Stu Update: 22/11/08 PM

A girl in a market place

Hi All,

Stu sent me the following letters, both for us and for you, and those on the Prayer Chain.

He is about 8 hours ahead of us here in the Pacific NW.

Hi All.

Rob and Mary took off for Lye today to tape indigenous worship music.
They are staying the night and then going to Mondou, tomorrow, Sunday.

Rich and I are stuck in N'Djamena while we await our shooting permits,
to shoot video in this country. Rich is also working on a paper for
college and is frustrated by the lack of high-speed internet access.
Hey, it's Africa.

Rich and I are shopping and putting together our own meals now till we
see Mary on Tuesday. Fortunately a missionary named Rick helped me
shop today. It would have been pretty tough without him, since they
speak only Chadian French and Arabic here, for business.

I've been bit by a few mosquitos already but have been staying up on
my Malaria meds..

Mary has been tolerating us pretty well. Rob is the most easy going.


What an amazing and challenging trip it's been so far. Thank you for
praying and please continue to pray as we endeavor to move forward.

Our three-man crew met up in Paris and continued on to the capital of
Chad, N'Djamena. Although our true destination is an 8 hour bus ride
south of here to Mondou, there are no other commercial flights in and
out of this capital of over one-million people, with the exception of
the many plain white U.N. planes that roar overhead on their way to
refugee camps near the Sudanese border and now even into the war-torn
Congo. N'Djamena is very different from Mondou. There are Muslims
everywhere here and they are generally curious and friendly, but there
are a lot of do's and dont's in interacting with them. In Mondou the
people are mainly animists, who worship the spirits of their long-dead
ancestors, and spend much time trying to appease them with sacrifices.

We were only supposed to be in N'Djamena a few days to work on the
script; the shot list, prep our video gear, do a lot of praying, and
most importantly get a handle on the culture and people of Chad.
Understanding culture is essential so that our interaction with the
actors and other people helping in this project will best help the
production move forward with the greatest amount of understanding, and
also minimize the misunderstandings that are sure to occur. The
Chadian authorities insisted that we get permits to shoot video in
public places, fair enough, but they are also purposefully dragging
their feet on it, although they "promised" our permits would be ready
on Monday. A few days later than we planned, but God is in control of
all, so we aren't sweating it.

As the production team we've had several long meetings over the
script, some of it very intense, as we've tried to grasp not only the
horrible physical, sexual and mental abuse that occurs in the custom
of initiation, but how Christians here respond and interact with those
in their tribes and community. Some of the things we've wrestled with
in the script, which was written by Chadians, has to do with the
accepted seemingly innocuous customs, and some with the way they
think. Our reasoning in the west tends to be very linear. You start
with a problem and work your way forward to a solution. In Chad, which
is very familial or tribal in nature, reasoning tends to be very
circular without much hard resolution ever appearing, or at the least,
taking a very long time. Every option seemingly carries the same
weight, and sometimes in a room full of peers (people your same age
and gender), the decision is arrived at by simply noting, "Who was the
last person to speak? We'll go with what they said."

Because the culture is tribal based, there is a definite hierarchy.
Older men first, then younger men, older woman, younger woman, then
finally male children and then female children. Interaction is limited
to dictating to others what you want them to do, and them saying,
"yes." Youth ministry is especially difficult over here, because
Chadian Christian leaders dictate the Gospel to the youth, without
allowing for any questions or interaction, which makes it even more
difficult to reproduce mature Christians that are excited about their
faith.

There are many things in the script that we are slowly beginning to
understand as a result of grasping these cultural concepts. I'm
usually reticent to make such a statement, but frankly some of the
things in this culture go beyond being different, they are just plain
wrong. We saw similar things in Uganda last year in the interaction
between husbands and wives that was not biblical, and we witnessed
amazing breakthroughs as we worked through those issues with them, in
light of the accepted standard, God's Word. Chadian Christian's need
some of those same breakthroughs in this culture as well. It has
really got me examining our own culture and the weaknesses we have
that we accept as O.K. There are plenty.

But the cultural warts in and out of the church here are real, and
they are part of the landscape and part of the script. It wasn't just
my imagination, some of the interactions in the script are just plain
don't make sense, but not to the Chadians. It's how they act and
interact each day.

As we draw closer to beginning the shoot the middle of this next week,
we have word that the opposition to our project is gaining momentum.
Much of it is spiritual. Witchcraft and Satanism are alive and well
here, much like in Haiti, another dark country. The threats that have
been received are of spiritual oppression, which has physical results,
and direct physical harm if this project is produced. The Christians
of Chad knew that when they signed on to this project, physical harm
would come and some may even lose there lives, especially as they take
the completed video out into the villages to show on portable DVD
players. We need to pray for them and emulate their conviction in
speaking out against the vile practice of initiation. They need
protection, courage and the filling of God's Holy Spirit. We all need
it now as the 45 actors and us, Rich, the director, Rob, our soundman,
Mary, the producer and me, the cameraman, finish the touches on the
script, and begin production this week. We have scheduled 6 intensive
days and some nights of shooting.

So if I could ask your prayers for the following essential items, all
of us here in Chad would be extremely grateful.

Prayer that all the actors would make it. Some are peddling their
bikes 50 plus kilometers over rutted dirt roads to Benigh where they
will assemble and leave for Mondou on Wednesday. Some are showing
reticence from their previous commitment to the project, which is
troubling.

Prayer for safety as we all travel.

Prayer for good physical health.

Prayer for rest.

Prayer for physical and spiritual safety for all, from those who would
want to keep this video project from ever being seen.

Prayer for wisdom in every aspect, that God's Hand would be upon us.

Prayer for unity.

Prayer that God would be Glorified now and forever as a result of this effort.

I'll try to send you an update when we get to Mondou, hopefully along
with a few pictures, so that you can see what we are doing and pray
even more effectively. I apologize for the long missive this time,
just a lot to report as we go into this production.
Thanks for your understanding and thank you so much from all of us!

That's all for now. I'm typing this ahead of time on my laptop so I
can quickly upload it without costing me any money. I'll use the
office computer at a blazing 12k upload speed.

It's 10:30 now. I'm heading for bed. Goodnight.


In Christ,
-Stu