Happy as they are….?

Students practice reading and writing at the Pal literacy school. They are so excited to try their skills that they even take the practice reading materials out to recess.

On Friday, I walked through the Literacy building’s rough-hewn log benches and admired the great strides the students have made in the ability to form letters.  After 2 hours of practice, new sounds and ideas, we came to the toughest part of the morning:  bright faces concentrated on connecting the spoken word:  ‘kili’ (“Black”) with what it would look like on paper and attempting to write it down themselves.    This is a massive accomplishment for these men and women who have had almost zero exposure to written text before this time.  Those of you who have taught a child to read know the mental leap -  from recognizing how a word looks -  to hearing that word spoken and being able to permanently set that down on paper because you can SEE the word in your mind.

As I marveled at this new-found ability and the fact that they were able to move on from writing ‘kili’ to ‘kolaga’ (“he goes down”) and other words, I thought about how often I have seen primitive tribal societies lifted up for their simplicity and ancient way of life in television and text books and other media.  ‘We should protect their way of life’ is the battle cry…really?  We should leave as they are…

• · Mothers who will leave a healthy newborn baby on the ground if it doesn’t cry immediately on the birth because they are convinced it is already dead.
• · Men and women who are convinced that they have been shot by a spirit when they are actually suffering intensely from malaria or pneumonia.  Because a ‘spirit shot them’, they will seek to appease it rather than try to get the antibiotics that would really help. (If you don’t trust the medicine because you’ve misidentified the source of the problem you probably won’t try to get it…)
• · Constant conflict within families and communities over those same sicknesses because they believe that others have willed or directed spiritual attack against them.
• · Constant fear of others and unknown spirits
• · Marriages where women are the nearest equivalent to a slave of the husband. 
• · People exploited by all those around them and who are prone to believe every rumor that they hear – because they have no reliable information source.

I could go on, but  these are just a few of the areas of life here in Pal that we pray will be transformed by TRUTH.   I am proud to stand up and say, “We will NOT protect these aspects of this way of life, because these things damage and destroy our dear friends every day.”   We are seeing the beginning of a transformation as men and women begin to interact with the written word.  We pray for a ‘revolution of the Word’ in the years to come. 

A while back, Elizabeth showed our primers to an excited student (above). This student is turning out to be one of the sharpest in class. We are hoping that she will be a valuable asset to the translation work here.

Praying for the Claasen family this week:

Nate: is trying to complete a large chunk of translation in addition to teaching literacy daily, connecting with people from all over the language group, work together with our team and care for his wife and kids.  Please pray particularly that God will multiply his time to make huge progress in the next steps with this portion of Scripture.

Elizabeth: is discouraged with language progress.  I am working on confidently using more complex areas of communicating, things that communicate on the heart level, and I feel like I have a long ways to go.  Please pray that I will be able to listen carefully and think deeply as I talk and work with Pal friends this week.

Noah: is enjoying the start of 5^th grade.  He is very interested in justice and wanting life to be fair (for him in particular ;)) this week.  We remind him that if life was fair, he would have been born on a banana leaf in a hut, not in the U.S.!   Please pray that God will take hold of his heart and use that desire for justice for His purposes.

Tim:  is struggling with making the transition to cursive in school.  This has made for some difficult school mornings.  His cursive is beautiful, but it’s the ‘newness’ that makes it feel burdensome.  Pray for perseverance for him (and his teacher!)

Elias: is turning 7 on Tuesday!  His joy and energy are contagious, we work with him daily on using them ‘appropriately’.  Pray that God will continue to grow a heart of concern for others in him.