this is a blog I wrote that hopefully the entire squad will be posting, it is entirely a group effort.
Rarely has anyone seen such pride for a plot of land as was seen on the face of Pastor JJ's as he took Team Symphony to the sight of his new church. He pointed this way and that detailing where the church would start, where the pulpit would be. He showed them where he hoped to build his house on the church land, how close it was to his son Samuel's school. He told them how in a few years, with the way the town was expanding, it would be the very center of town with main roads on all sides. He bragged on this piece of property the way proud mothers and fathers do on their children.
Really though it was just a regular plot of land. Like almost any other in Africa. But what you must realize is that Pastor JJ is a man of vision. He sees what can be, and better yet what will be. He has only been in Pader, Uganda for 3 years but has already built up a church that is almost the largest in the town. And we do not mean a church building. We are talking about a church. A group of people who come together to worship the Lord. A group of people who are a light to the community, who are joyful because they have a reason to be joyful. However as most can attest churches need a place to operate.
We come to you on behalf of Pastor JJ and his church. They are in need of about $10,000 to build their new church. They have been meeting in a borrowed building which in the next month will be taken away from them. If there is one thing we have learned for certain these past 7 months it is that there is so much need in this world. It is everywhere, it does not matter what corner of the world we go to.
But to be able identify a need for a group of people and even begin to have the means to meet that - this is a blessing in itself.
Northern Uganda is an area that has experienced much darkness in the past 20 years. It is an area that has been plagued by wars and senseless death. Men our own age are haunted by the times that they were forced to serve in armies, that their fathers, mothers and sisters were killed, it is an area in recovery, and in need. What better to invest in than the church? We as Christians claim to know something that others do not. We claim to hold to a truth that is beyond us, and beyond this world. If ever darkness was in need of light it is surely here. If we are in Christ than it is our brothers and sisters in Uganda whom we are asking you to help.
We, the J Squad, have been given the opportunity to raise money for Victory Outreach Ministries in Pader, Uganda. They are in need of a church building. This is not a church building complete with bells and whistles and Sunday school rooms and gyms. This is a building, a one room building for God's people to meet. A building for God's people to come together and worship the lord. A group of people standing as a light to a community amongst much darkness.
Team Symphony had the opportunity to spend a month with Pastor JJ and according to the team they have rarely come across a man with such faith, with such blind obedience to the Lord. Pastor JJ moved his wife away from his and her family 3 years ago to start this church. His wife is the only one working to bring money for the family, she works at a NGO as a maid. The church can not afford to give Pastor JJ a salary. Any tithe or donation that the church is able to give goes to both paying for the church building/property and helping those who are in great need, and believe me there are plenty of these people.
Please help us help this man, this family, this church, and this community. There is a need to be met, please help us to meet it. We know many of you have already supported someone on this trip, but we have no one else to ask. We as a squad are coming together to raise money for this church. You who are reading this are our church, you are the people we stand with and so we ask you to help us. Please help us meet this need, this need which we are capable to meet. Even if we do not raise the complete $10,000, we can guarantee any amount will be a blessing to this church. Please seriously and prayerfully considering donating to a worthy cause, we only have until April, 24th 2010 to raise the money. PLEASE JOIN US!
(We're trying to publish a video of Victory Outreach Ministries but are having a difficult time publishing it with the slow internet, we will post it as soon as possible)
This month we are staying in a city called Iringa. Iringa is a neat little town a bit off the beaten path from the Tourist but still a gorgeous town none the less. The city is actually a fairly large one with surrounding areas making up a population of supposedly around 100 thousand. We are about a mile in elevation with hills/mountains all around us. My team mate Chad and I climbed to the top of one yesterday to get a better view of the city. It was a good one indeed.
The weather here is significantly cooler than in Uganda though still pretty warm during the day. The nights are about perfect though to sleep with the windows open.
We actually have beds this month which has been a blessing. Its nice to actually get some sleep after last month.
We are working with a decent sized church in Iringa. We are staying at the Pastor's house which is fairly nice. We have our own little guest house even, complete with electricity and running water - spoiled I know. No hott water though, actually we could go ahead and say the water is pretty cold. Have gasped and inhaled water in the shower on a couple of occasions.
Iringa is an interesting town and I can't say I entirely have a beat on it. There is a pretty heavy christian population, but also a decently sized Muslim population as well. There are definitely more white people floating around here than other ministry place we've been in Africa.
It seems to be a fairly normal city, whatever normal means anymore. They do have a fairly american restaurant here called the Hasty Tasty Too, where I even had a hamburger today.
This month it looks like we will be going to church pretty much everyday, I know mother would be proud. During the mornings we do somewhat random things. Everything from door to door evangelism, to visiting the elderly, to visiting hospitals.
Our contact, Pastor Chacha, or that's how I pronounce it anyways, is the pastor of the church we are working with. The church has an attendance of about 150 people on Sunday and a good turnout during the week even. It seems to be a very healthy body and they even have several branch campuses in the surrounding villages.
The people here are generally very friendly. Our contact does not speak English so we work with one of the "youth" in the church when we need to make plans and things of that nature. He is 24 and his name is Peter. Peter is a super nice guy who speaks about as good of English as anyone we've come across the past few months. He is a very intelligent man who will be graduating with an Economics degree in July, very young for Tanzania to be graduating, and hopes to one day study in America for his PhD. Something that I think he can and will do. He has been a huge help. It has been a good first week, but seems hard to tell what kind of month this is shaping up to be.
We have found out that July 1 is an important date. We will either be coming back on the date or atleast leaving. So around that time I will be finding my way back to US of A. We also know that our last month in Thailand will be a manistry month, a.k.a. all guys. So that means I only have 2.5 months left with my team. Weird thought.
But we are all doing well right now. We are very close to a national park so we might use our day off next week to go see some African animals - exciting stuff. We saw elephants, giraffe and water buffalo from a distance on our drive down, but might get a little more close up exposure. Something I would really love to do.
I hope everyone is back home. Miss everyone and would love to hear how things are going back home.
So there is a running discussion as to what is the bush. People on the race and Africa in general talk about the bush, and we are not sure if we are there. We have been told we are too far in the "city" to be in the bush, but lets take a look at our life in the big city....
1. sleep indoors - okay, but honestly tents would be better. We have no air flow and no air conditioning and so sleeping temp runs around 90 degrees, wish I was exaturating. Hot sleeping temps are bound to be bush esq.
2. Dinner is killed 15 minutes before we eat it - If this is not bush I dont know what is. Note to all future African visitors, don't name the chickens running around where you live, because you may find out you are eating him/her one night
3. No electricity - check
4. No running water - check
5. Bathroom is a whole in the earth- check
6. Walk EVERYWHERE - check
So I don't know what these Bush requirements are, but I just find it hard to think we are that far off.
Another note to future Africa visitors: Febuary is the middle of summer, best to come in June or July when its not 105 everyday, just a recommendation.
Things are going well, please be in prayer for Beks, as she has not just malaria, or just typhoid, but both. Easier said than done to catch both at the same time. Miss everyone back home.
I just finished watching the movie "Blood Diamond" and I must say it takes on new meaning being here in Africa. If you have not watched it, I would highly suggest it, but don't expect to come away with warm fuzzies. There is much to reflect on from the movie, and I think much of the story is similar to what people here in Pader and Northern Uganda have experienced over the last 10 years.
Northern Uganda was 5 years ago, in the middle of chaos. The LRA, or the Lord's Resistance Army littered the terrain of Northern Uganda. If you have heard of the organization called Invisible Children, and their mission you will begin to understand what I am talking about. The LRA was and is led by a fanatic who was going village to village both killing and recruiting members. From my understanding if you watch the movie you will atleast get a picture of what it was like. Towns became full of people from surrounding villages who the government told they could no longer protect. Children in particular would walk up to 5 miles a day just too sleep in town in order that they may sleep in a safe place, somewhere they knew they would not be kidnapped and turned in to child soldiers. Sounds dramatic but this is real.
If you are anything like me, you have heard these stories, but they seem a million miles away, almost fake even. And even being here it doesn't seem real. But I come more and more to a realization that it is real. There are and always will be facts that are hard to accept and this seems to be one of them. There is a documentary I have heard of based of the incidents in Northern Uganda called "My first murder was my family." The story is about children who were taken and at gunpoint forced to kill their parents or family members. I'm not sure I want to see this documentary.
I'm writing about this not because its pleasant but rather because I think people's stories deserve to be told and people deserve to hear the truth. I have been reminded yet again about how easy my life is, and better yet, how safe it is.
Many people in the area don't really believe in a God, or at least not in a God who comes as a "saviour." What after all has he saved them from. Part of me is speechless when I think about this, but there is another part of me who knows that these people need to hear the TRUE story about Jesus Christ and what his sacrifice for us has truly meant. Perhaps these people can find God inspite of what has happened.
One of those people is named Poyad. Poyad is a young man who I believe is about my own age. He was captured by the LRA along with 5 other men, one of whom was able to escape. Because they had "allowed" their colleague to escape the commander said they were to be killed by a spear. It was at this point that Poyad said a very honest prayer," God, if you are up there, please keep me alive, let me make it out of here alive." Poyad and 2 other of the remaining five lived, sadly two did not. They were killed in front of him. He currently is trying to earn a living as a boda boda driver, these are people who cart people around town on motorcyles and bicycles. We were able to share about Christ with him and we asked him if he would like to accept Jesus into his heart. He said he would; because he knows god is real, because he is alive today.
Northern Uganda though is no longer in a state of chaos, more like a disorganized mess of sorts, but progress is being made, and there is much to be thankful for here. The LRA was run out of Uganda in 2006 by the national army and has not been allowed to return. The LRA is currently in Congo and there is legistation coming to Obama very soon that would put military troops on the group in order to find and disband the LRA.
We have been going door to door here simply to spread the good news of Jesus Christ, and I suppose there are few places that need it more. NGO's in northern Uganda are a dime a dozen, and they are helping, but there is still much to be done. Namely in the way of economic development, people need jobs to earn an income. Our pastor is fearful of the NGO mindset he feels is setting in with people being given too many handouts. Why work, when people will just given you stuff. Please join me in praying for Pader, Uganda. Prayer for hope, and prayer for jobs, prayer for life and prayer for Pastor JJ our contact. He is an extraordinary many who though only 32, is making an impact here in Uganda. He has planted a church and he is working hard to let people know there is hope in a saviour and his name is Jesus Christ.
Or as I have tried to teach as many Kenyans as possible...Howdy! I would like to tell you about a friend of mine I met for only a few minutes, but who has severely impacted me.
His name is George. George as of last week is a brother in Christ. He accepted Christ on one of our door to door days, but he did so in a glorious fashion if I may say so. Rarely have I met someone who I felt like they understood as well as he did, or were more joyful over their decision than my friend George.
George's wife is a christian and had been leading a nightly bible study in her house with her children. Best I can tell, mom would sit down with the kids each night and sometimes George would sit in as well, and sometimes not. Though with an increased regularity as of late, George had become very intrigued by this man names Jesus.
One other thing that you should know about George was that he was almost killed in a car accident two years ago. His right arm from his shoulder down to about the mid bicep have literally no muscle on them, and I don't believe he can do much more than wiggle his fingers with that hand. I have been told by our host family that it is a mircale he is even still alive. I believe Jesus saved him from that car wreck, because two years down the road some muzungas(white people) would show up at his door and tell him it was time to accept Christ into his life and into his heart.
We talked about Jesus with George, and asked him a few basic questions. And then he told me he had just one question, " Can I accept Christ RIGHT NOW!!, We can talk afterwards." So George prayed a prayer of salvation though I believe this to be more of a formality than anything.
I'm not sure I've ever seen so obviously that Jesus had hold of someone's life and was transforming them. Slow as it may be. Christ had been working on this man for two years. He had gone from a hospital and a near fatal crash to jumping up and down two years later out of joy for his savior!!! We talked with George for a little while longer and I grew simply more and more fond of him.
To see someone as excited as he was really reminded me of what it means to be a Christian, to have an eternal father who cares for us. In Romans it tell us, He is working ALL things for the good of those who love him and have been called according to his purpose. I have a savior in heaven who sees me and knows me. Who knows how I think and he sent me on a trip around the world, knowing that I would at times struggle, and he knew at times I question, not only myself but even God himself. But He IS working all things for my good because he is my Father in heaven.
As I'm writing this we have three days left in Kenya. It has been an interesting month. It has been a very good time for me, with the Lord really working on me and working things out in me, but also a challenging month. Never in my life have plans changed so often and without the slightest of warning.
The past few days have been very neat. We have had the opportunity to travel to local schools and share both the importance of Christ and of a good education. So we've been doing a bit of Christian motivational speaking....sounds a little ridiculous, but its been fun. I think I have discovered on this trip how much I do really value education, and how important I think it is for countries like Kenya. I have also been trying to teach kids both how to give a proper hello, Howdy, as well as a good WHOOP! When things are really going your way.
We will be having a few days worth of meetings in Nairobi and then off to Uganda we believe, but at this rate...who knows. Will be sure to let everyone know when anything is solid, which basically means when we have purchased bus tickets.
I hope all is well back home. I get asked about Obama probably twice as a day seeing as how I am in his "home" country. You would not believe how many nieghbors his family has, and they all want to give me a ride in their taxis, a generous people no doubt.
Am writing to you from Kakamega Kenya. Life is well. We are staying with a pastor and his family right now, and things have been interesting to say the least. Kenya has been much different than I thought it would be. The gospel seems to be everywhere here. Everybody seems to have heard of Jesus and I guess I was just expecting a larger gap in just knowledge of Christ.
So far we have done nothing but door to door evangelism and it has been a little tiring, but also very good and, again, very interesting. I have prayed with probably 15 people or so to accept Jesus into their life, a salvation prayer if you may. About 4 really seemed to get it, and about 7 seemed to have no idea what was happening.
We are somewhat like rockstars here, its a bit awkward. We are the first white people to stay in the village we are in and it is very apparent when we are just walking around. We will be here until the 26th where we will head back to Nairobi for a debrief and then we believe on to Uganda.
We start going to schools and talking next week on Monday so I am looking forward to that. I think if nothing else, being white we will be able to hold their attention. Around here, its apparently no big deal to just go into a school and start sharing the gospel, its kind've weird, and foreign, but also really cool.
I have been fairly homesick this week, not sure why, might just be that I'm living with another family, but life really is going well. The family we are staying with generally goes to bed at around 12 and everyone seems to be up and running by 6, I don't know how they do it. It really makes us feel like lazy and slow americans. We of course have chickens and cows that walk around our yard, a very clearly an african thing. I have been asked many times whether or not I have ever seen a cow, I tell them we have them all over Texas and they seemed fairly shocked. On the other hand, they think not having monkeys on the side of the road is quite strange, they assumed they were all over America.
Well I've got to run, but I hope all is well back home, blessings to everyone and I will try and post a more thorough blog next week.
Callan
P.S. Please be praying for AIM and the efforts they will be making to get into Haiti
P.P.S Please consider giving to the Jowers on my team, they are still in need of quite a large sum of money.
Another month down, only 6 more to go. Month 5 has been an interesting one with its fair share of both highs and lows. Personally for me it has been a very good month. I feel like the Lord has given me a lot of peace with my being on this trip. I feel as if the Lord has shown me a lot of the reason that he has me here, the reason I am gone on this 11 month trip to seemingly all corners of the world. It seems in some way a very strange trip for a 22 year old to take. But I think he has shown me a lot dealing with just the preparation this trip has given me for the rest of my life. It sounds a little silly to a certain extent, preparation for the rest of my life, but then on the other hand seems to make a lot of sense. I think this trip is, one still working on me, but also is a "sharpening of the axe" as my father would say, or a time of realignment with the lord in some big ways. So, not that revelation on this trip is done for me, but it has been nice to receive that.
The month as far as ministry was concerned was a little difficult. We found very few of the people group we were actually looking for and it just seemed as if we could have done a lot more with our time, had we known better what we were doing and how to go about it. Hindsightof course is 20-20 but, it would have been nice. However, we did get to make some cool relationships around where we were staying. We made good friends with the people who worked at Starbucks and I met a really cool guy who lives in Istanbul just today. I feel Istanbul is indeed a tough place to do work, but also a neat one, because people here are so relational.
The highlight of my month was getting to play soccer with a bunch of university guys. Some friends of mine on another team invited me to come play with a few guys, one of whom they had recently shared the gospel with. It was a neat time for me. After we played soccer at midnight, we went back to this guys house. He is a devout Muslim, one of the few I've met, but was also very interested in what we had to say about Jesus. We told him that yes we did believe Jesus was a prophet but also so much more. We talked about why we believe there is a need for a savior, and why we believe that was Jesus of Nazarene. It was probably the first time I had a very intelligent conversation with a Muslim about who I believe Jesus is and why. I leave with this guy still practicing Islam, but I really feel as if that is a planted seed. As C.S. Lewis put it in writing to a friend in the book A Severe Mercy, "The Lord seems to have a hold on your life, I'd be surprised if you got away."
Also, this month was my first Christmas away from home. It was definitely difficult to spend the holidays away from home. I suppose if I think about it, I would have thought my first Christmas away from home would be with my significant other's family, though I don't know who they are yet. It was not easy to be away from the traditions and the people I normally associate with Christmas. However we did make do the best we know how here. I did still watch a Muppets Christmas Carol on Christmas Eve as is tradition in the Edquist house-hold.
However, the month has come and gone and I am now in my last night in Istanbul. We will be leaving tomorrow afternoon and heading to Kenya. Its an interesting place to be on the verge of heading to Africa. I feel like when you think poor and you think missions you think Africa, its very much the face of the 3rd world if you may. I am excited and scared, and anything and everything in between. We will be working with an unreached people group in Kenya. We will have, what I'm sure will be, a thrilling 20 hour bus ride to our site from Nairobi straight into the bush. It will be about as Africa as Africa can get. We will be by ourselves and we will be a ways away from civilization is my understanding.
Please be praying for the safety of my team and also the well being. That we can really grow to trust one another this month, that we can love each other well and be a wall of support for one another.
I also really appreciate the comments during Christmas time....it was and is a real blessing to hear from home always, and I really appreciate the comments I got.
Here's a short Christmas film from Team Unwritten. Again, I wish you the absolute Merriest of Christmases. To my family, friends, supporters, and others I miss you and love you all.
I wish I could be there back home, but I suppose I am where I need to be. God Bless.
Posted in General Posts by Callan Edquist on 12/17/2009
Since I'm certain people have so much money this Holiday Season that they are just looking to give away I would like to recommend a wonderful cause. Two of my team mates Chad and Leslie Jowers. Please check them out and prayerfully consider giving. They still have a long way to go and I know any and all support would be much appreciated. Just click on their names on this page or look on the left for their names and click there, or go to http://thejowers.theworldrace.org. A very Merry Christmas to all.
Istanbul is HUGE!!! This city is ridiculously large. To get to our "job" everyday it generally takes a little over TWO HOURS!!! In any one day we will potentially use five different forms of travel: bus, train, light rail, ferry, subway. Granted three of these move down rails but all very different if you were to see them. We see two continents every day. We live on the Europe side and travel everyday to the Asian side. Istanbul is separated by the Bosporus, a canal that connects the Black Sea and the Marmara Sea. Istanbul has been literally at the center of the world and culture for years and remains an epi-center of activity for this part of the world. It is the 4th largest city in the world depending on who you ask and where you draw the lines and to put it into perspective...Istanbul has about twice the population of New York City.
Our time in Turkey has been completely different than what I was anticipating, or to be a little more correct, Istanbul has been different. I imagine Turkey as large and diverse as it is, holds many areas of very different life styles. Istanbul though has been a fascinating place to observe the culture. We live in a very western part of the city which we honestly have not minded all that much. Turkey in a lot of ways is to Islam as Christianity is to the US. It is not a perfect parallel and there are certainly differences but the more I'm here and after talking to our contact here I am becoming increasingly certain of the similarities. The practice of Islam here like Christianity back home has lost a lot of its spunk. It is still very much intertwined in the culture, but as far as I can tell is on the decline and Istanbul seems to be becoming a much more worldly city. Practicing Muslims will pray 5 times a day; they will turn towards Mecca to do so. They will not drink or smoke, but honestly you would never know these things from being here. The prayer is still blasted out over the city from every mosque in the city but not once have I seen anybody in prayer. I have been told that many will still go to the mosque on Friday evening for prayer as this is regarded as the most precious of the week. I compare it very much to a Sunday morning Christian, and I mean no offense to anybody with this comparison....just trying to paint the culture in a light that makes sense. People go to church Sunday morning most of the time but their life style does little to reflect what they say they believe. Bars are packed in our part of the town with Istanbul locals on the weekends and it is all around a happening place. This is much different when you hear the numbers presented on Turkey which go something like this. Turkey is 99.8% Muslim and Istanbul hosts more mosques than any other city in the world. It is statistically the most unreached country in the world, but here in Istanbul if people spoke English you would simply think you were in another large city in the US.
It is ironic to think that this was arguably the largest launching point of Christianity and as argued by some, the doom of it as well. The Roman Empire for the longest time outlawed Christianity and meanwhile moved their head quarters from Rome to Constantinople or present day Istanbul because it was a more easily defensible city. It was here that Constantine changed the official religion of what was left of the Roman Empire from the Roman Gods which were basically the Greek Gods to Christianity. Up to this point Christianity was a wave of underground believers that took the largest empire in the world's history by storm. People didn't believe because they were forced to, they believed in the message of Jesus, they believed that the God of the heavens came to a distant part of the Roman Empire and gave their life, in doing so paid a debt which only he was worthy to pay. Some would say that after Constantine made the change Christianity became a religion as opposed to a relationship. Now 2000 years later this city of between 15 million and 24 million (depending where you draw the lines) has fewer believers than the graduating class of 2009 from Texas A&M, fewer believers than the city I grew up in.
Our "job" here in Turkey is far from glamorous. We are working with local SBC contacts, a couple who are actually from Texas, one a graduate from the greatest school in the US....Texas A&M University, WHOOP. We are attempting to do part of an ethnographic study. We are trying to figure out where certain people groups live in Istanbul, and what their day to day looks like, what their home life looks like, what languages the speak, what languages their kids speak. We are currently seeking out the Za-Za people. After many hours of walking around in the cold and wet we have managed to find a grand total of 1 man thus far, but we believe have stumbled onto a larger community just as of yesterday. The ethnographic study helps people like the Southern BC workers know how to approach different parts of the city and to understand the people group that you will potentially be working with better. It is, so I've been told, the slowest, most painful, tedious, non-results seeing job they do and so we got it. In a way it sucks... really bad, but it is also good to know that we are actually getting to help support the people who are here long term. Turkey has not been the easiest place to live, we are all in a small apartment with one bathroom and it can at times be very frustrating. We have had lovely 40 degree rainy weather as of late and I don't believe it is going much of anywhere...lucky us. We have however decorated our apartment for the Christmas season and are attempting to make it feel as homey as possible. I sorely miss my friends and family back home, but in the same strand I understand that Christmas is a celebration for a much larger "family" than my family back home. I will certainly be in prayer for everyone back home during this Christmas season, and especially for my little brother who is taking his first round of finals. Much love and God bless to everyone back home.
PS. I am still on my technology ban but we were allowed to get on to write a blog, I won't be able to check my email for another 5 days.
