Jan. 28 - Josh's Journal

January 28, 2008
Hi everyone. I am sorry it has been so long since I last wrote. Things have been terribly busy. I do not know where the time has gone, but it has flown - I have not even started taking Ateso language lessons again yet, but need to start that one of these days. Life has been filled with ups and downs since I last wrote. I know I was discouraged last time; truth be told I am quite discouraged today as well. So I am sorry if this comes off as a downer, please know that we have had some nice days and nice times since I last wrote.
Two weeks ago on a Saturday we went to Mbale. We were eating at an Indian restaurant when a circus came on TV. The food is great there even though the atmosphere is not the classiest. Lydai, Grace and I enjoyed the circus while we waited for our food (Mandy was next door grocery shopping). I also ordered my motorcycle that day. They said it would be ready by the first of Feb.
I also tried to go teach Timothy Institute in Otuboi. I made the trip only to discover that a couple of funerals had really messed up a lot of the pastors’ plans. Needles to say I spent an hour driving then an hour waiting only to spend the next hour driving back home. We rescheduled for yesterday. Yesterday we tried again. It did go much better, but the numbers were quite low. Only 9 pastors returned from the previous time, plus three new people. At lunch time we learned that a few pastors had come, but went to the wrong church (our venue had been changed for reasons beyond my control); we also learned that a few pastors had not been informed about it until 48 hours prior to the starting time so they had made prior commitments. I was disappointed that some pastors wanted to come but were unable to come; however our day went really well. Every pastor except for one paid the money for his photo copies. One old pastor named Fasfik had lost all his belongings in a house fire - and he still paid for the photocopies - even the ones burned in the fire. I did replace the lost copies free of charge and bought his lunch as well. All the other pastors also bought their own lunch. At the end of the day they started discussing money again, in Ateso. I could tell they were discussing payment, but could not quite follow exactly what they were saying. They finally said in English that they realized they should also be giving me gas money but are not able to do that at this time; I should be patient and not grow tired of coming because they really appreciate the teaching. I also made them give reports about their action plans which they had made the previous time. (The theme and action plan for last time was visiting people who did not follow Jesus.) For the total of the nine pastors who were present; they had visited and shared the gospel with 15 families / individuals who had never followed Jesus and 7 people who had fallen away from the church. Although no one gave their lives to Christ, relationships were built with those lost people and responses were positive. 4 of the 7 people who had left the church have become involved in the church again since the visit. Other than the fact that I was gone from 8 am to after 6 pm, it was a very good day.
The Bible college continues to try my patience. The students have been late coming back from their holiday. Some were in class for the first time today - three weeks late. One still has not returned. Francis had said he would not allow this so I hope he puts his foot down and sends them away. They have already missed enough to fail the course I was teaching so its not like they would graduate anyway. The others who were present were late for class every day last week. I felt something had to be done so I told them on Friday that we were going to have class on Saturday - time had been lost and it needed to be regained. I felt like I was punishing myself, but it really got their attention. Three of the four had hope to go home for the weekend. I went to class Saturday morning prepared to teach the one student who had no intentions of going home, but found all four present. They were not very talkative, but they were there. I learned today that they had gone privately to Francis on Friday afternoon to tell him the situation and ask for permission to go home anyway. I was impressed with Francis. He told them if they skipped my class to go home they might as well take all of their things home from the college because they would not be allowed back.
This morning Kristine came. We visited her last night and she warned us she would be coming. She was in tears because of the way her “husband” treats her. He does treat her poorly. Neglect would be an understatement. Half the problem is that they moved in and started a family without a wedding. Elaborate weddings and high bride prices make it nearly impossible for many people to get married, so shacking up is a huge problem here. When the fun wears off, there is no commitment, so people leave. The children suffer the most. It is part of the culture here - part that needs to change. Changing a culture is hard. We have not really changed it at all yet, but a few people have appreciated our observation that these practices nearly force people to sin. We also have a good friend who got his girlfriend pregnant in December. Her dad is a pastor so you would think he would be open to God’s Word -- NOT. Today there was a long meeting to discuss the fine our friend will have to pay. My heart broke to hear the way that pastor spoke and acted; God was not glorified in any way. A mockery was made of the gospel. His bishop was there. When I confronted the bishop on the behavior of this pastor, he told me it is a matter of culture and clan, not a matter of the Bible. I told him that we are not to set the Bible aside in any situation only to pick it up on Sunday. This issue is a church issue. As leaders of God’s people we should set an example for others to follow, even when that means doing things different than the culture. I am not going into detail here, but I am really upset by the way that pastor acted (and even by how passive the bishop was). I privately talked with the pastor, but his heart was as hard as stone; he wanted nothing to do with God’s word. Even here our friend has accepted church discipline and wants to marry the girl so he can raise the child. The girl wants to marry our friend. However, no money for fine, bride price, wedding = just live together without getting married, which is a perfect solution according to the pastor (father of the girl). Tonight it feels like Satan won for today. We have to cling to the hope that the true Victory has already been decided. Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we don’t see. I certainly can’t see it today. Isaiah 50:4 says “The Lord has given me words of wisdom so I know what to say to all the weary ones.” I am closing now so I can go spend some time with Him who has words of wisdom, because I am the weary one.