Towards Reconciliation

How to Make Chadian Cookies

By kimberly

On July 12, 2016

In Chad, Culture

Pour a large bowl (“koro”) of flour into a big basin.
Add salt. (If salt grains are large, place them in water to dissolve.)
Pour in baking powder (called “baking poodr”)
Take fly out of large oil bottle and pour oil into a coke bottle (this is your “measuring cup”).
Pour oil into flour and mix with your hand.
Find a short table to press out cookies. (Standing up is not an option because that is way too long to stand up and your legs will get tired. Sitting or squatting on the ground is how Chadians cook.)
Add in sugar and knead the dough (or cut out shapes with cookie cutters).
Pound white sugar into powdered sugar at your house (takes 20 minutes to pound).
Pour oil on pan; spread it out with your hands.
Put as many cookies on the pan as possible (cookies won’t rise very much).
Decorate cookies with powdered sugar and small metal device made from an oil can which will make designs on the cookes.
Try not to eat all the cookies before the visitors come on Eid!

Praying for “Amy”

By kimberly

On July 11, 2016

In Bible, Chad, Islam, Ministry, Prayer

Remember last week I asked you to pray for my friend Amy, since we were going to start reading the Bible together? The day that post was published, I found out she had to move. It was a very sudden thing. Amy has six children and has not seen her husband in about 2 years. He never sent money and had another wife in the capital. He appeared unexpectedly on a Wednesday evening and by Friday morning told her she had less than 24 hours to pack up her house and move all six children to N’Djamena.

It felt like a death to me. She was my favorite lady in the neighborhood, and, as I shared, not only did my children love her children, but she had connected me to many other women in the neighborhood. I asked God why she had to leave now, just as we were going to start formally reading the Bible together. He is sovereign over all things, even Amy’s salvation. So, I trust that what He began He is capable of continuing if He desires!

I see God’s hand in her leaving, at least a little bit: now I have several connections to other women. Instead of investing in one woman, her absence “forces” me to spend time with these other women.

We did send a micro sd card with the New Testament on it so she can listen on her cell phone if she desires.

Please continue to pray for Amy’s understanding of Scripture and for her salvation. We hope to visit her when we are in N’Djamena to continue conversations with her. I am thankful that her salvation does not hinge on my presence in her life! I am thankful that God knows the full picture and that He allows me to be a small part of His great plan.

Kid’s Corner: Learning Arabic

By kimberly

On July 8, 2016

In Chad, Family, Kid's Corner, language

Isaac went visiting for “Eid” (the holiday celebrating the end of the fasting month) this week and had many opportunities to greet Chadian friends. He came home and told me he wants to learn Arabic “faster” because he doesn’t always know how to respond when people talk to him.

I am encouraged by his desire to know more Arabic! When we arrived in Chad over 1 1/2 years ago, Isaac and Judah would look down at their feet if someone greeted them. After having a weekly children’s class with their English-speaking friends for the past year, they have learned basic greetings, actions, and some vocabulary. It has been a great boost for their confidence in speaking and interacting in the language; but, clearly, they need more.

Starting next week, we will let Isaac (and possibly Judah) have a short lesson for 15-20 minutes three times a week with my language helper after his school time with me and before I start my lessons. Hopefully, he will enjoy this time and be motivated to continue learning more and more!!

Sharing Scripture

By kimberly

On July 1, 2016

In Bible, Chad, Islam, language, Ministry

“Amy” with Calla Grace

I have two language partners:

The first one is currently in my living room translating the Jesus Storybook Bible into Arabic for me to learn new words.

The second language helper, “Amy” practices a strict form of Islam. She has been my friend and language helper since January, and I was uncertain of how our relationship would go. Honestly, I was a little fearful. However, she has turned out to be a good friend; has been the key to many other relationships in my neighborhood; and has frequently conversed about spiritual things with me.

Recently, she shared with me that she has an “injil“- a New Testament – in Arabic. She told me she received it from a man at the hospital four years ago. The man is no longer in town, but she kept the injiil and says that she has read some about Jesus. I was interested in seeing the injiil but didn’t want to rush into anything with her, so I waited. Yesterday she brought it up again in the context of much spiritual and religious conversation and expressed interest in reading it with me.

So, after Ramadan ends next week, we will plan to start reading God’s Word together. I am excited and humbled. Pray for me to have wisdom to know how to answer questions and explain clearly, and pray that God will use His Word to change “Amy’s” heart.

(I also have one more neighbor who is interested in seeing what books I have in Arabic. I am praying that she will come look at them, and desire to read some with me from Genesis or Matthew. You can pray for her too! Thanks!)

Our Garden

By josh

On June 29, 2016

In Chad, Garden

Having never really owned a plant myself (other than the venus fly trap I killed because it was cool watching it close on my pencil eraser), I am happy to report that we have the beginnings of a garden. A few zucchini plants, watermelon, spinach, and something called muskmelon that looks suspiciously like cantaloupe on the picture on the seed packet. We bought a bunch of seeds before coming to Chad in 2014, and the beginning of our second rainy season here seemed like a great time to give them a go. And despite my personal inexperience, I have had a little training a couple of years ago that included food production in arid climates. So with my trainer on speed dial (or speed email?), we watch and water with eager anticipation.

Our first zucchini sprout!

Watermelon

Ramadan

By kimberly

On June 22, 2016

In Chad, Culture, Islam, Ministry

We are more than halfway through Ramadan 2016! What does this mean? It means that people are more than halfway through the 30 obligatory days of fasting from food and drink during the day, hoping God will see this “good deed” and erase their sins.

Even my neighbors who are pregnant or nursing are fasting. “Why?” I ask. Islam allows them to make up the fasting days later if people are sick, pregnant, etc. The answer is always the same: it is easier to fast now while everyone is doing it than trying to make up days alone at a later date. This group mentality is where our friends live everyday.

They are beginning to look towards “Eid” where the children get new clothes, people make their houses look nice, and everyone visits family and friends for one or two days. The market will begin to get busier than normal as people prepare. This is one of the biggest holidays for Muslims. We will be preparing, too, to greet children with candy or local cookies; and we will go visiting in our neighborhood in our nicest clothes.

As Ramadan 2016 continues, we are having more conversations about how and when we fast according to Scripture. Pray for more conversations about the kind of fast God desires. People here know we are different. We are praying that the differences point them to the cross and their need for a Savior who can wash away their sins once and for all.

God’s Law Written on Our Hearts

By kimberly

On June 16, 2016

In Bible, Culture

“I will put my laws into their minds,

and write them on their hearts,

and I will be their God,

and they shall be my people.”

Hebrews 8:10

You and I both live in places where a works-based religion is prevalent. Islam teaches that the good works people do (praying, giving to the poor, fasting, etc.) may or may not benefit them after they die. In America, Islam is not the main religion, but the trap of trying to work for our own righteousness is still one that many of us fall into whether we realize it or not:

“He’s a good person and he goes to church every week.”

“I gave over ten percent of my tithe to the Lord’s work last year.”

The examples could go on. I was encouraged in reading Hebrews 8:10 that God promises a new and better covenant through Jesus Christ. No longer is it necessary for “sacrifices offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, but deal only with food and drink and various washings…” (9:9). God, through Jesus, offers His law to be written on our hearts, changing us from the inside out.

My prayer is that our Muslim friends here in Chad and our “Christian” or secular friends in America will come to understand that nothing – not participating in obligatory fasting, not being super-involved in church ministry, not giving to the poor, not being a missionary overseas – will save us from our sin other than the grace of God though our Lord, Jesus Christ. What freedom we can live in and what freedom we have to proclaim!

Praying Scripture for Missionaries (or anyone, really!)

By kimberly

On June 16, 2016

In Bible, Ministry, Prayer

Sometimes it is hard to know what or how to pray for those missionaries who live so far away in another country and another culture. It’s always helpful to pray for their health and fruitfulness, but beyond that it might seem like you are praying the same prayers all the time. In the last few years, I have found praying the words of Scripture for my family to be a helpful practice. Andrew Case has a book called “Setting Their Hope in God” that has taught me how to pray Scripture for our children.

So, as I have been reading the Bible lately, I found two passages that I thought would be great ones to pray over missionaries. If you ever wonder what you should pray, other than the normal things, maybe the examples below will help you. And while you’re at it, using this model to pray for yourself or loved ones might bless your prayer life like it has mine!

“Lord, please help [Missionary’s name] be filled with the knowledge of Your will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of You, God, fully pleasing to You, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of You. May they be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks you You, who have qualified them to shared in the inheritance of the saints in light.” (Taken from Colossians 1: 9-12.)

“God of peace, You brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant. Please equip [Missionary’s name] with everything good that they may do your will, working in them that which is pleasing in Your sight, thr0ugh Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.” [Taken from Hebrews 13:20-21]

Learning Arabic, Sharing Scripture

By kimberly

On June 16, 2016

In language, Ministry

I am starting a new phase of language learning this week. It will provide me more opportunities to speak and grow in vocabulary. A major part of this phase is to utilize “shared stories” – stories both my language helper and I are familiar with. I decided to try going through The Jesus Storybook Bible with one of my language helpers. She doesn’t know all the stories yet; so she will read the French copy, La Bible te Raconte Jesus, the day before our lesson. Then I will ask her to re-tell the story in Chadian Arabic. I will record the story and play it back, sentence-by-sentence to “negotiate meaning.” If I don’t understand a word, we can discuss it until I understand. Then, I go home and listen to the recording until the words are all familiar to me. It’s a win-win: I learn more Arabic, and my language helper gets to know some Bible stories. Hopefully this provides opportunities for discussing Truth and looking further into Scripture together. Please pray for M’s heart to be open to the Way, the Truth, and the Life as we enter this next phase of language learning.

A look back at our first year in Chad…

By josh

On May 7, 2016

In Chad, Family, Ministry