Aug. 2 update

I (Aaron) just returned from a visit to the village. This is always a busy time with lots going on. The evangelistic teaching went well. The different groups I am working with continue to progress and are interested. Pray that I would be able to continue to visit despite the rains coming more frequently now. This causes the "creeks to rise" and makes access difficult. Pray that the moto would stay upright - especially when crossing the creeks :-)

The truck project continues on. We've hit some figurative speed bumps lately but they have resulted in good. One of our biggest challenges is that I refuse to do business the African way. As a Christian business our no. 1 rule is to love God and no. 2 is to love our neighbor. This is not natural for my coworkers. In fact, one temporarily quit the other day because, "Aaron, your law is just too difficult to live by." (if you are interested I will explain the story below) Customer service is a real challenge for them. They would like the customer to serve them all the way around. I offer pretty good incentives to my employees to live under this "difficult law". All in all this allows me to show them a different way of doing business (even of living life) that they would not be able to see otherwise.

Our garden, which at present is about 1/4 of an acre in production, is doing well. The work that Ndure (one of the 4 guys) did was a big help in getting started off on the right foot. The next group of guys that comes to stay with us will clean up and plant another 1/4 acre in peanuts. We presently have cucumbers, hot peppers, some tomatoes, green peppers, and okra. Usually either Elijah or Lenaya goes with me each day to look over things and do some weeding. After the next group comes I will have someone working there full time to help with the weeding, harvesting, and marketing.

Another project that I have just started up is having someone read the Jalunga Scriptures and putting it into .mp3 format. Unfortunately, a very, very high percentage of Jalunga are not literate. Nor is there much incentive for them to become literate. On a positive note, the government schools are teaching kids to read French. In a generation or so this will have a huge impact on the literacy rate. For now though, we are going to do the best we can with audio files.

The following is the story of Juma who was working for me in the truck project, then quit, started working again, quit again, and is now working again. A brief note of explanation: the dream of most African men is to be what we call "a big man". That is, the man in charge, that everyone wishes they could be. He is the one that everyone respects because everyone thinks that "the big man" will help them get what they want. The big man demands that people do what he wants and in return he will help those he likes. This is the exact opposite of what Christ modeled in his life - to love your neighbor (sacrifice for your neighbor) and love your enemy. Juma, a typical African, though now a new believer, still desires to be "the big man". When he was delivering some baggage to a fellow Jalunga he off-loaded the baggage somewhat far from the customer's house (there isn't a road to the customer's house but he certainly could have gotten it much closer - as he had done in the past). The customer saw this and was not pleased and said some "heated" words. Juma, who is desiring to be the big man, was certainly not impressed by this and wasn't about to do what the customer wanted. The customer then called me and I said I would talk to Juma when he got home. So I asked Juma about this, in particular, why didn't he offload the baggage closer to the customer's house. He gave many reasons (excuses) but the primary one was that the customer had not respected him. I reminded Juma that in this business it is our job to respect the customer (love our neighbor) even if he does not respect you (love and forgive your enemy). Thus the comment, "I quit. Your law is just too hard for me." These situations are great because they offer an opportunity to model for my brothers and sisters in Christ a Christlike way of living that they have never seen before. It also allows me to address ungodly goals (becoming "the big man") and show that Christ never did anything like that. He used his many resources to help people (healing the sick, feeding the hungry, teaching the lost), not to advance his own position in society. Please pray for us all here that God would work in and through our lives.