Bridging Culture. Working Together.

We enter into these beautiful churches, tourists in an unfamiliar land, gazing at the beauty of the church.  Learning how the church was built hundreds of years ago, relying solely on manpower.    Tourists standing in line for hours to see the wonder of the church building.  While embracing the awkward role of a tourist, gazing up at the Notre Dame, I realized that I didn’t actually think about God.  I thought about the building, the painter, the laborers, the architect who designed it.  I never stopped to think about the purpose behind the building.  I never once stopped to wonder at the beauty that ultimately God created.  It was almost as if I was worshipping man who drew, designed, and built these historic churches.  I wasn't actually worshipping God in this holy place.  I forgot who created man, who gave man the creativity and knowledge to be able to design such a feat. Maybe these historic churches have become an idol....

You call me out upon the waters The great unknown where feet may fail And there I find You in the mystery In oceans deep My faith will stand And I will call upon Your name and keep my eyes above the waves When oceans rice My soul will rest in Your embrace For I am Yours and You are mine Your grace abounds in deepest waters Your sovereign hand Will be my guide Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me You've never failed and you won't start now Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders Let me walk upon the waters Wherever You would call me Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander And my faith will be made stronger In the presence of my Savior I have been thinking about oceans lately.  I have a fear of swimming in the ocean alone.  I like swimming in it with someone else.  If a shark comes along, at least I am not alone in the fight.   If I go in by myself, I do not like to go where I cannot see the bottom.  There is...

I visited a friend who told me about how her older brother drowned in a river.  His friends tried and tried to pull him out of the water but nothing seemed to work.  I asked her if he knew how to swim and she told me he could swim well but a devil was inside the water that killed him.   Since then, anytime she needs to pass that river, she will never walk because she is afraid of the devil.  This devil is often called “mami wata”  (Mama water).  Some people are afraid to swim simply because of mami wata.   Just recently, a security guard from the school was rumored to have been shot with a witch gun.  They immediately took him to the village to get healed “traditionally.”  Around that time, a dead frog was found on the window of the secretary’s office.  Several people took pictures, claiming it was witchcraft.  Most people here know Koinadugu District as the center of witchcraft in Sierra Leone.   I have been ...

I came to visit a family in Mararaba, Nigeria who are missionaries in Sierra Leone working with the CRC Church.  They quickly became family to me while we were in Sierra Leone.  When I arrived in their hometown, I asked them if they had ever climbed the hill behind their house.  After telling me they had never climbed it, we decided this must be accomplished before I left.  While hiking, I was thinking about how different my own experiences hiking in the U.S have been to hiking in Nigeria and Sierra Leone so I thought I would share them with you.    Getting Ready to Hike: When we go hiking in the U.S, we like to have our name brand hiking clothes: Patagonia, Keen, Camelback, etc.  We like to wear special lightweight clothes that dry quickly and wear hiking boots that weigh too much you can barely lift your foot.   Your feet produce a horrible smell after a long hike and your hiking boots have to be kept outside because of the stench. ...

Graduate training program participants! I had the opportunity to take part in a graduate training program for recent graduates from University here in Nigeria.   The program is a three-month program sponsored by a school in Lagos, Nigeria.   They had over 5,000 applicants and 30 were accepted into the program.   The idea is that they will train these teachers in “modern” teaching methods and the sponsoring school will then hire the best teachers.   The remaining students will then get recommended to other schools around Nigeria.     Not only is the program providing quality teachers for their own school, but they are also developing teachers to teach all throughout Nigeria.   One of the struggles for me teaching in Sierra Leone was to bridge the gap between modern teaching methods and the traditional teaching methods.    Traditional teaching methods simply consist of the teacher writing on the blackboard, and the students copying and...

Working on integrating Biblical worldview into Social Studies Curriculum “How do I teach a biblical perspective on creation when students need to know about the concept of evolution for their exams?”  Questions like this were a common theme during a teacher training on integrating Biblical worldview in the classroom.  This question is an ongoing struggle for teachers in Nigeria, as well as all over the world, as we struggle with teaching concepts that are not necessary Biblical because the students are going to be tested on these concepts in their external, nationwide exams.  This is where the importance of Christian education is important.   We as teachers may be required to teach these concepts that go against our Biblical worldview.   However, as teachers in Christian schools, we have the opportunity to share a Biblical perspective on these controversial concepts.    From my own perspective, we need to expose students to the lies that we ...

As we celebrate Jesus' birth this holiday season, I think about the beauty of our relationship with Jesus.  I have had the pleasure to learn more about the Muslim faith during my time in Sierra Leone. There are some practices that I truly admire, such as their commitment to prayer. But one thing we often take for granted as Christians is the power of Jesus.  Muslims believe in Jesus as a prophet, not as the Savior, not as God's Son who has forgiven our sins, wiped away our mistakes, given us a clean slate. From my own understanding, as a Muslim, you have to earn your salvation.  But as a Christian, there is nothing we could possibly do to earn his love, to earn his forgiveness.  We are not perfect human beings, we have the freedom to love, to make mistakes, and to get back up again, knowing that we are still loved, we are forgiven. For many of us, there is something appealing to the idea that if we check off the "good" things on the list, then we can go to heav...