Ryan's update

Monday, July 22, 2013

Wow – what to say . . . it’s getting harder and harder to just make observations and tell simple stories.  I feel like we’re getting beyond the “it’s very different here” stage to really getting to see into the culture and the hearts of people. 

A culture that is so full of smiles and hospitality and warm greetings is brewing with all sorts of conflict and dysfunction and enslavement just under the surface.  We in the US aren’t too different.  We put on our happy faces and give our warm greetings, but if you get to know us you begin to see our wounds and struggles.  

The more we observe families here, and the more we get to know the students of the college, the more we see much pain and heartache.  Just like the students in the US, these young men and women have already in their short lives experienced a tremendous amount of difficulty.  Some have faced abuse – physical and sexual; some have faced other violence; some have been abandoned; two young men in the class grew up in a local orphanage.  One young man was so estranged from his mother due to conflict that the two hadn’t spoken in about five years.  One young woman is the only daughter of the second wife of a man.  Because of a cultural practice I don’t understand yet, as the only child of this marriage and a daughter, she will never be allowed to marry, but must remain in her parents’ home.  Yet she has had five children who must call her ‘sister’ while calling her parents ‘mother’ and ‘father.’ Who is the father of these children?  I’m afraid to ask, but I think I can guess.

We’re amazed at the poor treatment of women in this culture.  They bear an immense share of the labor required to survive.  As far as we can see it is a rare thing indeed to see a husband honor his wife in even a small way or speak a word of appreciation to her.  We’ve had some long discussions with people regarding the issue of child-raising.  We have not yet witnessed a parent interact meaningfully with a child here, with the exception of mothers of infants.  The children roam around completely on their own.  They put themselves to bed.  Parents do not read to or play with or spend time with their children.  Children are not disciplined unless they do something “bad” enough to warrant a beating.

My peacemaking class this morning was to address the topic of forgiveness.  What a nerve that touched!  The students have, up to now, asked very few questions.  This morning, the dam broke.  The discussion was so intense that we went right past the end of the class time, right on through break, and all the way to the end of the next two hours that were supposed to be the narrative class.  We moved from questions regarding personal forgiveness to difficult questions regarding conflict between the tribes here in Kenya.  The post-election violence from a few years before came up with force.  All the students raised their hands to indicate they had vivid memories of that time and had been affected.  They said that though the tribes today are “at peace” in the worldly sense of having no open conflict, they are far from being truly at peace. They are struggling deeply with issues of allegiance to God versus family and tribe. “What do we do,” they asked, “when members of two different tribes and two different political parties all claim to be Christians, yet they fight one another?” They said, “Ryan, what would you do if your tribe came to you and said, ‘Pastor Ryan, pray for our victory as we go to fight that other tribe – or we’ll burn your house.’?”  They talked about the pressures on them to participate in the slander and violence or else be labeled a traitor to their own people.  Some of them have faced threats of physical violence if they don’t participate.  So I took them to the only place I know to go for answers – God’s word.  And we read Scripture about the cost of discipleship, putting God as number one in our lives even above mother, father, wife, husband, or tribe.  We considered the words of Jesus that the world will hate His followers as they hated Him.  We looked at our call to follow Christ in His example of bearing up under unjust suffering.  We looked at the promises of Jesus calling those “blessed” who endure persecution, knowing their rewards are not in this life.  We discussed the realities of being ostracized and ridiculed alongside the opportunities for witness to the saving power of Christ.  What a discussion!  It was the justice of God and the mercy of God and all the other glorious truths of the gospel.  It was painful for students.  It was hard-hitting, yet so good.  My one paragraph here can’t possibly do justice to the discussion, but I can say that the word of God is transforming the hearts and lives of these students.  By the way, we also mentioned the temptations of the church in the US to mix our allegiance to God with allegiance to materialism and nationalism. We talked about the temptation for American Christians to hate and fear Muslims rather than love them more than ourselves and take the gospel to them.

The response from the churches to the preaching of God’s word has made an impact on me as well.  The basic response is, “This is the kind of preaching we need. It has substance.  It knows what it is talking about.  It challenges us to respond.”  An older man was telling us after the service on Saturday that he is so encouraged by the young people.  He talked about the huge change they saw in Silas and how they respect him.  He said, “We wanted to argue with some of the changes the young people are suggesting because that’s not how we’ve ever done things before, but we couldn’t argue because they were showing us from the Bible why the changes were right, and we can see the Holy Spirit in their lives.”

The truths of the gospel are so desperately needed in every human heart all around the world to free people from the bondages of sin. 

We’ve also confronted poverty and the difficulties of helping people much more forcefully.  We learned that two young men at the Bible college were missing class and struggling to pay attention because they had wives and children at home who were crying from hunger.  They had no money and no food.  Of course, our hearts wanted to bring immediate help to these situations, yet long conversations with Silas were good as we wrestled through how to follow the Scriptural principles in James to do something about physical needs of our family in Christ while also following 2 Thessalonians to insist that people live productive lives and earn the bread they eat.  Gracie and Caleb, especially Caleb, are struggling with these issues as they have found in themselves a desire to give everything they own to help and yet are finding it difficult to understand the complex issues surrounding poverty.

We also had a meeting with the still-forming group of leaders for the Bible College.   Again, much of the discussion centered around how to do some economic development for the students. In this area, most pastors are not paid at all.  Almost no student could expect any financial compensation for his or her ministry in a local church, so if they are to complete the task God would lay before them, they must also learn to support themselves.  A micro loan program seems to be vital for the completion of the school’s mission, yet this too must be done with real wisdom.  LONG DISCUSSION – I’ll spare you the details. 

The college, too, faces some immediate challenges.  It’s currently renting rooms in a building, but the minimal tuition and financial status of the students makes it so the college’s income is not meeting its expenses.  The school will move to the church building under construction near Silas’s home when it has a roof and electricity.  The churches have come close to being able to pay for all the trusses, but they must still raise a significant amount to put the metal roofing needed and install electricity.  So, it’s unclear when the college will be able to move.  In the mean-time, Silas hopes to generate some income through small-business pursuits that may also employ a few students.  He is gearing up to begin well-drilling after this term is complete in a couple of weeks. They are also hoping to revive the printing business if a better printer could be purchased.  This business had been running on one small HP deskjet that only printed black.  When we arrived, that printer was dead, and we purchased a new color inkjet to meet the immediate need of printing necessary materials for classes.  However, printers here are about twice the price in US dollars of the same model bought in the US, so a printer of good quality for a business will probably need to be shipped from there, which spells TIME.  By the way, you can purchase a brand new motorcycle here for $1000 US dollars, while the little ink jet printer we bought cost over $200 US dollars.  Go figure!!

Speaking of motorcycles, I was on the back of one yesterday.  The young man driving was asking me if I found Kenya to be very different from the United States.  I said that, yes, there were many differences in almost every way, but that the place I had found the most similarity was in the human heart.  People here have the same desires and aspirations; the same things fill them with joy or grief; the causes of their conflicts are the same; the results of their sin are the same. Though the people may live very differently, the human heart is very much the same.

OK, I’d better bring this to a close again. Obviously, there’s a LOT to chew on.  Oh, by the way, there is one young man at the college who talked with me today about coming to Montana Bible College.  I have previously warned the students about all the difficulties and hurdles to face in this pursuit.  However, in Edwin’s case, I think God may be putting something together. Edwin is a standout among the students. Academic performance is not strong, to put it mildly.  But Edwin shows an unusual level of understanding and competence. During his years in the orphanage, he was sponsored by a family in the US – in Montana of all places.  This family has taken a real interest in him.  They had a very active relationship through e-mail and even Skype.  About two months ago, the family traveled to Kenya with a team from their church that worked in the orphanage.  They told Edwin that they had been praying that a door would open up to allow him to come to the US to study, and they have offered to sponsor him financially.  I don’t know any details yet, but it looks as if this could be a real possibility.  Edwin had been wanting to study electrical engineering, but now believes God has a call on his life toward some sort of ministry.  I asked him what brought about the change, and he started describing for me all the changes that God has made in his life through his study of God’s word at Ziwa Bible College.  He is finding in himself a heart and passion to share the word with others, and he realizes he needs more equipping.  Also, just a fun tidbit on him – yesterday as we played volleyball with the students at Silas’s home, we found out how true it is that Kenyans love volleyball.  Edwin can POUND that ball, and yet he has incredibly soft hands – really fun to watch.

Now I’m really going!

 

With love to all,

Ryan, for the team here.

 

P.S.  The internet modem was crashing my computer over and over and causing all kinds of crazy virus symptoms, to the point that I finally uninstalled it completely. Last week I tried to connect for over two hours – unsuccessfully.  I’ve given up and am trying to send any communication like this through Silas’s computer.  So, my communication will stay very limited.  I’m thankful Art has been able to blog via his phone.