On Mission Life
I still have that nasty cold. I can't seem to get rid of it. So abandoned wads of tissue are left in my wake. I have had the whole morning off. It was great to sleep in to 9.30. I am teaching this afternoon and then we have to go to Luke and Gerrett's horse riding lessons so I will bring some reading and sit with Inell at the resort. Its this place that some Asian guy spent a ton of money on. Its got a hotel and riding stables and it is right on Lake Victoria. Ahh, the life of a missionary... I have been surprised at the amount of time off from work missionaries seem to have. There is so much time spent just spending time with people (something I love to do) and time with their family. Since Brent and Inell really share the responsibility of the kids they are both around a good deal. Brent is often preparing for his classes, he teaches two, or for a sermon, or taking care of organizational stuff for the mission, but it just seems like they are doing things that I wouldn't really think of as work. It guess its because what they are doing isn't horribly boring. Its all centered around study and people. Like being in college.
I can also see how missionaries can totally abuse their time. There isn't a huge amount of over sight, so they have to be motivated on their own. From hearing Inell's stories there seem to be a lot of missionaries who aren't suited for the job but are here anyway. We had a talk about MKs who are here because they can't make it in the States. Inell said that used to bother her too but she has also figured that they are at least willing to live places that most American's wouldn't live and maybe they are doing the best possible thing they could do with their lives. Everyone is messed up with dysfunctional problems to some extent and they have to try to work with what they have got. Some of these MK's who have too many emotional troubles and are not adaptable enough can't make it in America, so they come back to their third culture, the only thing they feel comfortable in. And one of the benefits is that they often know the native language of the people, which is something a lot of missionaries don't attempt to do. I really want to try to learn the people's own language where ever I work. I would like to try to learn some Lugandan as well. At least some phrases and basic words.
But some of the missionaries Inell has seen are also very controlling and dominating in their styles. (Especially not suited to Baptist ideals.) We were talking about the Baptist ideal of local church autonomy and individual understanding of the scriptures when Inell mentioned that one of the big problems is that people just assume that if something is taught in church then it is right, especially if a mzungu says it. They have to work hard to encourage people to read the Bibles for themselves. Brent and Inell work with the church leadership and hope to see these ideals passed down. Because this is the tendency it’s really important to have missionaries who don't naturally try to control things. There is one family, in the States right now, with a dad who has a really dominating style. He wants to go up country but Brent won't let him. They know that he would dominate the people too much. So they keep him in town, which he doesn't like because the people in town are better educated and so they don't listen to him all the time. They are better equipped to challenge what he says. Its interesting to hear about some of these struggles when you have to deal with people.
Brent and Inell are talking about starting up a Labri styled place here in Uganda. Some of the leadership in the church are really excited about it. I guess its an idea that they have had for a long time. Right now they are just finally talking about it with others, so none of the practical sides have been worked out, but it might be something they will be working towards. There is a couple who are interested in helping them. This couple come in and help mission planted programs become self sufficient. They specialize in good ideas to help people use their resources to make money.
I really like the way that Brent and Inell worked out in Kesese. They helped the people there start a theological school and then they turned it over to them to run. Inell says right now they are having trouble getting other missionaries to realize that it is good for the place to be left alone. It is one of the only successful African run programs in Uganda right now (at least connected to CBI) and there are people who come out to visit and get all these grand ideas about how to pour more money into the place to make it better. But in doing that they would end up taking things over again. They want to come in a make it bigger, make more buildings, expand the classes, bring in theological training in English, etc. The school has land but Brent got the extra land for them so they could use it to raise crops to help support the school. So they are really struggling to let their baby go, and hope and pray that people don't get in and mess things up. But I told Inell that all institutions are liable to fall apart but at least it was good for a time. They have some of the same concerns about their Labri project. I guess some missionaries from the Anglican Church were charged with starting something like it. They bought an island out on Lake Victoria and developed it. When everything was done the Church in Uganda decided to use it as a source of revenue instead of a community where people could learn. So now it is one of the nicest resort places for vacationers. What a mess. I guess this shows that you can't put your heart into things continuing to be good. Sometimes you have to be thankful for the time you had and let it go.
Since I started working with kids I am more and more interested in teaching adults. It seems like there might actually be a place for female teachers in Africa after all. Brent told me about his discipleship group and their response to women not being allowed to preach in churches etc. They are a group of young guys who all couldn't understand why women, equal heirs through Christ, fellow laborers, weren't allowed by some churches to teach. Brent said he was shocked because of the way that this has always been a male dominated culture. He hadn't realized how much things had changed within the church he is working at. So he had to be the one to explain to them the submission stuff. He had to provide the opposite kind of balance on the status of women issue than he thought he would have to do. Inell and I have talked about this topic together and she says that she and Brent don't totally agree on the issue but that he loves it when she airs her opinion in missionary meetings etc. I guess there are still a lot of very conservative missionaries out here with CBI and some of these families are very male dominated. Brent just sits back and chuckles when Inell calls them on this issue and disagrees with all the men in the mission whether it be on this issue or on something else. A lot of the guys don't understand why Brent lets Inell be so vocal and they are scandalized that she thinks she can disagree with all of them. Its really funny to hear her talk about it. She has this smile of delight concerning the way that Brent encourages her to express her own opinion. She said that some of the missionary moms out here can't even cut their hair because their husbands won't let them have short hair, so Inell said before mission meetings she often likes to go out and get her hair cut. So... funny. It sounds like me doesn't it?
Well... now that I haven't done anything this morning except eat my french toast toped with fresh mango (with a syrup I made from the juice of a lemon) and write to you, I should probably get ready for the day. That way when Inell gets home at noon for lunch I will be ready to go over to teach. Its been a nice lazy morning.