Maasai Mall

The Black Forest Academy group, working at the Longido primary school, had just finished a long day of teaching, working, and interacting with the students and teachers.  As they headed back to their accommodations via a dirt road, they saw 20 Maasai ladies lining both sides of the road with their wares ready to sell.  The women had been waiting for several hours for the guests to pass by in hopes of selling some of their handiwork.  Some team members stopped and looked, a few bought some of their hand-made items, and the others just kept moving.

This reminds me of Jesus, riding into Jerusalem, with the crowds cheering for him.  How long had that crowd been waiting, anticipating his entrance into that city?  What were they waiting for?  To get a glimpse of Him? To sell Him something? To be healed by Him? To see a miracle or two on the way in? To get a free handout?  Many people with many expectations or just passing curiosity saw Him go by that day.  How many of this same cheering crowd shouting "Hosannah!" on this day cried out "Crucify him!" just a few days later?

Where are you in this crowd of curious onlookers?

Of Nets and Shelves

The recent Black Forest Academy team constructed soccer goals and library shelving for the Longido primary school.

The goals consisted of galvanized pipe, threaded and connected, and sunk into the ground 2 feet and anchored in with concrete.  The assembly, digging, and concrete mixing were all done by hand.  The goals were braced and left alone for two days so that the cement could set well.  Water was poured on the concrete each day so that it would not dry out too fast and crack.  On the 2nd day, the braces were removed and the nets installed on the frame.  Then the first inaugural soccer match was played between the Longido primary school "warriors" and the Black Forest Academy "wafas".  It was a tough match but BFA came out on top 3 -1.

The second project was to construct additional shelves for the school library.  The available tools consisted of 4 handsaws, 4 hammers, and a cordless drill.  The "fun" began when several boards had to be "ripped" in sections.  Make-shift saw horses (school desks) were used for this procedure.  Other boards were also cut to size, holes drilled for wall-mounting, and then the hammering marathon began!

The shelves were eventually completed and all were glad to see the last nail be driven into their "almost perfect and straight" project.  Many claim that the shelves are not slanted or crooked, but that the building and the boards are not straight.  The jury is still "out " on this ruling

The school was most grateful for these two facility additions and the team was glad that the "hand-made" projects were finished.

Several hurt in places they had never experienced pain before.

Ah, the joys of new experiences!

Thanks, BFA, for jobs well done!!

Life Expectancy

I am Mobile Proclaimer Unit 3 ( MP3) or Moe for short.

My creator is MegaVoice (www.megavoice.com).

I am assembled in Israel and shipped to various world-wide destinations.

I am a small, portable voice projecting unit who is programed by my creators.

The only communication limits we have are determined by our creators/programmers, who install the appropriate language modules.

When my language memory module is inserted, I am able to communicate one-way with the designated life forms who understand the programmed language memory module.

My power system consists of a small solar recharging panel and a DC charging portal.

My recharging panel is the most utilized section of my power system charging center.

The central control panel, located on the front console, is multi-functional and simple to operate.

One can navigate to the designated files using this central control panel.

File selections consist of Chronological Bible stories and the entire New Testament.

Other MP3 units in my collective are sent to various parts of the world to communicate with many of the life forms on this planet.

In Tanzania, my life expectancy is approximately 2 years.

MP3s in the Tanzania collective have experienced internal displacement as well as system malfunctions.

One unit was being recharged via the solar panel.

It was placed at the solar recharging station on the top of one of the humanoids' dwellings.

Another humanoid removed it from it's recharging zone.

The humanoid utilized the central control panel and accessed the files.

The files were accessed for 7 hours.

During this process, the power supply was depleted.

The humanoid returned the unit to its original recharging station.

The humanoid interfaced with the recharging station humanoid.

It related that it had never heard anything like that before.

It reported that there was a change/reprogramming in its internal components.

The recharging station humanoid had an emotional reaction.

My data banks referenced it as "joy".

Another unit was left at its recharging station overnight.

During that time, heavy moisture from the atmosphere entered its internal components.

The humanoid followed logical protocol and placed it by a drying unit (designated "fire") to evaporate the moisture in its internal components.

Its external and internal components melded as one.

The unit did not survive.

Various units report that they have traveled to places of human interaction such as "markets", "schools", "large meeting areas", and "under trees".

Some have been transported to various locations via "cars", "buses", and "donkeys".

All units are programmed to function at peak capacity.

Training, proper maintenance, and care are to be utilized to prolong the working life expectancy of the MP3 units.

All humaniods receiving the units are given these specific instructions.

All units are limited in their functions and life expectancy only by the humanoids who utilize them.

Be nice to us.

This transmission is ended.

Where There Are No Trained Leaders (and churches)

A team from Calvary Baptist Church came 05 - 12 Feburary 2013 to revisit some previous work that was done in an area of the Maasai Steppe.  The main area is in and around the village of Naberera.

Chronological Bible Storying was done during that first trip at many bomas, many Maasai made decisions, and relationships were established.

The purpose of this trip was to follow-up on the prior work and see who God was raising up as potential leaders in the different sections of this area.

As we traveled and talked with various Maasai, we found out that several had been using the CBS cloth and MP3 players that had been left.  We also found out that the life expectancy of an MP3 player is about 2 years, depending on the people using them.  One interesting fact is that one Maasai had left his MP3 on top of his boma to charge and sometime during the day "it left the boma without permission".

So, we were able to replace non-functioning MP3 players, leave some new CBS cloths at previous locations, and leave CBS cloths and MP3 players (in Kiswahili) at 2 primary schools and a high school.

We also were able to establish some training points with new leaders where leadership training will occur at various times during the year.


The names of the trainees are:  Julius, Moi, Gideon, Nairokoki, Elias Olemoona and Elias Lengiteng.

These people have shone promise and faithfulness in continuing with the stories and worship while we are not there.

Please pray for these leaders as we invest time, training, and our lives to equip them to serve our Lord Jesus Christ in the Naberera area where there are no trained leaders and churches.

Our First Annual Oldonyo Lengai WorldView Olympic Games (or white boys can jump, run, and throw).

The question was raised on a prior team trip: How can the Maasai men be reached?

The idea occurred in the next few moments of that trip: Why not have a time of competition that would interest men, make it relevant, and also offer prizes that would spark their interest and competition.

So, after months of discussions, planning, and PR work, The First Annual Oldonyo Lengai WorldView Games were held in Engaresero.

The events scheduled were:
1)  Throwing a spear for distance
                                           
2)  Throwing a spear for accuracy
                                           
3)  Throwing a rungu (roon goo) for accuracy
                                           
 4)  The high jump
                                           
 5)  100 meter dash
                                           
 6)  400 meter run
                                           
7)  5K run

There were 65+ participants in the games.  Prizes were given for 1st and 2nd place in each event.  These prizes included Buck knives, solar lamps which can charge cell phones, watches, solar flashlights, a jungle survival knife, and cash.

Some of the highlights:

Maasai can throw a spear a long way.
They can also hit an 8 inch diameter log standing 3 feet high from a distance of 40 yards.
A rungu shatters when directly hitting the same log.
White boys can jump with the Maasai and give them competition.
Maasai can run 100 meters really fast when they need to and with no shoes.
400 meters is shorter than you think when other people run with you.
A 5K run is great until the last 2K are uphill on a rocky road.
Men who liked the prizes but did not compete wanted to take away the prizes from the winners (but not one succeeded in doing this).
They want to do this again!

Plans are being made for the 2nd Annual Oldonyo Lengai WorldView Games in 2014.
We may even have T-shirts for the runners!

More details later.

Of Storiers and Teachers

Recently, our partnership church, Old Fort Baptist, in Summerville SC, sent a team to work with us in the Engaresero area.  The plan was for the team to tell some Bible stories interwoven into discipleship teaching times that some of our Maasai team members would teach.  The stories would be interpreted from English into KiMaa but the teaching was in KiMaa only.

Three days of teaching were planned and proceeded well.  The Bible stories included tales of Samson, David, and some of David's mighty men such as Joseb, Eleazer, Abishai, and Beniah.  All these stories emphasized that these men could not have done any of their feats without God's power and enabling.

These Bible stories were interspersed with the discipleship teaching times.  The subjects presented were salvation, prayer, God's Word, victory over temptation, having a great testimony, working together with other Christians, loving other people of faith, living in peace, and obedience.   The teaching times were from 11 am to 2 pm and were well attended.  There were several question and answer times along with extended discussions of each subject.  Several people made professions of faith and a teaching time concerning baptism was presented.

After 3 days of teaching and 2 days of the Maasai Olympics, people met together for worship and then a time of worship and baptism was held at the local water source, a mountain river.  Our Maasai leaders baptized 25 new believers.  A few people located themselves downriver in case the baptism candidates lost their footing and proceeded on a small journey downstream.  Fortunately, this did not occur.

There is now a new church in Engaresero.

Our Maasai team members are going back there on a regular basis for more training and discipling new leaders.

So, Jesus' mighty Maasai men continue to work with their people to bring them into the kingdom.

Blessing You Will Be Blessed

My Small Skinny Maasai Elder Car Lift.

I was leaving the small village of Engaresero, when a Maasai elder began flagging me down for a ride to his boma.  Although I had several people in my vehicle, we made room for him and continued on our journey.  During our conversation, he began to relate to us how he was a rich elder with many cows, wives, and children.  As we arrived at our turn to go to our camp, I joking told him that since he was a rich man, he should give me some car fare for giving him a ride.  He clicked his tongue as the Maasai do when surprised or expressing emotion, laughed, and got out of the vehicle. He then came to my side of the vehicle to thank me for his ride.

The next few moments were truly a new experience for me.

He asked me for both of my hands.  He took my hands in his and then spit on each of my hands.  He then placed both of my hands on my chest, covering my heart.  He spoke some words which I did not understand.  Then taking my hands again in his,  he spit on my hands again and placed them on my head, again speaking words that I did not understand.  Then, he took my hands a third time in his, spit on them, placed my hands on the dashboard of my vehicle, and spoke those same unknown (to me) words.  He then let go of my hands, took his walking stick, and proceeded to walk in the direction of his boma, all the while thanking me for a ride.

The rest of the passengers were quiet as we headed toward our camp.  I was also quiet as I drove, wondering where my Purel or other hand wash was in the vehicle or at camp.  One of my Maasai passengers finally spoke up and related that what the Maasai elder did was give me a great blessing and that was the process by which it was done.  He said he had not seen that done in a very long time to anyone and that it was not only a great blessing but a great honor to be blessed in that way.

Then they were quiet again until we reached our destination.



You never know what will happen when you give a small skinny Maasai elder a lift in your vehicle.