Camels and Travelers from a Far

Day 4

Who doesn't enjoy a good camel ride? We were in the process of getting started in the day, when randomly 2 camels and their owners came through the village. The Malians weren't near as impressed with the site as we 5 pale faced Americans were. They were nomads traveling North to Timbuktu (yes, it is a real place in Mali). We moved quickly to greet the nomads and brokered a deal with them for a ride and a photo of ourselves on their camels (2,000 CFA per person= $4 per person). If you look closely at the photo you will see a person in terror as the camel rocks me forward as it tries to stand up, lunging me rapidly toward an uncomfortable position as he also turns his face back toward me as to kiss me or spit on me - I didn't know. I wasn't sure whether to duck or pucker. As you can see from the by-standers, I was clearly not doing it right. The owner ran either to my rescue or the camels, I still don't know.

The camel ride was one to remember. But, so was the beautiful one to two hours of a solid conversation I had with three Muslim men about their faith and my faith. We read from the Koran and the Bible. The conversation was a growing time for us all. Pray for the three twenty something year old men who hold the future of Mali in their hands. Pray that they will continue the conversation regarding the Deity of Christ.

One focus of this trip was to train teachers to teach. It was not our aim merely to go and teach, but to train to teach so that as we leave this village they will be trained in their faith so they can train others (2 Tim 2:2). The method is called T4T (Teaching for Trainers). We all identified two men or women that we could spend some time with everyday and share the key stories that linked all the Old and New Testament together. My men, for the most part, were faithful to come together daily. We gathered under the large mango tree just east of the "GPC Hilton." We spent a couple of hours each day working through the stories. This time it was David and Bathsheba and Nathan's confrontation with David.

While we were in mid stride in the T4T that day, two men rode up on bikes. I had never seen these men. They were both wearing white robes. The older man, Koniba from J-village (see Jan. 27th post) was wearing a traditional Bambara hunter's uniform with all hunting accoutrements and a seasoned muzzle loader rifle that was no less than 60 years old. The younger man, named Fotigi, wore the West African head wrap. Fotigi was from F-village.

The men joined us under the mango tree. After greeting them we continued on with our retelling of the Bible story. When the story training time was complete, the men went further into introducing themselves. Fotigi, from F-village began to tell us about the recent 4 month spiritual adventure in his life. Fotigi came from a village far beyond J-village. Where J-village is walking distance of approximately 5 KM one way, F-village is 40 Km. The nationals told me, if I wanted to walk to F-village I would have to go alone. It was too far to walk.

During the month of Ramadan 2008, Fotigi came across a group of believers gathering with some Americans from North Carolina as they told people the story of Jesus. The village was not Fotigi's village but he stayed and listened as a guest in the village. The stories he heard moved him to following Jesus. But as the son the chief in F-village, he knew there weren't any followers of Christ in his village. What was he to do? How can he share the news of Jesus in his village?

The team gave him a "Megavoice" solar powered MP3 player with 60 pivotal stories to help bring a new believer along in their faith. Fotitgi took his new gift home to his village and began to listen to the stories. Others came in and heard the stories with him. Everyone that heard the stories of Jesus were hearing them for the first time. Fotitgi grew in his faith, but others around him also wanted to learn more.

Fast forward to this mid afternoon day in January 2009, Fotitgi came and said that he has listened to all the stories about Jesus multiple times. He also opened up his satchel and pulled out a heavily worn primary school note book that bore the names of 56 people in his village who are currently waiting for instructions and are ready to become followers of Jesus. Fotitgi's dad is the chief of the village and sent him out of the village to find some "Christians" who could come to their village and tell them how to become a follower of Christ. .....................to this day they wait, the village is waiting.

"How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!'"

Romans 10:14-15

F-village is waiting. Who will have beautiful feet? They are waiting...

On the Road to J-village

Day 3
I woke up this morning not know what to expect. Would anyone come to travel to J-village with us? While we were still savoring Sara's and Jessica' delicious breakfast, 5 men showed up ready for the journey. Jessica made us some ham samswiches, chips, cookies, salami...she did not want us to go hungry. Of course Charles, her "Shmoop", was going and she really wanted to take care of him!!

We took off on our 5 "African Kilometers" hike. It was flat terrain, the weather couldn't have been any better. 1 hour and 15 minutes later we walked up on J-village. They had no clue we were coming. The Internet, telephones or any other line of communication hasn't made it that far yet. Many of the believers were out in the fields working.

Prior to our arrival in J-village, there has only been two other times that Christ followers carried the message of Christ to this village. Nine months prior, a Nigerian missionary had showed the Jesus film and 15-20 villagers commit to following Christ. The second time was when a team from GPC went in September and the believers from K-village baptized the J-village believers.

In short, for nine months 15-20 new believers have expressed their earnest desire to follow Christ, but had virtually no one to come and share stories and walk with them in the way of Jesus. When I asked if they had been meeting to learn of Jesus, sing, pray, tell Bible stories, they replied, " We can't because we don't know what to do. " They had the desire to follow Jesus, they want to follow Jesus, but no one was showing them the path of Jesus. I was heart broken. How can these people go the way of Jesus? It's much a like a new baby. Without a model of learning to talk or walk, they never will. How can we expect these new believers to ever function as a church without someone to guide them? They don't have a Bible; they don't have a leader; they don't know how to pray or worship. They don't have a any songs to sing. They are baby believers living in the middle of the bush. How can we ever expect them to grow up and be mature followers of Christ? They don't have the knowledge to follow Jesus, or a model, how will they ever be like Jesus?

I had to ask myself: How can WE help these new believers to survive and not die in their faith out here. They will surely die, give up and stay in there animistic ways. The gospel story will die here and go no further. We gave a quick lesson on prayer, told them a Bible story, sang a few songs that we hoped would be a model for them to meet and worship together. I asked the men of K-village to come back each week and tell the people of J-village Bible stories. The Bible stories that we bring from America to share in K-village could be shared in J-village.

Just as we finished and were about to "ask for the road," all the negative feelings and remaining culture shock melted away. In the Bambara tradition of formal communication they started speaking to one another, one man telling another man, who would tell another man, who would tell another man, and so on - much like the "gossip" game we played as a child except instead of whispering, it was spoken out loud before the entire gathering. The message was meant for the believers of K-village and us, their American guests. The message was that they couldn't wait to tell the message of Jesus that they had learned. They, by themselves, were traveling to B-village every Friday and telling the chief their the story of Jesus. The chief in B-village was expressing his interest in following the road of Jesus.

The chief of B-village's name is Jofolo. I've never met him, but the new believers of J-village know him and want him to take the path of Jesus too. They simply couldn't keep the message of Jesus to themselves but had to make it known!!

Pray for the believers of J-village...they don't have a Bible and couldn't read it if they did. They don't have a leader, teacher or missionary. They don't have the experience of praying and worshiping God corporately, but they do have a faith that compels them to go outside of their own village to B-village in hopes that Jofolo and other villagers will join them on the path to following Jesus.

This was an amazing breakthrough. There was a definite spring in my step as we walked the 5 "African Kilometers" home.

A day to Assess

The cool night under the African moon coupled with about 45 minutes under a mango tree (turned sanctuary) helped me gain the perspective I needed for the trip. The culture shock was gone. Sleeping it off and starting a new day under a Mango tree 100 yards away from camp with only my Bible and journal helped me see K-village through God's eyes.

Day 2

This would be a day of assessment. A day to see where the believers are or are not. A day of the customary go and greet the chief and ask for his permission to stay in the village and tell stories about Jesus.

We were very well received by the chief; in part, because we have spent over 2 years in the village building relationships with the villagers, teaching in the school, helping their sick and telling them stories from the Bible. The chief recently expressed an interest in "going the road of Jesus" when "Bangi" (Bobby M.) came and told stories from the Bible with him in September 2008. The chief was glad to see us, but he was most interested in the well being of Bangi. He instructed us all to make sure and take care of Bangi.

On the way through the village and back to our mud hut (AKA: Grace Point Hilton) we stopped by a circular cage. It was made of 3 inch in diameter posts driven into the ground with a thatched roof over head. The villagers in front of us walked swiftly past the cage, but we Americans, in true American flavor, stopped to admire it and took photos. We were quickly repremanded not to stay there and take photos. After inquiring with some persistance as to the African responses to "the cage" I was told it was a place of African traditional worship. The African man leading us through the village said that people in the village live in fear of evil spirits, disease, and danger and that we as Christians wouldn't understand and we were sternly told by the church leader not to talk about it and to move on.

As the day progressed into the night, we continued to see some disturbing trends with the infant believers of K-village. Very few people came out for our teaching at night. This wasn't the norm. When 5 white Americans show up in any rural bush village, there is always a buzz and curious, friendly interest. We went to bed asking a lot of questions...

• What was the spiritual health of the village believers?
  
• To what degree do the traditional animistic ways still haunt the villagers?


• How could we adjust and help in the spiritual formation process of these 30 or so believers?


• What was holding this church back from taking the message of Jesus to other villages? After all, we want to see many churches established throughout West Africa and the only true way to see such an advancement among a the Bambara people (4 million strong with less than 1% believers) is through a multiplying church effect. We want churches to go, engage, reproduce their faith in other villages.

We concluded the evening by issuing a challenge to the men. We asked if they were willing to walk to the next village, J-village, tomorrow. If so, we would leave the next morning with them.

J-village has barely been reached with the message of Jesus. A handful of people in this village recently became believers and wanted to continue to learn the way of Jesus. The problem was, the believers of K-village weren't going to J-village and instructing them. We went to bed wondering if any men would return tomorrow and walk to J-village with us.

Beginning the New Year in Shock

I started 2009 in one of my favorite places on earth...the bush of Africa. There is no place more simple, serene, or sincere. The pace of life is simple. There is no doubt that basic, everyday tasks take more time to accomplish; but who cares about time, schedules, or agendas when you are with great people. The experience and the people become the focus not the agenda. Everyday involves a prayer to God "God in whose life are you at work today? How can I join you?" Then I watch to see the simple hand of God at work, and try to join Him. The serenity of Africa, with its distinct aromas, amazing sounds, and breath taking sunsets, causes me to stop, turn off my ipod, and absorb it all. Enjoying the serenity of my surroundings with all five senses, soaking it up and trying to capture some of it to bring home with me becomes the goal. The people of this village, we call K-village, are so loving and sincere. It doesn't matter if you are talking of Fumba, Zan, Ingee, Jaco, or Manata. When you are with the people of this village, you know they sincerely love and will care for you. The barriers of language and culture run deep and wide, but their loyalty and love penetrates it all. Oh, the joy of being back in Africa.

Day 1

Over the course of the next 4 days, I want to turn the pages of my journal and let you travel with me day by day through God's beautiful work in me, around me, and prayfully through me. You will read of my lows and highs; about set backs and breakthroughs.

I must confess the first day in the bush was the worst for me. I was quickly hurled into culture shock. My mind said, "culture shock happens to everyone else, not to an experienced traveler or or a missionary." Wrong! Culture shock happens to everyone to some degree and intensity whether you live internationally or simply visit for a couple of weeks. No drug will cure you. Only time, rest, and perspective. The real problem with culture shock is if you don't identify the shock, you can't get past it. The result is crippling. I faced the shock to the point that I was regretting taking the trip. I was thinking of my family back home, all the work I needed to do on my doctorate, etc. I just wanted out. I didn't eat dinner the first night in the bush. I said I was feeling nauseous...actually I was nauseous of Africa.

I don't know what triggered my shock exactly, but I know the language barrier was hard for me this time. I am a communicator and communicators communicate...but I couldn't communicate. Was it the constant dirty, gritty feel from the Sahara winds, jet lag (30+ hours of travel time), or all the above.? My response: I sat silently in the hammock until bed time and could only pray that the a good night sleep outside under the moon and stars would bring a brighter tomorrow.