Watching the beautiful sunset from the balcony of the home we stay in, the hillside laid with Suburban American-esk homes stands in stark contrast to the rags and rubble we encounter as we take to the streets.
Liton, one of our favorite children to play with has one dress, no undergarments, and receives a bath once a week before church when she is dressed in markedly different attire.
We are working with a church and school, but the children are on holiday, so it’s pretty quiet. We live with Pastor Joseph and his wife Freda and the 3 students who didn’t get picked up by family for a visit home over the holiday. Agnes, 17 tries to tell everyone she is 39…Peace 16 tries to say she is 27, and Edward Joshua changes his name based on who he is talking to. For them, there is so much status and respect swirled in with age, that they need you to think they are older than they are.
Our tasks here are varied…oiling and packaging wooden spoons for sale in America, moving a pile of bricks….4 times, laying rubble and dirt to build up the road into the school/church, door to door evangelism, house visits to church members, leading Bible studies, teaching songs to the Choir, playing with Children and doing mini-VBS’s and so much more!
Jovan is our sweat guard. He stands watch through the night at our gated home with a bow and arrow as required by local law enforcement. We usually wake him from having dozed off when we go outside to the bathroom at night. Not that I blame him…. I’d be sleepy too sitting on a small piece of land in the dark all night long every day for weeks. My favorite Jovan quote is “If you need me, you just call my name and I will come for you” …. *draws heart shape with my finger*
After about 6:30p, …. the bathroom (square hole in a cement floor) is covered with cockroaches…..TMI confession…I pee at the drain in the shower when this happens. We have a working showerhead (haven’t had one of those in months)…Confession….I still bucket shower because the water is so cold and I’ve become so adept at the bucket shower that I know how to manage staying warm better this way than with a steady stream of water…who would have thought????
There is a lot of heavy spiritual warfare and demonic activity here. But also some lack of education. Like the women they try to cast a demon out of every church service, but I’m pretty sure is just an alcoholic. But then there is the man who I’m pretty sure is actually demon possessed and connected with the occult that ‘showed up’ out of nowhere to take advantage of the pastor and his wife because he and Freda are originally both from Cameroon. We had to ask pastor to stop allowing him onto the property because it was not spiritually or physically safe.
This is a culture that exalts marriage. One of the women on the squad, who has no plans to get married, was told she could not reach her full potential unless she got married and that even if she did not love the man, she could learn to love him one day. The pastor learned that I was a counselor and asked for my counsel regarding a man and woman in the church who got pregnant out of wedlock. They were not dating, but complaining that the other seduced them. He advised them they need to get married to make it right. I suggested that if their hearts were not yet right before the Lord, then getting married would not fix anything. Marriage is not the solution to a lack of self control, it is a life-long covenant to be made when you have learned to submit to God. If you cannot control yourself and submit to God, being married will not change that…temptation comes just as strongly after you are married. Forcing people into marriage who are not ready could lead to years of heartache, pain, and possible infidelity. With time and a commitment to Christ, they may decide to get married after they have allowed Jesus into the places of their hearts that once gave way to sin. This came as a complete revelation, but, Lord willing, he will think more about some of the things we talked about and Jesus will help him integrate Biblical principals with cultural norms regarding marriage.
