What a day

Tuesday evening I looked at my weekly planner with nervous uncertainty. My planner is usually very empty, to the extent that I frequently plop it down on the counter at work and forget about it until four days later when I move the stack of tapes that had somehow gotten placed on top of it. But for Wednesday the 22nd I had quite a lineup. At least things were neatly scheduled into place. 10:30 withdraw money because we only get one chance per week to do so and I was $20 in the hole. 11:00 two guys would be coming to clean our roof and rain gutter. 1:00 lunch, during which time the cleaning lady would hopefully come and then go again in time for me to get back and  make a Skype call at 3:00 to some guy in the United States who I have been unable to contact for 3 weeks. Then two friends would come in at 4:00 to finish up some recordings in the studio that they have been working on for a few weeks. We would wrap up by 6 and then I would rush home to meet up with my senegalese "brother," Kabo, at 6:30. We would spend a culturally appropriate amount of time together, hopefully ending before 9:00 so I could get packed for a camping trip on thursday.

Instead, this is what happened:
I tossed and turned until 15 minutes before my alarm, got up, turned off my alarm, and then went back to bed. I finally dragged out of bed again 12 minutes before I was supposed to leave for work. I shoveled down oatmeal mixed with yogurt (quick & easy) and stumbled to morning prayer. The morning was uneventful, partially because our email server had crashed, and I managed to withdraw my money and repay my roommate. So far, so good!

But then 11:00 came around and my roof cleaners didn't. I looked high and low for their phone number. No beans. I went back to work, hoping they wouldn't show up while I was trying to Skype, or while the cleaning lady was here, or while we were recording... My worries about that were quickly dwarfed when I realized that I had accidentally deleted the project that I have been working on for 2 1/2 weeks. You know those cartoons where somebody presses "delete" and the whole computer dissapears? Yeah, it was basically that. 2 1/2 weeks of work. One dumb move. My biggest angst was fearing that my coworker would never trust me again. He is particular about details, and now he would never again let me delete an ancient file, never leave me alone in the studio ever again.... argh!!! Fortunately, after 24 minutes of searching and digging and begging God for mercy, I discovered that all was not lost. For some reason completely beyond my comprehension, the program saved two copies of the work that I had done in places where I had never told it to save anything. Normally I would be have been very annoyed. This time I was grateful.

Grateful, but still in a bad mood. The ordeal had reminded me of the dismal state of our file system. Namely, we don't have one. Also, the trial had taken me 5 minutes into lunch break and as I was about to leave I remembered that I needed to prepare the studio for the cleaning lady. So I was a solid 15 minutes late for lunch. I ate, and took my time about it, and when I returned I fully expected the studio to be cleaned. Nope. It was obvious that the cleaning lady had never stepped foot inside. This was distressing. She was going to interupt my precious skype call. As I was stewing about that, the phone rang. Two boys were waiting for me to come and show them how to clean the roof. They made it, just 4 hours late! I checked skype and my would-be contact wasn't even online, so I ran off to get the boys set up. How many people does it take to find a pair of work gloves? In my case, five. I finally got them started and stepped back into the studio. My contact still wasn't on Skype. An hour later the boys were still up on the roof, raining down leaves and branches, when my friend came through the door to do her recording, waving the dust out of her face and picking leaves out of her hair. So we started the recordings, occasionally starting over when the bumps on the roof got too loud. 

After a while I stepped outside for an update and the boys confessed to me that they had knocked a hole in the roof. This was very bad. We had had a sprinkle the night before and at that moment the clouds were menacing the first flood from the heavens for the year. So I abandoned my poor friend in the studio and immediately began running around the center looking for something that would strike me as a solution. I barged in on our director, who was trying to skype somebody, and he helped me come up with a couple of ideas. I hurried back and started at it, noting that it was already nearly 5:30. My evening with Kabo could be in danger....

Long story slightly shorter, I was still finishing up the patch job at 7:15. My friend finished the recordings on her own and left. I never did get the guy skyped. The cleaning lady never showed up, which was just as well because I ended up dragging a nasty, dirty, rust-covered old plastic tarp into the studio and drapping it over our most important electronic equipment just in case my roof repair solution blew away in a high wind. And poor Kabo was wandering around and around my neighborhood, texting me every half an hour to see if I was ever going to show up.

When I finally got home I was tired, sweaty, and covered in dirt. I always have a hard time understanding Kabo on the phone, especially when I have bad reception and it cuts out halfway through sentences.... so my understanding was that he had given up and gone home. I was about to peal off my filthy clothes and get in the shower when he called and said that he was on his way. I was unspeakably depressed. I just wanted to crash, not have a cross-cultural experience in French all evening. It was already 8:00!!!

So I wandered over to our meeting point, a 5 minute walk, and ended up standing there for half an hour waiting for him. It gave me time to think. When I got there I was in agony, begging God to send him back home. By the end I was still hoping he would go home, but I had also said a prayer, with a tiny shred of faith behind it, asking that he and I would actually have an enjoyable evening.

He showed up at 8:30. And we had an enjoyable evening! Praise God! Miracles still happen! And then I took a shower and should have gone to bed... but I started writing this instead.

Peace

Isaiah 26:3 (NASB) “The steadfast of mind you will keep in perfect peace, Because he trusts in You.”

—but those who are not steadfast in mind do not allow God to keep them in perfect peace because they are not focused continually on Him. God can not keep us peaceful if we fail to trust Him and frantically scan the chaos around us instead.

If, however, you can stay focused on God (and I am sure that this is possible only by His grace) you can rejoice in the midst of horror, as the people in Isaiah 24:14, because of God’s majesty. And you can remain in peace because “...in God the Lord we have an everlasting rock.” (Isaiah 26:4)

Island Advenutre #2

As you may be aware, the local manner of observing my country's most dominant religion varies quite substantially from the "official" version. Within the system of brotherhoods that defines my country's version of the faith, there is one particular group that many see as... odd. The adherents are known for wearing wild clothing and dreadlocks and sometimes being very aggressive as they go around seeking donations. Just as an example, we recently had a report of them swarming a vehicle stuck in traffic, rocking it back and forth, and piling things on the windshield so the driver couldn't see. Consequently they are feared, and everyone I know avoids them whenever possible.

I found out on Saturday that these guys have a meeting place on the island. I found it by accident and ended up trapped between a big group of the them and the ocean. As I stood there trying to figure out where to go, one of them came up to me and started talking to me. He didn't seem to fit the stereotypical pattern. His hair was in dreads but he looked normal enough.

He also knew lots and lots of systematic theology, which is not what I expected. He explained to me all about what he believed. It sounded to me like new age with a very, very thin mask of the religion that he actually claims to follow. He told me that god is inside of me, all around me, and in everything, and that I needed a spirit guide to help me find him. I told him that God says in the Bible that I can talk directly to Him, and that He gives me the Holy Spirit so I don't need a spirit guide. I asked him how he can know whether his spirit guide is telling him the truth or not. He didn't really answer. He told me that I should become one of them so that I could have peace and "eternal life."  I asked him what he meant by eternal life. I can believe in eternal life because I believe that Jesus Christ died for my sins and then rose from the dead. He doesn't believe that Jesus rose from the dead. What reason does he have to believe in eternal life? Well, he explained that eternal life is kind of a spiritual thing, it starts here on earth when you get in touch with the god within you... I couldn't get him to say what he thinks will happen after he dies.

I hope God works in his heart. Nothing I said will do it. He knew plenty of theology so nothing I said was a surprise. He even quoted scripture to me once. We chatted for about 20 minutes. The one thing that really made me kind of nervous was the fact that the whole time we were chatting, one of his friends was taking video with his cell phone. I have no idea what they are going to use that video for. I felt like I was at an evangelism meeting, and they were hoping to get evidence of my conversion. I just hope they don't cut and paste what I said to make it look like I joined them, oppressed them, validated their theology, or who knows what. Once the crowd had cleared out and I had an exit, I took it.

The conversation was enlightening though. If they are heavily involved with "spirit guides," that (along with an assortment of drugs) could explain some of the really crazy behavior that we sometimes see. And now I know that there is no point in trying to discuss with them the main theological points of the religion that they claim to follow. I don't know that they truly agree with any of them!

The Market

There is a market about three blocks from my house. I go through it fairly frequently in order to get to various places, but I have never actually gone there to buy things. Most of the stuff in the market is clothing that comes over from the United States. They unload big bags of used clothing from the ships, drag them to the market, and then unload them on the tables. Today my roommate and I decided to go see what was available. Boy, did I find some treasures! I didn't buy any of them, but I did run back home for my camera so you can enjoy them with me :-)

Let's start with a little local pride! The guy had no idea why I liked this hat.

Go Twins!

 I'm almost surprised that this hadn't sold already. American stuff is usually pretty popular.

And a little more back-home flavor: "Nothing runs like a Deere." Except maybe everlasting bush taxis like the one behind me.

I was seriously tempted to buy this:

And I was not tempted to buy this, but it was fantastic! It's true, I need a haircut. That will be happening Wednesday.

Then we spent a long time digging through shirts. Here were some of the more spectacular ones.
Some expressions of excellence are more life-threatening than others...

WHAT?!?!

I was tempted to buy this for a number of people I know.

For of such as these

 I had quite a day yesterday on an island just outside of town. My first experience there was a fairly bad one so I was hoping to redeem my perspective this time around. I think I did, though there were three events in particular during the day that are going to require a good deal of thought, reflection, and prayer (and will probably give rise to three different blog posts!) I will start with the one that had the least to do with the island itself.

You may recall that some time ago I wrote about the massive amount of need that I see around me and how I feel completely clueless as to how to address it. In the weeks that have passed since then, I haven't gotten much closer to finding a solution. I bought apples for some kids once, but most of the time I still ignore people. It's just so overwhelming, and I can't help everyone...

This island was the scene of the most serious harassment I have received so far in the country. I had women swarming around me, violating their own cultural norms, not accepting "no" in their own language or any other, absolutely determined to get me to buy their necklaces or paintings or whatever else they were selling. They stooped low. "My friend, my friend, I am making you an excellent deal. Am I ugly? Is that why you won't buy from me? Are you racist? Are you ignoring me because I'm black? I want to be your friend..." They used everything they could possibly think of, and it went on and on and on like that for more than an hour. One of them actually grabbed my arm and tried to drag me to her stand. I felt hopeless and trapped. It is a small island, I couldn't just walk away.

As we were waiting for the ferry back to the mainland I started playing with a couple of kids on the beach. Suddenly they started trying to sell me a soccer ball. An adult appeared out of nowhere and started haggling with me for the price. I was shocked. Even the kids were out to sell me stuff! Nobody was safe. It scarred me to the point that to this day I tend to automatically shy away from anyone who addresses me as "mon ami" (my friend), even in my own neighborhood where they may actually be somebody I know.

So it was with that background that I returned to the island. I was determined to not be a target. I was certainly not going to buy anything, because if you buy one thing all the other sellers see it and they won't leave you alone. I was seriously thinking about speaking German all day long, because if they didn't know that I speak French and English they might leave me alone. I know, I am a coward. But I just felt so helpless last time...

This time I had no problems with sellers. I was with another young guy who had no intention of buying anything, and they could tell. We walked quickly enough that the nobody thought it worth the energy of trying to keep up after we told them that we weren't interested. I was very relieved and managed to actually enjoy the island.

But there was one seller who approached us, and now I wish I had done something for him. It was near the end of the day. We were hot and tired and had decided to sit down for a couple of minutes in the shade by the harbor/beach area. As we sat there we were approached by a boy, perhaps 10 years old, who was selling little bags of dried fruit. I never even looked at him. I know it seems absolutely cruel, but in my mind he was not a boy. He was a vendor and I needed to avoid him. I remember now that he spoke quietly. I'm sure he wasn't enjoying the interaction any more than we were. After asking a few times if we were interested, hesitantly asserting that it was a good price, and still getting our polite but completely impersonal responses, he shuffled off down the path.

Looking back on it, I wonder what I could have done. I had money in my pocket. I probably could have bought his entire tray of dried fruit for a couple of dollars. But it's hard to know if that would have been the right response. Maybe that would feed his family for the night, but it would also encourage the parents to keep sending him out to sell because they know he will sell more than an adult would. But if they only other option is the family going hungry... so many unknowns. Looking back on it, I wish I had told the boy to go have fun for half an hour. I could guard his tray for him while he was gone and pay him enough to make up for the amount of money he would have made from half an hour of sales. I feel like that's the kind of thing that Jesus would have done.

When am I going to get good at this? I need to get over my own fears and discomfort and start seeing others.  I need to get good ideas at the time rather than two hours later when I look back on it. Which essentially means that I need to get a lot closer to God.

One of my friends and former professors recently posted some good insights about this on his blog:

http://apprentice2jesus.com/author/apprentice2jesus/

Camping Details

We dropped down our tents under a Baobab tree. This was a very important fact because it helped us find our way home after going to the toilets, which were located on the other side of a quarter mile of brush. All you had to do was look up to where the stars were blotted out in a roughly Baobobish shape, and that was where you were going. Last year M failed to think of this plan and ended up lost in the dark. Fortunately the anaconda can't see very well in the dark either, so M survived. If he hadn't, we wouldn't have had anybody to organize the expedition this time around. Moving on...

I carefully chose a location for each of our three tents. Then my comrades showed up and vetoed them all. Such is life. We managed to sleep okay despite the boulders and tree trunks and mountain ranges under our sleeping bags.

We set up our campfire in a large dirt space so that nothing would catch fire. Unfortunately the reason for the large dirt space was a thriving ant colony living just below the surface. We had to dance as we served up our food or they would have picked us up and hauled us away.

The next morning we had a devotional and then took a group picture just to make sure that neither the ants nor the anaconda had carried anyone off in the night. Several people headed home and the rest of us went to work.

First we measured out 50 meters of twine. Then we used pliers to clamp old bottle caps (the metal kind) on to the string at regular intervals. I think it was about 70 cm.

Then we took that string out to a field and staked it down into rows. It took us forever to get the lines straight. Literally forever. As I write this, they still aren't straight. They never will be. But we eventually just said "close enough for cowboy work!"  Eventually a hole will be dug at each marker (crimped bottle cap). Each crop season the hole will be filled with mulch and seeded with a different crop. This method nearly eliminates soil erosion, uses water very efficiently, and provides it's own mulch. Or something like that. I am making this up as I go...

Here is the open area that will soon be a field. Well, one corner of it anyway.

After our string-laying adventures it was already time for lunch. It took a while for lunch to actually get made, but it was great once we got it! Oh yeah, I suppose this looks weird to most of you. Welcome to Senegal, this is how we eat. Except normally you don't use a spoon.

We then engaged in a very manly activity. This throwing star was hurled into the the trunk of the Baobob by a Ninja so stealthy and quick that nobody is quite certain who he was. But it was me. And I hold the height record. And it took us five guys, two cups of coffee, two hours, and two rakes tied together to finally get the throwing star back down!

Afterwards we went on a walk. We made a tour of the entire outside perimeter of the reforestation project. Inside the fence there were a lot of beautiful trees and plants.  None of these were specially planted, the seeds are always in the soil but they normally never have a chance to grow because of the overabundance of livestock that eat the new shoots.

In this panoramic photo you can see the reforestation area on the left half and the non-protected area on the right half. The project has been going for 7 years and the main difference between the two areas is a fence. The one is capable of sustaining livestock, produce, and a charcoal business. The other is considered nearly useless. Boundaries and barriers can be helpful! I feel like there may be some spiritual parallels.

Howdy to our neighbors! We saw quite a few of these carts go by as we walked.

The next day we went to church in a village whose name I don't recall. It was a wonderful service! I like that church a lot. I could tell that they had a lot of joy but also a great respect for God.

Here is a panoramic shot taken in the street. You can see the church on the far right side.

Camping

Last weekend was wonderful! Several friends and I stuffed a portion of our belongings into the back of a pickup truck and drove down to a reforestation project called Beersheba. You can see more information about it at the official website here:

http://beershebaproject.org/

or this youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_PGTGfO5Vs

We were going out to do a little bit of work and at least as much relaxing in nature. Living in the middle of a major city makes a person wish for trees, birds, stars, and cow poop.

What we forgot about were the ants. Millions of gigantic ants that swarmed out of their hole when we started cooking supper on their hill.

We managed to have an excellent weekend anyway. I have uploaded an album of photos to my nifty new dropbox account and you can see it here:

http://www.dropbox.com/gallery/31075295/1/Beersheba?h=a464b8

If you want to join dropbox, let me know and I will give you a reference. For each reference I give I get another 256 MB of storage, which means more pictures or videos I can share with you!

Hopefully tomorrow or Friday I can go through the pictures and pick a few to put on here and tell you what we were doing. For tonight it is already past my bedtime and I still need a shower, so nighty night!