Mwanza Maandiko

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Paulo preached from 1 John 3 in the Sweya service today. He seems be very burdened lately about his flock's walk with God.

Ferdinand's surgery was successful on Friday. I spent about an hour with him at the hospital yesterday afternoon. He is doing well and, hopefully, will be discharged on Tuesday.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Recently I've been reading a little on the health and wealth gospel. In a couple weeks, I'll begin a brief mobile preaching series in each of the five churches, and I'd like to focus on this subject.

Ferdinand will be having a minor operation tomorrow (Friday) at the main hospital downtown. It's nothing serious, but he has been in a good deal of pain recently. Hopefully the surgery will resolve the issue. 

We moved Beth into her new apartment in Shadi today. Two down, one to go.

I've mentioned here before about a rash of recent murders of albinos whose bady parts are said to have magical powers when used in witchcraft. I came across these two helpful sites today: Under the Same Sun and On the Spot. Apparently, some of the murderers have recently been tried and convicted for their crimes. ABC News also did a story on the issue here. Good story, although I did chuckle quite a bit about the machete's being left over from wars...that's complete nonsense. You can get them at any little hole-in-the-wall hardware shop to work your garden.  

Monday, November 2, 2009

I've put some new pictures in the family album from the last couple weeks.

Also, I found the quote below from Howard French in A Continent for the Taking to be insightful about the value of local languages. You'll be in the dark a bit without context, but I think you'll still get the point.

"When a hungry man wielding an assault rifle is inspecting your car at an isolated roadblock, the value of accents might seem questionable, but more than once in my experience merely getting the tone or inflection right had proved enough to stop a menacing person in his tracks, forcing him to pause and wonder how someone who is so obviously an outsider had become so intimate with his world. The hope was that the next thought would be one of prudence; this outsider might have other unexpected powers as well" (p. 97).

In my own experience, I have found that a good knowledge of the local language is indeed disarming, albeit in my case the "disarming" has usually been of the figurative variety...usually.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Pastor Paulo preached this morning in Sweya from 1 John 2 on living in the light of the gospel. Over the last few months, I've enjoyed his consistent emphasis on living in a way that pleases God, regardless of the temporal consequences. If he continues discipling his flock in this way, they will grow.

He gave an illustration today of his relative who owns a Chinese motorcycle. These are becoming exceedingly popular in our little village as taxis for the university students. Apparently this relative offered to hire Paulo as a driver. This opportunity has  the potential to net Paulo a decent income. He told the congregation that he thought about the offer for a long time, but turned it down because he didn't want college girls sitting so close to him (picture 2-3 passengers + driver on a motorcycle). He didn't want to send the wrong message to the community, nor did he want the personal temptation. Steady work doesn't come easy in Africa. His monthly income from the church is probably the equivalent of two entrees at Applebees.

This afternoon I graded a few tests from the last Institute session.

Yesterday, the Eads successfully made the move to Shadi.  

Friday, October 30, 2009

After spending most of the last three months at a desk or behind a lectern, today was a nice change of pace. The Eads are moving to Shadi on Saturday and I spent most of today working with a couple ladies to clean up inside the house as the builders were pulling out...collecting trash and sweeping the floors, scraping dried cement off sinks and toilets, instructing a new worker on how to install screen on a metal lattice door, stuff like that. Everyone thought it was funny watching the white guy cleaning up.

The whole project has gone very smoothly, for which we thank God.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Today I finished a condensed translation of the Daniel notes for next year. If I can't expand them in time for the class, I'll shoot for a complete translation next time around.

I have one more small Institute revision project to knock off before writing two new theology courses on the church and the end times. The new classes will probably take me to Christmas.

This week we're hoping to get Dan, Jana, Grace, and Silas Eads into their new house at Tumaini on Saturday. Everything should be ready but the interior paint. That would be ready, but the concrete walls are still slightly damp and may take a few more weeks before they are dry enough to paint. Since they'll be out of the house in January for a few weeks, we'll plan to paint then.

Monday, October 26, 2009

This morning I took Kelsey, Kristen, Kaylee, and Robby on a little hike up a hill near the Shadi property. The picture to the left is from the hike. You'll have to click on it to see the houses. The Children's Home is the red-roofed building to the right. Staff housing is on the hill, to the right of the red garage with the silver roof. Below the staff housing are the farm buildings (you can see the windows of the chicken coops). To the left of the red garage are the houses we're currently constructing. You can also notice the fish ponds beyond our property.

 

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Today I started translating notes on the OT prophet Daniel for an Institute course that Dr. Compton, from DBTS, is planning on teaching next May.

Friday, October 23, 2009

I took the Gembe family to the hospital today, but decided that they should visit Juliana on their own. So I waited for them. I did manage to pick up a local newspaper with the story as a front page headline, including pictures. Maybe I'll translate the article and link it to a post here.

How Satan and his evil angels demonstrate their power in the visible world is difficult for me to say. What I do know is that the gospel frees people from their paralyzing fear of the invisible powers of this world. So that's where I'll focus my attention if God continues to give me opportunities with the Gembe family.

BTW The prosperity preachers finished their crusade on Monday. The normal 'quiet' since then has been refreshing. This evening we heard the music and preaching crank back up, but it has since stopped.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Today I visited the family of the girl who has supposedly returned from Gamboshi. This is an amazing story. Her family witnessed her illness, supposed death, and burial in 2005, along with the entire village. There is no doubt in their mind that the girl who showed up under the mango tree outside their house last week is the same girl. At first, they didn't believe it, but after inspection of birth marks in the presence of the village elders and local police, they are certain.

When she showed up, she couldn't speak and she was a complete mess. She was very dirty, mentally confused, and most of her teeth had been pulled out. On the day she turned up, there was a steady stream of people to her house to see for themselves. I've been told that newspaper articles about her were published, but I haven't been able to track them down yet.

My understanding about traditional beliefs with at least some premature deaths is that the death doesn't really occur, but that the witchdoctor has taken the body and soul to a secret, but real place called Gamboshi, to work for him or her. The body in the casket is really an apparition. Often the supposed dead person is really right there watching, but cannot be seen nor heard. Later, the witchdoctor comes to take them away. Only on very rare occasions does a person escape from Gamboshi. This girl, so the claim goes, is one such example.

The word on the street is that a blood test (DNA?) has been done at the government hospital to determine if this really is their daughter. On Friday, I'm hoping to go along with the family when they visit her in this same hospital.