Thursday, August 28, 2008
Pictures are up
I am back in the States. School is... going to be hard.
I have uploaded most of my pictures.
There are a lot of captions.
There are a lot of pictures. When all are up, over 1,100.
I believe you can leave comments, so please do. Or, even ask questions: I will try to answer all of them. Leave them on the photo, not on this post.
Ok, here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/remorehouse
The folders are numbered
01 Ethiopia
02 Ethiopia -> Kenya
03 Nairobi
04 Narok
05 Masaai Mara
06 Sudan (not completely loaded, check back)
07 Kampala (not loaded)
I have uploaded most of my pictures.
There are a lot of captions.
There are a lot of pictures. When all are up, over 1,100.
I believe you can leave comments, so please do. Or, even ask questions: I will try to answer all of them. Leave them on the photo, not on this post.
Ok, here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/remorehouse
The folders are numbered
01 Ethiopia
02 Ethiopia -> Kenya
03 Nairobi
04 Narok
05 Masaai Mara
06 Sudan (not completely loaded, check back)
07 Kampala (not loaded)
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Last Day
Today has been a good day. We had a pretty early start. We spent the morning going around and visiting students from one of the main universities. That was pretty interesting. Everyone treats me like a VIP because I am from America. That makes things awkward sometimes. I am looking forward to blending in again. But I had a really good time hanging out with Aaron and Mary, students who were walking around with me.
We enjoyed a nice Indian meal out in town. The pastor the the university ministry is named Kennedy. He is a really awesome guy, and we had a great conversation over lunch. He was explaining how a big problem here is that people trust westerners immediately, and it opens the door to a lot of a bad teaching. Brian McLaren has done several conferences out here, and the Mormons are building temples all over the place.
A lot of good work is going on as well.
I will be posting all my pictures in the next week or so. And I will probably have at least one more post reflecting on the trip, so make sure to check back in.
Kampala
Its been pretty relaxed here in Kampala. I have been hanging out with my friend Rusty, who used to live here. He started a university ministry which has since grown both in width and depth. They also have a bible study program that enrolls thousands. It seems to be a great system.
The guest house I am staying in is here: N 00 17.764 E 32 36.780
Yesterday we went out to see a food distribution. We were out in the slums here: N 00 18.304 E 32 39.348
They plant home churches by bringing in a bunch of food, doing a worship service, and giving everyone a free meal. One of the things I have been praying about since being here is a good attitude toward poverty. Its not easy. By Western standards, everyone here is living in poverty. By African standards, people are getting by: life as usual. So what do I do with the money in my pocket?
Also, because I have no personal experience in this area, I don't know how much good it does to use material lures to attract people to a spiritual message. Jesus seemed to turn people away when He knew they came with such a motivation. He didn't heal everyone, and He fed the 5000 once and when they came back for more He sent them away hungry with a stern rebuke.
More thinking to do....
The next two days will be long, both because I won't be busy and because I am really looking forward to being home. The final stretch is always the longest.
Oh yeah, I got sick yesterday, and I don't really know what the trouble is. I threw up a couple of times, but now I am feeling OK. Whatever. Bodies are stupid. Pray for that anyway.
Okay.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
More details on Sudan
This is the third post about Sudan.
I realized I was a bit lazy with my last post.
Here are some more of the details about what I was doing in Sudan.
I was in Nimule, which is just across the border from Uganda. You can find in on Google Earth. I am not going to be putting up GPS coordinates for the school because they are still in a lot of danger from the Arab government in the north. The peace treaty has been working well for the last few years, but no one expects it to last long.
The reason the school has been a target is that it sits right on the main road connecting south Sudan to Uganda. Also, the majority of their students are being prepared to be chaplains in the SPLA, the army of South Sudan.
I had about 40 students. Most of them were intending to go on to be chaplains, but some were training for ministry in general. Their English and prior education varied drastically. Some had already finished some other Bible training program; others had even finished primary school. That made teaching a bit difficult. We had to go over and over certain points to hammer everything in.
That being said, you could see intelligence shining through in certain individuals. The problem was more lack of training and knowledge than anything. Even the most intelligent men were ignorant of things we in America would take for granted.
A good example of this: One of my sharpest students asked this question, "If there were no cameras when Jesus was alive, how did they make the Jesus Movie?" He was referring to the film that many mission organizations show to villages. He simply assumed that what he was seeing was really the life of Jesus. This simple, naive approach was really common. It wasn't stupidity that created the question, but lack of experience and knowledge. I had to constantly remember that as I taught.
African Christianity has some serious doctrinal flaws.( I say that as a sweeping generalization, to which there are obvious exceptions.) One of the most frustrating is legalism. Many Christians here believe very emphatically that good works will save a person. They believe that going to church and doing good works is all that is necessary.
Teaching John, with its huge emphasis on belief, went totally in the face of that. Even still, it was very hard to get through. The heartbreaking part was seeing how much of their ideology could be directly connected to the old style fundamentalism that was imported from America, where Christians don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t wear shorts to church, where they are found every Sunday, and every respectable man wears a tie and takes Sunday off. Horrible.
The other major problem in Sudan is Roman Catholicism. Very few Americans seem to grasp the true message of the Roman church, or understand what it is doing in places like Sudan where there is no other church or school. Many people in Africa ask, “Are you a Catholic, or are you saved?” Not only do Catholics claim to be "not born again," they are proud of this fact about themselves. The gospel of justification by works, through the Roman Catholic Church alone, has been rooted deeply in people’s spiritual consciousness. Catholics are deliberately steered away from studying the Bible.
The reason Roman Catholicism became so prevalent here is that during the wars the only people that stayed behind to do ministry were priests and nuns. Many of these won’t even let Christians pray for those who are in their hospitals or schools. The dividing line between the true gospel and “another” can be clearly seen here, even if in places like America it is cleverly disguised by theological terms and ecumenical rhetoric.
Needless to say, studying John really shook up a lot of thinking.
The facility where I was staying is pretty nice. There is no running water, but they keep reservoirs full for showers and sinks. There is no electricity, but they run a generator for three hours each night. I watched a lot of DVDs on the TV they have there.
Like I mentioned before, the roughest part was not being able to leave the compound without an escort.
The weather was really nice. We had a lot of rain, usually in the evenings. There was lots of thunder and lightening. Really beautiful. The last time I was there it was very dry and I described it as a desert. This time, after months of rains, everything was lush and full. There was green everywhere.
All in all: a good experience.
I realized I was a bit lazy with my last post.
Here are some more of the details about what I was doing in Sudan.
I was in Nimule, which is just across the border from Uganda. You can find in on Google Earth. I am not going to be putting up GPS coordinates for the school because they are still in a lot of danger from the Arab government in the north. The peace treaty has been working well for the last few years, but no one expects it to last long.
The reason the school has been a target is that it sits right on the main road connecting south Sudan to Uganda. Also, the majority of their students are being prepared to be chaplains in the SPLA, the army of South Sudan.
I had about 40 students. Most of them were intending to go on to be chaplains, but some were training for ministry in general. Their English and prior education varied drastically. Some had already finished some other Bible training program; others had even finished primary school. That made teaching a bit difficult. We had to go over and over certain points to hammer everything in.
That being said, you could see intelligence shining through in certain individuals. The problem was more lack of training and knowledge than anything. Even the most intelligent men were ignorant of things we in America would take for granted.
A good example of this: One of my sharpest students asked this question, "If there were no cameras when Jesus was alive, how did they make the Jesus Movie?" He was referring to the film that many mission organizations show to villages. He simply assumed that what he was seeing was really the life of Jesus. This simple, naive approach was really common. It wasn't stupidity that created the question, but lack of experience and knowledge. I had to constantly remember that as I taught.
African Christianity has some serious doctrinal flaws.( I say that as a sweeping generalization, to which there are obvious exceptions.) One of the most frustrating is legalism. Many Christians here believe very emphatically that good works will save a person. They believe that going to church and doing good works is all that is necessary.
Teaching John, with its huge emphasis on belief, went totally in the face of that. Even still, it was very hard to get through. The heartbreaking part was seeing how much of their ideology could be directly connected to the old style fundamentalism that was imported from America, where Christians don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t wear shorts to church, where they are found every Sunday, and every respectable man wears a tie and takes Sunday off. Horrible.
The other major problem in Sudan is Roman Catholicism. Very few Americans seem to grasp the true message of the Roman church, or understand what it is doing in places like Sudan where there is no other church or school. Many people in Africa ask, “Are you a Catholic, or are you saved?” Not only do Catholics claim to be "not born again," they are proud of this fact about themselves. The gospel of justification by works, through the Roman Catholic Church alone, has been rooted deeply in people’s spiritual consciousness. Catholics are deliberately steered away from studying the Bible.
The reason Roman Catholicism became so prevalent here is that during the wars the only people that stayed behind to do ministry were priests and nuns. Many of these won’t even let Christians pray for those who are in their hospitals or schools. The dividing line between the true gospel and “another” can be clearly seen here, even if in places like America it is cleverly disguised by theological terms and ecumenical rhetoric.
Needless to say, studying John really shook up a lot of thinking.
The facility where I was staying is pretty nice. There is no running water, but they keep reservoirs full for showers and sinks. There is no electricity, but they run a generator for three hours each night. I watched a lot of DVDs on the TV they have there.
Like I mentioned before, the roughest part was not being able to leave the compound without an escort.
The weather was really nice. We had a lot of rain, usually in the evenings. There was lots of thunder and lightening. Really beautiful. The last time I was there it was very dry and I described it as a desert. This time, after months of rains, everything was lush and full. There was green everywhere.
All in all: a good experience.
Back from Sudan
I just got back to the FRM guesthouse in Kampala.
I am glad to be here.
Everything ended up working out really well in Nimule, but the time there was a real challenge. The hardest part, and this seems strange in hindsight, was simply all the time I had there. I was only teaching for about 3 hours a day, and doing some studying as well, but that left a lot of hours to kill. There really isn't anything to do there besides read and study, and unlike the other places I have gone on this trip, I couldn't leave the campus. There was no electricy, no town to explore, nothing to kill the time. Even when something did happen, it wouldn't last the whole day. Saturday and Sunday's were the hardest. It was stifling.
I don't do well with down time. My mind tends to fill with unpleasent memories, or I stew over this or that problem. So all that is to say, I want to thank everyone who has been praying for me this Summer. I am sure that it is making a big difference.
I did a lot of praying myself, which was a big jump for me. The last time I spent significant daily time in prayer was when I was still in California. I realized that I really haven't been reading the Bible like I used to either. I did a lot of that as well. Those two things are still really hard for me: Whenever I try to pray, or just read the Bible (especially Psalms), I end up hearing the voices of, and thinking about, people who caused a lot of spiritual chaos for me. I have realized that I associate anything remotely "spiritual" (prayer, reading the Bible devotionally, fellowship, worship, etc.) with a lot of filth from the past. The way certain people in Redlands treated me, or things they said, really wrecked a lot of my spiritual life.
Or, I should be more honest and say: I let them wreck a lot of my spiritual life.
I really feel like God is rebuilding a lot of that on this trip. I haven't been able to trust Christians the way I have on this trip in a really long time. Its hard getting used to, but its really nice at the same time.
During those long hours I had to figure out how I was going to cope with everything. I think I made a lot of progress.
It has all made me realize how important it is to get things right. We can't mess around with Truth or God or church or Christianity. I got hurt pretty bad back then, but I know people who were hurt even worse. And I know people who are still perpetuating the same suicidal spirituality.
This is important.
_____
All that and: The class ended really well. I think a good amount of the students missed a lot of the material, but even so a lot got it as well. The language issue continued to be a problem. Also, it was pretty clear by the end who was really on board, and who was there to get a good military job. But, they will either get changed or quit.
The pictures are going to tell this part of the story better than a blog. I will be home in about a week, and I should have pictures with captions up in two.
I now have a week in Kampala. I don't really know what I am going to be doing, so keep checking in to find out!
I am glad to be here.
Everything ended up working out really well in Nimule, but the time there was a real challenge. The hardest part, and this seems strange in hindsight, was simply all the time I had there. I was only teaching for about 3 hours a day, and doing some studying as well, but that left a lot of hours to kill. There really isn't anything to do there besides read and study, and unlike the other places I have gone on this trip, I couldn't leave the campus. There was no electricy, no town to explore, nothing to kill the time. Even when something did happen, it wouldn't last the whole day. Saturday and Sunday's were the hardest. It was stifling.
I don't do well with down time. My mind tends to fill with unpleasent memories, or I stew over this or that problem. So all that is to say, I want to thank everyone who has been praying for me this Summer. I am sure that it is making a big difference.
I did a lot of praying myself, which was a big jump for me. The last time I spent significant daily time in prayer was when I was still in California. I realized that I really haven't been reading the Bible like I used to either. I did a lot of that as well. Those two things are still really hard for me: Whenever I try to pray, or just read the Bible (especially Psalms), I end up hearing the voices of, and thinking about, people who caused a lot of spiritual chaos for me. I have realized that I associate anything remotely "spiritual" (prayer, reading the Bible devotionally, fellowship, worship, etc.) with a lot of filth from the past. The way certain people in Redlands treated me, or things they said, really wrecked a lot of my spiritual life.
Or, I should be more honest and say: I let them wreck a lot of my spiritual life.
I really feel like God is rebuilding a lot of that on this trip. I haven't been able to trust Christians the way I have on this trip in a really long time. Its hard getting used to, but its really nice at the same time.
During those long hours I had to figure out how I was going to cope with everything. I think I made a lot of progress.
It has all made me realize how important it is to get things right. We can't mess around with Truth or God or church or Christianity. I got hurt pretty bad back then, but I know people who were hurt even worse. And I know people who are still perpetuating the same suicidal spirituality.
This is important.
_____
All that and: The class ended really well. I think a good amount of the students missed a lot of the material, but even so a lot got it as well. The language issue continued to be a problem. Also, it was pretty clear by the end who was really on board, and who was there to get a good military job. But, they will either get changed or quit.
The pictures are going to tell this part of the story better than a blog. I will be home in about a week, and I should have pictures with captions up in two.
I now have a week in Kampala. I don't really know what I am going to be doing, so keep checking in to find out!
Sunday, August 10, 2008
In Sudan
I am updating this through a cell phone so I will keep it short.
Everything is going well. I have been teaching the Gospel of John for
the last four days. We are almost halfway done. This is the hardest
class yet because their English is very basic and very heavily
accented. I am told that they understand more than they seem. Also,
because most of them are going to be chaplains in the SPLA, we have no
garuntee that they are even born again. Its hard teaching John when
you dont know if anyone has even read the other simpler gospels. Pray
for that.
I will try to update this again, but no promises. I wont be able to
get on the net again until the 19th.
I am safe, healthy, and taking lots of pictures.
Everything is going well. I have been teaching the Gospel of John for
the last four days. We are almost halfway done. This is the hardest
class yet because their English is very basic and very heavily
accented. I am told that they understand more than they seem. Also,
because most of them are going to be chaplains in the SPLA, we have no
garuntee that they are even born again. Its hard teaching John when
you dont know if anyone has even read the other simpler gospels. Pray
for that.
I will try to update this again, but no promises. I wont be able to
get on the net again until the 19th.
I am safe, healthy, and taking lots of pictures.
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