Sorry to just now be posting this entry. Internet was down before heading out to the bush on Sunday. So blog may be a week behind. Anyways, the title of our class on Spiritual Warfare was called "The Invisible War." Below is a picture of us and our students.
Day 26: Independence Day
Day 26: Independence Day
...We divided up the info from the Spiritual Warfare packet so that we knew what each of us was going to teach, & I actually feel like we made a little bit of progress. I went back and worked through my first section which primarily consisted of identifying the various names of Satan—The Accuser, Slanderer, Devil, Evil One, Tempter, Father of Lies—there’s a lot! Gene’s packet had a lot of great stuff, but it’s almost too much, so I tried to find the verses I felt were most relevant. I’m also supposed to discuss the 4th truth out of 5 about spiritual warfare—“Respect your foe, but don’t fear him.” We acknowledge Satan, but we don’t give him too much power. We serve a bigger God, a God who has conquered Satan. Our battle has already been won!...I definitely feel like I’ve been experiencing my own share of spiritual warfare the past few days. Since we discovered that we were going to be teaching on this topic, my stomach’s been messed up & I’ve had these headaches & just felt really tired & stressed. It’s tough to preach about spiritual warfare, much less team-teach. And in Africa to make it even more challenging, a place where spiritual warfare is much more in your face. What do we Americans have to teach them about spiritual warfare? Shouldn’t they be opening our eyes to the hidden evils that our safe American worldview seems to neglect? Gene told us a couple of stories yesterday that involved spiritual warfare. He talked about people fasting b/c they had heard a diviner (like a witch doctor) was coming to kill all the church members. And when the diviner arrived at the church, he dropped dead! He told us about people being delivered from bondage and his experience rebuking blessings from diviners (their blessings are not from God & work more like curses). Gene even told us a story about a long time ago when he was robbed & a man tried to shoot him. Gene said he felt like something had pushed him down to avoid getting shot. Years later, someone Gene knew saw the man, & the man told the guy to tell Gene that he had become a Christian. The man said that the night he robbed Gene, he had intended on killing Gene, but when he fired his gun, an angel pushed Gene down & the man’s gun into the air, causing him to shoot through the ceiling. It’s pretty crazy stuff! It's a world I’m not used to. We kind of feel like we’ve been living in the Matrix. And we’re wondering if ignorance is really bliss?
...We weren’t expecting it b/c they don’t make much of a deal about the 4th of July, but we actually had a big dinner tonight to celebrate. And Gene grilled hamburgers. My first burger I’ve had since June 7th, 2011, but who’s counting ;) Mike even told his girlfriend the other night on the phone that he would seriously kill someone for a burger. Luckily no one was killed in the process; at least as far as I know! Lynn even brought over an American flag tablecloth and banner, & she made a cake that looked like the American flag.
And Melba made baked beans. We drank some glass Coca-Cola’s & it actually felt a little like being home. Still wasn’t the same without ribs & my mom’s homemade ice cream though. But it wasn’t too bad for being in Africa!
Day 27:
We started our teaching on Spiritual Warfare today. Gene led us in a group prayer, & it was comforting to know that they were praying for us. There were probably about 10 students, mid 20s-30s I would guess. 
We even have one female, which surprised me. I assumed the Turkana would be anti-women preaching, but it appears they are much more progressive than I thought. I think it’s great, but I will say it was a little distracting when she was breastfeeding during our teaching sessions! Mike made his facebook status, “You know you’re in Africa when your class gets disrupted by passing camels, women breastfeeding, or wandering goats!”...We tried to give them a little break before I started teaching my session to keep them from getting too bored. We sang “Ejoka noi Yesu” (Thank You Jesus), the only song we actually know the words. Then Mike wanted to try and teach them to play “Simon Says.” But our translator is named Simon, so we figured that might get confusing since Simon would always technically be saying what to do. We played the same game and tried calling it “Do This, Do That” & you sit down if you follow the instruction when he says “Do That.” Something got lost in the translation because the game turned into trying to sit down as fast as you could when Simon said “Do That.” Not quite what we were going for, but they seemed to enjoy it! ...I tried to review what we had covered in the morning session & emphasize that we were meeting to learn from each other. We, the emusuguts (white men), might be the teachers, but we realize that there is lots that we can learn from the Turkana. I feel like my session went pretty well.
I went through the names of Satan and talked about “Respecting our foe, but not fearing him.” It was definitely God speaking through me. Over the weekend, I had felt a little uneasy about teaching on the topic, but today I felt at peace & felt like God kept reminding me of the things to discuss outside of my notes. It was cool to talk about the power we have in Christ over Satan; there’s something powerful about hearing those words jump off your lips…We had beans and maize for lunch, so we’re back on the Turkana diet. But we’re kind of stuck in the middle b/c we’re eating Turkana style for lunch but Melba’s cooking for dinner…After teaching, we were all pretty tired. I’ve given a lot of elementary education majors a hard time about their classes being easy. But man—teaching is exhausting! You end the day tired, & then you’ve got to start preparing for the next day. It’s tough stuff!
Day 28:
…It was exhausting just thinking about trying to teach again today. But after chai, I felt like I got a second wind. God definitely lifted my spirits, & I really enjoyed teaching my session. I talked about the second piece of the Armor of God from Ephesians 6—the “breastplate of righteousness.” Below is a picture I drew to try & explain what a breastplate is. I know what you're thinking--breathtaking, right;)
I talked about how we are declared righteous in God’s eyes b/c of Christ, & how living out this truth allows us to stand firm against the attacks from the evil one. We talked about how the Israelites failed to stand firm in Exodus 32 w/ the Golden Calf. I realized that I really love to teach the Exodus narratives. It’s powerful! The Israelites are freed from persecution, see God’s plagues against Pharaoh & the Egyptians, cross the parted sea, receive mannah from heaven; yet they still chose to worship a false God. They wanted to worship something they could see & feel, but 2 Corinth. 4 tells us that we place our faith in God who is unseen. But I can relate to the Israelites. So many times God works in my life, yet I still manage to doubt when trials come my way. It’s so easy to forget all the miracles God has worked in our own lives…After lunch, we met Simon, probably the most awesome kid in all of Kenya.
Simon is probably 5 or 6, & is one of the happiest kids I’ve ever met. He has this huge grin & high-pitched laugh that can’t help but make you laugh. I don’t have any nieces or nephew, so I’m still pretty inexperienced when it comes to dealing with kids. Cy (my brother) told me the other year that he wanted to be an uncle, so he was hoping one of our cousins would have a kid pretty soon. Unfortunately, he was a little confused to how the whole uncle thing works. He didn’t realize I had to have a kid in order for him to be an uncle. Sorry Cyrus—it’s probably gonna be a while! Anyways since I don’t really know what to do with kids, I basically treat them like my dog Mully. So I’ll wrestle them, pick em up, & even growl at them. Simon thought my growling was hilarious, & he’d growl back at me. And he’s not too bad at fetch either, especially considering he can throw the ball back ;)…Took a moment to stop & look at the mountains after today.
It’s crazy to stop & just think about things over here. It almost seems like I’m just at a camp somewhere in the States until you look around & really take in the scenery. Camels, mud huts, the mountain back-drop—it’s pretty incredible!
Day 29:
We finished up our teaching today. I talked about the Shield of Faith, & how faith means putting our absolute trust in God, not in ourselves or in the things of this world. I talked about the difference in how Eve handled temptation in the garden & Jesus handled temptation in the desert. Eve placed her faith in the apple, in the things of this world. But Jesus placed his faith in His Father…It’s really frustrating when you learn that what you’re trying to say isn’t being translated correctly to the students; that started to become apparent today as we reviewed for the test. Simon & Sammy are emphasizing the pieces or armor, but we are trying to emphasize what these pieces symbolize. Our battle is a spiritual one, & the armor we put on is not belts or shields or swords; it’s TRUTH, RIGHTEOSNESS, PEACE, FAITH, SALVATION, & GOD’S WORD!...I gave Simon an Auburn football keychain, so we threw that around after we finished class. He’s got a cannon for a little kid, most of the Turkana have pretty good arms from throwing rocks & palm nuts. Seriously, the Bigs need to start scouting over here! But let’s just say catching is another story. At one point, Simon completely missed & the ball bounced right off the middle of his forehead. Simon just started laughing, & Mike & I couldn’t stop laughing b/c it bounced back like 10 ft. But Simon never stopped smiling!
...Some of the guys from Nakor came outside & wanted to play soccer—Emusugut’s vs. Turkana like always, plus we got Sammy. It was fun & we brought home a victory for the States in honor of July 4th;)
Staying in town this past week was a nice change of pace. Teaching on spiritual warfare was tough, but I feel like I got caught up on some much needed rest these past two weekends. I’m ready to head back out & do some work & spend some time with the drilling crew. Only a few more weeks left. It keeps flying by—gonna be over before I know it!
Peace
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