The Berean Way

Sri Lanka 10: Fishing Village Photos

Most Sri Lankans are fishermen, farmers or a part of the tourism industry. Here are some typical scenes from a fishing village I walked through today.

Sri Lanka 9: Final Conference

Today, we visited with one of the pastors that I met back in 2013. He brought together pastors from 7 different churches, along with their wives, and a number of other local people for a marriage conference. I believe there were around 80 or so people.

I had to shrink several days worth of information into a 3 hour program. Sam ended up translating for me and so it was like old times. We used to teach like this for all day long for several days in a row.

I have to say that this was on of the best conferences like this that I remember being a part of. I really believe is going to be one of the connecting points for us.

But tragedy is constant and one of the elders of the church was killed this morning when a huge lorry ran into him on his scooter. Instead of bringing with his wife with him, he sent her on ahead in another vehicle. Here the pastor is leading us all into prayer for the elder and his family before we concluded for the day.

After we finished up, we traveled around the corner to visit an old family friend of Sam's who came from Madurai (Sam's home town). He was a pastor/teacher for many years in India. Then he move to Sri Lanka many years ago. He was the one who first brought Sam here right after the tsunami of 2004.

We had our sweet orange coconuts and then we hit the road back to where we started. 5 hours later we arrived in Negombo, said our goodbyes and Sam drove away. He flies off the first thing tomorrow morning.

I can't count how many times I have said goodbye to Sam. At hotels, airports, cafe's, the side of the road and in many different countries. But we have the belief that no matter what adventure God sends us on, we will meet again.

He has a lot of processing and praying ahead of him. I hope to have a summary letter to share with you all within the next month as we determine the next steps for us to move forward. Thank you for following us along in this journey.

In Christ - Jeff & Andie

Sri Lanka 8: Understanding the Conflict

I am from the United States of America - a Greek-thinking, logical, Western mindset. I naturally approach most situations as a problem to solve so I can bring closure to the challenges in my world. I know it is not THE right nor THE wrong way of thinking, it is just my way.

But serving throughout SE Asia & Africa has taught me that much of the world does not think like that. So I am working hard to understand this.

Here is an example for you. We went to the famous Jaffna ice cream shop today where Andie and I decided to each get something different and then share - like we always do. Our dishes came out and we had a variety of options to enjoy.

When we looked around at different tables, no matter how many people were in each group, they all ordered the exact same thing! Really? Why? 

After one person chose, everyone else went with that option so they could enjoy ice cream as a group, in community. We went to get what we wanted. They went to share an experience together.

So when God called me to serve the people of SE Asia and Africa, He must have had a good laugh watching me struggle for many years to learn how to think and understand completely different cultures. Actually, I'm sure He had many good laughs this trip.

Sam has recently received personal invitations from three different Sri Lankan pastors to relocate his family and start a Bible school here. I immediately start thinking in terms of logistics. Who is the group you are going to be serving? Where should you be located? What kind of resources are required? When will this start taking place? Etc. But ministry is way more complicated than that.

Sam is not concerned about those type of details at this point. First off there is an intense and dark spiritual climate here.

People living in SE Asia very much interact with with spiritual world on a daily basis. You can see and experience it everyday. Hindus, Buddists, Muslims, Christians, etc. all recognize the spiritual realm as a truth not an opinion. Atheism really only exists in first world countries typically among those claiming to be highly academic. I've written about this quite a bit in the past so I won't spend much time on it here. This can't be ignored.

Sam is challenged with how he can effectively enter into this very spiritual culture and bring two groups together that really are not set up to work together.

Jaffna is historically a poetic culture founded on music and singing. There is a song and dance for every situation in life both in daily activities (cleaning, working in the field, cooking, eating, etc)  and big events (puberty, weddings, child births). They do this for everything.

This painting hangs in the lobby of our hotel and provides a great cultural teaching opportunity, so let me give it a try of my own understanding of the current climate here in Sri Lanka:

The woman on the left is a Sinhala dancer. You can tell by her dress, dancing form and the colors that she wears. Sinhalese make up 75% of the people here in Sri Lanka. They are primarily Buddhist and speak Sinhalese.

The woman on the right is a Tamil dancer also revealed by her dress, form and colors. Tamil make up 18% of the population in Sri Lanka. They are primarily Hindu and speak Tamil.

The ballet dancer in the middle represents the European dance and influence. She appeals to the younger generation that is heavily influenced by Europe and want to be different than their parents.

The older generations lived through 26 years of military civil war between the two groups that ended in 2009. They will spend the rest of their lives working through the healing process and deep scars that have left this country torn apart. Every single person was affected by death and loss. There is anger and bitterness and plenty of blame to go around.

Over 100,000 people (mostly civilians) were killed and countless others are still missing. The war ended, but they are still looking for peace.

Both sides blame each other. Both sides want to hold on to their own culture, religions and language. Both sides were victims.

And there was the tsumani in 2004 in which over 30,000 died and over 500,000 were displaced.

As we witnessed this trip, there are abandoned houses everywhere. Over 50% in many areas. The country doesn't look much different than it did when I was here in 2013. It is not progressing like one would expect.

But we have hope. We believe in these great people. And we are willing to follow God's calling to invest our time, energy & passion in this country.

Sam has a vision to bring unity. We could immediately enter into the Tamil culture and probably flourish right away with strong support. But his calling for the Bible school is for a unified school where both Tamils and Sinhalese are studying, learning and growing together. We discovered that the gap between the two is far greater than we realized, but we also see the need is greater as well.

So before we just come on over and open up a Bible school, there is a lot more preparation needed. Sam and his family are asking for your commitment to prayer over the next couple of months. The local team is coming together, but we still need several more leaders who are willing to break away from the comforts of their own people groups and catch the vision to help reach Sri Lanka for Jesus.

Will you be willing to pray? If so, will you start right now?

Sri Lanka 7: Jaffna

Few things in this world are more amazing than the amount of time that a teenager can sleep. When you add a serious case of jet-lag, then this mystery rivals the sleeping pattern of a hibernating bear. It is truly unbelievable!

Well, today something amazing happened. Andie woke up hungry, talkative and energetic. Maybe, just maybe, she was starting to win that jet-lag battle?

We took a trip to a historic cultural museum. The culture of the Singhala people who came from Orrisa, India, goes back to the 13th century. The Tamil people (also from India) go back 3,000 years! So begins one of many of the differences these two people groups are facing - it is a far more complex challenge that can easily be discovered. But that is what we are here to do.

We rented a boat and headed to the island of Nainativu (bottom far-left).

Their living conditions haven't improved since the tsunami of 2004 and probably never will.

We returned after a sobering day and headed to our rooms. I told Sam I would text him when we were read for dinner. Andie started to read and I crawled into bed. I set my alarm for 20 minutes for a quick nap and that is all I remember. She said I was asleep at 5:00 pm. I woke up from a coma-like sleep total disoriented, but I was convinced that I slept through the night. I was so proud of myself. Then when I looked at the clock and it said it was only 10:30 pm. Wait, what? Wide awake, I was up for the next several hours, then went back to bed after 2:00 am.

How could my teenage daughter be more successful at winning the jet-lag battle over me? I'll have to do better tomorrow!

Sri Lanka 6: Making our Way North

Today was another day of travel. The first leg of the journey was to Mullaittivu, which was the place of the final battle in their war. Still, the signs of the war were all around. Someone said that in many areas of Sri Lanka, 50% of the houses that were vacated during the war are still abandoned.

Most of the villages around here are made of up fishermen who earn the equivalent of a few dollars day. Not enough to pay their expenses.

In Mulliattivu, we had lunch and took a look at the coast. Since death by swimming (riptides) was not an option, we could have resorted to playing volleyball with a shoestring as a net. We decided to move on.

It was a belief for decades that if the war could end, they would have peace in Sri Lanka. Well nearly a decade later, they still lack peace. This tent houses the photos of young boys who have "disappeared" during the war. I understand the mothers gather here regularly still seeking the location of their boys or some kind of closure.

Then we were back on the road for our final push to Jaffna.

Along the way we crossed paths with peacocks, buffalo, cattle, goats, wild dogs, flooded roads, potholes the size of couch, and crossing a river. I'm sure I left something out of this list.

The monsoon rains were coming down very powerfully and I was grateful to be in the van. I fell asleep for much of the journey and we arrived to our hotel at night. My body was sore from being bounced around for the past few hours.

 

We arrived at the Green Grass Hotel where we will be staying for three nights! Good night.

Sri Lanka 5: Batticoloa Marriage Conference

Somehow I was able to convince Andie to go on a short walk with me this morning to stretch our legs and fill our lungs with some Bay of Bengal ocean air. But it was humid and that walk did not last very long.

Beware of the constipated man!

The locals were headed off to work.

The purpose of this trip is to further develop relationships with the local contacts that Sam has been investing in over the past 10+ years. Four years ago, Sam was invited to start a Bible school but the timing wasn't right. As we investigate God's direction on this opportunity, we are taking time to meet with the local leaders and further learn the culture. It is a similar path that we took in India.

The locals want us to hold multiple conferences, but that is not why we are here this time. So as a compromise, we have agreed to hold a couple mini marriage conferences.

Today was our first as we spoke to around 50 people, mostly women. This is a fishing community where they earn only a few dollars every day.

Afterwards, we visited the pastor's new house. He waited three years to receive the land from the Sri Lankan government's tsunami relief program. It took another 7 months to build his small 4 room house. The cool thing is how the pastors get together to help each other. One is experienced in electrical, another the roofs, another the structure, etc. It is definitely a community effort.

We said goodbye and headed north to Trincomalee for the night. Four hours later we were at the hotel and off to bed.