Bader Dan Debbie 1988 Kenya
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Transcript of Bader Dan Debbie 1988 Kenya
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8/10/2019 Bader Dan Debbie 1988 Kenya
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Dan and
Debbie, Hannah
Gregory
December, 1988
DAN
DEBBIE
BADER
P.O. Box 381
Lodwar, Kenya
AFRICA
CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY FELLOWSHIP Prayer Newsletter
T U R K A N A
Howcan
you
live
there?
we
were asked
time
ajfler t ime as we
made
presentations
about
Turkana
before leaving
the S ta tes
last
June. I
have
to
admit
we a^ed
th e
same
question many
times, wondering,
How
can
we
l ive
in such
a bar ren wilderness? We
told
ourselves we
could do
it with God help,
but,
nevertheless,
we were nervous.
It s uncomfortable doing
things
when
you re
not sure
of the outcome.
It s ou r
na
ture is to s ti ck with things we understand
and can
control. In coming to Kenya, we
were very uncomfortable because
there
se em ed to b e so l i t t l e
w e c ou ld c on tr ol
o r
u n
derstand. That was one big step for us , but
since then
we ve
been confronted by Uttle
s teps o f the same kind one after another.
Here are
some examples:
Wha t s your
react ion to the idea of dr inking
sour goat s
milk
with
big
lumps in
it
(when
you ve heard that sometimes urine
is
put
in
to make i t more sour)? Makes you a
little
uncomfortable,
doesn t i t?
Soon
after we
ar
rived,
Ralph Brune , a fellow Turkana t eam
member,
took me to the
home of a
close
friend.
I
hadn t
given
much
thought
to
drinking sour milk, but suddenly
I
was
confronted with a b ig con ta in er of i t, lumps
an d
all
What do you do? My world view
says
give
it
to
th e dog
if
it s
sour,
and throw it
away if
i t
has
lumps. Here was a
Turkana
friend
of
fering
me
a
great
giftperfectly soured. I
had to make a decision, so I began to drink
it
when
they weren t looking because I
didn t want them
to
se e me almost g ag each
time I
took
a drink.
My
world
view was
so
strong
that i t affected
me
physica lly. My
s tomach was
trying to
refuse
what my
bra in told i t was bad Since t hen I ve
had
sour
milk
many
t imes, sometimes
much
worse
than that first time, but
I ve found
that
my bra in and
stomach
now
agree that
it s okay.
It s
not myster ious anymore .
Here s another example.
One
day I
was in
vited to someth ing
called
Lodanga.
I d
heard i t translated
as
Jumping, and I d
heard
uncomfortable rumors about wha t
might
occur.
The
Lodanga
was being held
under a full moon a
couple miles
from
ou r
house.
The
picture
in
my
mind was
one
such as
I d
s een on
television
with people
doing
al l kinds of wei rd things. I wasn t
too anxious to go, but 1
felt
for
some reason
God wanted
me to, so I ag reed . A ll
evening
I
kept
hoping they d forget to
come
get
me,
but no such luck. They
were even early in
picking
me
up .
I
grabbed
a
sheet and
a
hat (essentials
for
Lodanga I d
been
told), and we
began walk
ing through the dark. A lready some of th e
mystery began
to
wear
off.
The
moon
was
bright,
and
we could
see
very well. I was
going
with
a couple of famiUes; old
men
down to
little
kids. There
was
electricity in
the air, especially in the kids. They ran
al l
around us, jumping the way I
would see
la ter , laughing and
chattering
al l the way.
Upon arrival , the
electricity
crackled even
more as
other
families
began
to arrive. We
drank some sour
milk (naturally),
and
went over
to
whe re Lodanga was bemg
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8/10/2019 Bader Dan Debbie 1988 Kenya
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held
I was still ejecting something bi
zarre up
to
this
point,
but
something finally
chcked...
this was
like a family reunion
back home.
The
old men a nd
o ld women (that s
a com
pliment
here) sat around the outside of the
circle and
chatted while the
kids,
up to
about
my
age, jumped
in th e
circle.
It
was l ike
a
high
school
dance, only
with
more chaperones.
I could see the boys and girls flirting and
making
eyes
at each other just
as you d
ex
pect, but
it
didn t goany fuirther than that.
It wasn t
mysterious
anymore.
I t
was fun,
and later
even a
little
boring.
On another
night, Debbie and the kids went
with
me
to
Lodanga.
Debbie
escorted a young
girl
to
one on
ano the r occas ion
so h e r
fa the r
would l et her go. He reminded
me
of fa
the rs
in America .
Somet imes
th e
Tu rk a na t hi nk we re a Uttle
mysterious. We have a big dog that we
t reat
royally compared to how they treat dogs.
When we left
fo r
a
few
days , we gave
some
food to a
young
Turkana boy to
feed the
dog.
It was food that people eat, so I somehow
had
to make
i t
clear t ha t i t was
only
for the
dog.
The Turkana are
always hungry, and
it s
unthinkable
to give a
dog
food. I also
had to m ake h im unde r s t and t h a t
h e
was
not
to treat th e dog the rough way
that
he
would
normally.
I
finally
told
him
that
this
dog
was l ike
an
old man s favorite bull. To an old
man,
a
favorite
bull
is h is bes t
friend. He sings
2 88
CHRISTIAN
MISSIONARY
FELLOWSHIP
P.O.
BOX
26306,
5674
CAITO DRIVE
INDIANAPOLIS, IN
46226
ADDRESS CORRECTIONREQUESTED
songs about
it and
treats it
very
gently. So I
told LongeleiOy This dog is my favorite
bull.
He
understood
immediately
even
though
I m sur e he thought I
was
a little
strange. Slowly, we re becoming a little
less mysterious to
him.
Since
June, we ve
been confronted
with
mysterious confi:ontations like these one af
ter
another.
As we ve
worked
our
way
through
them,
we ve discovered
that
they re
al l
perfectlv
normal.
I t just
takes
a
l eap of faim into uie
unknown,
and
we
trust
God to
help and protect us.
We re
very
anxious for
people fi:om
home
to
visit
us, so t hey can sha re the joy of finding
something normal
ou t of what
seems so
mysterious. Start planning now
to come.
The
family s doing
fine in every area. None
of us have been very sick, we re all adjust
i ng to
the
people
and the
climate
of Turka
na
very
well. Debbie
and
I are working
hard
at learning
t he Turkana language.
This
is
one
area
where we
still ask for
your
prayers. We have such a
long
way to go.
There
isn t
room to expla in
why we can t
seem to get any pictures to you, but the
next
newsletter
should
include
some.
Also,
there should
be a videotape available soon.
Check
with the Christian Missionary Fel
lowship office.
In His
service.
Dan, Debbie,
Hannah,
and Gregory Bader
Nonprofit Organization
U.S.
Postage
PAID
Permi t No. 975
Indianapolis, Indiana
miss ion se rv ice s
editorial
dep t
p 0 BOX
7
KNOXVILL tn 37901