Trauma East and West

Have I really been 'home' for 8 days? They have flown by in a flurry of unpacking, shopping for any number of household items (with partial success) plus Christmas gifts, and--even more challenging--making the move to all the new technology I've acquired. Moving is just plain unsettling but, as we ate turkey, Ralph and I reminded ourselves of God's goodness. We are thankful for past, present and future blessings even as we uncover unhappy surprises in our new house (crazy plumbing, basement leaks, and what-next, we wonder).

Psalm 10 was the foundational passage of the meeting with the leaders of the Bible Societies and others in East Africa. Their descriptions of the situations in their countries resembled the lament of the Psalm--with evil running rampant. Pastor Kongo, the leader of the Bible Society of Congo (in photo) echoed the Psalmist's cry, "Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless." Each of the 8 countries identified where they'd like to start addressing trauma and will be sending 5 people to a central training seminar in Nairobi in February. In addition, the Seed Company and ABS will be piloting a totally oral variety of trauma healing designed for traumatized people who do not have Scripture in their language and do not read. We'll translate Bible stories as well as the contemporary stories of trauma from the book and the teaching will flow out of those stories. Margaret Hill and I and others hope to lead this in Goma, DRC in March. Pray that God would bless these plans.

But today, I'm off to another trauma zone--Plateau State in Nigeria. Over the past years, Trauma healing has become a core activity of the Stefanos Foundation and SIM missionaries as they respond to the ethnic tensions there. Please pray for the training next week, that that the number and competencies of the trainers would increase to respond to the huge need--to help people give voice to their pain and bring it to Christ for healing.

The following week, Margaret and I will be helping Mary Crickmore (of CRWRC) pilot a new course we're calling 'Shalom.' In any sort of church or community development, the big challenge is communities finding their voice, not being overwhelmed by the well-intentioned, more powerful voices from outside. This course puts the development principles in the hands of church leaders so that they can mobilize their communities to identify their priorities and plan of action rather than being victim to outsider's agendas. If successful, this may help to provide the missing key to ownership and sustainability.

The icing on this cake is that my plane happens to fly over Amsterdam on the way home just before Christmas, so Ralph will be joining me in Brussels for the holidays. Max is at the perfect age for a wonder-filled Christmas. Then when we get back to the US on the 26th, Jesse and maybe others will be coming to visit us in our new setting.

Please pray for lots of angels to protect me on every side and for strength for the task, especially while in Nigeria.

BTW, our new address is 107 Broad Meadows Lane, Exton, PA 19341. Phone numbers unchanged.