Bader Dan Debbie 1989 Kenya

8/10/2019 Bader Dan Debbie 1989 Kenya

1/6

Hannah a n d

Gregory

DAN

DEBBIE

B A D E R

P.O. Box

381

Lodwar,

Kenya

AFRICA

CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY FELLOWSHIP Prayer Newsletter

May, 1989

Meet Eriamone ( the r is

rolled).

He's

t h e

first in a series of our neighbors to whom

you'll

be introduced

in

future

newsletters.

Right

now

Eriamone

lives about five

miles

from

the house where

we're learning

the Tur-

kana

language.

Two years ago, he was one of

the first men of

t hi s a re a to commit

his

h fe to

Christ under the teaching

of Ralph Brune, a

feUow CMF

missionary. He's also one of the

most influential and

wealthy

of the Turkana

m e n a ro un d

u s

When we first came, Eriamone asked Ralph if

I would like

him

to be my Turkana

father

(ap-

akang),

and

we quickly agreed. Ralph

said

I

couldn't

have

a bet ter father

because of

his

stature in the

community

and his commit

ment

to Christ. Eriamone also played a large

part

in organizing

area

m e n

t o b le ss o u r h o u s e

with

a t rad i ti ona l Tu rka -

na blessing ceremony be-

fore wemoved in. (Han- 9

nah and Gregweren't too H

sure

a bo ut h im

w he n h e

spit

water

a ll over

us )

A t first i t was

difficult

fo r

u s to b e a r o u n d E r i a m o n e

He's

a tough, very

tradi-

tional Turkana

patriarch,

accustomed

togetting his

Dans

father H

way exactly

as he

wants.

Cousin

Eh

As

you've

read

in

the

previous

newsletters, the Turkana a re always

asking for things, and

Eriamone was

the

worst. Every time he came by, he insistently

asked for all kinds of things. We decided that

until

we understood what this begging

was

all

about

we would give

him

very little. He

must

be a patien t,

understanding

person be

cause he stuck with us

through all

that.

There were some agonizing

moments

(I

real

Dan's

father, Eriamone, on the right.

Cousin Eiwei on the left.

With words we

had

agreed that Eriamone

should be my father. Our actions were say

ing t o h im ,

We

don 't wan t

to

have

a

close

re

lationship

with

you. He

kept

asking for

things

because

we weren't giving

him

any

thing,

and he knew sure ly

we

must want to.

We had

him

totally confused.

Anyway, we've begun to change aU that.

Not

only

have we

started

to give

some

things, but

we've also

started asking him

for

things-

which is

important,

too. Actually,

he doesn't

have too much that we need, but we do ask

him for a goat

now

and then. Also, his

help

as

a n advocate i s e s sen t ia l fo r u s i n th e commu

nity.

I

know

he

has already

stood up

for

us

several t im e s w h en we've m a d e c u lt u ra l mis

t a k e s

Another

interest ing event

'

P^ed las t

fall.

Eriamone

h)

me

for help for his

bitten

by

a snake three

that I didn' t have any

i

Hiedicine

for a snake bite

a n d

d i d n t k n o w

w h a t I

could do . T h e re w a s no-

I

where

else for him to

one on the right. tum, SO I decided to drive

onthe left.

her out

to a

clinic

several

hours away. I didn't

know if

they could

help her

either ... I didn't

know

if

anybody could

after

three days.

About an hour 's drive

even

further into the

bush, Eriamone led me

to

his daughter.

Her

leg was very

swollen

and

she was in

terrible

pain.

The

pieces

of

a

cut-up

goat,

plus

blood

all over

her, gave

evidence of a

justrfinshed

ceremony

which

included

hitting

her

chest


2/6

seemed before, now I was in shock. I was pretty

sure that

her chances of surviving t he t radi

tional medicine were slim. They le t me

pray

for her, we drank some sour goat s milk,

an d

then

I

ha d

to drive away from

there

pretty

sure

th e girl was going to die.

Later

I discovered that th e

snake that

bit her rarely

causes death

just

terrible

p ai n a nd sickness. S he d id n t

die.

Please

begin

praying for Eriamone

and hi s

family. They live a

hard

life

here in the

Turkana

desert, tr3dng to survive day-to-day without

al l

th e

conveniences we brought with us.

Ask God to keep him and his family safe for

th e

important part they will play

in

ou r

ministry.

Pray

that God will

heal

his

very

ba d kne es so that

he

will be able to spread

th e

Good News

when the t im e is bes t

Eriamone has a large family with several wives an d many children.

Pray

th at God will give

us

the

i nsi gh t s i n to t h is c u lt ur e we need so that we c an d ra w very close t o Eri am on e

and

his

family.

Hi s

oldest

so n is Lodeya (pronounced Lo-die-ya.)

He s

a bo ut m y age with a wife

an d

two boys

of

his own. I ll be telling

you

more about

him

in a

later

newsletter

but

for no w I want you to

know

that I se e in

him

an incredibly willing spirit searching for God, and I plan to s pe nd a

lo t of time

with him.

So

please

b e p ra yi ng for

him

also.

2^

f

LUMk

Dan Debbie

Hannah

and Greg

Bader

Some of Debbie

s friends helping to build

us a bi g hu t fo r storage a nd a n office.

Ho w

m a ny k i ds

ge t

to have an

entire yard fo r a

sajidboxl

89

CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY

F ELLOWS HIP

Some other

neighbors.

You II he

introduced to some o f them

later

This

ha s

definitely

become

home fo r

both

Hannah

(Akai) and Greg (Loekinei).

Nonprofit

Organization

U.S. Postage


3/6

- *

Gregory Hannah

OctobCT, 1989

Life in Turkana

is

hard. I say that not so

m u c h because o f t h e h e a t or

e ve n b ec au se

the

people

are

so

different.

^ ^

I t s because we ve i n h e r i t -

eda . . . a (it shard to say ^

a

t e e n a g e r .

I thought

those years

were a long

DAN DEBBIE

B A D E R

P.O.

Box 381

Lodwar, Kenya

AFRICA

T u r k a n a T r i b e s m a n

CHRISTIAN MISSIONARYFELLOWSHIP Prayer Newsletter

want something done right, I

have

to keep

on h im a ll the time. I like to walk to villag-

:-::7 ;i

es to v is it

people,

and

like

_ ^ Loangaleia

to go

with me

./ j but unless he thinks

ij^pSlp they re going

to

kill

a go t

for

me he won t

go.

H e

says i t s too fa r to

walk.

He

w a n t s

m e

t o t a k e t h e

t ruck.

Normally, the Turkana

will walk fo r two

hours,

^ poTind

o f

m a i z e

m e a l .

Loangaleia

(Lo-ang-a-lei-a)

is

probably about

seven

teen, but

there s

no way

to

know; no one

knows

his

real

age

here.

He s from

one

of

three very

poor

fami

lies that live right

around

u s n e a r a w a t e r h o l e . W e v e

tried

to find a way

to

help

e a c h

o f

t h o s e

f a m i l i e s

a n d

so we pay Loangale ia to

shepherd our

house.

H e t a k e s

c a r e

o f

t h e

c h i c k

ens, keeps the

area

clean,

and guards the house

when we re away. Loanga

leia

also

helps

us

with

lan

guage learning. Not

only

do we practice with

him

a

lot, but he also helps

when

people

come by

t h a t we

c a n t

u n d e r s t a n d .

H e

k n o w s w h a t w e k n o w

a n d

can

put

what they say in

t e r m s w e c a n u n d e rs ta n d .

It s

a httle

bit tough

to

keep

him motivated though. If I

Loangaleia in

the middle, Lodeiya

(my

brother)

on

the

left,

and

Ekasacut (a friend) on th e r ight

H e s e e m s t o

u s e

a l l

t h e

money we pay

him

for rela

tively

unnecessary things

or else people beg i t

from

him. I

keep trjdng to

talk

him

into

buying a

goat

each

month to build up

his

herd, but my words just

s e e m

t o

f a l l o n d e a f e a r s .

I m think ing

about

buying

a goat each

month

myself

and

giving i t

to him as

part

ofhis

pay.

W e

h a v e a

l o t o f

f u n

w i t h

L o a n g a l e i a too. Many

mornings we sit around

w ith him and a

few others,

just talking. One day he

t o l d u s h e w a s o u r r e l a t i v e

because

he

was going to

marry Hannah.

(Continned on back page)

Loangaleia wearing a

shirt and

sunglasses

I

gave

him.

I still

haven t

f igured out if

he

wears

the sunglasses

upside-down

to he funny or if he just

d o e s n t know.


4/6

At

a special

park

for giraffes

last

year.

Greg

is

saying,

Mom, I ve

been

slimed.

Some

more of

our

kids.

We h a v e a s m a ll h e rd now

of

about

eleven

goats.

I fyou come visit we'll spear one for you

This is

our

house

and

the

big shade

tree

behind. The house

up

on blocks does a

great jo b of

keeping

varmints out.

H a n n a h s

t u r n

Yuk, I m not touching that thing.

I t reminds me

of

Daddy s

kisses.

My (Dan s) name is Ekaal

(camel).

When we arrived a

herd

of camel

came

by

and

stuck

their

necks way

out

t o c h ec k m e out.

An old picture

of

Hannah modeling next

to

the

monster . She makes even t h a t

truck

look good.


5/6

PRAYER

SECTION FOR

THOSE WHO WOULD PRAY

EVERYDAY

We ll be moving from our language learning site in November to a place called Kangarisai to begin

mimstry. That means we have a very limited time left for full-time language learning, tiien comes the

very important period of getting off on

the

right foot in ministry.

I consider this one of tihe most critical points in our whole ministry, and I m asking

that

you especially

keep us a nd the Turkana people in your prayers through December. It s very important for us to have

an army ofpeople praying every day tobre^ through the lethargy andapatliy andtogetthemomen

tum

moving

towards

trusting

in

God

and

l iv in g for H im.

C SUNDAY )

Family

units made up

of great grandfatiier,

grandfathers,

fathers, sons,

and their

wives

and kids usu

ally travel togetiier as nomads in search of grazing and water for their animals. When these family

groups live near each other dur ing cer tain t im es of year it would be possible to have a large church.

But a ft er a few months things will always change and they ll be dispersed throughout the d eser t. Th is

makes it

pretty

difficult to have an established church in the sense

that

we re used to.

Please pray

tha

we c n f ind a nomad ic mode l

fo r

t h e chu rch he r e th tmakes sense to

them

nd works.

MONDAY

)

The

end

of Oc to ber we l l be f in ishi ng up our year of hill-time language learning. The move is ap

proaching very quickly and there s still so much we want to know. I desperately want to sit down and

discuss

the

deep

things

in the heart s

ofmy

friends

here.

I

want

to

be able

to

probe

their inner

feelings

about God

and find out wha t

hope they have or don t

have.

As it is no w, we

can

converse and

joke

around, but we re only scratching

the surface. Please

pray

for nothing

less

than a miracle in these

last fewmonths

of language

learning.

TUESDAY

)

The rainy season April-May)

didn t

come this

year.

Some of you

saw

our video from last year and saw

how

green

it was.

Well, it s

not like that

now. Everything

is

brown

and the s and is

beginning to blow a

lot, and we sti ll have at least seven months to go until the next rains.

Some

of

the

Turkana are

already

having trouble getting by because

the

animals aren t producing enough milk for

their

babies and peo

ple, too. You can t

imagine how

close to th e edge these people Hve. Please pray

that God

will make the

usually

small

rains

in the fedl especial^big this year.

WEDNESDAY )

We ve developed good relationships here at Nakaale i and i t s difficult to think about starting over.

Plus

where we re going, the

people

already have

preconceived ideas about us . I m very anxious

because

good

relationi ps are soimportant. Please pray

thatwell

be able to develop good relationships and

ihat the peofdewinbe quids to acceptus for what weare and not ukat they ihSmkwe diould be.

C THURSDAY )

In November 1 wil l be visiting a lo t in villages, developing relationships, and telling stories from the

Bible. I ve tried visiting

during

language learning and I ve discovered how much willpower i t

takes

to

get

ou t

consistently

with al l the

heat

and other pressing things to do like writing

newsletters).

Please

pray

thatHI

have

thewiUpower

tomake

this

my

highest

priority

andbe out

at least three days

a week.

FRIDAY

)

My primary goal during this first year ofministry is to i de nt if y and recruit the disciples as led by God.

These disciples

will

be

the

future leaders

who

will make th e church strong

and

able to continue

i n Tur

kana long after we re

gone. When

tiie

time comes for choosing I ll be asking

you

to

pray again, but

fo

now Pleasepray

that

Godwill be helping us developthe r i t relationships that willlead me to Hi

disciples in fhe

foture.

C

Saturday )

God

blessed

us la st

year with

a

smooth

transition to

hfe

here

and

has constantly

pro tected us . There

have been many

people

praying

for

us and I m

positive Hiat s

why all has

gone so well. Please don

stop. We rejoice

in the

good life we

have begun in

Turkana and for the

future work He

will bless

u

with. This is an exciting place tobe now. Please thankGod for Hism i ty

provision

for us last

year.


6/6

(Continued firom Page 1

Debbie jokingly

said,

I f

you

were my rela

tive, I would die. We waited anxiously

to

see how

he would

ta ke th at, but

he loved

it .

We all howled for a

long

time and now it s

become the standard joke.

We told

him t h a t

we d want

two trucks, a

motorcycle,

and

1000 chickens if he were to

marry Hannah. He didn t bat

an

eye at the

trucks and motorcycle, but he says the

chickens are impossible. Everyone under

stands it s

a joke.

It s

no t

al l

fun

with Loangaleia

though. Last

week the whole community

was up

in

arms

because

of a

rumor

going

around

about

him.

I

a sked several guys how

they could

prove

the

rumor. They said

the old

men

would

discuss

it

and

what

they said

would

be

what

happened.

At

one

point they asked meto fire

1 0 / 8 9

CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY

FELLOWSHIP

P.O.

BOX

26306, 5674

CAITO DRIVE

INDIANAPOLIS, IN

46226

ADDRESS

CORRECTICN REQUESTED

him

and send

him away. I agreed to obey

whatever th e old

men

decided; but

later

an

other

man

talked them into deciding that the

r u m o r s

w e r e

Hes. S o t h a t s

w h e r e

i t e n d e d

Loangaleia is a lmost like a son to us ; I

have

many st rong

feeUngs

about his

situation.

He s

so mixed up ,

but

on

top

of that his

world

has been turned upside-down

by our

coming.

Somehow

he has to integra te our world

into

his old, traditional world then make sense of

i t all. That s

a lo t

to ask of

a

teenager who

has al l

th e

normal things

to worry about,

too.

Please pray

for

Loangaleia,

especially

that

the jrood

News can

penetrate

his life and

give him hope.

jJj

Dan, Debbie,

Hannah, and

Greg

Bader

Nonprofit Organization

U.S. Postage

PAID

P e r m i t No . 2 9 7 5

Indianapolis, IncSana

M IS SIO N SERVIC ES

E D I T O R I A L DEPT

P C

BOX

2 4 2 7

KNCXVILLE

TN 3 7 ^ 0 1

Documents

Bader Dan Debbie 1989 Kenya