Digging Deeper

For a little over a year now, Kristen and I have been living and working in Fort Dauphin.  What that looks like seems to change from week to week, but looking back, we are excited to see the ways the Father has been working around us, and looking ahead, we are are ready to see how He is working before us.

Most of our what we do involves learning about the cultural beliefs and traditions of the people in and around our town.  Sometimes, that just means sharing a meal with a friend in town and listening as he shares about the culture in the village he grew up in.  Other times, we venture out to the villages ourselves and talk with people in their homes.  These villages can be close enough to walk to, and others...not so much.

One village that we visited recently, for example, led to quite the adventure as we went out to find it.  Our coworker had previously met a man on the road who accepted Jesus for the first time.  He shared the name of his village, but all that could be gathered about where it was is that it was past the furthest town we had been to at that point.  So, Kristen and I, along with a local friend, set out to find this village and the man's family.  We drove to Ibakika (the furthest town we had been to), and asked if anyone knew the man whose home we were trying to find.  One man said he knew him, but that his town was hard to find.  So, he jumped in the truck with us to show us the way.  From there, we had to drive onto a ferry to cross a river, wade through another river, walk across vast rice fields, take two hand-dug canoes, and climb a sand dune to finally reach this man's nine-hut village, just to find that he was out fishing and wouldn't be back for at least four hours!

Waiting for the hand-cranked ferry

Driving onto the ferry

Enjoying the break from driving while we cross the river

Waiting on the canoe

Crossing the last river to get to the village

Even though the man was not there, we were able to meet his family and hear about how he had returned from town a few days prior, and shared how he accepted Jesus and wanted them to do the same.

While it is rewarding to see people who are so eager to hear about Jesus, that is just the beginning.  Just like in any culture, it is difficult for the people we work with to turn away from their traditional beliefs and customs that are incompatible with Scripture.  As we have grown in our relationships with people in the villages we visit often, as well as our friends in town who grew up practicing the customs in the countryside, we are learning just how dark this land is.  People are living in a constant state of fear and distrust of the people around them.  Even people who claim to be followers of Christ still go to the witchdoctor regularly.  When asked what happens to a person's spirit when they die, one group of villagers said it depends on how "Christian" you are; if you go to church, then you go to Heaven, and if you don't go to church, you join the ancestors according to their traditional belief.

Please pray for us as we continue to dive deeper into the culture and beliefs of the people here.  Pray that as they hear the Gospel, they will realize that it requires a change from the way things are traditionally done.  Pray that the light of Christ will shine brightly in the darkness.