Network data problems here, meaning no blogging, emailing or chatting on WhatsApp. If you're reading this, it means I've gotten close enough to a cell tower--perhaps on the way to the Jesus film showing tonight, or to baptisms in Lake Turkana tomorrow afternoon after church.
Speaking of which, Sammy was sharing about the time he was baptizing a man and asked him, as is the custom here, what baptismal name he had chosen for himself. "Mary," he said. I guess he ended up with another name.
Well, the weather report for today--you guessed it--is hot and sunny. Probably somewhere north of 95 degrees. If I had internet, I'd give it to you more exactly.
We start the morning with group devotions and prayer for God to work through us. After a breakfast of a crepe and sausage, the team heads out to the village, an hour or more away. With some of the team still en route to Turkana, Clea and Jonathon and Edi have to improvise a bit, but it goes very well with the almost 200 children. Similarly with Barb with the women.
Back here, our Lakeview elders, Steve, Wayne and Dave, step into some pretty challenging culture discussions with the pastors, as the three of them teach on leadership. Like what kind of cultural practices are neutral, and what are evil? (For example, a rite of passage to be recognized by the community into male adulthood includes killing a goat, then a bull and doing something with the entrails). How does the gospel, and Christ, transform culture?
Meanwhile, in the other building, I'm having a great time with 14 pastors I taught last year. Three of them give sermon presentations on the story of Jesus healing the paralytic, and then we explore their preaching statements and whether they reflect the thrust of the text. So much [eternally significant] fun.
