Decision made Didinga TIMO‏

Dear Loved Ones,The long awaited Decision has finally been made. We are finished as aTIMO team in the Didinga Hills. Sadness...Relief... Hope... Trust... Together as a team, we sought God, worked through every angle, pursuedgoing back, and found ourselves going around in circles, asking thesame questions and giving the same answers. We waited on the Lord. Weprayed, we fasted, and we were willing to do whatever God would callus to. Yet we knew eventually we would have to make a decision, andthat our two options would most likely be to 1) go back without anyreal assurance from the community, because we knew God was sending usback, or 2) not go back, despite a few small encouraging signs – alsobecause we knew God was directing us in it. Finally, yesterday morning, we sat together and decided that we willnot return as a TIMO team to Didinga. This is really hard. We lovethe Didinga people. We love each other. We love TIMO. But we areall at peace with not going back. We sowed a lot of seeds in Didinga, and in each others’ lives. Yetevery seed sown is an act of faith in God. We must trust Him with theseeds, in the lives of others and in our own lives…Pray for the Didinga people – that God will find a way to reach them,even if it is not through us at this time. One may sow, and anothermay reap, but may God get the glory! For me, I will admit a sense of relief. The decision has been made. Ican move on. I don’t know where I will move on to, but I trust God tolead me. My team and I will have a mandatory debrief Thursday and Friday. After that, I will be spending time processing all that has happened, taking care of some doctor's appointments, and counseling with AIM to find another assignment. I may be done in Didinga, but I am not done in Africa. I am still an AIM missionary, and I look forward to seeing what the Lord has in store for me next. I had already planned some much needed vacation, praise the Lord! I will be going with Shawn and Carly Hart (teammates) to Israel for 10 days in August. Please continue to pray for my health to be good and for clear direction on another assignment with TIMO, in Sudan, or elsewhere in Africa. God bless you all and thank you so much for all your prayers! Every breath, every step, every move in Him, Janette

Janette Evacuates. Requests Prayer.

From: Janette Hughes
Subject: Guess what?
To: "Mary Glynn" , "Martha Williams" , "Cathy Glynn Knowlton" , "Dianne G Graham"
Date: Friday, June 19, 2009, 12:35 PM

Hey Sisters! Well, I am in Nairobi again...my team was evacuated from Makiria again, this time for an even stronger threat, unfortunately. Everyone on my team is safe and sound, and we are all in shock at having to be taken from Didinga and all our friends, and leaving all the work we started behind us. We are not sure what the plan is yet as far as what we are going to do, but we are on our way to TIMO headquarters in beautiful Arusha, Tanzania in a couple of days.

What it boils down to is that a group of about 200-250 Didinga decided that our team is the cause of the lack of rain in the area. These accusers are from an area of Makiria that we don't really know--there are sort of "neighborhoods" across the mountains and we are friendly with the ones near our homes. The troublemakers are from an area a couple of ridges over. They were not part of the meetings the community had to decide to let our team come, and the elders from this area are not familiar to us or with us at all. Anyway, this group had a sort of dancing mob going on Thursday afternoon, and they insisted David (team leader), our language helper Dario, me and Tianne needed to be interrogated and formerly accused literally of taking the rain, putting it in a plane and taking it to America!(we just happened to be in Miller's compound at the time). Anyway, their posturing and "vibe" was very threatening.

Miraculously, just before dusk, the leader of the meeting said it's going to be dark soon, let's continue this meeting tomorrow morning. He then threatened David, saying a couple of times that if he didn't bring two bulls to sacrifice in the morning, he was dead. The crownd disbursed and we left safely. We later learned from Dario that people were saying they would curse us or even kill us. It was very intense and hard to describe (I'll try to put it in another email) but needless to say our team met right away and by 7pm we were all at the Miller's with our "evacuation bags" and agreed we had to leave right away.

So we hiked to nearby Nagishot in the middle of the night and managed to arrange with our wonderful pilots from MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) to pick us up and take us to Loki, then we came on to Nairobi on the way to Tanzania. So we just passed our 8 month mark, and we all want to stay together as a team, but won't know more until we get to Arusha. It may not seem like it but I know this is all in God's hands, and He will continue to see His plan through. We just don't know what it is yet! But I am so thankful that we have such great leaders and administrators with lots of experience and wisdom, and we will all figure out what we are going to do next.

I'll be in touch more, but the next couple of days here in Nairobi will be busy as I will have to replace most of my stuff: clothes, toiletries, luggage, gear, etc. I am really thankful that I just picked up my birthday packages today here in Nairobi and can see God's providence in the glitch that caused them to still be here instead of sent to me in Didinga--thanks for all the goodies, letters, and stuff! I hope to try to Skype when I am in Arusha in about 3 days so let me know when we can do that. I pray you won't worry about me but instead lift me up to our Sovereign Lord, my Savior who has preserved my life and kept me and my team safe. I love you all and will let you know what my team will be doing (not likely to go back to Didinga). I've been up for 38 hours now so gotta go--I will call Mom tomorrow and let her know what's going on.

Keep praying!
Every breath, every step, every move in Him,
Janette

Father’s Day 2001

"Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgements and unfathomable His ways!"
Romans 11:33 (NAS)

From the journal of Cathy Glynn - June 16, 2001 "Father, Daughter"

In memory of my dad, Lawrence Christopher Glynn (6/11/31 - 1/20/69)

'"All this week, my neighbor and his daughter have been playing in our tiny pool outside my window. Because of this precious relationship that I've observed of Samantha's dad's great love for her, it has been a great example to me, a very real, very tangeable and real-life experience watching them have precious time together.

Samantha has been learning to swim. She's about 3 years old - adorable, too! Her dad carries her to the pool in the warm afternoon sun to get wet! Listening to their interaction has been precious. Watching the joy on her dad's face as she's so afraid, unsure, mad, stubborn - is really fun to watch. It's odvious her dad is in complete control of the situation and he isn't going to let anything bad happen to her.

This picture of father and daughter for me has been a wonderful way to see God's view of me. God is ALWAYS right there for me! If I start to flounder or become frightened, He is right there, with His arm stretched out for me. He watches with a big smile, laughing, taking great joy in me as I learn to really trust Him and watching me learn how to swim. He shows me how to kick my feet, He gives me a floatie to hold me up and there's a few cool toys to play with, too!

He initiates some fun games and even some drills to teach me how to trust Him and to do things I don't know how to do. He even holds me tightly when we do something that causes me to fear. Sometimes He hides under the water from me and I can't see Him. Sometimes I just want Him to get out of the pool, leave me alone and go sit on the Scooby-Do towel. Sometimes, I just want to get out of the pool when I see Him there in the warm sun, to rest beside Him on that towel, warming myself - just to be near my Father.
It feels so right! It feels so good.

I like it when God is around, when He is near me. I like how special God makes me feel. I like how loved I feel when I am with Him. Hearing Samantha's laugh, her determination, her stubbornness, her demands, even her un-trust, has made me look at myself.

I tend to think I know better than my Father. Samantha's dad would say, "time to get out and go eat", and she would respond, "No!” with that classic wining voice of a stubborn child. He would ask Samantha if she was cold whenever he would see her teeth chattering, and her response was, "No." But her dad knew she was not being truthful. He would say “It's time to go, Samantha,”
and she would say, "No! I don't want to”! Talk about seeing yourself in the mirror!!

I'm grateful for the little pool outside my home and for this week of observation and reflections of Samantha and her dad. It's just what I need this Father's Day because I find myself wallowing in sorrow and even grieving that my daddy isn't here with me for Father's Day like everyone else...a deep sadness comes over me, but God has become my Father and I am satisfied!!
God, thank you for turning my sorrow into great joy in You, being my Father who loves and adores me SO much!

God, my Father, thank you for being so patient with me. Thank you for Your tolerance of me & my attitudes, my words & my deeds. Thank You for Your grace that covers me when I am so unreachable. God, thank You for how you look at me: in adoration, as precious in Your sight, You're proud of me and You never want to lose sight of me - I'm too precious to You! You have always been my Father and You always will be my Father.

God, thank You for how You keep Your distance, but You're always just within arm's reach. Father, thank You for Your words, Your precious words to me, Your sweet voice, Your caring heart that flows out to me in Your words.
Father, thank You for how safe I feel with You, for how safe I AM with You. Thank You for having a plan for my life and that in the midst of it, we have our special "pool-time" each day.

To God be all the glory!!! AMEN!! '

What a God Friday!

I've been meaning to post but ofcourse life just runs over you sometimes. I can't let this ONE ride!

As some of you know we have been praying for my granddaughter Makaylas salvation. We'll in the last few weeks we have noticed her sentivity to the Lords nudging. The last time I asked her(early last year) if she would like to ask Jesus into her heart she flat out said no. Well, It concerned me that she would just say no. She finally confided in me that the reason was that she didnt want to get in front of all those people and get babtized. So I explained that she didnt have to do that right away and she could do that when she was ready. But she wasnt ready for Jesus yet anyways.

Well at Kite day she was excited of course for the day. She was claping and singing in service, which she had never done before. She always tries to talk us out of going to BIG Church. LOL She loves her kids class. Later that day at kite day she had a Lady bug land on her and she was just enjoying that little tiny creature. Some white haired wise man told her that Lady bugs bring good luck! So two small events happened that day that reminded her of this good luck. Well I told her that maybe God was blessing her. She paused for a moment and said "Maybe, it was because I was singing to HIM today!" I said "Yes, probably so!" She said she was singing because she was excited about Kite day. So I said "maybe the way you were excited about Kite day is same way God is excited about you singing to Him"

So Good Friday camp comes around. Fred said he saw her having a great time and particpating in singing and trying to answer questions. When they asked if anybody was ready to make Jesus the boss of their lifes she picked up her head, later she told us she just wanted to see how many kids were going to do it. Well all the way home Fred said she kept asking questions.

So we are at home Good Friday evening watching, what else but cartoons. Well this one cartoon had a dog that was being mean and chasing a little kitten. This dog crashes into a lamp table and the lamp crashes on his head and he ends up dead in hell. So ofcourse she started asking more questions now about heaven and hell. This day should be called GOD friday.

So we answer her questions and she said I want to go to heaven I dont want to go to hell. We told her what the bible said that hell is like and what heaven is like.

So I asked her if she was ready to say the prayer she could do that now and know she was going to see it one day, but that the words had to come out of her mouth. I could not pray it for her but that she can repeat after me. So she did and I think Fred and I just thought it was not real like a dream. LOL

Today I saw her and the first thing she told me was that her and a friend were talking about Passion of Christ movie. I said how did you get to talking about that? She told me she couldnt stop sing the songs she learned at Good Friday Camp and one of her friends heard her singing. Her friend told her "I know those songs!" And that they started singing and talking about there churches. AND that another friend was saying she never been to church so they were telling her about there churches.

GOD FRIDAY

Waiting

Epic friends,

I felt led to post.

I am incredibly struck this week on how many of us are waiting on an answer from God. Our situations are different, our questions are different, yet most of us are waiting on God to speak to us.

Saw the movie 'Knowing' today. Disturbed me. Granted this movie is based on a fictional story with some biblical references thrown in. It talks about the end of it all..as in the day of pentecost. If one is a believer, then you believe there is a day when the end of life as we know it on earth will end and we will go to the life eternal. So in that sense, we are already waiting on the end that leads us to the beginning of new life. So essentially, not only are we waiting on life answers, but waiting on new life.

I haven't blogged in awhile. Actually, this blog is for Barbara C. who mentioned the other day that I blog and she doesn't. I am blogging here before I even touch my own blog. How funny that when life throws me a desert situation (referring to God putting the children of Israel in the desert until their answer from Him came) that I shut down, isolate and dont communicate well other than to say I am fine. That is my standard answer for everything. I am fine. I think it is a human one, too. We are DYING inside over something yet to the world at large we are just fine. I am encouraged by those of us who actually say I am not fine, this is what is wrong.

Back to waiting. We are all waiting. But my friends, after watching this movie today, we can KNOW THAT WE KNOW that we wait in hope. Jesus=Hope. It is what spoke to me through the fictional 2 hr movie. God is our hope. In Him and Him alone we have hope and a future. We need to SHARE our hope as we wait on our answers because we are not promised tomorrow. I can think of 10 friends I will be communicating with this week because I want to share my hope with them, as in NOW.

The answer I hear today is not that my life is set with money and a great job. My answer is get out and tell my friends and family about a hope that can never fade or be taken away. Read Psalm 40 this week. We can sing a new song.

Love,
Sara


And this is for those of us waiting on an answer to a desert situation...this song speaks to me, hope it does to you, also.

2.24.09
In this a portion of the letter my sister Mary received today from Janette. It’s as though I’m reading in the book of Acts!! God is doing some amazing things among the Didinga. Please continue to pray for Janette & her team. Even the ones who have read this first (Mary & her husband), claim to be atheists, so, God is reaching across the world from sister to sister – I think that is so cool!!

- from Janette dated 2.24.09. I’ll share some of the hilites:

(Talking about a birthday party they had…) “…since we just got back from Nairobi we all had nice food to bring. We had cheese & crackers, chicken sandwiches, ginger snaps, chocolate cake, and a large variety of teas. I brought some party favors we had used for Elly’s birthday in January: Mar di Gras mashs & party horns, and I think we’ll use these for every birthday as long as they last! I’m pleased to say I now have a huge ‘goodies’ stash to dip into. I bought a few things in Nairobi like chocolate, potato chips and whole grain cereal (essentials!!). We pitched in (roomies & I) and bought a wheel of gouda, and oh how wonderful it has been to have CHEESE! (Think of “Wallace and Gromit” when you say “cheese”)

We’ve gotten right back into the swing of things here, and this week I’ve already hauled water several times, baked bread, made chipati (flat bread), re-arranged our furniture (with roomies). I feel very tired so I’m sure I’m stressed, but I’m taking a nap every day and sleeping at least 10 hours a night until I adjust to the physical demands of this assignment. It is good to be back and to realize I haven’t forgotten all of my Didinga. We have begun to invite more people into our house, only our home stay ‘mama’s’ and their kids. They are amazed at the simplest things, like our table and chairs or the bread we share with them. The whole village hears when we have guests because for the rest of the day, everyone else is asking us for whatever we gave our guests! It’s weird to think, but the Didinga don’t use chairs, tables or any furniture. They use some little branch stools and skin ‘rugs’ but their homes are pretty bare except for the indoor fire pit, a couple of pots, and a grinding area made of a stone slab.

One of my little teen girl friends, Nadai Ilibina, gave me a chicken last week and told me she’d bring another one soon. It’s very common to share, help, and give to prove the depths of your friendship. Ilibina passes our hut almost daily, and I try to give her something like water, tea, bread, cookies since I know she’s going to her wheat field to work for the day. It’s the first wheat field in Didinga, and I just found out that Ilibina & her mom grind the wheat and cook it into a stiff porridge just like they do the corn! Yuk! I told the mom, Namako, that I could show her how to make chapatti. That will be a fun time! So now that I have a chicken, I need a chicken coop. Tianne’s home stay “brother” just finished building us one. It’s a little woven house that sits on top of a high stilted “bench” made of wood. It has a little door and a ramp to let the chicken (s) in at night. My one copper-colored chicken, Henny Renny, has spent one night in it and seems satisfied. We hope to get more chickens or at least a rooster to start raising chickens so we can have some fresh meat.

We had quite an adventure coming back to Didinga. We flew from Loki (Lokichogio,Kenya) to nearby Nagishot so the pilot could “ferry" us a few at a time back to Makiria. But the winds were way too strong to land on our airstrip. Plus, it was the end of the day and the pilot was out of flying hours, so we had to scramble to get what provisions we needed out of the plane, not knowing if it would be a day or a month before we saw our things again (airline schedule already booked). I grabbed my camelback and a bag of granola bars as well as one small bag of miscellaneous things. So, the pilot had to leave us on the airstrip at Nagishot near sunset. He could have and really should have left us at Torit or Chukkudum (towns in South Sudan) since the wind was bad in Nagishot. But God provided for us and it was in His plan to have us land in Nagishot, which is where we had our 10-day language course when we first arrived in Didinga. So we know some of the villagers there and they helped us bring our stuff into the village. There is a very small Didinga church there and the pastor & his wife put us up for the night. We had some meat in a cooler so we gave it to them, and they cooked us some nice stew and flat bread. We decided as a team that we’d hike back to Makiria the next day rather than wait for another plane. In the morning, the pastor’s wife prayed for us and fed us well. She even hired porters for us to carry the excess bags & boxes we couldn’t carry. We made the hike in less than 4 hours, making good time. That surprised me because I hadn’t really been hiking for 4 weeks, though I walked a bit every day. We arrived safely, though tired, and we were glad to be reunited with the Millers (leaders), who’d come back 2 weeks before we did. My expression for these unexpected crazy situations is “This is Didinga!”

So now we’ve begun to settle back into our daily routines and are back on our 2 year curriculum. We are beginning a unit on spiritual warfare. Based on what the Bible says, we Christians believe there is an unseen spiritual realm, and that the forces of good (God’s side) and evil (Satans’s side) are always in contention. Although some evil is just plain men being bad, we believe that a lot of evil starts in the spiritual realm and effects us here in the physical realm. Anyway, we’re reading a really interesting book about the Yanomano of Venezuela called “The Spirit of the Rainforest”, written from the perspective of a Yanomamo called “Jungleman”. It’s good to be aware of the spiritual realm in a place like Didinga, as the people here are very spiritual. They have witch doctors, cast spells or curses, and use white & black magic on each other. Needless to say, it will be important for us to know what we’re up against. One of the witch doctors, Regina, has become our friend so it will be interesting to talk to her and find out more about their practices and beliefs. We see a lot of outward evidence of their practices such as bone & wood bracelets, bells on bamboo poles outside of homes of the sick, and amnlets/pouches around their necks. They are afraid of chameleons and the white granite crystals easily found here, warning us that they are “abathi” (bad) but not able to tell us why.

Currently the most exciting thing my roomies and I do is try to catch the mice that live in our thatch roof. They are nocturnal, have larger eyes and bushier tails than normal, so look a little like “squirrel mice”, so we call them “murls.” They make so much noise at night, chattering and scurrying and rummaging through our stuff – they just have to go, so we are trying to use a mouse trap – ew!

Ooh!
I can hear one now wiggling around above my window.” – end

Their next trip to Kenya is in April and Janette would really cherish cards & letters!! Check out one of the teammates websites at web.me.com/shawnandcarly

God bless,
Cathy Knowlton
"With God, all things are possible." Matthew 19:26

From “The Power of a Praying Woman Bible” by Stormie Omartian
Going Deeper
Thank God For His Love

Read and consider Zephaniah 3:8-20

“The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing” (Zephaniah 3:8)

The Lord is with you. What joy there is in knowing that God is with you! You always have a line of open communication with Him because He is omnipresent. Whether your prayers are long or short, the Lord hears them all. Thank Him that He is a God who is close to you.

The Lord is mighty to save. Rejoice that you have been snatched from the jaws of hell because of God’s great love. He has provided salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ, and He accepts your repentance for sin no matter how many times you come to Him with a repentant heart. Thank Him for His salvation and continuing forgiveness.

The Lord takes great delight in you...He will rejoice over you with singing. Just as you rejoice in the victories of others, God will rejoice over you with gladness. Like the Father that He is, He is proud of His children. He is glad when you follow His will and live a life that will cause others to want to know Him. Thank Him for His joyful delight in you.

The Lord will quiet you with His love. In times of turmoil, if you turn to the Lord, He will quiet you with His love. There is peace in knowing that whatever circumstances come you way, God will be there to guide you through. In good times and bad, His love will comfort your pain and soothe your weariness. Thank Him for His peace in you.

Rejoice daily in this profound relationship you have with the Almighty God. Thank Him again and again for His presence and love in your life, even when you know you don’t deserve it.

God bless,

cat

(with God, all things are possible. Matt. 19:26)