F L A M E

African Journals

Friday April 1, 2005
Herb did not sleep very well last night. It was very warm. Tony de Silva came to take us to see the house he is building. The basic walls of his house are up. He needs money for Cibis (roof joists), for roofing material, cement for floors and to buy doors and window shutters. He needs our help! From Tony's house we went to TAP airlines to confirm our airline tickets to start home April 15. From TAP it was on to see Jack and exchange money for the last time until later this year when, Lord willing, we return. We bought a few groceries that we cannot buy in Canchungo ad then back to Sunu Kerr to finish working on e-mail and pick up Herb's bike. Chenda surprised us by showing up at Sunu Kerr's Cyber Café (internet center) with his son Joel. They were going to meet Tiago in regard to the import document we need to import goods from Senegal without paying the expensive custom fees (because as a Christian organization we are exempt). We worked on reading and answering e-mails for two hours. Our hearts were delighted to hear about the nationwide publicity of Rick Warren's book "The Purpose Driven Life". If you haven't read the book and worked through the "Purpose Driven Life Journal", Do it! We did so the first time in January through March 2004. We have each been reviewing it again in this trip to Guinea Bissau. We have given three sets of books to people here - Chenda, Tiago and Bobo.
We then left for the Kondonga depot with the bike in the trunk of a taxi. When we got there, along comes Chenda again on his way back to Canchungo. We were all on the same kondonga. Chenda got a front seat, we were next to the tailgate in the rear. At least we had seats against the side with a back rest and could sit together. Riding in the very rear of a kondonga is similar to being in the rear of a roller coaster. Every movement is magnified. As we were getting ready to pull away from the Kondonga depot we decided to buy a few things to eat because we had not taken time to buy lunch. There are all kinds of "little" merchants selling everything from watches to toothpaste to food. We bought a couple apples and at the last minute a couple hard boiled eggs from a young lady. She had handed us the eggs and we didn't have the exact change and the kondonga started moving. Herb tossed a 500 FCFA coin ()$1.00) out the back hoping she would get it - forget the 300 FCFA we should have gotten in change. As the kondonga picked up speed a sweet little hand came through the back with the 300 FCFA change - we must have been moving ten miles an hour by then! This is a little snap shot of Guinea Bissau honesty and integrity.
The walk and Herb's bike ride home from the Kondonga was very hot in the mid afternoon but we had a reward awaiting us when we got there. Yes, we went for a nice cool swim. Our guess is the water temperature is somewhere between 85-95 degrees Fahrenheit but the contrast was very welcome and it was very refreshing. Martha especially likes to swim in this temperature water.
When we arrived home we found that our refrigerator is still not working properly. The previous owners have not gotten us the owners manual for it yet. They are at a mission outpost starting a new church in a village so they are difficult to reach.

Saturday April 2, 2005
Apili came early this morning. Her cousin died a day ago in Bissau. She wanted to go to Bissau yesterday but she didn't because she had a set of keys to our house and felt she should return them to us. She stayed until today so she could give the keys back to us - what beautiful, conscientious loyalty. She asked if she could scrub the floors and then leave for Bissau. She would wash the clothes on Tuesday. That was fine with us.
Our "crashed" computer continues to plague us because of lost information. We are hoping to find a computer expert when we get home who may be able to salvage some lost data and pictures.
It is still difficult to determine what work we can realistically accomplish versus what we, as optimists, think we can do. We sense our zeal for the work God called us to do clouds our vision to His desired pace and timing. In this part of the world the environment and handicaps are a way of life. Yes, we believe God can perform miracles and override the environment and handicaps but more often than not that is not His way of accomplishing His will. Because we were born and raised in a land that literally "has everything" it is difficult for us to accept things that hinder "our" work. Each day we must deal with the environment in the form of: dust which accumulates at an unbelievable rate, ants everywhere coming into the house under doors, through the cement floors and tunneling through cement block walls, and afternoon sweltering heat that erodes physical and mental capacity. To keep the house clean Apili, our housekeeper, comes three times a week to scrub the floors in each room and the veranda. We get involved in helping her move furniture and pick things up like shoes and plastic chairs off the floor. It is easy for us to look upon this as "taking away" from our work instead of being a "part of our work" in the environment God has placed us.
Looking beyond environmental challenges each day we face handicaps or hindrances. The lack of supplies to accomplish our work and e-mail is most evident in Canchungo. There are considerably more things available in Bissau but that is a sixty kilometer, two hour trip over terrible roads, which is another handicap. We have a cell phone system that works half the time and not always the half we need. The lack of tools and equipment plague us everyday "in our estimation". Most of the time we face or deal with these things one or two at a time but occasionally we have a deep awareness of all of them together and then they become like the force of a giant Sunamee wave crashing over us. We sense God allows these moments when we are overwhelmed to bring us closer to himself. In the Bible in Psalms 50:15 God says "Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me." It is easy to overlook the fact that we bring glory to God by calling upon Him when we are in distress. There are times when God allows us to reach a point of need so that we will call upon Him, and let Him demonstrate to a watching world around us the difference He makes in our lives. If God never allowed us to experience need, people around us might never have the opportunity to witness God's provision in our lives as Christians. His provisions to be witnessed by others often come in the form of strength, faith, and resolve to carry on in the midst of all the hindrances.
Pride and self reliance tempts us to rob glory from God and seek to give it to ourselves.
The following poem so accurately expresses the hazard of self reliance.

The Pathway of Pain If my days were untroubled and I never grew old- Would I seek that fair city with streets of gold? If I never grew weary with the weight of my load- Would I seek God's peace at the end of my road? If I walked without sorrow and lived without loss- Would I seek Jesus' love at the foot of the cross? If all I desired God gave me each day- Would I take time to thank Him? Take time to Pray? I ask myself this-and the answer is plain: If my live was all pleasure --- without any pain, I'd seldom ask God - and need Him much less, For God is my focus in times of distress. No one knows God or sees Him as plain As the one who has met Him on the Pathway of Pain.

The more overwhelming things become here in Guinea Bissau the less tempting it is to rely on ourselves. Our faith in Him continues to grow. Today Martha is spending most of her time on accounting. Keeping books for FLAME here in Guinea Bissau is a big task particularly during this time of construction. Communication, even with those who speak English exasperates us, Herb especially. We have been putting together information regarding an import document for bringing materials from Senegal into Guinea Bissau, as mentioned previously. The cost of the document started out to cost 120,000 FCFA ($240). It has now grown into three documents (one for Guinea Bissau, two for Senegal) totaling 400,000 FCFA ($800). Our exasperation comes - why wasn't the entire scope of things presented to us up front? A big part of the problem is because the governments, both Guinea Bissau and Senegal, rarely give us all the information needed. When you don't ask questions you don't get all the information you need. When you don't know what questions to ask it makes it even more difficult. When Estevao came for his English lesson, Martha gave him the Kiriol Bible we purchased for him. His eyes lit up as though we had given him the keys of ownership of a brand new Mercedes Benz Sport Coupe. During his lesson we used his new Bible. He came back in the evening and we played Mexican Train Dominoes. We sense by his mathematical ability that he has about a fourth grade education even though he is about twenty years old. This says a lot about the lack of educational opportunities here. His prayers to God each day are for wisdom from God, not a Mercedes Benz! Now for the latest medical report on our "ailing refrigerator. This evening's prognosis is that it has slipped from serious to critical condition. The fumes from the little chimney on the back are supposed to be odorless. They smell very strong - like it is not combusting right. We tried to call the missionaries we purchased it from but we cannot reach them by their cell phone. They now live in a small village in "the bush". We look on the refrigerator as very useful, not a luxury item. At this point we brought the matter before the Lord. We asked Him for wisdom and insight if there is something we can do to correct the problem. The problem is now in the Lords' hands; we can go to bed in peace. Tomorrow we will take our ailing appliance's temperature - literally!

Sunday April 3, 2005
We awoke this Lord's Day to the singing of birds and witnessed a particularly beautiful sunrise. A few clouds add a little spice to a sunrise or a sunset. As we stood in the kitchen in awe of the beauty of the rising sun we thought to ourselves we are really going to miss this place and the people around us. Inside part of us doesn't want to leave here; yet part of us wants to go home to be reunited with our family and rest from our labors.
Herb took the camera and camcorder to church today to film segments of the service. Herb and Martha were particularly interested it filming and recording the praise and worship portion which is simple, sincere, and sanctifying and glorifying to God. They sing in Kiriol and Portuguese, and then the congregation selects songs in their own tribal languages. These are written by Christians here in Guinea Bissau. The melodies and sounds are quite different than what we are used to. They are beautiful!
During the service Rosa, the young lady with the wound on her leg, went into what appeared at first to be an epileptic seizure. Within a few seconds it became apparent that she was possessed by a demon. It took five people to subdue her and get her out of the church. Martha and Teresinha went out with Rosa too. They had difficulty getting her to sit down and calm down so they could talk to her. They ministered to her and asked her several times to say "Jesus is Lord". She could not say it. She was asked to tell the demon to go in Jesus' name. She was unwilling to do so. At the end of the service Pastor Chenda came out and walked with Rosa, and we talked with Rosa's mother. She is not saved either. Out thoughts shifted to the words of Jesus to his disciples when they could not heal the epileptic boy possessed by a demon. The disciples asked Jesus why they were unable to cast out the demon. He answered them by saying "This kind can come out only by prayer" (some translations say "By prayer and fasting") Mark 9:29. We must pray for Rosa's healing both spiritual and physical. We have much praying to do for Rosa and her family who are all under the power of the witch doctor.
It was a three hour long service so we both came home tired from the heat and dealing with Rosa's situation. We are looking forward to some rest this afternoon.
After dinner Martha laid down for a well deserved nap. Herb, being a slave to this journal curled up on the sofa to write. Martha had only been asleep about twenty minutes when:

1. Betty, Laura and a friend of theirs from school came to visit. No sooner had they left.
2. Rosa and her two mothers (her dad has two wives) came over to have Rosa's bandage changed on her wound. She said she remembered nothing about what went on at church this morning. Before Rosa and family left for Dr. Rui's.
3. Robert Williams our welder came to bring us a gift so to speak. Robert presented us with a metal cover to secure over the water pump and electrical access hole in the well cover. This is to prevent anyone tampering with or stealing our electric water pump. He stayed and talked for a while until.
4. SanPer our painter came by and tried to talk us into buying him a chain saw so he could cut down trees and make money. Boy was he ever talking to the wrong people on this issue! We both have become "tree huggers" here in Guinea Bissau. On the property Chenda owns, where our house sits there were two large beautiful trees; one a palm, the other was a cashew. They have been cut down with no good reason to do so. We politely told SanPer we cannot and will not buy him a chain saw. As SanPer was leaving, yes, you guessed it.
5. Chenda came to talk about Rosa in regard to what happened at Dr. Rui's house and that she will be going to Bissau to see if she really has epilepsy. We also talked about what we can do to snatch her away from Satan through Jesus. He gave us background information about Rosa and her family that was helpful for us to know. Herb slipped away and went swimming. Martha followed a bit later. By this time it was almost dark out but our line of visitors was not yet complete.
6. Abulai, Mario and another young man came to ask if they could borrow a hammer for tomorrow. They were going to Chenda's farm to put fencing around his cashew trees. People feel free to come into cashew groves and pick cashew fruit. The nice people leave the nuts in a crook of the tree. Herb is becoming more determined to write a book, "Little House On The Freeway" regarding our busy life here. We did enjoy having the visitors. It is an indicator that we are really becoming a part of the community.

Designed by InVenia Design               Last Modified: April 13, 2005