Last Update from Boma, Dec. 3

The Rocket Stove Made by the Women of Boma

Part of the Circle Forming that Closes the Church Services

I forgot one thing from last Sunday. At the end of each service those who were leading go outside first and then everyone else follows singing a song. As each person greets those already in line they then take their place in the forming circle. When the circle is complete, a blessing is repeated by all -- a nice way to end a service. There is a little girl about 3 or 4 who runs to greet me every morning as I walk up to the school. She stood in line with me after church holding my hand. All of a sudden there was pain in my arm and I looked down to see her pulling the hairs. I realized how strange those hairs must appear because Sudanese have very little of any body hair.

The community meeting on alcohol and smoking that was supposed to have taken place on Tuesday did not happen. It rained early in the morning and then there were some problems and a big meeting with, you guessed it, the Mbotonya boys which the chiefs attended. Dr. Nandi's meeting was rescheduled for Thursday afternoon. It is now Thursday afternoon and the Mbotonya have not showed up for their dance and pre-dance lecture. At least the chiefs and community leaders heard Dr. Nandi and will speak to their people. In Sudan you plan and then do what the Sudanese make available to you. Little by little is at least progress. Dr. Nandi had a great line today after the meeting did not happen, "You do not plan things in Boma, Boma makes plans for you."

Speaking of the Mbotonya, Pastor Godfrey gave an excellent teaching today on Paul's conversion in Acts 9. He is teaching the first 12 books of Acts for the pastor training. His point was that Paul was a devout Pharisee who was saved and then immediately went back to his Pharisee brethren to tell them the truth about Jesus Christ. Throughout his ministry he continued doing this though it resulted in severe beatings and threats of death. Some of these pastors are Mbotonya and his point was that they need to go to these Mbotonya (every Murle village has their own Mbotonya and Titi groups) and tell them the truth about Jesus Christ, even though it may mean beatings and threats of death. I think they got the concept.

I have really enjoyed getting to know Pastor Godfrey and Dr. Nandi. They have done a wonderful job and are both just outstanding teachers. I have learned so much about the Murle culture from sitting in on Dr. Nandi's Christian Family Living class. He gets the men to open up and share the reality of Murle family life and it has been a great education for me. The pastors are going away with some very different, life changing ideas from scripture on God's principles for being a family. Dr. Nandi and I have very similar beliefs regarding the family; we are also the same age and have the same number of children and grandchildren so we have had some great conversations. I told him he could come to the US and teach on family anytime he wants as his wisdom and insights are very much needed.

On Wednesday morning we made a Rocket Stove! It was very fun. About 6 women and 2 men came. As I was mixing up the clay, grass seed and mango juice by hand, I was suddenly joined by 3 of the women. They proceeded to make the whole stove as I stood back and gave instructions through the interpreter. They did a great job and the stove came out quite nice. They were very proud of it and told me that when I come back to Boma I would see more of these stoves. One woman wants to take the stove kit home with her and make one tomorrow. After carting six 5 gal. buckets and other materials used to make the stove across the Atlantic and Africa, the response did indeed warm my teacher's heart. I took a lot of pictures, some of which I will share in the December newsletter.

Wednesday evening we had our staff prayer time and I led a communion service. Iris made mango juice and I bought a loaf of bread from Freddie. The communion, prayer, worship and fellowship made for a very rich time and we continued on well after we normally stop for dinner. We have one more time together tonight before leaving tomorrow morning. It was a little scary this morning waking up to a huge wind and rain storm, but by 10:00 it had started to clear up. The truck from JAM came this afternoon and we unloaded food for the school. The driver is spending the night and we are leaving at 6:00 in the morning for the airstrip and then on to Nairobi with MAF. That is God willing and the airstrip is dry. I just heard thunder and it is starting to rain. Boma always keeps you a little unsure of things forcing you to become further dependent on the Lord. This is one of the great Boma lessons to be learned by someone coming from the US - we don't really exert that much control over the world around us.

The sandals people wear here are of a very cheap plastic and do not last long with all the walking they do. I have had several men, including Chief Leno, ask me if they could have my sandals. If someone were to come up with a simple design for sandals that could be made here and sold, it could be a very good little business for someone. I remember going to Tijuana in my younger days and buying sandals made from old tire treads; if anyone has a design like this for sandals that could be made in Boma with materials brought in from Kenya, please send me an email.

Well, this is the last update before I return to Portland on Monday. It has been a good trip and I have learned a lot. Looking forward to getting back and seeing my wife Renee' and the grandkids.

Blessings from Boma;

Micheal