Curious Misadventures & Orchestrated Opportunities

Bad days.  We all have them.  Sometimes they are attributed to major events such as a bad medical diagnosis, the loss of a loved one, your car getting stolen, etc., but while those certainly deserve the title of 'bad day', they aren't exactly what I'm talking about here.  Much like Chinese water torture, where drip by drip your nerves are worn raw, leaving you in a world of frustration and agony, these bad days are the accumulation of little incident upon little incident perfectly aligned in maddening sequence.

Now, it is scientific fact that there is no bad day that compares to the West African bad day.  They are actually trying to vote it in as the 6th law of thermodynamics.  (The 5th being something about "if the possibility exists to obstruct traffic, a donkey will always gravitate to the area"...but I digress.)  This is why we have phrases like "TIA" ("this is Africa") and "WAWA"  ("West Africa Wins Again") that you can see on a plethora of whiny Facebook posts.  What is NOT known, however, is whether these bad days are the result of simply waking up on the wrong side of the bed, or whether they are actually the effects of some sinister plot against you.

Thankfully, having had my fair share of West African bad days, I'm very qualified to offer you some suggestions on how to cope with your bad day.  I'll first explain to you the anatomy of the "bad day" and then offer some pointers on how to thwart the effects.  So without further ado, here is your Tip of the Week:

Anatomy of a bad day. These days inevitably start with the early morning calls.  They will either wake you up moments before your alarm or interrupt the one quiet moment you were anticipating all day.  They always come in at least pairs; it is never just one caller (from whence comes the conjecture of conspiracy).  The calls would be somewhat tolerable if the subject matter was anything even remotely urgent, but unfortunately, it is almost always something that could easily have been conveyed to you at 9 or 10 in the morning. 

You will try to brush these calls off and go on with your morning.  You'll just be diving into your busy workload and schedule when the first of many "I need you's" will come a callin'.  This will be either in the form of a call or an unexpected visit at your door.  You will likely know the person, but at least 10% of the time, you will not.  Sometimes the request is something legitimate, meaning it is within your power to help, but just as likely, you'll have no idea how to solve the problem, nor why you are being asked to intervene.  These requests can be everything from some random government paperwork that an employee needs you to fill out, to a request to be the chauffer at someone's wedding.  Always, however, among these "I need you's" will be the money requests.  Notice the plural--requests.  Word of your rather dour mood will have spread around town by now.  There is a commonly held misperception that Americans love to give out money when they are in a bad mood. (How else does one explain Santa Clause? A man dressed in red giving out presents to everyone in the darkest, gloomiest, and coldest time of the year.)  So while it may have been weeks since someone asked you for a gift or a loan, today you will have no fewer than three people ask you for cash.

In the middle of this, as you are desperately trying to get back on schedule, something will break.  The usual culprit is plumbing (which explains the veritable nervous twitch that long-term West African expats experience every time they approach a faucet of any kind), but the entirety of your household and mechanical possessions are susceptible to malfunction on these days.  So thread lightly...

Everyone knows that  the average success rate on any errand list here in West Africa is 50% on a good day.  (75% success is worth noting on a calendar; 100% success is practically cause for a national holiday.) On your bad day, that average dips to an infuriating 20% success rate.  You'll find offices and stores closed, when they should normally be open.  The friend that you need to see won't be home and won't answer their phone.  The paperwork you so carefully filled out will have a tiny mistake that will require you to redo it all.

West Africans, having been alerted to your bad mood by public service announcement on the morning radio, will transform from their normal friendly, jovial selves into antagonistic foes.  While every other day you get compliments on your language abilities, today people will scoff at your feeble attempts at their mother tongue.  They will joke with you in all the normal ways, but much like an older brother who keeps dunking you into the pool and not letting you come up for air, you'll find their playfulness suffocating and perhaps a bit cruel.  The less you respond, the more they will try, leaving you trapped in a cycle of ever increasing frustration.

When you are finally home again, just beginning to relax into the evening and seemingly safe from the outside world, one last person will show up at your door.  They really should be required to change into a big, red, round suit, as they are really just the cherry on top of your horrible day.

Now that we know the anatomy, we can try to interrupt the cycle:

1.  Find alone time any way you can.  The bathroom is just about your only resort sometimes.  Make sure to go often and go slowly. 

2.  Open your eyes to all the funny quirks in town that provide a sliver of light-hearted entertainment.  For example, while in the bank, make sure to check out the snowmen window decorations.  The irony of snowmen in West Africa is worth a smile, and the fact that these decorations stay up all year long provides another.

3. Drink lots of water.  Hydration is the key to sanity.  Ok...well, not really...but it will give you excuse to go to the bathroom more often.

4.  Avoid traffic.  On good days, West African traffic is stressful; on your bad day, it is likely to send you into a fit of rage that is tempted by the possibility of vehicular homicide.

5.  Keep watch for the funny t-shirts.  Have you seen a guy wearing the one that says, "My girlfriend is a lesbian"? (Pretty sure she isn't.)  Or how about the one that says, "F*** Capitalism"? (Communist marketing at its finest.)  It is like a treasure hunt all around you.  Keep watch for the Browns jerseys, which seem to be on a recent influx.  I even saw a t-shirt from the Lions Club of my very small hometown once.

6. Prepare your standard money request response well in advance.  I suggest something like, "Thanks for asking.  I can't give a response on that today, but I'll be in touch."  Paste a smile on and recite. 

7. Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow?  Chances are, you aren't going to succeed anyway today.  Your schedule is making you miserable, so ditch it.    

8. Retreat should always be regarded as a legitimate solution.  The sooner you can get back into your home and turn off your phone, the quicker your bad day will end. (Unless of course you come home to a plumbing leak...)

9.  Schedule some emergency time with your calming friends.  Though most West Africans are part of the conspiracy, you can count on your friends to remain true.  You'll find that their ability to just sit with someone who is cranky is unparalleled.  They'll offer conversation, but won't force it either. 

10. Force your brain into making a "gratitude list."  Come up with as many things as possible that you feel true gratitude for and don't stop until you get to at least 30.  This is especially helpful for avoiding road rage, if you are going to brave the roads.

Prayer Requests

1. Praise the Lord for a wonderful meeting with our coworkers in the neighboring country.  We brought our national pastors together to discuss how to collaborate in church planting on both sides of the border.  There was a real sense of excitement and teamwork.  There were several testimonies of some amazing things God is doing in the area.  Pray for the Kenedougou region.

2.  Today, a group of us were supposed to go to a village called Siribarasso (in the Kenedougou region) to show the Jesus film and then tomorrow hold the very first church service with the small group of believers there.  However, there is real persecution going on there, and one of the leading believers was actually arrested.  Pastors are confident that he will be released soon, but decided our presence would only stir up more problems.  Pray that the situation would calm down and pray that we would be able to join with that small group of believers soon.

3.  Our team will be going to the local prison for an outreach and Christmas event this week.  Pray that we'd be able to have meaningful contact with all there and that we'd be able to encourage them.

4.  I was happy to receive word that a vet team will be coming in January to help us in some different villages.  They will be vaccinating local cattle for free.  This will be a huge blessing to the farmers of the area.  At the same time, I hope to organize a team of pastors to spend the week in those villages to share the Gospel.  Pray that the Holy Spirit would go ahead of us to prepare hearts.

5.  Continue to pray for Amadou (young man with progressive muscle wasting disease).  I saw him again this week, and my sense of compassion for him was renewed.  My heart cries out for his healing.  If he receives healing, it will be an enormous testimony for the village.

World events make it really hard for a guy like me to write anything funny these days.  I confess that I've spent far too much time reading articles on terrorism in these last few weeks--and not just the hype that surrounds events but actual analysis about these groups--neither because of paranoia nor morbid curiosity but rather from a sense of responsibility.  As a team leader, I feel a weight of making decisions about security for my teammates and for potential visitors. 

I also use social media, and you can't help noticing the debates raging right now.  The rhetoric surrounding Muslims, refugees, and guns right now is dizzying.  I have friends and family on all sides of the issues, and I confess that I have my own positions.  Yet, I can't help wonder if in our debates we are getting it wrong.  Let me speak specifically to Evangelicals here (though you are welcome to read along if you don't find yourself of that persuasion) and suggest a different way.

To do this, let me borrow two very politicized statements that  I see popping up on Facebook all the time right now.  I'll take one from each side of the debate, in the hopes of being an equal opportunity offender.  But hang in there with me! Stick this out to the end and see where it takes us.

The Right seems to be saying, "This isn't a gun problem; it is a violence problem."  You know, I actually think this is right on.  It is actually more right than we realize.  We tend to think of violence as the problem of the "other", of the "bad guy" who just committed the latest atrocity.  However, any honest analysis of our society would recognize that we are sick with violence.  Look at the way we communicate, the way we debate on TV, and the way we use every new shocking event to trump our views on social media, instead of taking the much wiser moment of silence.

The problem for us Evangelicals is that we've fallen ill with this communicable disease.  We've let this violence walk right into our hearts.  This might not ring true if we hold to definitions of physical or verbal violence (though social media tells another story), but we Evangelicals are so fond of looking at the heart attitude behind sin, so let's do just that.  Isn't the heart attitude of violence the desire to get my own way, by my own means, without any yielding to others?

When it comes to security, Evangelicals on both sides of the gun debate are, I'd humbly suggest, getting it wrong.  And those most adamant, on either side, are getting it most wrong. Those arguing for gun rights are creating their own security with their own force and that of their firearm.  On the other hand, those arguing for gun control and disarmament are hoping to create their own security by political solutions that are forced on everyone.  Depending on what data you read and what rhetoric you listen to, you might find one of those positions more appealing than the other, but at their heart they are the same.  They are all about creating our own security, by our own preferred method.

Faith calls us to something else entirely.  Faith calls us to a security not of our own making but a security of resting in the power and sovereignty  of God, whatever might come.  We see this modeled well for us in that classic story of David and Goliath.  David went against a formidable opponent.  Some would argue that he was completely outmatched; others would say that he had an unwitting advantage (in that archery has typically been very effective against infantry).  Either way, David didn't go into the battle with a confidence in his weapon or his own ability to bring about a good result.  He went into battle resting in the fact that the Lord would accomplish His purposes.

In our day, I know people working in very dangerous areas that have different convictions on guns.  I know a pastor who works in a dangerous area in the States where locals advised him to carry, and so he does.  I know a security specialist who travels to the most dangerous places in the world to give advice to Christian ministries, and he often goes armed.  Neither of them, however, go to these places because they're armed.  They go in faith because God has called them.  Equally, there are Christians living, voluntarily, in dangerous areas all over the world without an arm.  They aren't there because they naively believe that being unarmed will keep them safer or because they think that the sources of danger will suddenly disappear.  A conviction of God's call, and therefore, His provision are what take them and keep them there.

As I was working on a security plan for our team last week, I was really struggling with the fact that nothing I wrote was going to be fail-proof.  I had to come to place where I realized that while there was wisdom in what I was doing, none of my coworkers are here because they believe there is such a thing as an airtight security plan.  They don't naively believe they can out-gun any assailants, and they don't naively think that these armed groups are going to disappear.  Their call and hope come from the Lord, not from a security of their own making.

When our violence contaminated hearts speak to us about security, they always speak words of chilling fear.  As we react to that fear, we are tempted to use that very violence to carve out our own security.  Faith is the only antidote to such poison.  As we place ourselves entirely into the care of our Shepherd, we are liberated from trying to achieve our way, by our means.  We, as Evangelicals, need to stop being distracted by the false dichotomy presented in the gun debate, because it takes our attention off the real problem.  Instead, we need to deal radically with the violence in our own hearts.

The Left, on the other hand, is saying, "Enough already! It is time for action!"  Quite frankly, who can disagree at least with the sentiment?  Something desperately needs to be done.  I am not, however, convinced that the political process is going to accomplish anything any time soon.  (When it comes to American politics on any issue, I'm rather skeptical, to be honest.)  I'm more interested in what a response of faith would push us to do.  If we place ourselves entirely in the care of the Lord, in other words, where would He have us be?

I won't repeat my arguments from my earlier post, but suffice it to say, living by faith has never resulted in living in my own secure fortress.  In the lives of those who have been marked as heroes of faith, we see that it always takes them into desperate places, places of enormous need and hurt.  Likewise, we will need to allow our faith to take us to the places in our world where the wound is the deepest.

The Apostle Peter grew up in a culture dominated by violence.  His own people believed that the only way forward, out of their suffering, fear, and misery, was going to be a violent revolt by the Messiah.  So when Peter becomes the right-hand man to Jesus, he is ready to put violence into action.  Jesus continually shuts down this reaction in Peter.  The night Jesus is arrested, He rebukes Peter for using the sword, saying, "Those who live by the sword die by the sword."  This had to be terribly confusing to Peter, and it was only the beginning, as the crucifixion turned his world upside down.  However, after encountering the resurrected Christ, Peter is transformed.  Jesus even tells Peter that the end of his life won't be pleasant, but this doesn't slow Peter down.  Living out of a total confidence in Christ, he goes out into the needy world, and this time it is the world that is turned upside down.

We, as Evangelicals, need to model this type of living.  In the face of our violence sick communities, our violence sick hearts, we need to live in faith.  What could this look like?

What if after the next atrocity, Evangelicals were strangely silent on social media, either saying nothing at all, or simply some version of "Condolences and Prayers"?  Let people misinterpret that how they will.  Let the NRA and the Left duke it out over guns.  What if we simply mourned the violence around and in us?

What if the next Sunday in church, after a time of repenting of violence, of our desire to achieve our own ends, by our own means, there was a public recruitment?  What if we had a list of volunteers that were going to go mentor kids in the worst school in town?  What if another list contained the names of those who were committing to move into the worst neighborhoods (some taking along their pistol, others taking nothing)?  What if another was a list of recruits for moving to dangerous countries? What if families signed up to take in foster children and adopt orphans? 

In a word, what if our faith-healed hearts pushed us beyond our false, self-created safety into a world of hurt and need?  Then, I think, we could actually say that we are tackling our violence problem.

Prayer Requests

1.  Our hospital received a large grant from USAID for a solar project that would supply all the hospital's energy needs.  However, after having already made some purchases, USAID is saying that we cannot purchase things from Holland (which is where our technician lives and is purchasing items).  We've filed for an exception.  Monday we will hear whether or not we will receive this waiver.  Please pray that it would come through favorably.

2.  This coming week, I will be headed to a meeting to discuss church planting in the border zone between here and the neighboring country.  Pray that the Lord would lead those meetings and give us wisdom as we plan.  Pray for safe travel.

3.  Pray for the security situation here.  Soon we'll need to make a decision about a couple visiting teams that are supposed to come in the next couple months.  Pray that we'd have wisdom to know whether to have them come or to cancel them.

4.  It is a busy season.  Pray that my coworkers and I will be able to get our work done, but also to have moments to rest in the presence of the Lord and to worship Him in special ways in this Advent season.

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends this week.  A small group of us celebrated together yesterday, and it was very enjoyable.  In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I'd like to celebrate the many unusual reasons for gratitude that life here affords.  So in no particular order, I present to you my unique thanksgivings:

1. My day guard (yes, I have a day guard...no it is not as cool as it sounds) is mostly deaf, and I have reason to believe his sight is going.  I always have to open my gate by myself because, well, he never hears me coming. He is cheerful on approximately the same level as Will Ferrel's Elf.  I'm not sure I've ever seen him have a bad day.  Sometimes that cheer is a little more than I can swallow first thing in the morning, but it has grown on me.  Speaking of mornings, he listens to his radio so loud (I'm sure he can barely hear it) I often wake up to it.  Despite all the quirks, he regularly puts a smile on my face and gives me a story to tell.  And a good story is always something to be thankful for.

2. I'm thankful for the body's ability to adjust to extreme heat.  This is what keeps me alive, just barely, during hot season, but even better, it is what allows me to enjoy the "cold" season.  As the nights slip down into the low 70's, I pull my down comforter over me, imagine snow falling outside, and sleep like a rock.  This is, after all, the closest I feel I need to get to winter.

3. The lack of anything worth watching on TV suits me just fine.  It is one less draw in a schedule that is already overbooked.  I've also noticed that it makes watching rerun movies, like Princess Bride, and Youtube clips of Jimmy Fallon all the funnier.  So loads of gratitude to the 2 lousy public channels here for, ironically, keeping my life more entertaining.

4.  I'm thankful for coworkers that speak all the same languages as me, so that when I inadvertently mix my sentences, they just nod in understanding.  They are also not judgmental when you look at them in genuine confusion and say, "How DO you say that in English?" As one teammate once said, "I used to think becoming trilingual made you really smart.  Now I understand that it just means that you speak no language well."

5. The existence of salad is something I never dreamed of being thankful for before. However, if it weren't for salad, and people's sense of obligation to have it present at every meal, I'd actually have to cook when my team has a potluck.  Instead, they look at me, the lone single guy, and say, "Uh, Jake, could you possibly bring salad?" Well, it is a real stretch, but I'll see what I can do.

6. I'm especially thankful for blog readers like you who put up with ma folie... err... my foolishness.

Prayer Requests:

1. Continue to pray for the security situation here.  We are currently feeling secure and have proper plans in place in case of some crisis.  However, we'd love to work and minister in freedom without having to worry.  Also, we see how this situation discourages our national brothers and sisters.

2. Pray for our team as we enter the Christmas season.  It is a busy time for us and also a time for many outreaches in different forms.  Pray that the Lord would use our different events very strategically.

3. Several different families are considering joining our team.  Pray that the Lord would make His will known to them and to us regarding this.  We'd love to have them all, but we really want the Lord to lead in this process.

4. My men's Bible Study continues to go well.  The trust level is growing, which is allowing for even better conversation.  Pray that the Lord would continue to encourage these men to be real examples and leaders in their workplace (i.e. the hospital).

5. Early in December, we have a big meeting scheduled with leaders from both sides of the nearby border to discuss strategy in church planting.  Please pray for this meeting to go well, for the Lord to guide everyone in His wisdom, and for a resulting cooperation between these churches that then gives church growth in this strategic area.

Well it is Tip of the Week time, but while humor would be a welcome diversion, it seems a bit incongruous given recent events.  I'm not in the States to see the premature Christmas decorations and listen to the radio stations that have already started playing non-stop holiday music, so maybe I'm misreading this--but it seems like instead of Christmas this year, fear is in the air.

So let's talk about fear.  It seems to be a subject I've been studying, talking about, and living out a lot these past couple months.  In fact, while I was home in September and October, it was the subject of the message I shared, basing my thoughts on Mark 4, where Jesus calms the storm.  That message was more timely than I realized given the attack in Paris and the events that unfolded here today.  (Actually there have been other events here throughout the last several weeks, but nothing that has called the media attention like today's ordeal.)

Here we are, in that boat being tossed by the winds and waves.  It is truly a scary time in our world.  Like the disciples we are panicked by what seems to be a sinking ship, our loss of control and stability.  There are those who, reading the story in safety and security, would say, "what are you so worked up about?" but we should remember that the disciples knew a thing or two about sailing a boat.  They knew that the boat was going down, and so they were right to cry out.  While we might have some sensationalized fear going on, it seems that there are truly some reasons for us to be concerned and to "cry out" so to speak.

When the disciples wake Jesus up, He calms the storm and then proceeds to scold them.  He asks them "why are you afraid", and then, "have you still have no faith?".  This question calls to mind a similar question from earlier in the chapter, when He asked, "Have you STILL not understood?"  Jesus is trying to get the disciples to understand who they are hanging out with.  His answer to fear is His presence, as it is all throughout Scripture-- every time God says, "Do not be afraid," it is always because He is promising His presence.

Now imagine yourself with the disciples.  This guy who was just asleep has performed what can only be an astounding miracle and then turns and scolds you.  In the sudden, eerie calm, you are asking yourself, "WHO is this guy?" and probably, "What have I gotten myself into?"  So you can understand when Mark says that the disciples were terrified.

Interestingly, when Jesus asks the disciples why they are "afraid", He uses a word that indicates a cowardly, retreating fear, but when Mark says that the disciples were "terrified", he uses a word that means that they were in reverential awe in front of something much greater than themselves.  See, God's solution to our fear is always to reveal to us His presence, and when we grasp that--really grasp that--we can't help but be in reverential awe.  (And that was my sermon summarized in 5 short paragraphs.  Who heard my sermon and wants their 30 minutes back??)

There are, however, some unnerving parts of this story.  It was JESUS who sent His disciples headlong into that storm and then decided to go to sleep in the stern.  He seems to have driven them into a head-on collision with their fears.  And, instead of leaving them with an assurance of safety and peace, He leaves them in terrified awe. 

If I was preaching this sermon today (and I am, I suppose), here's where I'd go with it.  Our reaction to our fear is everything.  If our reaction to fear is cowardly retreat , we get it wrong.  If our reaction pushes us to search for safety and security of our own making, we get it wrong.  Jesus doesn't offer that.  He offers us His presence, which frankly is simultaneously more scary and more calming than anything else in this world.

A young friend who is a new believer brought this all into perspective for me today.  He told me that yesterday he was visiting some (non-believing) friends, and a fortune teller was present.  On leaving, the fortune teller, unsolicited, turned to my friend and said that he was going to have problems in his marriage and that he'd better go offer some sacrifices.  My friend laughed it off at first, but when he got home, his wife told him that she had received news that her parents wanted to cause some problems for the couple.

He went on to tell me how he refused to give into fear and instead began praying.  I was so impressed by his reaction, and as we discussed, he recounted the story he had told his wife to convince her not to react in fear.  Before he was married, he moved to this new house during hot season.  Because of the heat, he was sleeping outside, but every night he was awakened by a frightening noise coming from the tree in his yard, and so he would go back into the sweltering house and barely sleep.  Finally one night, he decided that he was not going to go back inside.  So when he woke up at 1 am to the noise, he began to pray, fell back to sleep, only to be awoken again.  He began to doubt his prayers and debated going back inside, but decided to bring his Bible out and read aloud.  Then he fell asleep and was awoken again.  At his wits end, he asked Jesus to give him courage; he grabbed a light and went to examine the tree.  After looking for a couple minutes, he found a chicken roosted in the top.  He chased it away and slept peacefully outside for the rest of the hot season.

He used this to convince his wife that the fortune teller's advice wasn't correct and that prayer was the answer to their problems.  I think it is a really interesting analogy for our lives right now.  We are being woken up from a peaceful sleep.  We are running for safety into our own homes, but we are finding them strangely hot and uncomfortable, and we aren't getting much sleep.  What we really need to do is enter the presence of the Lord and then go chase the chicken out of the tree.

When we react to fear by entering the Lord's presence, our problems don't disappear.  My friend's prayers weren't rewarded immediately with a peaceful night of sleep.  He had to persist in the presence of the Lord, and then approach the very thing he was afraid of.  So it is with us.  God's presence was never a guarantee of peaceful nights and secure days.  Rather it drives us forward, into the storm that threatens to sink us, and we come out of it more aware of His presence and power.  And if Mark is any indication, it brings us exactly to the people that need a deep healing that only our Jesus can give. 

In Mark, that is the demon-possessed man.  Who is that in our day?  Yeah, you knew it was coming: The people whom we most fear.

Here's where I'm going to be a bit pointed. (So if you were only going for feel-good, it is time exit the train.) Maybe you are thinking, "Nice spiritual story, but you haven't convinced me in the least that we should be allowing refugees into my country.  This terrorism thing is a whole lot more serious than a chicken in a tree."  

I agree, it is a whole lot more serious and a lot harder to chase away.  There are many ways to respond to this.  I could talk about the process that refugees go through before coming to the States--a process so arduous that ISIS can surely find an easier point of entry (and will, even if we cut off refugees today).  I could ask you all to go make friends with a refugee family in your community, sit in their living room while they show you a humbling hospitality, cry tears as you hear their stories, and then ask yourself if these are the people you really want to see punished for the actions of ISIS and its ilk.  But, tonight I'm going to suggest to you a way to practically fight terrorism.

The first thing I'm going to do is to ask you to widen your category.  When we hear "terrorist" today, we imagine turbaned, jihadists.  That isn't incorrect, but I think we'd all have to agree that there are a lot of other people wreaking terror in our lives by shooting up schools, malls, and movie theaters.  If we consider all those scary individuals as one big group of people, who for various motivations are creating fear in our society, I think it might be more clear to us where we (you and me, ordinary, everyday people) need to go.

Now, I'm not a criminal psychologist, and I won't pretend to be one tonight.  However, one of the things I've learned by living in a country beleaguered by a terrorism problem is that it takes a whole set of conditions to produce a suicide shooter or bomber.  Imagine, that I came to you and offered you a ton of money to go shoot up a mall and likely die in the process.  Would you do it?  No?  Huh... What if I told you that everyone you would be shooting was a Satanist that was sacrificing children and that it was your Christian duty to do this?  Still no?  Hmmm...

Not to be too simplistic, but it is the same here.  Money, religious conviction, and even biases against people aren't strong enough in and of themselves to produce a terrorist.  That requires another layer of something more potent like mental illness, or repeated exposure to radical teaching (brainwashing), or a total lack of other hope.

Revisit the questions I've posed above and imagine asking them to someone who is suffering from severe mental illness.  Suddenly it is possible (and it is what we've seen).  Imagine you ask that of young man who has watched his whole life as his family has been mistreated and has just barely eked out a living; he sees no hope for his future.  Yeah, scarily possible.  Imagine you take someone who has been bullied into being a loner, who suffers with a weight of anger and bitterness that he can show to no one, and then who stumbles onto a website that teaches him to direct that anger to a certain people group.  Again, suddenly very possible.

So yeah, these are exactly the people Jesus is sending us to.  He's taking us right through the storm so that we can land and heal those tormented by demons.

You want to fight terrorism?  Go find the loner, the tormented soul, the mentally ill and love them in real and practical ways.  Come alongside youth who have no hope for the future and relieve their suffering.  Befriend the refugee family next to you, show them some hospitality, and make sure that their kids adapt to their new, complicated life.

You want to increase terrorism in our world exponentially? Close our door to refugees and leave thousands of youth in the hell-hole that is Syria, Iraq, the Sahel, Burma, and Palestine.  If we don't open our door, I promise you, ISIS will.  They won't need refugee status to come get us, they'll have waves of youth they can hurl at us from all directions.

Time to grab your flashlight, ask Jesus to help you, and with fear and trembling, go chase that stinking chicken out of the tree.

Well, the time of year for putting on costumes and asking people for candy is upon us...if you are into that kind of thing.  I brought my own candy back from the States this time around, so I'm not planning on walking around in a costume anywhere.  I got a chance to see the leaves change colors this year, and that just about makes my fall complete.

However, some of you may be very eager to dress up.  Perhaps you are in West Africa and a bunch crazy Westerners want to have a party.  What are you going to wear?  My philosophy is, don't go for something cutesy, go for scary.  You might be wondering what that looks like here in West Africa.  You are probably thinking things like traditional masks and the like, or perhaps you have been thinking along the lines of rebels and terrorists.  You'd be wrong on all counts.  There are things that are MUCH scarier than those here.  So, without further ado, the Tip of the Week: 10 Scariest West African Halloween Costumes, in order of progressive fright!!!

1. Snake-- Doesn't matter what type; they all make us squirm. 

2. Electric work done on the cheap--  Picture it: fuse box with wires crisscrossing every which way, open wire splices, and a billion things plugged into one outlet.  It's all great until you've got to fix something, then it is just horrifying.  No Western contractor, electrician, or fire inspector can avoid weak knees before such a scene.   

3. Bridge-- Could be a metal bridge with slats that are falling through or could be a rural log bridge; either way, you are thinking, can we actually get across this without falling to our watery deaths?  I mean, what exactly is the safety inspection process for bridges in this part of the world?  Yeah, right, NONE!  At least chainsaw man is only fictional.

4. Lightning bolt-- Don't get me wrong, the light show and the loud, booming thunder are fun enough.  It is the power outages and the burning up of priceless electronics that leaves you feeling punched in the pit of your stomach.  Or if you go metaphoric with lightning representing the local power company, you even add the frighteningly high monthly bills.

5. Semi-collapsing village outhouse-- If this didn't make you cringe, then I'm pretty sure you haven't properly envisioned your peril.  You've just straddled the whole and to your left you notice that the earth has collapsed into the abyss below.  You realize that all that is between you and a very dirty destiny is a couple pieces of rotting wood.  Once you've done one of these, haunted houses feel like a turn on the auto-flush, porcelain john.

6. Bowl of mystery meat-- Doesn't matter how Africa-hardened you are--no one stands defiant before the mystery meat. 

7. Wedding invitation-- At first, people will look at you like, "You ain't scary" and then you flip open and show them the date: April 30th!!! Dressed up, sitting in a stifling church for 3 hours on a day where temperatures are topping 110F--you tell me you wouldn't rather face down a zombie.

8. Child driving a donkey cart-- If the setting was rural farm land, it would be the subject of a painting.  On a congested city street or on a rural highway, it is more the subject of your nightmares--a terror of another sort.  As we say here, there are two bad drivers when a child takes off on a donkey.  Both are just itching to cause an accident.

9. Anopheles Mosquito-- It is more than just her blood-sucking bite that you need to tangle with.  She's liable to give you a deadly parasite that's been wreaking havoc the world over for the past few millennia.  Dracula-smacula.

And last, and certainly MOST FRIGHTENING:

10. Chinese plumbing-- No one, and I mean, NO ONE, doesn't wilt in fear before cheap Chinese plumbing.  It's like holding a ticking time-bomb in your hand--ready to cause disaster at the moment you least expect, usually while you've gone on vacation and aren't home to catch the problem. 

Prayer Requests

1. Next week, we have a number of important meetings that will be taking place at the hospital, covering everything from the budget to revising the way our team works with the hospital NGO.  Pray that we'd have real wisdom in these meetings.

2. Issa (young believer for whom we've prayed many times) is currently living with a church planting pastor in a nearby village.  He is enjoying his time as he learns more about the ministry and is feeling more and more confirmed in his call to ministry.  Please pray that this would be a time of growth and effective ministry for him.

3. Pray for a young man named Bakary.  He's a friend of Issa's and mine.  Issa says that he has really been open in the past couple months.  Pray that the Lord would give us good opportunities to connect.

4. Calvin is a young believer that is learning to become a truck driver.  This is his off-season, but soon he will be traveling again.  Pray that in these remaining days, he can grow even stronger in his faith.

5. As a team, we are in a rebuilding phase.  We've started making concentrated efforts to hone our vision and goals, and to ensure that we have a healthy team culture.  This is going well.  Would you join us in prayer that the Lord could really establish us?

Wow, almost 2 months without a Tip.  You must be feeling lost and all alone in this great big world. ;-)  I was in the States for a few weeks.  I really enjoyed my trip and seeing so many great people, though I could have used another few weeks just to kick back and relax.

Coming back, I jumped right into a busy schedule that has included a few meetings.  It seems to me that many people these days dislike meetings and are very public about their eye-rolling when meetings are announced.  Maybe this has always been the case.  In any case, I think I have the solution for all my American (and European) friends who are finding themselves dreading their meetings.  We'll call it conditioning therapy for meeting-phobia.

Really, everyone should, at least once in their life, experience a meeting conducted in a foreign language in a non time-oriented culture.  Really, it's a blast.  And you'll never look on your American meetings in the same way.  Now, you'll need some pointers to get through this, but fear not, I'm here with today's Tip of the Week to get you through.

Meeting Launch

First, always take meeting start times with a grain of salt.  They are more of a suggestion than a hard and fast deadline.  The first half hour is usually just reserved for catching up and waiting for people to show up.   Of course, if you show up 15 minutes late, it will already be started.  So either be on time or come unapologetically late.  There are merits to both.

Prepare for the conditions

You will almost surely not be in an air conditioned room.  And you can kiss the idea of comfy chairs goodbye.  So what you are hoping for is leg-room and a fan.  Drinking plenty of water and taking sweat precautions are recommended (see previous tips). 

As in church, fan speeds will never be high enough for your liking.  You would happily put up with your papers trying to blow away, but trust me, that won't happen.  You will find, among certain nationals, the extreme dislike of the feeling of direct air current on their skin or in their face.  You'd like to be in a wind-tunnel, and they like the air movement to be as subtle as baby's breathe.  If possible, avoid these people.  Sit with people who, though not to your extreme, actually sweat and therefore, like their air to move.

Telephone etiquette

I know you are used to turning your phones off in meetings.  Or perhaps you are one of those rebellious types who keeps your phone on silent, sneaking in texts while you should be listening.  In this case, however, there is no need.  Feel free to get up and take your calls.  It can be a wonderful chance to stretch your legs and get a change of scenery.  Or if you think it will be quick, just stay in your seat and answer in a "quiet" voice.  It is polite to at least duck down a bit. 

Language

On the day of any given meeting, your language abilities will be inversely proportional to the importance of the meeting.   In other words, the more you'd like to understand and impress, the more of a bumbling fool you will be.  This is an immutable law of the universe, and there is little use in trying to sidestep it.  Embrace it.

You'll encounter a couple additional obstacles to full understanding.  The first is what I call the restatement dilemma.  As someone is talking, you'll realize that they are, in effect, restating something that you've already heard someone else say.  You'll be confused, seeing this as needless repetition, but that's where you are likely to be wrong.  It could be that they are actually in agreement with what was previously said, so they are saying it again for emphasis or to help others better understand.  Or they may be in agreement but want to add a subtle nuance to the statement or actually go farther than the previous speaker.  Or they may completely disagree, but not wanting to offend, they restate the whole argument changing it in ways so subtle that you are likely to miss but are somehow clear to everyone else in the room.  There is no such thing as, "I agree with David." or "I agree with David, and I think..." or "I agree with David, but...".  So when you find yourself saying, "This has already been said" some deep, cynical voice should respond, "Oh yes, but has it really??"

The second obstacle is concentration fatigue.  After about  2 to 3 hours in the meeting, you'll start to involuntary zone out.  This is especially difficult after a break, since your mind will likely have stayed on pause. You'll find yourself staring at the lips of the speaker, but your ears will be tuned to the constant whirl of the ceiling fan, and your mind will be comparing that sound to the noise your DVD player was making the last time it refused to play your movie.  Speaking of your DVD player and other broken things around the house,  you will remember that plumbing leak that you need to get repaired, and as you mentally see the drip, drip, drip of the faucet, you'll get lost in thoughts of the ocean, of mountain lakes, and of bygone days of youthful adventure.  You've traveled far, you'll realize, as you come back to reality, sitting in a desert, watching the movement of the lips of a man talking about something incomprehensible, but most certainly not about water and very likely, not of fun.

How to measure success

You'll find yourself, as you near the end of the meeting, trying to sum up what you've actually accomplished.  You might feel a bit like a hasty hobbit who, having waited into the wee hours of the night, asks the Ents what has been decided after their all day meeting, and you'll be shocked when the Ents reveal that they've only just finished the greeting.

Yes, you've made a bunch of "should" statements, but you'll have assigned out no tasks, you'll have created no deadlines, and most certainly, you will not have laid a detailed action plan.  You will count the hours in puzzlement, and think, "What just happened?"  It is important, in such times, to remember that there is no way to say anything quickly in Old Entish.

On the bright side, you will likely have scheduled another meeting.  And this, my friends, is where success is measured.  Was the new meeting scheduled because there is a sense of excitement and agreement in the room, a sense that, "next time" all the pieces will come together?  Or was it scheduled because the debate has worn on too long, and no one can think clearly any longer?   Or was it scheduled because of resigned obligation?  In other words, are you leaving with more unity, consensus, and forward-momentum?  Or are you leaving with less unity, less consensus, and more frustration?  The former is success and will open all the necessary doors in good time; the latter is an omen of defeat and many more painful meetings.

Prayer Requests

 1. Pray for me in my role as team leader.  I've got many "irons in the fire" right now, as it is a busy time for our team.  Pray that I would lead well and have clarity on which projects to tackle first.

2.  Pray for the health of our team and our national friends as malaria seems to be especially pervasive and aggressive this year.  Many of our hospital staff have been ill.

3.  Praise the Lord that our recent meeting went well. It was between church leaders from both sides of the nearby border, exploring how we can all work together to respond to the needs in the area.  Pray that we'd have wisdom as we work together in partnership.

4.  Praise the Lord that Djakari has been able to start schooling.  His situation at home has calmed down (the head of the house was threatening to kick him out because of his faith).  Pray that Djakari would continue to grow in his faith and that he would be successful in school (learning to become a tailor).

5.  Pray for my colleague Anco, who does great work in development, like well drilling and solar installation.  He has a large number of projects on his plate, all of which will make huge differences for the people he is helping.  He will also be doing a large solar installation project at the hospital that will greatly reduce our energy costs.  Pray that he'd have wisdom and enormous energy as he prepares for these projects.

August was a busy month that had all the ups and downs of a roller coaster.  I traveled quite a bit during the month, which made it fly right by.  One of those trips actually became an inspiration for one of my recent tips on the blog—an international youth conference which I had the joy of attending for a few days.  Every two years, youth representing Alliance churches from various nations in francophone West Africa come together for a week-long conference.

I arrived during the closing few days, and I was very impressed by the level of engagement and enthusiasm of the attendees.  The speakers were phenomenal, and I was so pleased by their insightful presentations of Biblical truth applicable to the audience’s real, every-day lives.  There was a very clear call to commit to living a radical Christian life by living purely and carefully evaluating all that is “on sale” in the modern world.  I was also very excited to hear the call to African youth to lead the Church (around the world) into the next generation.  

The guys that came with me also represent another highlight of my month.  They are all from one of my Bible studies.  I have two going on right now.  One is for mature believers from the hospital, and I find studying with these guys to be a challenge and encouragement.  The other is a study for new believers who have expressed a desire to know more about the Word, and as is typical they bring an enthusiasm that is totally refreshing. 

I realize that some of my tips are only applicable to those living in West Africa, so this week, I'm making my best effort to widen the appeal.  I'm reaching out to youth pastors, senior pastors, church leaders, parents, and camping enthusiasts of all stripes. 

This past weekend, I attended an international youth gathering here.  In addition to being a big encouragement and a great time with friends, it gave me some excellent ideas on camp possibilities for all you folks back in the States (or in Europe).  How about a West African theme camp?  Let's take camp to the next level with this Tip of the Week.

For the skeptics among the readership, allow me to lay out some of the advantages for you.  First, while camps these days are sky-rocketing in price, this camp can be run for under $40 per week, and possibly cheaper.  Do you really need to spend $400 on little Johnny's camp experience?  Second, we all know that youth are looking for the next best, new thing.  I guarantee that your kids have never experienced something like this.  Lastly, though we'll be using the youth camp model, this same description serves well for woman's and men's camp (with the possible exception that the conditions can be a bit more austere for the adults, as they are so much tougher than the youth).

TIME OF YEAR

This is where most Americans get it wrong.  If left to our own devices, we'd pick the equivalent of January and February West African weather-- days with a nice dry heat in the 80s, nights in the 60s, no rain, few mosquitoes.  The actual, preferred times for a camp are either in April, when West African temperatures are hot, hot, hot both day and night since people can sleep outside--you don't even have to provide lodging--or in the heart of rainy season when youth are on vacation from school and the fields are just in the wait-and-grow phase.  (It is recommended, by the way, that youth be sent to work in the fields for a couple months before camp, as it will give them a much greater appreciation for the amenities and leisure of camp life.)  So adjusting for American weather patterns, we recommend holding camp in the middle of April with frequent rain, muddy ground everywhere, and nights just cool enough to make things interesting.

VENUE

This is the easiest part.  Find some very rustic cabins with concrete floors.  An old, abandoned school could also work.  Remove all furniture.  No need to find beds, we all know that youth don't really want to sleep during camp anyway.  Why go to all the trouble to find beds?  The kids will be provided with thin plastic mats on which to sleep.  As these style mats are probably difficult to come by in the States, large pieces of cardboard could be seen as the equivalent, though they might actually be more comfortable.  Kids can bring their own blankets if they want.  If not, they can sleep fully clothed; that never killed anyone and actually might keep them warmer.

To make this as realistic as possible, you are going to want to ensure a sufficient mosquito population, which might take some advanced planning.  You might need to build some pools of stagnant water around the site ahead of time, just to be sure.  (Due to legal concerns, we cannot recommend introducing malaria into your mosquito population. An unfortunate detraction from the authenticity.)  As none of your rooms will have screens, these mosquitoes are welcomed guests among your campers.  Campers are, of course, permitted to bring mosquito nets to sleep under, if they want.  We find that the majority don't. 

Toileting and showering will take place in a bank of latrines that you'll need to construct, as such things don't exist in the States presently.  This should not be a costly project as a latrine is nothing more than 4 walls about shoulder height with a hole in the center.  Showers are actually bucket baths in these same latrines. (Please refer students to my earlier tip on bucket baths.)  If you've planned well, someone will have heated massive amounts of water over a fire so that people can at least have a lukewarm bucket bath.  Otherwise, cold water baths never killed anyone and actually speed up the process.  Yes, students will need to be quick about things, as there will be lines forming at the latrines.

There is no need to hire a cleaning or maintenance crew as the students will be responsible for 

cleaning their own areas.  Brooms made of stiff grass will be provided.

FOOD

You'll need to hire some church ladies to prepare massive amounts of food.  Before you start thinking about all the catering dishes, chafing pans, etc that you'll need, let me assure you-- you only need several giant pots that can be set on open fires.  Every meal consists of a single menu and a single course, for example rice and sauce.  Students pick up their large bowl and spoon and pass through the serving line.  They can eat standing up, or go find some area to sit down; no tables need be provided.  If a student finds that they don't enjoy what is being served, they are welcome to fast for the meal.  Again, this never killed anyone and will likely make them more enthusiastic for the next meal.

Snacks such as peanuts and bread are available for purchase.  There is no dessert, but we do prepare special treats for the campers.  For example, sometimes a farmer will donate a whole pig for a meal.  The students should be extremely excited about this.  When the camp butchers come dancing onto the main platform with a pork shoulder and the skin and fat of the recently slaughtered pig, the audience should go wild with joy.  (I'm so not even making this up.)

SCHEDULE

We prefer a pretty rigorous schedule.  Wake up call is between 5 and 5:30am.  Morning devotions start promptly at 6am.  Though not mandatory, they do help you to distinguish between who is a serious camper and who isn't.  From 7 to 8, we allow time for preparing for the day.  The morning has two sessions, each lasting 1.5 hours, with a 30 minute pause between.  Of course, in the likely event that a speaker goes long, that pause will need to be cut short.  A two hour pause over lunch is followed by a two hour afternoon program.  In the late afternoon there is personal time, as well as time for sports, i.e. soccer.  The evening session restarts at 8pm and goes to 10:30 or 11, depending on momentum.  For those wishing to participate in the choir, rehearsal takes place after evening session dismissal.

All the sessions include about 20 minutes of worship and a speaker who gives detailed teaching during the remaining hour.  The evening session is reserved for special presentations, for example the youth group that received a $50,000 grant to do ebola education in their country.  Don't worry, I'm sure your youth groups have done some pretty awesome things too.

CAMPER ATTITUDE

We like our campers to be indefatigable, as full of joy and pep on the last session of the day as the first.  During the long morning and afternoon sessions, a deacon walks the aisle to "help" anyone who might be getting sleepy by gently shaking them awake.  Dancing and clapping are encouraged during worship.  Giving the speakers feedback with loud "Amens" and "Hallelujahs" is also the norm.

So, youth leader, how many of your youth are you bringing?  Our camps usually have a few hundred.  This recent large gathering was over 450.  Oh... you don't see your youth wanting to participate?  Too hard?  Too much teaching?  Sounds like your youth are a mile wide and only an inch deep.  Perhaps you should send them over here to learn something.  ;-)

Prayer Requests

1. Praise the Lord for an excellent youth conference.  There was some incredible teaching that took place.  Pray that the youth that were in attendance go home and continue to reflect on what was taught, and then passionately put it into practice.

2. Continue to pray for the requests listed earlier this week: Peace in the Sahel zone, health for our whole hospital staff in malaria season, and for a meeting next week to plan strategy for outreach in a new area.

3. Pray for a young man Djakari.  He is a young believer, but lives with a family that is opposed to that.  Though he has been mostly flying under the radar, recent events make us believe that his host family is preparing to put pressure on him.  Pray that he would remain firm in the face of this persecution and that we'd navigate it in a way that changes the heart of his host family.

4. One of the young believers from the town of TaraHouse (we've prayed for them a lot in the past few months) moved here and is currently living with one of the pastors.  He was escaping family persecution.  Pray that he would grow in his faith and that he'd also be able to find a job.

Is it really August?  How did that happen?  Well, after 4 weeks of silence, I'm back with another tip.  Part of my silence was due to a few different trips across the border to see colleagues in the neighboring country (and the other parts were just life-craziness).  Those border crossings, however, have served me well, as they've provided me with today's Tip of the Week.

Crossing land borders in West Africa is something of an art.  For one thing, you can never expect the crossing experience to remain constant from moment to moment or place to place--one time you sail across without so much as showing paperwork, other times you spend painful moments filling out seemingly meaningless forms.  Then there is the unpredictability of these authority figures; you never know if they are going to be friendly or scary.  Your border stops are also not a one stop affair, but rather 6 or more buildings you have to hit, spread over a distance of a few miles. 

Here are the goals of every border crossing: A clean crossing in the shortest time possible with minimal drama, all while avoiding any pitfalls that will cause you major headaches later in your trip.  Bonus points are awarded if you don't have to fill-out any paperwork.  So here's how to navigate this terrain and avoid the pitfalls:

Make sure to hit all the stops.  As I mentioned above, there is no such thing as a one-stop border crossing.  To enhance the bureaucratic inefficiency, the border involves multiple stops, poorly marked and spread across an uneven distance.  In general, it works like this... leaving a country, you pass through a customs stop, then a gendarme (like national guard) stop, and finally a police stop.  As you enter the next country, the order is reversed--police, gendarme, then customs.  So in general 6 stops, some more painful than others.  At some, you may be waved right through.  Don't let this convince you, however, that you can just drive right through other stops (or the same one on a repeat trip), because if someone sees you and gets upset about the fact that you didn't stop, they have their ways of causing problems for you later on, sometimes even remembering you on your return across the border.   To make matters more complicated, there are additional offices/stops scattered throughout the border area--these usually only pertain to semi-trucks carrying loads.  When in doubt, slow down and make eye contact with an agent.  If you get no reaction, you can probably just keep going. 

Be cheerful.  As soon as you get out of the car, you should go into joyful greeting mode.  If you know the local dialect (even if it is just the greetings), use that, as it gives you some "street cred".  You want to be overly happy without being overtly obnoxious.  Think, excessively gleeful morning person and then back down a notch.  Or, for those who need film references, take Elf and downgrade two degrees.  This concentrated effort covers up any fear or nervousness you might be experiencing, but more importantly, you want this happiness to be infectious, so that the agents treat you nicely.  Granted, they might be nice to you only because they think that anyone this happy about a police stop must be mentally deficient or instable, but we take what we can get.    

Be patient. Never, ever, ever express your need to keep moving through.  Do everything in your power to convince the agents that, if given your choice, you'd spend all day with them.  The more you hurry, the more they slow-down.  This is a proven fact.  If you so much as say the word hurry, as in, "I'm in a real hurry", you'll find yourself seated on a bench, neglected.  The paradox here is true: the more patient you are, the faster you will get through.  Also, if you've played your overly happy facade right, they might push you through faster just to get rid of gleeful little you.

Be deferential.  You know how when two dogs met, one often rolls over and lets the other see his underbelly?  When the dog is scared, his tail will be tucked up, even when he is rolled over.  However, some dogs are just so happy to be with others, that even when they roll over, they are wagging their tails.  This is what you want.  Completely submissive and respectful, but still wagging your tail playful.  Feel free to crack jokes and be a bit playful, but always remember to show who is clearly in charge.  (In all seriousness now, it does help to remember that in our day and age, these guys are doing a rather unpleasant job that is completely necessary for national security...even if they do seem a bit inconsistent at times.)

Print out the Mission Order. I will never be able to explain to you why a printed page that anyone with middle-school level computer skills could produce carries more weight than your passport, but it seems true.  A mission order (ordre de mission) is nothing more than a statement that your vehicle is traveling from a certain location to another location on certain dates.  It is printed on letterhead and stamped with your organization's ink-stamp.  As always, its necessity is inconsistent. On a good number of your crossings, you'll never be asked for one, but should you be asked and not have one, you'll have reached an awkward impasse.  So do yourself the favor of getting a template made and printing one out every time you travel.

Hold your cards close to your chest.  In the world of bureaucratic inefficiency, the further you go down the road of jumping through all the hoops, the more hoops you'll find yourself needing to jump through.  There is, often, this tendency to want to show every document you have in order to prove that you are legit and that everything is in order.  Don't do this in this setting.  Every document you show will elicit a thorough investigation and may remind the agent that you really should fill out Forms X, Y, and Z.  Only show the documents asked of you, and if possible, start with the Mission Order.  If the agent takes only a cursory glance and waves you through, consider yourself lucky and go with it. 

So there you go.  Put these tips into action and soon you'll be competing with the veteran border crossers, comparing crossing-time and the number of forms filled-out.  They really should make a video game out of it.

Prayer Requests:

1. Praise/Prayer Request... Some weeks back I asked you all to pray for Amadou, a young man with a serious muscle wasting disease.  We've got him on a good treatment regimen and he is gaining back some muscle mass!  He still has a long road to being able to walk and function independently again, so continue praying for him.  (And if you are one of my physical therapist friends, and you'd like to come visit, I have work for you!)

2.  Praise--The Masterplanning seminar that we had been praying about went very well.  I believe it gave our Malian administration some very important tools for setting goals and pursing them strategically, all while remaining true to our vision and mission.

3.  Continue to pray for the young men in the village of Tarasso.  Since I last updated you, they've come under severe persecution.  We are not visiting them weekly as we had been before, because that was drawing too much attention.  Instead a pastor is going in alone every now and then to meet with the guys.

4. Pray for a Bible study with young believers here in town that I've started.  Some have been in the church for a while, but have very little foundation.  Issa (for whom we've prayed often) is my co-leader, and I'm hoping to model this type of intentional discipleship for him, so that he can one day lead this kind of group.

5. Pray for our hospital administrative director, Josue.  He is applying for a visa to the United States in order to do a shadowing experience with administrative personnel in a hospital in Ohio.  He had his first interview and was rejected.  He is rescheduling this, hopefully within the week.  Pray that this second interview would go without a problem.