We have our work cut out for us!!!

One of our language helpers just spent 3 hours at our house. We were "supposed" to have class, but it turned into a 3-hour conversation about the spirit world in the villages.

WOW!!!

I asked John, "how soon can you get us tickets out of here???"
It was some WILD stuff!

We started by having her read a little poem out of a 3rd/4th grade textbook we received from someone --- it's in the langauge we're learning. We had no idea what it was about. It turns out it was about death and spirits. She translated it after she read it in that language. We recorded it so we could practice pronunciation later.

It lead to a major discussion. She has been so open with us lately and has really shared cultural insights. Some I wish I still didn't know! Hah!

It's sad and a little scary. The "spirit world" is very real here. Possession is a big deal. Everyone (even the non-indigenous) is afraid to go out at night in the villages because they believe spirits turn into animals and kill people. I know this sounds crazy to most of us because we don't really live in that reality, but it is a real thing here. (I'm not going to put the details and examples on here of some of the things she shared with us about what they believe has happened through various "spirits" and how they think some people are "born like that". You can ask me through e-mail if you are curious though.)

Anyway, after 3 hours of talking about various people who were possessed and the "cures" for it, we definitely had some good insight into our people group. We understand a lot more of their logic and their fears and thoughts. There is still sooooo much to learn! She shared so much good info with us. Things that we really do need to know here before we're with very many people from the villages. Things we could do innocently and not realize that it had some major significance among them, etc.

I won't go into a lot of details here, but it's pretty heavy on our hearts.
I would ask you to pray for us as we live among this and try to shed light in the darkness.

The first time I ever visited here last year, I didn't know how to describe it, but you can just "feel" the oppression all around you. It's a very strange feeling.

You know how crazy our last month got right when we were heading out to the villages to start working on the stories. It's definitley going to be a struggle to work here.
Please pray for us!