Saturday
The first full day in the village started with nerves and dizziness; probably an inner ear problem from all of the flying.
Kap’s family is living in a different house until the work on their permanent home is complete. After baked oatmeal for breakfast, we went to their future house this morning to start the solar installation. The work went well. We were able to mount all of the DC fans in each room and set up the fan system today – God is good. Michael and Jerry sweated in the attic routing wire and mounting fans. Kap and I laid out the three system’s power boards and connection on a board mounted to the solar room wall. The job was almost complete when darkness came and the work had to stop.
Sunday
Email is unreliable in their part of the world. Their internet connection comes and goes with no consistency. The men bought a phone card and called each of their wives on Monday evening. I wrote the following post based on that conversation with Jimmy.
The village the men are in lies on the border between two very different cultures. I’ll allow them to explain that in more detail when they return home. But that cultural shift means they could walk to the southern part of their town and attend a French speaking church on Sunday morning. For those of you familiar with LJBC, the building they attended was the same size as our church but more than 400 people were in attendance. I’m sure it was quite crowded!
Kap introduced the men during the share time of their church service. He introduced Pastor Jerry first. The people oooooh-ed and aaaaah-ed; a pastor visiting was impressive. Then Kap introduced Michael and the people smiled politely. Finally, he introduced Jimmy and the people started laughing. Kap explained quietly that, in the local language, the word “jimmy” sounds like their word for “weak.” Oh well, “For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10).
The men will visit one of the elders from church on Friday. His name is Andy* and although he attends church in the village, he actually lives quite a long distance away. His desire is to plant a new church in his home area. On Friday, the men will help work in his rice fields. I'm sure we will hear more about Andy when the men return home.
The temperatures are much milder than the men anticipated, especially after the extreme heat of the past summer. The highs tend to be in the mid-80’s with lots of humidity. The rains still come every other day so the area is green, lush, and the rivers are flooded.
“Then will I purify the lips of the peoples,
that all of them may call on the name of the Lord
and serve him shoulder to shoulder.”
Zephaniah 3:9
*name has been changed
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