« Seven rays | Main | How to tell a garibou from a caribou (from a maribout) »
December 30, 2003
Legions of tongue-clicking beaurocrats
Dear friends,
Hi, hope you are all well; I'm fine. I have not written since September, sorry about that. My computer has been very poorly but is feeling better now, so I can send and receive email again. Thanks to Ed in Ouagadougou for fixing it.
Officials here in West Africa often answer requests or enquiries with a stern frown and the suggestion "Come back tomorrow." Whether you are wanting to post a parcel at the post-office, renew a visa, or be admitted to the hospital with a life-threatening illness, you must be prepared to hear "Revenez demain matin". You smile and say "D'accord" and stroll off, grinding your teeth. All well and good. But being told "Come back next year" is, as you can imagine, rather harder to swallow, and that is what we have been told by the radio-licensing people in Ouagadougou. The reason given was an administrative technicality - a deposit paid late - but I suspect there is more to it than that. Anyway, come back next year. Bit deflating, especially after all the momentum that seemed to be gathering. Please pray for God's will to be done. The Gamaliel principle would suggest that if God wants this thing to happen, Ouagadougou's legions of tongue-clicking beaurocrats won't be able to stop it - but they have certainly stalled it for a while. Looks like 15 - 0 to them.
Keith is leaving Burkina Faso; we do not know for how long, but it will probably be at least a year. He is going back to England to spend some time with his home church. Please pray for him, that he has a good time there. Please pray for me as well, as I shall be staying here. I don't know how Tonto would have felt if the Lone Ranger announced one day over breakfast that he was jetting off to England and entrusting the black mask to him - a bit strange, I imagine. I have benefitted a great deal from Keith's friendship and experience.
So for now, I shall remain in Djibo. The cool season which we are coming into now is a great time for evangelism. The harvest is in, so people have time on their hands. The fasting month (Ramadan) is over, so their brains are working. And it is only 30 degrees, so we are all bursting with energy. Please pray that God prepares people in our area to hear and understand the gospel. Sometimes it seems like there is a disproportionate amount of road and dry ground and thorns, but there must be good ground as well, it stands to reason.
In my spare time, I am doing more and more writing - I enjoy writing very much and believe God would have me put aside time for it, alongside the work of evangelism. I would like to write for Christian magazines, articles that present the challenge of mission in a down-to-earth and even humourous way. But not just Christian magazines. For too long in the secular media, Christian mission has been presented as an un-enlightened occupation for bigots and fanatics. Our best novelists (like Barbara Kingsolver, "The Poisonwood Bible") and travel writers (such as Norman Lewis, "The Missionaries") just seem to re-affirm this stereotype. At the other end of the scale are the missionary biographies written by and for Christians and produced by Christian publishing houses - glowing testimonies to men and women of great faith and courage. I wonder if there isn't a space for something in between - something affirming which at the same time admits the messiness and ambiguities of mission - something which presents the weaknesses and idiosyncrasies of 'missionaries' without writing them off as cranks. So anyway, I have started writing a novel, and would be glad of your prayer for that.
I shall write again in the New Year. For now, best wishes to you and your families. Have a very happy Christmas.
Love,
Steve
Posted by sahelsteve at December 30, 2003 04:34 PM