Things I've learned in Africa!

Some Things Learned Since Coming to Africa in 1984!
Not all perfectly, of course!
Some (tech items) we all learned during this period, but we learned them while on the field, in Africa :-) 

·         French language

·         Bambara language

·         Pulaar - Fulani language

·         Salutations in Moor, Wolof, and Soninké

·         Raising kids to adults!

·         Diapers and discipline!

·         4-wheel driving off-road

·         Diesel engine maintenance

·         Riding a moto in the bush

·         Living in Africa and the importance of greetings

·         Eating w/ hands (giving a new meaning to eating together)

Oumar, a Fulani evangelist, and two of his kids

·         West African foods

·         Sleeping on hard mats

·         Mali bathrooms!

·         All computer and i-net stuff

·         Networking ministries

·         Reconciliation and dialogue

·         Construction Mali style

·         Well digging

·         Car & generator mechanics

·         Games: Quarto, Phase 10, dames, Trente Deux, Speed Uno, Pigs, etc.

·         Archaeology of Israel

·         Living w/ diabetes and depression

·         Living with shoulder and back pain

·         Mali & WA social and political life and issues

·         Travel in African transport (giving a new meaning to rubbing shoulders)

·         Sahel flowers, trees and trimming them

·         Reading the Quran and Hadiths

·         Reading the Maccabees and all the Apocrypha

·         Staying cool in a hot place!

·         Digital photography 

·         WA history and slave trade effects

·         WA tribes and social structure

·         TEE & BCC ministries

·         Read classics i.e. Augustine, Origin, Knox, Eusebius, Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Pascal, Brother Lawrence, Francis, Gill, Carey, Josephus, Jerome, Ignatius, Wesley, Kipling, Bunyan, Beza, Luther, De Sales, Hugo, M’Cheyne, Newton, Fenelon, Polo, Owen, etc.

·         Greek studies and exegesis

·         Liturgy appreciation

·         Church dependency issues

·         Eating healthy

·         College financing

Bala teaching about Abraham's sacrifice
after I showed him how to.

·         Stocks, bonds, mutuals, annuities, IRAs, etc.

·         Cross cultural teaching

·         Development work

·         Refugee help            

·         Mali business contracts & hiring and firing

·         Dealing w/ beggars and the poor

·         Storying of Bible for evangelism and discipleship

·         Sonlife (living with Jesus)

·         Training for Storying

·         Handling short-term teams of many kinds.

·         Digital audio ministry

·         Partnerships with 2/3^rd World churches

·         Partnership w/ WA churches and missions

·         Partnership w/ African Americans, Brazilians, and Chinese!

·         Math teaching and home schooling

·         Sending kids to boarding school

·         Fallacies of Islamic theology and practices

·         Witness to Muslims

·         Islam structure & different groups in WA

·         Bible school teaching

·         Animism theology in WA

·         Language learning techniques

·         Studio building and setup

·         French typing and letter form

·         Solar and battery living

·         Depending on God for support: always

·         Continued learning of Gods’ grace

·         Contextualization of the gospel

·         Teaching contextualization (in other languages even!)

·         Use of OT in SLM evangelism

·         Seeing Jesus in every part of OT

·         Audio recording and editing

·         Difference of  sheep and goats J

·         Navigate in bush w/ or w/o a GPS

·         Geocaching!

·         To terimelike (bartering) for everything you buy, except what has a fixed price, and knowing the difference!

·         Fine tune theo.: NCT & Unfulfilled Prophecy, but opposing Open Theo., Emergence, Preterism, & Prosperity Gospel, etc.

·         Abortion protests and support of prolife positions

·         Alphabetization (Literacy teaching) in Bambara and Fulani

·         Walking in intimacy w/ God

·         Flexibility in ministry opportunities.

·         Prison ministry

·         Christian schooling

·         Orienting new mis’ies to life and ministry in Africa

·         Walking and exercises for heart & back health

·         Christian ‘salat’ prayers to help Fulani believers

·         Field finances and spreadsheets

Pastor Moise getting ready to make a compressed dirt brick

·         Management objectives and vision

·         Casting vision & team leadership

·         Servant leadership

·         Foreign currency handling

·         Living thru a coup d’état

·         Moving family across borders

·         Understanding JWs and Mormons a bit better.

·         Losing parents & other mentors

·         Asking questions of people and scripture

·         Recognition of personal limits

·         Adaptability of media in ministry

·         Tolerance of limits in partnership

·         Allowing expression in delegation

·         Foreign language book sales

·         Film and projector operation

·         Recruiting and training new workers, 17 so far!

·         New 2012: compressed mud brick construction

What we did in 2010: by the numbers

1: woman of the Soninké tribe discipled through weekly Bible studies and baptism preparation. (Jennifer)
1: Christian FM-radio station launched by a Malian Christian NGO with help from UWM (we have provided facilities and electricity, and helped them to find equipment); they currently broadcast about 18 hrs/day.
1: semester served on board of Dakar Academy. (Jennifer)
1: graduate class for education degree. (Jennifer)
1: son graduated from Dakar Academy, with honors.
2: new missionaries recruited for MALI, in a seconding agreement with WEC.
2: evangelism and medical teams to the Moors (about 15 participants all told, to 8 villages altogether).
5: meetings of the Malian Assoc. of Evangelicals attended by Jim, where he is serving on the Committee of Reconciliation to head off a split in the organization.

6: men taught in Bambara language Bible school (in partnership with Norwegian Lutheran Mission).

10: meetings with the local Christian school committee (see pix).
10: ESL teachers whom Jennifer observed and trained in Bamako during 2 weeks in January.
15: meetings in churches last summer, and we were featured at the Missions Night of the Annual Conference of the Church of Christ (Holiness), an African-American denomination, in St. Louis.
22: visits to disciple new Fulani believer in Kayes (who came to Christ through the controversial "Common Ground" method of evangelism). (Jim)
27: women trained in leadership seminars (in partnership with Marcie Harris). (Jennifer)
28: years celebrated married to same spouse!
35: Christian Fulani leaders hosted in MICCAO annual conference in Kayes for one week
30: visits to Fulani villages for outreach and supervision of the well project in Duduya. (Jim)
40: meetings with the Kayes Pastors' Cooperative for prayer and planning of joint evangelistic events. (Jim)
49: shows of original Star Trek watched!
52: beggars helped on our front porch by prayer, food, Bible reading, cash, work, clothing, loans, empathy, medicine, counsel, etc.

75: visits drinking tea to do friendship evangelism among mostly Fulani friends, often playing Bible story cassettes or mp3 players like the Megavoice. (Jim)

150: radio broadcasts managed in the Fulani & Moor languages (on 2 different stations).

12,000: miles traveled June-August in the USA & Canada to facilitate partnerships, raise funds, promote ministry, and keep in touch with supporters including many visits with churches and dear friends.

IRIN Africa | MAURITANIA/SENEGAL: Refugee Returns Resume

We are encouraged that the UN is again making this return of Fulani refugees happen, see below link to an IRIN report in Oct 2010.  The UWM in MALI helped this situation extensively from 1990 to 1995 when 18,000 of these Fulanis landed in areas north of Kayes.  Over 100,000 also flooded into northern Senegal, and while most have returned 'home' over 20,000 refugees remain in the border areas of the two countries facing Mauritania.  This article speaks of their plight in remaining and their plight in returning.  The UN hopes to move over 2,500 from Oct to Dec 2010. 

IRIN Africa | MAURITANIA/SENEGAL: Refugee returns resume | Mauritania | Senegal | Refugees/IDPs

UWM helped make initial reports in the fall of 1990 about their situation, and then worked long to alleviate the situation.  We also recommended that the UNHCR work with MALI's national church/mission association, AGEMPEM, and their social aid office, BADS, which became a very fruitful mission.  A sister agency was also much involved in the center of the refugee area.  A number of the refugees became believers in Christ and some have formed the nucleus of the nascent church in Mauritania.   My friends in the photo above, Abba and Boofo, met during these times, welcomed me, gave me lots of tea, & taught me tremendously about the Fulani culture.  Sadly both have passed away without understanding the gospel.

politics in the pulpit: NOT a good idea!

Comment to Intercessors for America (IFA) in On Watch in Washington (OWIW) concerning blog on Oct 13^th ‘Talking Politics in the Church ( ifapray.org blog: Talking Politics in the Church )

I thank Mr. Kubal for some clarification of the current reason people think pastors aren't allowed to speak politics in church.  I actually agree with that 1950s rule of Senator Lyndon Johnson, but for entirely different reasons; and I don’t think the government needs to legislate it.  The government has no need to interfere with the free operation of religious institutions; of course taxes are not the only issue; free speech is far more important.

The pulpit, however, of the Lord Jesus Christ is His pulpit; it doesn't belong to any political party.  I was taught in church and in Bible College that preachers don't expound any political view from the pulpit, and that would mean in much of his speech and writing also.  In the pulpit they are to be neutral, period.

I am quite amazed that every election year this is violated, and we see TV clips of political candidates, all stripes, standing in pulpits; to the shame of the preacher who lets them!  By allowing this the preacher has endorsed the candidate; he's telling his people how to vote!  And what is worse, many of the candidates have no intention of really preaching the gospel; they're only there to be seen in public. Most aren't even believing Christians!  How could they explain the grace of God?  Are they there to correctly divide the truth of the Bible?

Whether the current US law accepts or not for preachers to give their political view is not the real issue.  I am very happy that Mr. Witherspoon of NJ spoke out for righteousness and justice and liberty from his pulpit in Revolutionary times, and that he worked in Congress to that end.  But did he endorse candidates from that same pulpit?  Did he denounce the king from it?  Did he tell his folk how to vote?  I see that he said the cause of America to fight revolution is just, but that is not quite the same.  

Written from Kayes, Republic of MALI, by a long serving American Protestant missionary.

MN Principal bans Bible, suggests book about witches !

This story and court case is from my hometown!  I've been in this elementary school building many a time!  I was quite shocked to know that this such challenges to God's Word happens in my alma mater Marple-Newtown.  May God return America to its Judeo-christian heritage.

Principal bans Bible, suggests book about witches

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Anatomy of a Disease

Sat nite: I couldn’t sleep but for ten or fifteen minutes at a time having climbing fever, headaches, and upset stomach.  Jerome and Adriana Fisher has arrived on Friday afternoon and left by early bus for BKO on Monday.  We had dinner at a Kayes Ndi restaurant Sat eve and then enjoyed desert back at the Reach Across guest house catching up with Michelsons and Bridos.  No one else got sick, so we don’t accuse the restaurant.

Sun morn: I skipped church being exhausted still.  Today was to be a special day of prayer after combined service at Djiabougou.  Jenn actually only stayed part of the prayer time which was followed by The Lord’s Supper.  There was also a mis’ry BD swim/meal party for Marion Hagg at the Kamonkolé Palace which I had to skip.   Some pain started in my upper right chest; at first I thot it was muscle pain and put on some back rub, which had no effect.  I didn’t eat anything all day.  Some diarrhea and vomiting.   I started taking extra strength paracetemol, 650mg, every eight hours, all week.  Jenn bought the Chinese 3 day malaria treatment which I started on Sunday afternoon.

Terrible suffering on Sunday night: the chest pain, from bronchitis, was terrible, like a knife stab, and every breath was laborious to find a position of the head and throat that would not take in too much air that pained me.  I sat partially upright on the sofa over half the night.  I prayed much for release of the pain.  I was encouraged by Hezekiah’s payer in Is 38 later on Mon morning.

Finally Monday morning Jenn drove me over to the Clinique, the only 400 m from my door would have been too exhausting to walk, and Dr Soumaré himself saw me and soon wrote a prescription.  We bought it quickly at the new pharmacy across the street, I took it, and threw it all up, along with day two of the malaria treatment, within an hour!   Later I was able to hold down some tomato soup.   On Sun and Mon I couldn’t even read!  I barely read two chapters of devotions each day, that’s it.  No movies, either!  By Monday afternoon the pain had abated, PTL.  A number of friends came to offer prayers: Pierre, Oumar, Issa, Founeké, Kodjos, Djikiné. etc.   Oumar left Early Monday for Nouakchott for a month of learning form the Fulani church leaders over there. 

Tuesday:  oatmeal in the morning was not tolerated, nor anything else until some scrambled eggs and tomato soup in the evening.  Extremely weak and still some fever which lasts until Sat.  Weighing I discovered I had lost 4-5 kilos dropping to 80!  Just walking around the house was exhausting.

Wed: stronger, but not by much, ate a bit and kept it!   I developed a deep chest cough and was wracked by it for days, especially at night.  The cough syrup didn’t seem to do much.  On Thursday we had the Brazilians over for lunch as Vera Lucia was in town, and I surprised myself and ate well, but had a long rest afterwards.

Friday, too!  Rodney arrived Fri afternoon for his Area Director visit and I tolerated desert at the Harris’.  I was able to stay up for the entire morning for the team discussions and then the meal.  Rod moved here Sat and I was fine for evening desert social time.  I drove for the first time all week!   I was fine for the long church / prayer time on Sunday, dinner at Harris’ before Rod left, rest time, then a visit to Sandy J’s (Peter is away in BKO for two weeks).   My cough lingers, strength is up, and I seem to be back in the land of the living, alleluia!