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April 19th, 2018
For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Habakkuk 2:14

Dear friend,
     I hope that you are well and that you had a memorable Easter weekend celebrating all that has been made possible for us through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
I smile as I think of God's goodness and the wonderful things he continues to do for me and all those treasures of insight and wisdom that he gives to those who humbly ask for it. Have you ever had a question that kept nagging you and so you kept searching for the answer but you were never satisfied with what you found. You asked people time and time again but it just wasn't enough and then one day you found the answer. (Claps hands) Yes hallelujah! I am so glad I didn't let this one go by and I am going to share it with you because it is so humbly glorious!
     So in my limited time of being a missionary I have had questions asked and statements made to me and as much as I knew what the answers were I didn't know how to best relate what I was experiencing in logical phrases. One such question was, "Leah, how is THE WORK" ? and one of the comments made was," Oh, what you are doing (learning the language and culture) is just TRAINING and a PRELIMINARY to the REAL WORK". Many missionaries have heard these questions time and time again without truly trying to bring people who lack fulltime cross- cultural experience into the understanding of why we do things the way we do. They rightly do so since most likely you will not fully get it because it is something you would have to experience personally to truly know what it is like. Nevertheless, I feel the need to at least mention it.
     So, the work, language learning and culture learning are not separate things to be completed at different stages but they are all intertwined, increasing gradually together and there will never be a day where you have fully arrived. What I am doing can be called the Growing Redemptive Participator Approach. God's desire is that the whole earth should be filled with His glory. How do I participate in bringing this to pass with the people I am with? I do so by taking on a position of humility, by entering this people group as a "nobody", as someone who has no understanding of their world and no capability of communicating effectively. I take the lower stance of someone who needs to be nurtured and is first willing to be taught instead of charging in as the authority, wanting to heard without any real relationships, connection and true understanding of their ways or mindset. Can I just say that we live in a world of self-promotion and self-glorification. It's all about what 'I' bring to the table, how 'I' can showcase my talents and bringing in the 'results'.  God calls us to be clay pots holding great treasure which is him. Allowing myself to experience this loss of identity (all that I was in my home country and all that I am admired for) and humiliation prepares the way for what is to be received and his name is Jesus, not me! As I become more knowable, Christ becomes more knowable. What a great privilege to become lesser so that Christ can be greater! So it is never about learning language or the culture as though they were things on my to do list to be acquired so that I can then do the REAL things but about participating in a new world and becoming a new person (Paul talks about becoming all things to all men so that he may win some) while allowing God's glory to be made manifest through my presence.  All of life whether experienced on the mountaintop or in the valley is seen as a whole and you can never say that you were less alive when you were in the valley or what you experienced there is of lesser importance than when you were on the mountain top. As I become less of a foreigner and more like them, the possibilities will expand and develop in what teaching and discipleship looks like.
     I can personally say now having a go at this a second time that 1) This approach is long lasting and life transforming. 2) People can never deny what they have experienced with you, they can refuse your words but never the experience of Christ's love. 3) There is nothing more puzzling to the unbeliever than a person who abandons all that is familiar to take on a life of suffering and sacrifice. They cannot comprehend why someone would be willing to take on the position of humiliation with no personal benefit!
     I can assure you in my limited time here that I have had the million dollar questions asked, "why would you ever choose to live here and what are you doing with your life?" They always search for a logical reason but there is none to be found except that God's love compels me. I am so excited to see their lives transformed, to see the light gradually appear on their faces as truth begins to be revealed to them. I am also equally excited to see the transforming work that God continues to do in my life as he chips away at those things which are temporary and fragile and replaces them with his eternal word. Oh what glorious humility, what joy and freedom to know that I am not the treasure nor the standard of perfection. I am just the human bearer of the eternal! God will continue to build his church and neither the gates of hell nor our human limitations shall prevail against it. 
Peeling the fish to cook my favorite Guinea meal.
Girls carrying their salt making filters
My first time cooking for a friend and preparing it like they do in their bowls.
An interesting occurrence
You may have watched a movie or TV Show or even personally experienced it yourself where a child had to relocate to a new neighbourhood or city and they had to go to a new school. Imagine the fear mixed with excitement because you know absolutely no one, neither your surroundings or where anything is or how the school operates. Then there is the burden of having to start all over again. Usually there is always someone who takes up the role of being your Host. That person shows you around introduces you to different people and they voluntarily act as your guide until your can manage on your own.  We are always relieved and thankful for such people in our lives who take up that role of nurturing us into a new environment and I have found such a person or should say that person has found me! Sometimes such relationships can be forced or either party may be unwilling but what a joy when you both like each other and you get along quite well.
So for the shocker! One day my friend and I went to visit her aunt and it was that time in the evening to go pray. So we were sitting outside and she said to me, " lets go pray together". I told her that she could go ahead but she kept asking me because I was not clear with my response. Finally, her aunt looked at us both and said, "Fatou (not real name) do you think she is one of us? No she is not, she follows Christ, don't you? You pray at your house". I told her, "yes I do" and my friend sat there in amazement and exclaimed that she didn't know. I honestly felt bad, like I was a great deceiver, I mean I can understand why she would think so given that my head is always covered and I really began to wonder what would happen to our new found friendship. Would it be over before it really began?  It was a strange sensation and a very awkward situation. To add to it there was a small pilgrimage of Catholics and while we were walking back home a guy shouted out to me, whom I did not know, asking why I did not attend? Thankfully, the friendship didn't end there, lol. However, again when we returned another day to visit her aunt, another guy was there telling her about Jesus but my friend was not really interested in what he had to say and I thought to myself that maybe if we wouldn't force ourselves upon people but allow them to get to know us it will be a whole lot easier to pass the message across and also learning to communicate effectively in their language and not a language they know partially. It takes a much longer time to get there but we would be more effective and it will be worth it.  
At the hospital visiting my friend
Village wedding with my co-workers. 
Prayer Requests
  • Pray for my friend who had her appendix removed a few days ago. She is doing much better thank God and I go visit her everyday in the hospital. I am so grateful for her and all that she has showed me since I have been here. Pray that God will continue to soften her heart and that Jesus will continue to be revealed to her. I know that it takes great patience for her to nurture me a grown woman into her world. Yes a two year old knows more than I do! It is so backwards, but it is the only way forward. 
  • Pray for my language helper that somehow she will come to know the Lord as well. I'm quite confused about what she truly believes in. It seems like she only goes with the title but all her actions prove otherwise, she is more into the world! Also pray that she becomes committed to doing language sessions daily and not just when she feels like it and that she would come at a more consistent time. 
  • Pray for an increase in my comprehension of the language.
  • Things have been going better with the dog, he seems happy to see me at times which is a relief. Speaking of dogs, there were a few wondering around in the neighbourhood and attacking people. People think they are spirits and they have been trying to kill them...
  • I thank God for those few individuals that always try to help me speak when they see me. They slow down their speech, and repeat things several times for me to understand and they give hints or simplify words. These people are treasures and indispensable to learning the language well.
  • I thank God that I am happy where I am and that I feel relatively safe. To be honest I wasn't sure if I would really like it here at this new location but things seem to be working out little by little. Pray for wisdom as I figure out how to relate to people and what types of relationship I should have with each one of them. Things always get tricky because you never truly know what's okay and what isn't and of course there will always be people who take advantage of your lack of understanding and ability to communicate or manipulate your willingness to trust them and your friendliness. My present dellima is my motor cycle. People always think they know best on how to use your things for you and if not careful you would have lost all control of the situation, lol. They also think that you have all the money in the world and so their job is figure out how they can become recipients of that money. Sadly, their view of you being the Patron will never change and it is something that we all have to deal with until the day we leave the country. So pray for long lasting wisdom and patience. 
Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support and don't forget to visit my missions page (click the Facebook link) to see more pictures. God bless.
Copyright © 2018 Leah Joslyn, All rights reserved.


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