Normality

I know we’re still in the middle of Africa, but still this is the closest to “normal” life we’ve had since we left the States. Mainly because it’s the longest we’ve stayed in one place since we started.

Yesterday I got to chat with JP, one of my awesome friends from home. Ahhh, refreshment to the soul. I realized how much we really are seeing and learning, even though we feel like we’ve slowed down into a “normal” setting. So I thought I’d sit down and write out all that life has entailed for us the last few weeks, if for nothing else than to remind myself. Each day has a different combination of brainstorming, preaching/teaching, planning, writing curriculum, laying figurative foundations, defining goals, walks through town, and engaging with the locals who stop by. But that’s just what the hands, feet and eyes are experiencing … the heart is taking in plenty of different stuff …

Let’s start by going back to Christmas – a holiday that’s not celebrated by giving gifts, so there’s no decorations down “main street” (the one paved street ), no flashy sales signs in the market stalls. But the churches were full Christmas morning, and if you listened carefully, you could hear songs coming from different parts of the valley.

The people in town – most greet us warmly with a friendly “Karibu” (welcome). The kids wave enthusiastically and giggle. Many practice their English “good mornings” with a smile. Most adults give away a sheepish grin when their surprise shows at us greeting them in Swahili (though it doesn’t take long for us to deplete our 4 word vocabulary). The begging is not nearly as frequent as you’d expect amidst the obvious poverty. The salespeople at the markets are happy to see you come, but are refreshingly laid back and not pushy to make a sale.

Faces of the Knepper home – it is expected that “Wizungu” (foreigners) would provide employment to nationals. At first, it felt odd to come into a home that was “staffed”, and Harold & Coni have shared about their own adjustment to it, but it’s been really wonderful to see how they have used each opportunity for relationships – in many ways they are like a mother/father to most of the staff, teaching them how to take care of money, how to be responsible, helping them go to school, teaching them more about the Father, and leading them to lead others.

Mama Jean (all mothers are called by the name of their first born, so for instance, Coni is “Mama Joshua”) is their incredible cook … she has won us over with the flavors she can bring out of even cabbage! She has six children, and she is the sole supporter. Her husband lives in the Congo, and comes home only every few years (not an uncommon thing here). She seems to understand a lot of English, but speaks very little, so the best we can do is exchange smiles each morning and a quick “Habari?” (how are you).

Moses guards and cares for the property during the day. He is about 21 years old and has a smile that belies the life he savors. When they moved here a year and a half ago, he was a depressed and confused young man (his father had just died, leaving him to care for the family), but he has come to know the Lord and is starting to understand –and teach - Amazing Grace. He is eager to learn just about everything … especially Bible and guitar. Last week Moses cut Jason’s hair in the salon he built last year – Jason was his first “Mizungu” to be served in the salon. And he did a great job! Oh yeah, and he’s got chicken (“kuku”) catching down to an art.

Kids’ Club Leaders. Every week about one to two hundred kids attend Kids’ Club here at the ministry house. There are ten leaders who shepherd them - all local students whom Harold & Coni have been discipling in their time here. They are a fun group (Moses is among them), and next week we’re all putting on a leadership retreat for them – last summer they experienced their first summer camp, and this will be their first retreat. We are excited to use some of the fun and purposeful tools of team building and teaching with them.

Jackson is the translator I had the opportunity to work with during our women’s seminar. He was a great sport in a room full of women with lessons directed towards women. In fact, several times throughout the two days he would pause and say “that’s a good point” before going on to translate that point . He has two young boys (2 years and 3 months), and his passion is social work among children.

Mwenge is “chief of staff’ for another ministry here in town, “Joy in the Harvest”. He is a crack-up! Always a huge smile, and always poking fun. He leads a youth group that we’ll be speaking with next Sunday, and we’ve already been forewarned of the glee he finds in playing devil’s advocate with the speakers :).

Spiritual climate – the name of J is well known here. The Truth of who He is and how to be secure in Him is not as well known. They do have the Word in Swahili, but many don’t read, so they rely on the pastors’ words. The thing is, the word “pastor” is loosely granted … in fact, I don’t think we’ve met a single young man in a church who didn’t introduce himself as “pastor”. There are some who are true leaders who love the Lord and take their task seriously, but the majority have little or no training, so of course in turn have a difficult time accurately presenting the Word. So there is a great hunger, among teachers and congregation alike, for depth and knowledge. Every time we have attended a fellowship, we have been treated as honored guests. I’d like to say it was because we were the only guests, but truth be told, we are “honored” because of our white skin. So that means sitting up front instead of among the people, which is honestly quite awkward. It also means you WILL be asked to speak, whether they expected you or not. At first this, too, was difficult to accept – but one of the local men gave me a really good perspective when he said “use the fact that they want to hear from you – they won’t ask me to speak if I walk in, so instead of fighting that they ask you, no matter whether their reason is good or not, use it”. I still think there’s a lot of unintended harm that westerners have done by doing things for people instead of teaching them to do it for themselves, but his perspective helped me better appreciate the actions of the local fellowship.

Monkeys – I can’t leave out the monkeys. Yesterday we spent the afternoon and evening at the beachfront (Lake Tanganyika, looking across to the Congo – fabulous sunset) and not only was the water amazingly refreshing in this world where sweating means you’re drinking enough water, but the monkeys came down to the water’s edge at dusk and entertained us with a playful wrestling match.

As I finish this out, the Kids’ Club is getting started outside. I wish you could hear the rythym of the clapping and the voices singing. Yes, I used the word normal when I started writing. And it is normal life – just on the other side of the world :).