The glory ... and the shame

The Glory.... and the shame.
Often, people send us messages about what a wonderful job we are doing.
We are inspired and motivated by them.
However, sometimes the truth is harder to publicize.
Sometimes, the job we are doing seems less than wonderful.

Ever had that sinking feeling? (see the photo above, of the toilets!)

Just over a week ago, I drove out west to meet up with some students in the Uutapi/Ruacana/Opuwo regions.
Here follows a brief summary of proceedings and what was achieved:

Day 1:
Goal: Meet with students, preachers and lay leaders in the Okathitu parish, to encourage them to sign up for NETS, due to the sponsorship now available from CMS.
Reality: Parish Priest, Rev Lazarus Ekanjo... we drove back to where I had just come from (!) to pick up someone who is a student already, and persuaded another woman to join us. We signed up the new student, had a discussion about where white and black people come from, by which time everyone was tired, so no workshop was conducted.
Achieved: Agreed to visit on the 9th of December, preach, and then meet with the lay leaders. Now THAT’S a good thing!

Hung around Uutapi for 3 hours, waiting for a meeting with a pastor. Whilst waiting, I caught up with another Anglican pastor, told him about the CMS fund, and made vague arrangements to be in touch in the new year. When the other pastor finally arrived, we had a good talk – turns out he is REALLY keen to register for the diploma.
But then, LOTS of people are really keen..... and it doesn’t always lead to much.

Day 2:
Goal: Arrangement to meet with Pastor Salamo Shimbundu at Ruacana, and do a workshop with some interested people.
Reality: I drove around for an hour looking for church – found the church – but found no-one there!!!! Finally managed to reach Pastor Salamo on the phone – eventually discovered that when I had initially called him, he had he would call to confirm, and never did call to confirm, therefore, in his mind, the arrangement was off. This is not the first time phone conversation in Oshiwambo has let me down: when something which has been crystal clear to me, is not understood as such on the other side.
Achieved: A resolution in my mind to be even clearer when I talk to someone on the phone making an arrangement. Anyway, I then had lots of time to sit on the phone trying an make it clear to someone who had come a long way to visit me in my ‘office’ in Ongwediva … that I was in Ruacana!
Headed off to Opuwo.

Day 2-3:
Goal: Meet with students on Saturday morning and spend the morning with them.
Reality: Arrived in Opuwo and tried to contact someone who had signed up for the Diploma. Had no success. Ambled over to the Dhimba (another language) Bible translators (Lutheran), who support a few of their translators doing the course. The project manager, a missionary from Finland, looked at me in dismay – 2 of the students who were supposed to be at the workshop the following day departed for a funeral. Anyway, one of the students was there, and another person signed up for the course. I organized new books for them, as well as for another who was not present. Both are Lutheran ‘missionaries’ to ‘out-centres’ (‘missionary’ in this context means lay preachers responsible for the centre).
Achieved: Had a wonderful meeting with the 2 ladies the next morning. They described lots of pastoral difficulties they were having, and I gave lots of suggestions (from my limited experience!), as to how they might deal with them. They seemed to be very encouraged – as was I. I prayed with them... and then left.
Kilometres travelled: 798

Communication in a foreign language is hard – especially on the phone. And people seem unreliable – but it is often a result of circumstances; a rural lifestyle, little money, no access to transport, and/or no money to pay for transport.
Also, funerals are a big part of community life, due to sickness and HIV/AIDS. It is not unusual for me to turn up for a workshop and find no one there because a funeral has called them away and the area perhaps has no mobile phone coverage so they had been unable to let me know.

Pray that I would be ultra-efficient in making arrangements, be clear in communication – and remain motivated and encouraged, even when things seem to go wrong! (Habakkuk 3:17-19 - in the Bible!)