(Picture: Grace out in the sun near a construction rubble pile next to our house)
It’s strange, but we walk out our front door nowadays into a beautiful, blue-sky day and feel disappointed? For the first time in our lives, we find ourselves looking to the sky hoping and praying for dark, foreboding rain clouds. You see, we are in the middle of hot season here on the island and the past couple of weeks have been really hot. Rain is the only relief. The longer we go without rain the hotter things seem to get. We live in a hot house. It is made of cement and heats up like a little oven, so that very day it seems to get a little hotter and a little hotter. Even in the evening, when things cool down a bit, our furniture and walls radiate heat. We could really use some rain to cool things down.
Maybe we should look for a cooler house, but seeing our teammates’ and neighbors’ struggles with housing issues, we are happy and content in our hot little home. On one side of us a new house is being built and in a couple of months we will have a new neighbor. Not only that but very soon, we are sad to say, our neighbors Mama and Papa Ababu will be moving away. They will not move far, but their family has outgrown their house, and so they will be leaving us by the end of the month.
Three of our teammates have been forced into the moving process, but not by their own will. Rather they have fallen victim to the overwhelming force of Mashahuli. Mashahuli is the word for wedding, and like we’ve mentioned in other blogs—weddings here are a big deal. In fact, they are the biggest. In terms of life on the island, Mashahuli trumps all. It is hard to get a sense of just how much time, money and effort—how much of peoples’ lives are caught up in Mashahuli, but houses give you a hint.
Throughout our island are grand houses in various states of constrution. Some are just a shell of a home. Others have a small section finished while rebar and cinder blocks make up the rest of the home. Still others have been painted, finished and beautifully completed at great cost, only to be left empty. The reason for this is Mashahuli. Weddings here are so big that they must include a house. That is to say, as part of the Mashahuli, you must build a very fine house—never mind if people will not live in it and it will only be used for the time of the wedding—there must be a house.
So it is because of Mashahuli that our teammate Jonny had to move. His house was being renovated and never mind that he and two others were renting there, the wedding takes priority. It is for the same reason that our teammates Abby and Amy are looking for a new place. They even had a two-year contract with the owners (which is like gold to an islander, a two-year contract means two years of steady and reliable income, and is not common practice). But with their daughter’s imminent marriage, all contracts become null and void. Mashahuli trumps all. Amy and Abby have two months to move out and find a new place.
PRAYERS ANSWERED
Though many people came late, the leadership seminar went well. It exciting to see people learning to understand the Word better and growing in their ability to help others on the way. We had a visit from our associates in South Africa who have encouraged us and challenged us in a number of ways. We are happy that their travels have been trouble free so far and hope that it will continue as they head out to visit one of the other islands.
PRAYERS REQUESTED
You may have inferred from above, but we are asking for some rain to cool things off, for good relations with our old and new neighbors, and for our teammates as they look for a new home. Megan has been feeling a bit under the weather, mostly due to the heat. Grace is covered with heat rash all over her body and on her face, so she is a lot fussier than normal. Most of the kids on our team have heat rash. Pray for a cooling of the weather and relief of their heat rash.
