saw our colleague as a source of light and truth and they are seeking for more.

Hiking to catch sunset

Last month, someone arrived at our house for a visit. We didn’t recognize her, but she made a big point of saying that she had met us once at our former teammate’s house almost 2 years earlier. By the end of that first visit, she had shared enough about herself that we thought we knew who she was and remembered our teammate having talked about this friend ‘Hashiri’ frequently, but this teammate had left the islands a year and a half ago. Why was Hashiri coming to us after such a long time?

Hashiri has continued to come every week since that first visit to see us and has been messaging Megan a lot in between. She’s a unique person and seems to struggle to follow social norms. While we’re still not sure of all her motives and expectations, it has been interesting to see her jump quickly to the same conversations that she had with our old teammate. We remember our teammate asking us to pray for Hashiri and talking about the vivid dreams and questions Hashiri had shared. Now Hashiri is sharing about these same dreams and asking these same questions with Megan.

Sometimes our colleagues don’t even have to leave. Sometimes there is an islander that befriends one of our teammates and then makes a point of trying to visit and befriend everyone on the team. Again, we sometimes we wonder about their motives, but one motivation can be that they are looking for truth, but they trust it more if they hear it from multiple sources. With these kinds of people, we often hear that they have asked the same questions and had the same conversations with multiple people. Rather than being upset that they didn’t trust the first person’s answer, we see this as a very encouraging sign that the person is serious in their search and is invested in the answers.

Tom at ceremony this weekend

Sometimes it takes hearing answers and explanations multiple times, in different ways, with different words and in different circumstances, for the truth to sink in.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Tom went to a far away village for an English Ceremony.  It is always a bit of an adventure with these trips, what it will look like for him to get there and make it back using local transportation, but the buses showed up and he is thankful for safety on the road, as not all bus drivers drive responsibly.  We continue to enjoy having our older kids around, even just doing simple things with them like playing board games or watching movies.  It’s good to be together. A man with whom Tom studied several years ago, came back this week and studied with Tom, Mtsa and Muki. This was encouraging, pray that he continues to come!

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for the celebrations this coming weekend— that islanders and foreigners could have good fellowship and be encouraged by the reminder of new life and resurrection! Mtsa continues to have money troubles and it’s not clear what the solution is.  Neither is it clear what part we should play in helping him.  Pray for wisdom in these things.  Pray for our daughter’s healing from her rheumatoid arthritis.  Pray for these interactions with Hashiri.  May she develop a hunger for the words of life.

A Reminder for Patience

I get frustrated with Muki.  One day, it seems like he is finally understanding what he is reading, that it is penetrating that heart of his, and then the next day, he comes back with something that shows he has not understood at all.  Or perhaps whatever it was that was getting inside his heart has gotten pushed out again.  One day he talks like we have the same king, the next day he talks like we follow very different masters.  It has gone on and on like this for a year now.  Glimmers of hope followed by moments of disappointment.  It has been painfully slow.

Back to the river after fasting month

Sometimes I wonder if he only comes for what he can get.  His coffee, some breakfast, and the obligatory ask for something.  It seems like he doesn’t feel like he can leave the house without asking for something.  Give me a dollar.  Give me some ibuprofen.  Give me some cooking oil.  Give me some rice.  Every time, something.   Sometimes it feels like such a downer—to have a good study and then to have him turn with a “that’s done” sort of attitude and say “now, this is what I need.”  As if his studying were payment for his request.  I often pray that that would never be the case.  I never want it to be that he feels he must study with me to get something—but how can I know his heart?

The month of fasting had me wondering.  We hardly studied at all during the month of fasting.  Could it be because he knew there would be no coffee and snacks for him?  Perhaps… At the same time, the month of fasting is so disruptive to routines, everyone is tired all the time, either buying or selling, cooking or sleeping—I don’t know that I can blame them for not feeling up to studying.  It is one of the many things we don’t like about the month of fasting.

Last week, with the end of the month of fasting, Muki came over for his coffee and his snack and to study.  We had been reading the stories of Moses, so we picked up where we had left off.  A staff became a snake.  The court magicians did the same by their magic, but Aaron’s staff swallowed up the other snakes.  It’s a good story—but that could not explain Muki’s joy at reading it.  His whole face lit up.  He raved about how this story was so wise, and there was so much for us to gain from it—but that too did not really explain where his joy was coming from.  But I knew.  It was the joy of a soul that had been starved for an entire month—feasting on the nourishment it longed for.  “As a deer pants for the water, so my soul longs for you.”  Muki certainly loves his coffee and snacks, but there was no doubt that he loves to study as well.

The next day, a funny thing happened.  As we were talking about life and politics before our study time, he said to me, “So, there’s Africa…and there’s Europe…and America…America is part of Europe, right?”  I got out a globe—it’s really just a ball with a map of the world on it, but it shows the continents.  I pointed out to him the different continents—Africa, Europe, Asia, North and South America—“So there’s 2 Americas?”  he said to me.  

Celebrating our 15 year old!

It was a reminder to me.  I get frustrated with how slowly he understands.  I lose patience with him.  How can he seem to understand the good news one day, and then the next day say just the opposite?  But here is a man whose world has been quite small.  He has no sense of the world outside his islands.  Before meeting us, he had probably never met a foreigner—certainly no one who could speak his language and explain to him the things of light and truth and love. Is it any surprise that it’s going to take a while for him to learn and understand these things?

PRAYERS ANSWERED
So glad to have our older kids with us.  We had a wonderful time celebrating our son’s birthday and then, later in the week making a trip to our favorite waterfall.  We are thankful to see that people who were studying before the month of fasting are willing to come back and start studying again.  We’re thankful that Bako is feeling better. Women’s gathering this week and we made a plan to celebrate the holiday all together coming up in two weeks.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for our family time together, that we would balance work and community and fun well.  Pray for Mtsa who is having money troubles.  He has a number of debts that he needs to pay and doesn’t know how he will pay for them.  Pray for Muki, that his love for studying would result in actions of obedience.  A friend of one of our colleagues has been coming around asking Megan lots of questions.  Pray that Megan could guide her towards life.  Pray for our daughter’s healing from her rheumatoid arthritis.

Eids Through the Years!

 Today is the biggest holiday of the island year. Most holidays are tied into the local faith and so we don’t usually celebrate them, but the Eid at the end of the month of fasting is different. It is a time of community. It is the only holiday where people go around and greet all their neighbors, friends and family, sharing treats and blessings. The men and children dress up and go around to different homes, while the women and older girls stay at home to receive the visiting men and children, handing out candy and homemade baked goods.

First Eid on Clove Island

We have been on the islands for many years now. When we first got here, we saw Eid as a great chance to establish ourselves in the community. Tom would take the kids and walk around the neigborhood and go into any open door that they saw— meeting some neighbors for the first time, making connections that we hadn’t realized (that certain people we saw around the neighborhood were all one family or connecting a person to the house they lived in).

Back together again just in time for Eid!

We used to wake up early, anxious to be all ready before the first visitors came. Our kids were excited to start going out, remembering from previous years all the candy and treats that they would accumulate through the long morning of walking all over the place.

As I woke up this morning I realized how things has changed. For one thing we have teenagers, who are not as enticed by candy and more excited about sleeping in longer. Not to mention that our two older kids only got home late yesterday afternoon after three days of travel! We didn’t rush to get our door open or to get outside. We took our time and even told some early kids to come later, that we weren’t ready yet. Tom and the boys headed out, but they went to the people we know. They went to both our current and old neighborhoods, but still it wasn’t super long before they came home to rest before a second short outing. In many ways, I think we are more like other islanders now. Going to every single house in the neighborhood is usually only for the kids who want to get as much candy as possible, filling their bags as fast as they can. We don’t feel the pressure to establish ourselves and are content on reaffirming the relationships we have, which is what most islanders do on Eid. It isn’t usually about new connections but more about strengthening the ones you have….. and maybe also about eating lots of yummy treats!

Sampling of this Eid's hoard

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Thank you for praying for the islands during the month of fasting— we were encouraged by the increased chances to share truth and plant seeds of the good news. Our two older kids made it safely home (on our older son’s birthday). The travel was long and all three of their flight times were moved later, but God sustained them and brought their bags along too! We’re thankful to have them home. We are thankful for our son’s 15 years and all the ways that he has grown and matured and we look forward to celebrating properly after Eid. Tom and the boys had a good time visiting friends and neighbors this morning for Eid.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for the islands as we transition back to the non-fasting rhythms of life. Pray that the seeds planted during the month of fasting would not be forgotten but would be nutured and grow. Pray that our two older kids would be able to rest and recover from their travels and have a good break at home. Pray that we can have some good family time together.  Bako has been sick this week, nothing serious, but a chance to for Tom pray with him for his healing.  Pray that he would know where his healing comes from. 

Testing

 We were recently reading the famous story of Abraham and Isaac.  As you may know, it says that one day God decided to test Abraham.  He told Abraham to take his son, his only son, up on a mountain and there, sacrifice him to God.  Abraham agrees and is about to kill his son when God intervenes and stops him.  Abraham sees a ram in the bushes and sacrifices that instead of his son.  Then God blesses Abraham for his faith and obedience.

A calm day on the islands

Whenever we’ve read this story with islanders, they have latched onto the very first words of the story.  The part about the test.

“Life is a test,” they will say.  “We only have this life, and God is testing us.  If we pass the test, we will go to heaven.  If we fail, we will go to hell.  All of life is a test.”

We have heard this reply from so many different islanders that it is seemingly part of their world view.  And every time we hear it, it rubs us the wrong way.  Why?  What is wrong with their assessment?  Doesn’t it say that God tested Abraham?  We couldn’t put our finger on it, but it just sounded off in some way.  Not exactly wrong, but not exactly right.  But how can you explain what it is wrong, when it says it right there in the story—Abraham was tested?

Why does it seem wrong-headed to think of life as one big test? It all has to do with the test.  What happens if you prepare for the wrong test? like reading Moby Dick to prepare for a Calculus exam; or learning to crotchet for a cooking evaluation?  All your preparation will be wasted for the actual test.  In islanders’ minds, the test of life is assumed to be answering the question, “Have you qualified for paradise?” But this is the wrong question—the wrong test!

Secondly, tests are always linked to the test-giver.  Why are they giving the test?  In an ideal sense, teachers say we give tests to evaluate the student and the teacher— reveal what is lacking  so the student can learn better and the teacher can teach better.  The goal is learning, understanding, wisdom, flourishing.  But in reality, tests and teachers often serve as bouncers—who is allowed in and who isn’t.  In the worst case scenario, the teacher cares nothing of the student, learning or wisdom, only the final score—pass or fail—are they in or are they out? What kind of a test-giver is God?  In the minds of most islanders, he is the bouncer—weighing up your balances, and impersonally deciding whether you are in or out.

But as we think about Abraham, we think differently about the test and the test-giver.  First of all, the test-giver is not impersonal.  He speaks to Abraham personally, just as he has spoken to him many times before.  He never mentions the outcome of the test.  He does not give him promises of rewards or threats for failure.  This is clearly not the bouncer.  This is the teacher who wants to see his student learning, growing, flourishing.  He is both gentle and challenging.  He knows what his student is capable of.  Have you ever thought about that?  God knew what Abraham was capable of before this test.  He knew what the outcome would be. So why do it?  A good test draws out the best in a student and puts it on display, as this drew out the best in Abraham.

And as for the test itself—paradise in never mentioned.  The test is not about his worthiness for paradise.  Actually, if we were to sum up the test in a question it would be, “Do you trust me?”  Could this be the test God has been asking each of us through the ages, again and again?

Tom and our son working on meal prep

“Do you trust me?” is a very different kind of test.  You prepare for it by getting to know the one you will put your trust in.  You prepare for it by putting your trust in them again and again and seeing they are faithful.  But passing this test is not based on how much you’ve studied, or learned, or achieved.  Passing this test happens when we put our life in the hands of the one whom we have trusted.  

As we thought about testing some more, the Word’s favorite way to talk about testing is not in terms of school exams, but in terms of refining—burning away the dross to reveal the purest gold.  That fits with our understanding of the test-giver.  He is not waiting to decide our fate—he knows it already.  Instead, He is lovingly working to refine and enhance the best in us and remove the worst.  Do we trust him?  Will we let him cut away the dross—even when it hurts?  Will we put our life in his hands?

 “Life is a test,” they say.  “We only have this life, and God is testing us.  If we pass the test we will go to heaven.  If we fail we will go to hell.  All of life is a test.”

Is life a test?  Perhaps the answer is yes—but not the way you think my friend.  It is not the bouncer asking, “Do you have what it takes for me to let you in?”  It is a loving father, wanting to draw out the best in us by asking, “Do you trust me?”

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Thank you for your prayers for our daughter.  She has been feeling progressively stronger and in less pain.  She has been able to participate close-to-fully in school activities which are pretty busy with the end of term.  Thank you for praying for our meal with Muki, Mtsa and Mtsa’s family.  We had a wonderful time together.  At the end of the meal we read 1 Cor 13.  Mtsa insisted we read through it line by line and consider the implications of each verse.  His wife, sister, and daughters weren’t overly engaged, but they were listening.  His daughter seemed pleased and surprised when I told her she could keep the paper with the passage on it. Megan had a good catch-up and talk with Ma Imani.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
We are entering the final week of the month of fasting.  Pray for continued opportunities to share the difference between fasting for points and fasting out of love.  Two island friends, Bako and Sahé, both recently had deaths in their families.  Pray that loss would open up possibilities for life.  During this final week there is a special night called the “Night of Power” when many believe fervent devotion to prayers all night can result in receiving the thing you most want.  Pray that they would discover the one they most need instead. Our two older kids travel back the islands at the end of the week— pray for smooth travels and that traveling wouldn’t be too exhausting for them.  We are entering the final week of the month of fasting, but it is not too late to join us in prayer for the islands. If you want to get a special weekly email with ways to pray, let us know.

What’s Happening to the Islands?

When bad things happen, word gets around on these islands.  And it feels like recently, there has been more bad stuff than usual.  The islands have no big cities like Johannesburg or Nairobi.  Life works on a system of who you know—and everybody knows everybody.  As annoying as this can sometimes be, it is a great crime deterrent.  I can remember the time many years ago when a friend from the other side of the island came to visit.  I asked him what he was doing on our side of the island.  He said his motorcycle had been stolen and he had tracked down who had taken it and where it was!  I remember being amazed.  It’s hard to get away with things when everybody knows what everybody else is doing.  

Chatting about news after breaking fast

But in recent days we have heard some of the kinds of stories that we never used to hear on the islands.  I don’t want to be alarmist.  I still believe our islands are a safe place to live.  But some of the things that have happened in the last 6 months were virtually unheard of before.  They are still isolated cases at this point, but just the fact that they have occurred sets minds uneasy.  In the past few months, 3 armed robberies, a kidnapping, a murder and a rape have all been widely-known stories.  People on the islands are talking and there are signs of more fear setting in.

It was our teammate who noticed it.  When we first came to the islands we would have said that people here have an open door policy.  Front doors are always open and everyone is always welcome.  But our teammate told us that this was no longer true.  If they live on the ground floor, now islanders keep their door closed.  The fact is, you don’t know who might come in your house.  We confirmed with others, people don’t leave their doors open like they used to.

A podcast I was listening to reminded me that cities and  perhaps countries go through phases—times when crime rises and times when crime falls.  Not surprisingly, it is very difficult to know what causes these changes.  So we cannot say what the asnwer is, but we are aware of some factors that might contribute.  The capital city on the big island has grown a lot in the past few years, due in part to a centralization of government.  Its growth has certainly contributed to the possibility of anonymity for would-be criminals. Signs of increased crime are worst in the capital.

Chatting on our porch

Another factor may be the French island.  For years, islanders have been sending their children to live on the French island, putting them into the hands of distant relatives or even the state, hoping that they would find a better life.  But a majority of these children, without parents watching out for them, fell through the cracks, don’t go to school, might become servant slaves in households and are in danger of all kinds of abuse.  Gangs now plague the French island. Many would say it is a result of all these children growing up parent-less.  Islanders look at the crime on the French Island and shake their heads and blame the French government for being soft on crime.  But now the French Island was ravaged by a cyclone and lots of people left there to come back to these islands.  Could some of those lost and forgotten ones who have learned the ways of gangs and crime, be bringing the only life they know back to the islands?  

Or could it be caused by the slow deterioration of justice bubbling over as the local government withholds the rights of its citizens with increasing regularity?  Or is it the slow grind of economic forces—people desperate to get by as prices climb and the basics of life get more difficult to possess?  

Things are not better off than they were 5 years ago.  We perceive the change and although we aren’t trying to be alarmist and we don’t suddenly feel unsafe, we all wonder, “Will it get better or will it get worse?” No one knows. We join islanders in lamenting the changes for the worse and the accompanying increase in crime and the more serious types of crimes being committed.

One of our friends said, “And it’s just terrible that these [crimes] are happening during the month of fasting!”  Many in the group nodded their heads.  Then one young man turned to the first and wisely said, “It’s terrible that things like this happen any time.”  Amen.  

PRAYERS ANSWERED
The weather cleared and our colleague from the medical team flew safely back to Clove Island and got her bag too (after a couple days). Praise that power has improved this past week with fewer long outages (which means we have fans for more of the day). Megan got to share the story that was studied at the women's gathering with one of the island sisters that didn’t make it last week. Tom is co-teaching a new English course and it led to him getting to share truth with some new people. Another former student contacted Tom asking where he could read about the good news.  All of us continue to get more chances to share the good news as people ask us, “Are you fasting?”

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for the islands— that whatever the factors, there would be an end to this rise in crime!  Our daughter is in a middle of a flare-up of her rheumatoid arthritis and they are in the last two weeks of her school term, which are full and more stressful. Pray for her healing and for encouragement for her heart. We are planning to break the fast with Muki and Mtsa and Mtsa’s family. Pray that this would be a good opportunity to deepen relationship with them. Our older kids’ school in mainland Africa jus posted their staffing needs for next year— pray that God would call the people to serve there. Keep praying for the increased chances to share during the month of fasting. We are already halfway through the month, but it is not too late to join us in prayer for the islands. If you want to get a special weekly email with ways to pray, let us know.