France Revisited:

A Month’s Sojourn in the Land of My Roots

                                                                   May, 2012

How all this madness got started~

 I still remember the day in the late 1980’s when I was in the barn on my Oregon farm and took note of an ancient 10-speed Motobecane bicycle that Lois had used during her student days at OSU. I was storing it for her in the barn after her graduation and she had gone on to better things.

I looked at the bike and wondered- ‘Could I possibly ride this thing without getting totally out of breath?’  There was only one way to find out: Get on it and give it a spin. Which I promptly did and much to my surprise the peddling went just fine.  I had all the wind needed to ride anywhere I was inclined to go; over hill and vale. No problem.

That tentative venture was the beginning of a career as a touring cyclist that lasted fifteen years and took me thousands of miles around the U.S. and Europe. I made seven bike tours in Western Europe during those years visiting countries from Sweden to Switzerland and Austria to the UK and all the places between. But my favorite place to tour was France, where I spent the majority of my time in the saddle and mixing with the natives.

And so I got hooked~

During those years I was a fruit grower in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. Each year when the cherry season was over, by the end of June, I had a few weeks free to take vacation. It was great to park the tractor and my rickety pickup and heave a great sigh of relief that the cherries had finally made it from the trees over to the processing plant and I had a small stash of cash. Enough to get a ticket for me and my bike somewhere far from the stress of growing soft fruits: cherries, peaches, plums and the like.

Pour quoi la France?

There are a couple things that have drawn me towards France of all the other European countries I have visited. One is that as a high school sophomore I started studying French as a second language and I got on very well in those studies. Language arts were my forte as a student; language learning came easy.  My A’s in language classes helped offset the D’s and F’s in math. And we tend to capitalize in the areas where we excel- right?

After high school I did my two years of compulsory service (the draft) with MCC in Morocco. There the official language is French and with my high school studies in French, I was soon on my way to proficiency in French.

Visiting in another country and culture is hundreds of times better when you can talk with the locals in their language. So, number one- being able to talk to the people in France makes that country an obvious first choice for me.

Secondly, most of my cultural and genetic roots have a significant history in France. Spiritually and culturally I am more inclined to identify with my maternal heritage. Not that I am disinterested in my Dad’s family, just that who I am as a person is more akin to my Mom’s people. They were Anabaptist refugees from Switzerland who found a welcome in the Strasbourg Duchy of Northeast France in the 17 ^th century. As I travel the back roads of Alsace & Lorraine I catch images of what life must have been like for my peasant ancestors in the landscape. And in that process grow in my understanding of what makes me tick.

For my travels I have had two sources for connecting with the locals: Mennonite Your Way and SERVAS. MYW is the offspring of the Mennonite penchant for both ‘freundschaft’ and frugality. It provides connection with Mennonite families willing to receive guests.

SERVAS is a European organization formed in the agony of post-WWII Europe as an effort to restore fraternity and friendship amongst former enemies. It also is a listing of households open to receiving short-visit strangers who share interest in peace and intercultural understanding.

To Paris via Lome, Togo~

After my 2011 visit to the U.S., I decided it was time to skip the annual trip to the U.S. in 2012 and instead go north to Europe, specifically: France. It’s been seven years since my last visit there and I just had the feeling in my bones that it was time to refresh ties with France.

On April 19^th I left Catel in the little blue Peugeot and headed for Ziguinchor. There I turned to car over to Peter to bring back to Catel. I boarded the ferry for Dakar and arrived there the next morning at 6. From the ferry dock I went straight to the Dakar airport and right away got a flight to Lome, Togo some thousands of miles deeper into West Africa.

In Lome I met with about 60 pastors and missionaries interested in CHE (Christian Health Evangelism).  CHE is an educational network that equips missionaries to do holistic community development together with evangelism.  The participants represented a wide swath of  a dozen West African countries including Guinea Bissau down through Ghana and as far east as Nigeria.

An Update on Guinea Bissau and the Mennonite Mission

An Update on the Situation in Guinea Bissau and the

Mennonite Mission in Catel

April 28, 2012

Dear Friends of Guinea Bissau,

After two weeks of uncertainty, this morning we have some good news off the news circuits about the coup in our country- Guinea Bissau:

 

Guinea-Bissau's coup leaders released the country's ousted prime minister and interim president after more than two weeks of captivity, allowing the former leaders to travel to Ivory Coast.

The generals now in charge of the small, unstable West African country also pledged a one-year transition back to democracy, a day after regional bloc ECOWAS decided to send hundreds of troops to the country.

Guinea-Bissau, a former Portuguese colony, has a history of coups and other political violence and has in recent years become a major cocaine trafficking hub between South America and Europe.

The military launched the latest coup on April 12, in the middle of a two-round presidential election in which outgoing Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior was the frontrunner.

Troops then attacked Gomes' residence with rocket-propelled grenades and detained him, along with interim president Raimundo Pereira, in a power grab that sparked regional and international condemnation.

 The presidential front-runner, Mr. Gomes probably came under attack because he was on track to curb the power of the army, the chief source of G.B.’s instability.  The G.B. army is extremely large and half of the guys are ‘officers’.  The army is the primary protégé and beneficiary of the South America to Europe cocaine trade.

Ministry Programs and Activities of the Mennonite Mission Guinea Bissau Projections: 2013-2018

Prepared by:          Beryl Forrester & Andrew Stutzman

      Co-regional Representatives

      For EMM West Africa

November, 2011

Ministry Program: Evangelism & Church Planting

The mission in Guinea Bissau was started in 2005 in the village of Catel, in northwestern Cacheu Region just south of Senegal. From that village the first two missionaries started outreaches in several nearby villages. The first believers in Catel were baptized in 2007. Since then several more have been added to the Catel church and they have been discipled as missionaries. They are now in charge of outreach in at least 8 villages outside of Catel. The outreach includes weekly worship services plus other ministries such as medical access. 

The long term objective is to equip the disciples going out from Catel to be making disciples and raising up leaders in the villages where they minister. The disciples in the second circle of villages will be equipped to be the leaders in their village fellowships providing the village with the gifts of pastoring, evangelism, teachers and other ministries so that village fellowship will grow and mature into a thriving congregation. This model has a ripple effect of workers from a center point, starting new fellowships and from these eventually there will likewise be ministry gifts forthcoming. EMM expatriate missionaries will be needed throughout the projected time to coach African disciplers and participate in village ministries alongside the African workers.

Projections on the ministry:

From the present until 2013 the expatriate missionaries will continue to disciple the Catel missionaries as they go out. More village outreaches will be added as African missionaries become available. Missionaries from the secondary circle of villages will start going out to the third circle of villages.

Throughout this 5 year period expatriate missionaries, as bible teachers well grounded in Anabaptist theology, will be needed as disciplers of disciplers. At some point during this period a missionary training facility along with a Mennonite Church Guinea Bissau center should be established.

How Beautiful on the Mountains; Teaching Peace in Guinea Bissau

How beautiful upon the mountains

are the feet of him who brings good news,

who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness,

who publishes salvation,

who says to Zion, "Your God reigns” Isaiah 2:7

This verse from Isaiah creates a significant image of our ministry in West Africa. We are here to bring the good news of peace. Our message has been both given and received as the gospel of peace. We are here as ambassadors of reconciliation and we disciple believers to carry on the ministry of reconciliation. We don’t believe peace is an important facet of the gospel; we believe and preach that peace is the gospel.

We are currently in a series of teachings about peace. We are equipping the men who go out to the villages to be sharing the vision of the peace that God is calling us to enjoy.

How do believers become ministers of reconciliation? We teach that our new relationship with God is possible only through the death and resurrection of Christ and that as he died, we also die to the world and the flesh in order to be raised to a new life with him. We who have come to peace with God are thereby enabled to be reconcilers among those with whom we live. (I Cor. 5)

Continuing to seek revenge, reacting with anger and attempting to repay evil with evil is indicative that the flesh is still dominating one’s life. The gospel of peace is relevant all over the world, but especially so here in West Africa where bullying, intimidation and violence are the culturally acceptable ways of dealing with affronts. When people become disciples of Christ, they become first and foremost people of peace.

Listen to this testimony of transformation of one believer’s life as he began to follow Jesus. His name is Gibriel Mane.

News From Guinea Bissau Sept. 2011

      An important part of the EMM philosophy we are constantly concerned with is the presentation of a holistic gospel, a gospel that portrays Jesus as one who creates new life at all levels of human brokenness. From the old He creates a new Christlike community that holds Word, deed and being in one seamless whole.

Evangelical missionaries in this part of Africa have a long history of capitalizing on personal salvation and the assurance of an eternity in heaven, above all else. There is concern for physical needs as is evidence in the establishment of many health facilities. But these facilities sometimes are little more than bait stations to get clobbered with an appeal for personal salvation.

Personal salvation happens by praying a prescribe prayer inviting Jesus into one’s heart, stop going to dances, stop drinking and a short list of other behavior modifications. After that it’s learning right doctrine.

Let me give you a story that illustrates the fruit of that kind of salvation theology:

One of the hazards of being a toddler in an impoverished family here in Guinea Bissau is the risk of being seriously burned by falling into a cooking-fire pit or getting dumped on from a precariously balanced kettle of boiling water. I can’t tell you how many little ones have been brought here with extensive 3rd degree burns.

Our procedure is to cover the burn in Vaseline or other special burn preparation. Then the area is wrapped with sterile gauze and in a few days the destroyed outer layer of skin can be removed and new skin begins to reappear. Antibiotics are also needed to fight infection.

We had just such a case a few days ago. The mother brought her two-year old with a large burn from sitting down on a fire pit. The burn occurred a week previously and since he wasn’t getting any better she decided to seek help at our clinic. Right after the burn happened she got treatment at the local witchdoctor which included covering the burned area with ground mandjandja leaves mixed with rabbit hair.

Guinea-Bissau September Newsletter

Women hoeing with wooden hoes.

Rainy Season in Full Swing



A downpour in Catel

On July 26th, about four weeks ago I arrived back in Catel from my travels to North America. The place was transformed from when I left some six weeks earlier. By the end of July we were well into the rainy season and everything was coming back to life after the eight months long dry season. It is great to see how green it is and how much our plants and trees are growing with the abundant rainfall. Since the rains began in early June we have accumulated 30” which means we are about half way to our rainy season average total.

Andrew and Jonathan, together with our local guys had planted moringa tree seeds and cassava in the orchard. They also put a living fence of lemon seedlings around the orchard. All these are growing rapidly with the high humidity and breaks of sunshine between showers.
The past two months have been an intense time of planting for the villagers. Everyday entire families can be seen going to the fields preparing the soil and planting the crops that will sustain them through the next dry season. They have primarily planted rice, sweet potatoes, beans and millet.

Work Plan for Mennonite Mission Catel

August 2011-July 2012

Ministry Area:   Medical & Community Health

Objective: To make basic health care and a holistic Christian lifestyle available to the villages where we have ministry.

1.     The clinic at Catel will be open daily for medicine and consultations. Our staffing will vary, depending on who is available. By December 2011 we hope to have a full time medical professional. At times throughout the period there will be visiting medical professionals who will be assisting short-term. We are recruiting a second full time professional (RN).