 |
| Tom and kids on the rocks on Volcano Island |
We were a small group. We listened to her story. We heard of all the places that God had led her, all the people she had been influenced by, even the dreams that He had given her along the way. We culminated the celebration with a special swim in the ocean nearby. It was a great morning. I returned home to our house around midday, my hair still wet with salt water.
Something had happened. In the morning, I had left a quiet neighborhood waking up, people moving slowly and methodically. Now our corner was a buzz of activity. A huge tarp hung from our house to the neighbors’ across the street. The tarp shaded the mats that had been placed on the road and on which women were already gathering and chanting. I knew what this scene meant. Someone had died. One of our neighbors from across the street was dead.
The family across the street is very large-- easily 75 people. When I asked who had died, I learned that it was a woman from the oldest matriarch’s side of the family.
She had died around the same time I left the house that morning. While I was celebrating new life, my neighbors had been confronted by the suddenness of unexpected death.
Eventually I found out specifically who had died-- a woman perhaps in her late 30’s, early 40’s. She hadn’t been sick. She just died (perhaps a heart attack, perhaps an aneurysm). She would be buried the same day, so the exact cause of death will never be known, but whatever the cause, her death was a surprise and you saw the pain of grief on the close family’s faces.
But as I sat with the large crowd of women gathering on our street, sitting packed together on mats for hours… I was most struck by the lack of emotion. People were packing in and doing their duty by sitting there. One true mourner chided the crowd and through tears yelled at them to truly pray because they could die just as quickly. But still the crowd was just going through the motions. This is what you do when someone dies and yet another person has died.
The woman who died and the woman celebrating a new life were around the same age. I’m sorry to say that I didn’t know the former. Just a familiar face among a crowd. What was her life? What hope did she have? Did she die with any hope at all? At the same time I rejoice for another life saved. A life full of hope. A life ready to draw others into that hope. Life and death. Hope and despair. Light and darkness. Freedom and slavery. We live on the edge. Sometimes we see it. Sometimes we don’t. But the reality is there. New life and unforeseen death, all on one Sunday morning.
(video: Event for men on the 5th night after death, taken from our porch)
PRAYERS ANSWERED
We had a nice relaxing time on Volcano Island (although our family was hit with a stomach bug that made the end of our time not so pleasant). We have been thankful for some cooling rains. Tom has 3 men that are interested in studying with him! One teammate lost a bag with all her electronics on a taxi bus and didn’t realize it for hours-- but after prayer her bag was returned with only a chocolate bar missing!
PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray that Tom would have wisdom as he looks to set up time to study with these interested men-- many times the decisions about how to begin can greatly impact how these studies go. Pray for new life to continue to spread throughout the islands! Pray for our January-- it looks to be a busy month! Ma Imani is talking to her mom again. Pray that she would have equal openness to be reconciled to her sisters as well.
