Lendim Lai

It happened!! I have been spending every day possible in Maasailand lately and really getting to know some of the people out there.  I've felt like we are really becoming friends, but I have always wondered what their perspective of me is.  Do they see me as a friend?  As a teacher?  As a missionary?  As a white guy with money?  I know how I see them, but how do they see me? 
There is one young man that works with us in YWAM ministering to the Maasai.  He himself is not a Maasai, but has a deep passion for them.  He comes from a different tribe, but left his home to come to Engikaret and has been here for almost 5 years now.  He has become almost fluent in Maasai and you can always find him out at the Bomas.  I have begun a new Literacy class about an hour drive past Engikaret and this young man, Elia has been coming with me.  Whenever we go we have about an hour to talk and encourage each other, but I have always seen a huge difference between the two of us.  Wherever we go, every Maasai recognizes him!  They can see the heart he has for them and I have always seen him as a really important example for me.  I want to be a missionary like him.  There is this one thing, though, that I continue to see and hear that I have coveted.  When his dear friends see him, they have a specific way they call him.  They say, Elia Lai.  In Maasai, the way you claim something as your own, you put this word Lai after it.  If you are describing your mom, you say, "Mama Lai", my mama, "Alayuni Lai" my son, "Lalashe Lai" my brother.  I always hear them call to Elia, and they say, "Elia Lai, Elia Lai" My Elia, My Elia!  Oh, every time I hear it, I ask the Lord, when will be the day that I am theirs?  Will they every see me as more than just a missionary passing through, or a westerner with money? 
This week, as we completed our third week of class out in Kaserian, it happened!  It wasn't anything spectacular, it wasn't a profound moment, it was just an everyday, run of the milll, request for a ride, but it happened!! One of my students, as I was getting in the car to go home, called out, "Lendim Lai!"  Lendim is the Maasai word for forest.  I have become known out in Maasailand as Lendim and the moment I heard it, my heart was filled with a feeling of victory, of acceptance, of God's faithfulness.  My Lendim!  Maybe to anyone else this would be no big deal at all, but to me it meant the world.

The Song of Songs says, "I am my beloved's and he is mine".  It is really easy to read that and understand it to be some kind of simply possesive term, but it is so much better than owning or some kind of controlling authority.  It is belonging.  I belong to him.  Just like that old hymn says, "Now I belong to Jesus, Jesus belongs to me.  Not for the years of time alone, but for eternity!"  I belong to Jesus and He belongs to me.  I find my home with him.  I find my worth in him.  I find my place, my portion, my reason for being.  I belong.  I am His Nick and He is my Jesus.  In the same vein, the Maasai belong to me and I belong to them.  I am their friend and they are my friends.  I am their Lendim and I am so very greatful!

Hope in one hand

               Every once in a while when I was growing up, things wouldn’t go my way and I would start to whine.  I would say, “I wish I didn’t have to clean my room” or “I wish I didn’t have to pay for my own gas in my car.”  My older brother loved these occurrences because he would have an opportunity to one of his favorite colloquialisms.  I would I wish and wish and wish and he would turn to me and say, “Wish in one hand and poop in the other.  See which one fills up quicker.” 

               Why, you may ask, would I relay this ridiculous sampling of an American Proverb?  Because I was teaching my literacy class last week and just frustrated.  I was frustrated with the students, frustrated with the Engikaret base for not having a place for us to regularly meet in class, always shifting around, which leads the students not to take things seriously and therefore not showing up to class at all, let alone on time.  I was frustrated with myself, feeling like there was more I should be doing to entice and entertain my students so they would be more willing and invested in coming to class.  I started making those I wish statements again.  “I wish…I wish…I just wish…” when I saw a little bald, dusty Maasai girl’s head pop to the class for a peak.  There were only three students that showed up that day and they were busy with their work so I went out to see where she came from and what she wanted.  I found her out the door with one of her friends and both of them were so proud of themselves.  So I asked, “what are you two doing here this morning?”  Out of a little old pouch around their necks, they both pulled out their own beat up, batteryless, cracked and worn cell phones someone must have thrown out.  They held on to them like they were state of the art cell phones.  I asked one of I could see it to look at it.  And she ran off.  I didn’t think much about it until I was back in class and that little bald head popped back in to sneak a peak.  Again, my students were hard at work, so I went out to see what she wanted and this time she had what I thought was the cell phone concealed in both hands so I could look at it.  She placed it in my hand, removed her hands from the top of it, and then took off running as fast as her little legs could carry her.  When I looked down to see the present she brought me, right away I remembered my older brother.  She placed in my hand a huge cow tird!  She thought she was so funny!  Both of the girls rolled around laughing and laughing and I was left with my wishes in one hand and poop in the other.  And I assure you, the wishing hand was not nearly as full as its neighbor. 

               I have been thinking about this for a several days now and thinking about a whole slew of verses that are laced through the Bible about being dissatisfied and not one of them is about wishing. 

“Let us hold unswervingly to the HOPE that we profess, for he who promised is faithful…the widow who is really in need and left alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help…That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people…For what is our hope? Our Joy? Or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes?  Is it not YOU?...Therefore since we have such a hope, we are very bold…

And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.  Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produes perseverance, perseverance produces proven character, proven character produces hope.  And hope does not disappoint.” 

               Wishing is a silly, whiny kind of thing to do, but hoping is entirely different.  I wish for the things that I don’t have but that I think that I should.  I hope for the things that I know I will have because, in finishing that verse, “God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”  Wishing in one hand will never fill up as fast as pooping.   But with hope in my hands, hope in the Living God who is savior of all people, well that will never disappoint. 

               This month I have had over 11 students coming to class, mostly men.  Some of them even show up on time!!!  We began a new literacy class in a village an hour and a half northwest of Engikaret called Kaseriani where I now have 22 students!!! In both classes there are old men and young warriors, old grandmas and young mothers, and all are learning to read and write for the first time. 

               Hope in one hand and poop in the other.  See which one fills up faster…

The War is Over

We just wanted to send out a little update to say thank you for your prayers.  The war in Engikaret is over.  The chiefs were able to talk it out and they have turned on the water to Engikaret.  We are so thankful for this.  Nick is heading out today to do his literacy class and will see how everything is while he is out there.  Thank you again for your prayers.  This is the best possible outcome!

War

A couple of months ago, before the rains came there was scarse amounts of water and plants for the livestock in Engikaret to eat and people to drink. A neigboring village between Engikaret and Arusha called Oldonyosambu (the brown hill) began sending their cattle to Engikaret because their situation was even worse. This pushed the men of Engikaret to delve into the next village further, Keseriani (the place of peace). There was no peace there. The Massai in Keseriani chased the Engikaret men back to their village. This was not a very charged conflict because they were all Maasai. However, the neighboring village, Oldonyosambu is a sister tribe called Arushans. When the men from Engikaret returned, they proceeded to chase the Arushans off their land back into Oldonyosambu and the Arushans took that personally. Since then, the rains have come and the plants have returned and things were relatively peacefull, but the Arushans did not forget the behavior of the Maasai in Keseriani and Engikaret. This last month, the Arushans have regularly cut or turned off the waterpipe that supplies water to Engikaret as it travels through Oldonyosambu. The Maasai have gone to Oldonyosambu multiple times to try to resolve the conflict (albeit forcefully) but things have only escalated. This week as I returned home from teaching in Engikaret I came across over 300 Maasai warriors from Engikaret, Keseriani, Longido, and Ndaiboro gathered to march on Oldonyosambu for war. They reached the water tank built by Faces For Hope, http://www.facesforhope.com/, to discuss strategy. The elders are attempting to calm down the young warriors but to this point have been unsuccessful. The governor of the Longido area was present as well as the police, but none have been able to convince the Moron warriors to stand down. In response, several Arushan clans have gathered and reached the Engikaret border. Please pray for Engikaret. Please pray for the peace of God to come. Please pray that the young angry men will hear the wisdom of the elders and pray that the Arushans can come to a place of compromise. As of now, nearly 50 military men have been dispached to Engikaret and things continue to appear explosive. Pray for Heidi and I and our girls. We are looking for wisdom about how to continue our ministry and lessons in this time of violence. 

Swallowed Up By Life

“We groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.”

Every Thursday is a fellowship meeting where 25 to 40 Maasai come to worship.  Most Thursdays things are very average and normal.  They sing some Maasai songs (which the girls are getting very good at) someone shares a word from the Bible mostly centered around being good and doing what’s right, being pleasing to God by not doing what is wrong, then they pray for people that have needs (mostly sicknesses).  After a few months of this fellowship, sometimes it can be a little boring.  There! I said it!  Church in Africa is often really, really boring!  I remember talking with my wife’s great, great aunt from Scotland about church in America one day and she was being so critical of worship these days.  She called it “7Eleven” worship songs because you sing the same seven words eleven times.  I thought, “where is her passion?  Does she know nothing of meditation and waiting on the Lord?”  Well, today, Jesus is kicking my butt and reminding me about that conversation and my feelings for her every time we enter into a worship service because it is like “5twentyeight” worship here and I get so bored!  So I was watching last Thursday as the minutes on the clock were passing by slowly, seeing a handful of old ladies, a dozen young mothers, and one or two sidelined men or boys singing worship songs asking the God of Moses to take the hill (what meaning that has for a Maasai I have no idea) and I felt like my eyes opened.  I started thinking of the anthropology classes I’d taken in college.  I started thinking about every conversation I’ve had with every anti-evangelism philanthropist or American co- worker that accuses religious institutions of just bringing newly packaged religion to a different culture and in the process destroying the beauty of diversity and I started asking myself what real change was happening here?  Really, poor Maasai come to a well supported western style mission base to sing songs and they get stuff in return.  That sounds exactly like what critics describe us to be.  All of a sudden I became very frustrated and discouraged when all of a sudden the songs ended and the worship director lead us to change course a bit. 

He led us all to share some of the struggles anyone was passing through and then, to just lay them down and enter into the presence of the Lord.  This time, when I looked around the room, my eyes opened in a different way than before.  I saw a 60 year old 6 foot tall woman with a huge gap between her teeth and barely any meat on her bones close her eyes begin to experience something that until that moment I had been missing that day.  What I saw in her face was something that can’t really be argued by Evangelical culture killers and Anthropological Jesus haters because it has nothing to do with any of them.  No matter how many conversations I have about the proper approaches to missions or the abuses of churches to manipulate people, this woman was in the middle of an experience that no one else can really convince her of one way or another.  The peace that surpasses understanding, the grace that is sufficient for her, the love that is everlasting, the mercies that are new every morning really have nothing to do with me or anybody else.  Koko Elizabeth spends time with Jesus and that isn’t predicated on my ability to enjoy a worship service or not and it isn’t contingent on whether anthropological data shows our work is viable or not.  Then I looked around the room and saw more people experiencing something that can’t be quantified or measured, but can only be taken by faith.  I saw a young mother of 3 younger than my youngest sister with swelling above her right eye probably from an angry young man with her eyes closed and her mouth parted speaking to someone that I could not see.  I saw an old man all alone, without other young warriors to respect and honor him, but yet he comes and watches as people speak words of adoration to a God that will never leave nor forsake no matter who we are or what we have done.  I saw a little girl that would one day most likely be sold by her father  to a man, young or old, purchased for a price and then used the rest of her life…but before any of that happens she gets to hear about a man, A MAN! who traveled across the universe to tell her that he loves her more than anything in the universe and would lay down his life for her.  Then, this word of 2 Corithians comes to life.  For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, SO THAT WHAT IS MORTAL MAY BE SWALLOWED UP BY LIFE!

That is definitely worth an hour or two of my time.  I don’t know if anyone else gets bored at church sometimes, but next time you do, I give you this challenge.  Open your eyes and look around.  Look to see if what you are feeling is the same thing everyone else is experiencing.  Maybe you will find that God is doing some things that you didn’t see before and I assure you, when God moves nothing is boring.

Exciting News!

Hi family and friends!!
We have exciting news! After praying and seeking guidance from others we are heading home in November for a short visit to raise support as well as visit family and friends. We have been praying for the Lords wisdom in this. We have been praying about adding to our family. We are ready to adopt but the moral code of the government here is not very reliable and so it is difficult to count on the adoption process running as smoothly as we might like. That’s okay. Things take time. We have been told the process could take up to 2 years. We would love to start that process now but in a year when we were planning on returning home to report about all the Lord has been doing, the child/children may not be ready to return with us. We will probably need a year or two depending on the current mood of the court system. So, we are heading back to America to raise support, visit Jesus’ Church: America Branch and then we will return to start the process of adoption right away. By the next visit home we will have custody of our new little one/s. The timing works well with our ministry here. During the month of December and into a little of January the base here in Arusha and as well out in Engikaret shuts down. Everyone takes that month off to visit home/supporters. It is a good time to be absent without missing too much. We are not firm on the dates yet but we are scheduling ourselves to be in the states from the beginning of November until mid/end of January. We are so excited to be able to see you and share what is going on here in person as well as hear what has been happening in your lives. Please pray that we find a great deal on our flights and also good connections with people that will want to partner in the work going on here in Tanzania. If you know of anyone or any church/ministry that would be interested in someone coming to share about the things God is doing in Tanzania, please shoot us an email or facebook message and we can start putting pieces together. We love you all and can’t wait to see you!

I love myself

Lately hailey has a new thing that she does. Every once in a whiles he will start looking around the table at dinner or the living room when we are all together in the evenings and she starts on one end and makes her way around telling us who she loves. I love mommy! I love Daddy! I love Hannah! This all is very cute and sweet. But the last part is where i get struck with the voice of jesus. Because then she points to herself and she says, I love her! Basically, I love myself!! I'm not sure there is a greater gift that hailey could ever give me then when she looks at herself and says, I love myself. And it is more than just a kind of encouragement and peace in my heart that she will have good self esteem when she is older. But is this special kind of worship that I hear from the voice of my smallest child passing through my heart saying Jesus, "you have made hailey well. Jesus I love the way you made me!" In Africa Hailey couldn't be more different than everyone else here. Every child, every adult, every person looks nothing like her. She doesn't talk like they talk, she doesn't dance like they do, she doesn't dress like anyone around her. Even amidst all of the ways she sticks out like a sore thumb, still she points at herself and says, "I love her." So I see this and start to look at my own life and ministry. I look at the ways I look at evangelism and missions and somewhere along the lines I got the impression that I have to be an African to minister to Africans. And to start to be a Tanzanian I have to stop being an American. So I start doing silly things like hating the American in me. I start trying to push out the western values that have framed my personality and trying to mold myself after an eastern perspective. "why on earth do I need to save for retirement? God will provide for me! Why am I so strict about time? It really doesn't matter if I or the people around me are late. I need to stop thinking of myself as an individual and identify with the whole." But Hailey reminds me that God made me on purpose! And there is power the things He put in me. I don't have to become an African to show African that Jesus loves them. Jesus came to earth and put on skin in an incarnational step to reach us. He came to earth to show us that He loves us but he never stopped being God. He never forsook the power of being who He was. As we approach our ministries we don't need to become teenagers to minister to them. We don't need to become poor to minister to them. We will never literally wear someone else's shoes, but that doesn't mean we can't love them in the individual shoes that they wear. Jesus did a good job when he made me and he did a good job when he made each person in Africa. I worship Jesus because he made me and my job here is to help other people here to worship him because of the way he made them. I love me.