Amy got some
homemade jewelry for her birthday.
It is customary for people to get up and share something with the people who had come to mourn, sometimes just talking about the deceased, sometimes encouraging people not to despair (suicide is a common issue on the village) and sometimes just….talking. I was rehearsing in my mind the Bible story I wanted to tell and looking up a few vocabulary words on my flashcard app so that I could try to tell it in Lopit when my kids started saying “Daddy! Look, a king!” I turned around and saw a man coming who was wearing a traditional African-style hat. He is a Major General in South Sudan’s army, and is an important person in the village, but has been away for many years stationed in a far part of the country. The General came and sat with us under the tree and I introduced myself and we began to talk.
My kids, who are usually closed off and shy with Lopit people trying to greet them (EVERYONE tries to grab the kids and they, understandably, don’t like that!) started climbing on the General, playing with him, bringing him into their pretend games, and even inviting him to our house that night for supper! As it was time for us to go home, I told the General that I wanted to address the crowd before I left, and proceeded to tell the story about the death of David’s child, how David was confident that one day he would see his son again, and how he could be sure of that future because he was a man who chased God’s heart. I talked about how the heart of God is for people to repent of sin, turn from their old life and follow Jesus, and how that gives us confidence about our place in eternity. I also said that people who reject the Savior will be separated from God and everyone else, but the reason we are in Lohutok is because it is our desire to see people united with God and following Him.
It is customary, also, as someone is speaking at these events, for another person to stand and repeat everything that person says. I still don’t understand the reasoning behind this, but that is what is usually done. On this day, the General stood to be my <repeater>. Later that night the General did, in fact, come to our house for supper and we had a good talk about who we are, why we’re here, the need for the gospel in Lohutok, and our approach to learning language and discipling people before any other “development” is possible. He heartily agreed with us and left our house as a new friend and advocate in the village. We were also able to discuss with him the right approach to some village politics that have been plaguing us as men who claim to be “the church” come and seek power and money.
I remember when I was a new believer, the person who led me to Christ graciously included me in his family for years following my salvation. I remember seeing the pressures put upon children in ministry, and how he labored hard to give his young son the freedom to just “be a boy” despite being constantly watched and criticized. We have tried hard not to put these pressures on our kids, but the fact is they are part of our ministry here and their behavior affects the way people see the gospel. Sometimes missionary children just stay separate from the community, and sometimes they are so much a part of the community that they aren’t kept safe in a place where they are outsiders and treated differently, but we have tried hard to seek the balance between these two.
On this night, as we were doing family devotions, we talked about 1 John 4:7-8, one of the verses that the kids have memorized, as well as what Jesus said about loving our neighbors as ourselves. I encouraged Ezekiel that, although he’s normally shy and scared around local people, tonight we made a good friend in the village because Ezekiel thought to invite him, and even insist repeatedly, that the General come over for supper. It was a good lesson for the kids about being in Lohutok to show and tell people about Jesus, and the way that our actions and attitudes toward them communicate way more than our words.
Both of us
had birthdays since the last newsletter.
I think my presents were better than Amy’s but she disagrees!
Please continue to pray for us as we work here. It is hard to say “We’re just going to study language until we’re fluent enough to start doing evangelism” because the long missionary history in this village leads to lots of outside pressure from the community leaders and “The Church” here to spend lots of money doing development projects and other things that are not sustainable and don’t last when missionaries leave. As I write this, I’m still cooling down after yesterday’s 2 ½ hour meeting with some people who came to the village just to “shake down” the missionaries, make us feel threatened, and try to shame/force us into doing projects for which we’re not equipped or called. Pray that God would sustain us, give us grace and patience, and continue to provide us with key relationships in the village that will help protect us while we are in the learning phase of this long-term ministry.
On another note, we are planning a home-assignment for later this year. We will be in Kansas City around the end of August and will return to Lohutok after the holidays. I’m busy working on the calendar for those months, lining up where we will be speaking so we can decide when we’ll be in St. Louis, Columbus, Corinth and the other places we need to visit. If you are interested in having us come and give an update to the church, please respond to this email or contact me another way and we would be glad to set something up!
As always, thanks for your prayer and support!
Justin, Amy, Ezekiel and Caleb
Our kids love
having books read to them…if anyone seems interested in reading to our boys, it
may never end. On this day Aunty Carol
was the willing subject!
