No prayer, a second prayer, what to pray, your prayers

No prayer

It was the beginning of an exciting two week training.  I [Zach] was assigned to a "Tool Group".  We excitedly practiced facilitating discussion using slips of paper which were placed between us for all to see.  When we finished, it was time for a short tea break, but first I stood up and said, "Wait a minute everyone!  I want to take your picture!

What a great tool group!

After I took the picture, everyone was eager hurry off for tea, but first I quickly asked them.  "Can I use your picture?  Can I share it on my blog so people can pray with us?"  They were all happy for me to do that.

The Kuce Pastors and Aunties

I wanted to write on this blog, "Pray for us as we meet with Kuce (pronounced Kuche) pastors that our conversation will help them as they plan to restart their translation project.  Pray that we will be able to meet."  But the workshop was intense.  The breaks were short, and many of them I used to help finalize preparations for future sessions or to discuss changes in plans.  On top of all this, there was a curfew in Jos due to unrest outside the town.  I never got to post the picture with the prayer request.  Although we were praying here, there was no way you could pray for this need!

A second prayer

However, Christy did send out a blog post that ended with the prayer request. "Pray for good practice facilitation groups, that they will be meaningful and have great impact."

That same week, on Friday, we got to meet with two pastors and two lovely Aunties, Igye Ruth and Igye Leah who Christy and I have had the privilege of knowing for a few years. My role in the meeting was simply to introduce everyone and then hand over to my colleagues who we were training.  I asked Malgwi to open in prayer then we each introduced ourselves and our various organizations.   Finally, before handing over to Obed, I related how Christy has worked with the Kuce in literacy in 2013, and how we had had a heart for Kuce ever since.

Obed facilitates discussion

Obed stood up and began wisely by asking those who came what their purpose in coming was.  We thought they had come to plan for a meeting the following Monday to select the members for a board. Rachel and Obed were ready to help them think about who should be in that meeting.  We call the tool they had prepared Stakeholder analysis.  They surprised us by saying they wanted to choose an organization to work with in Bible translation.  Obed immediately handed back over to me.

It was an awkward situation.  I had thought we could facilitate any subject that they wanted to discuss. After all participatory methods are very flexible, and all about helping people think and plan well together.  But this was the one topic I hadn’t anticipated and which would be difficult for us to facilitate. You see, the Kuce people had already begun their translation and literacy work with another organization - one of our partners. That other organization has for two years had difficulty giving the Kuce project the support they desired, but we didn’t want to imply we wanted them to leave our partner; to facilitate the discussion would seem to imply that. So what could we do?

"I know we opened in prayer," I finally said, "but I would like to pray a second prayer."  Then I asked God for wisdom in how we could help them.

Prioritizing characteristics of good board members

Then I simply told them that we couldn't facilitate that topic, but we would be happy to facilitate any other topic they thought might be helpful.  Sure enough, they did want to choose a board.  However, they already knew exactly who they wanted to be in that meeting.  So Rachel and Obed's Stakeholder Analysis tool wasn't going to be helpful.  Still, we could show them a tool they could use the next week to select the members of their board.  They discussed in the Kuce language and agreed that this would really help them.

So without special preparation, Rachel and Obed changed to a different tool call Criteria Development.  The two Kuce pastors liked this tool a lot and invited us to come to their area in two days to use the tool with a larger group of Kuce pastors. 

What to pray?

However, because of the curfew, a most our meetings with actual groups the next week were cancelled, including the Kuce one.  So it wasn't until three weeks later that we finally gathered with the Kuce pastors.  The discussion was lively, and they were willing to even go farther than we had expected, even listing the names of potential board members and then rating them in a participatory and mostly confidential way according to the criteria they had selected as most important.

At the end of the day, though, I left with a feeling of uncertainty.  What had we accomplished?  Many of the people they selected had already been on the original list the pastors had before the meeting.  Some names had been removed and some had been added, but were these changes to the composition of the board for the better?

I wasn't exactly sure what to pray.  Do I thank God for the participatory process?  Do I thank him for choosing these people? Do I ask him to help these people to be committed to the board they are being asked to serve on?  So I still didn't write a prayer blog update.

Your prayers

Now it is about six weeks later.  Since that time, the Kuce pastors continue to desire to translate the Bible into their language and they are taking steps in that direction.  Although I still don't know if our facilitation helped, I do know that it is important to pray for Kuce!

Please thank God for the interest these pastors have.  There are some differences of opinion on how to translate the word for "God" in Kuce.  Please pray that a good term can be chosen and that all can agree to move forward together in this translation.  Please pray for the new board as they will have to make a lot of significant decisions to restart the Bible translation process.

A Great Woman

Greatness. A word defined by culture, subject to the whims of individual perception, in danger of becoming extinct as the standard drops.  Despite these limitations to this word, I still use it in reference to a woman who said as I left with Lydia on my back from her bedroom where she now spends most of her days, "I have children from many cultures."  Yes, Igye Ruth is a great woman.

She has lived in the United States, taught at a local technical school, invested in the lives of children, and been an advocate for the preservation of her language and culture.  She has weak knees but a strong heart.  She is raising many children that are not her own, and has helped me feel Nigeria is home.

She is the first person to offer me food in a real kwariya (gourd bowl) though everyone invites you to their "kwariya" no one has ever fed me from a real one.  That's her!  The real deal, sincere in all she says and does, offering you what she is, a great Nigerian woman full of love for God and others.

Please pray for Igye Ruth and her generation who long to see the Bible translated into their language.  She speaks Kuce, and they have yet to have a single book of the Bible published, though it has been over 20 years that they have longed for it. May God fight on their behalf and help the leaders of the language community move together in unity.  

The Doctor, Fred, and Sunday

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“You have shown great faith.  You’re a true missionary.  Where many of us try to go to your country to have our children, you gave birth to yours here!” Dr. Edo affirmed me upon hearing through facebook that I had given birth to our first daughter in his country.  This was the same avenue I learned he had gone to be with Jesus before we returned to Nigeria.  I miss his big smile as he walked across the compound where our office is (he acted as a landlord for the Lutheran church who we rent from), his delight in my daughter, Mariama and her growing vocabulary in Hausa, and his faith, evident in every interaction with him.

I returned home to my husband meeting me at the door our first Saturday here.  “A sad thing has happened,” he said. “Uncle Fred has died.”  He handed me a bulletin with the picture of Uncle Fred on the cover.   Here children call every man an uncle, until he gets grey hair or walks with a cane, and then he’s “Baba.”  But Uncle Fred was not just any man. He was a child when our church was established, grew up in the community where we live, worked for an orphan ministry, was a passionate and highly effective teacher in the children’s Thursday Bible study, a mentor of one of my beloved boys in the community, a father of two young boys, and a committed follower of Christ Jesus. He was a treasure, and standing in the church on Sunday morning, a great sadness overcame me at the loss of such a special gift as Uncle Fred.

A week ago, Lydia went to her first village burial.  Sunday just finished seminary, and was the project coordinator for the Kuce language.  Kuce was my first assignment when I came to Nigeria, so many of my first memories in this country include Sunday, with his big personality and bright mind.  He elegantly introduced me to the community when I arrived 6 years ago, helping me feel the anticipation of the community as we geared up to do literacy.  I traveled to the village with other Bace who rallied around me during my first year in Nigeria, believing that Kuce was a language worth preserving for their children to read and write, to mourn the loss we are all experiencing in the “going home” of our brother and friend, Sunday.

A beautiful setting for remembering Sunday

My dear friends, from different generations, but standing together in hopes God's Word will come powerfully to the Bace.

5 weeks ago we arrived back in Nigeria.  We praise God for the people we work alongside, including those who get to see Jesus before we do.  As life and death mingle together, you can pray with us that we will reflect the truth that life wins, that the grave has no hold on us or those who are in Christ, and that our present and future are safely in our Father’s hands.

Returning to Kuce

Walking down the streets, the melding of diesel fuel, dust, ripe tomatoes, freshly fried foods, and second hand clothes that have traveled over seas to find themselves in this familiar town, I felt a sense of belonging that made my heart glad.

If that wasn't enough--and I DON'T underestimate the precious sense of being home--I walked into a room full of men who warmly greeting me and my colleague, Rachel.  With sleeping Mariama strapped to my front, I stepped around the room, greeting each man with my right hand and a curtsy.

It was right to be there with them. Since I returned to the USA to study almost three years ago, new people have joined the team, and some that were trained in literacy have gained positions that will allow them to make greater change. I was privileged to encourage them in this new development and to lead discussions that allowed them to express their vision for the Bible translation and its use in the church.

To show the church activities and
which of the three languages are
 used for each activity. 

Four days later, we returned to climb motorcycles (This time with Mariama strapped on my back) and we headed to a church in Kiceland to meet a group of pastors.  Two and a half hours after the scheduled starting time, we began with a meeting considerably smaller than the one we had anticipated, but it was so powerful.  Each individual present participated in the discussion about language use, and one man who works for the public education system answered our question, "So, what do you want to change, now that we've discussed?" with "We want to move all of these activities (Bible studies, prayer meetings, weddings, etc) that are being done in Hausa," he declared in a booming, confident voice that echoed in the cavity of the sanctuary, "and move them here!" he exclaimed, indicating with a sweeping, definite gesture that hovered over the Kuce circle where only traditional cultural activities had been placed.  Everyone smiled and laughed at his enthusiastic ambitious desire before seriously discussing what it would take to make that happen.

Please pray for the Bace people who speak the Kuce language in the land of Kice.  I am so thankful to be working with them again in a new capacity, but the work is so great! To make God's words as close and native as their traditional practices will be a miraculous grace-filled achievement!  It will only happen as we move prayerfully forward, depending on God for guidance and strength. Pray for more laborers in the field, and for more Bace to be mobilized and see the need for themselves.

[Bace, Kuce, and Kice are pronounced something like Ba-CHAY, Ku-CHAY, and Kee-CHAY]

A Proper "See You Later"

"You did not have a proper farewell, Christy," Jeje (the project literacy coordinator) explained to me as I recovered on my living room couch from a bad spell of malaria.  'Really?  You think a little vomit here and a little vomit there while driving out of the village on Monday wasn't a proper goodbye?' I thought to myself because the sincerity of my Nigerian brothers and sisters does not lend itself to sarcasm.


We agreed to a short farewell on the following Monday, the 16th at 8:30am at the Chief's palace.  The same Monday we planned to leave Jos and go to Abuja to catch our flight on the 17th.

After a late night of packing, we rushed out the door of our cement block house for one more visit with the Bace commmunity in Jebbu Bassa.  On the way we visited our friend Dogara who was in the hospital and picked up Mama Ruth, a dear sister in Christ and supportive member of the Kuce literacy project.  We arrived around 9:15 to wait for an hour before the Royal Fathers arrived from various villages in their flowing robes and Hausa caps.  When they enter the room you feel their distinguished presence.  As I put last touches on the movie showing the events of the past year in their language, I stole glances at them looking over the books I had placed in their hands as samples of the work.  Some were sounding out the words, tracking with their fingers.  Others were reading to each other and smiling at the stories or artwork found inside the books written in Kuce.



Around 10:15 we began with introductions, followed by talks of several members of the community.  Mama Ruth said she felt I was a daughter from her own womb.  A representative from among the chiefs said that I had listened to the problems in their community and prayed with him. Rev. Victor, who is trained as a literacy teacher, prayed a prayer over us from Psalm 23.  Jeje gave a short talk from Ecc. saying that he did not want my work of this past year to be in vain and encouraging the community leaders to join him in carrying on the work.  Then the Paramount Chief gave an inspiring speech about how he wants to see Kuce taught in the village schools. How he himself as a child was taught by an SIM missionary in the Kuce language at the local elementary school.


Encouraged and spurred on by their enthusiasm, I showed the video of the events of the year, and encouraged them to continue building on what had begun with the outstanding group of devoted teachers.  The teachers were there, and I had them stand.  As they stood, I was overjoyed because I knew that God had been faithful.  I entered this community not knowing anyone, and now I had a group I considered my friends, of co-workers in the task of seeing a literate community in Kiceland.  What a unique gift from the Father of Lights.



 We were then presented with locally grown grains, wooden spoons, and clothes (which we wore for the next 4 days all the way home to Holland, MI including our first day there because our bags didn't arrive with us.)  We changed into the clothes in an adjacent room and I modeled them as I came in to the cheers of the leaders and their boisterous laughter rising.


We ended around 11:30 with taking some of the pictures you see below.  My heart was full to overflowing for all God has done, and praising Him for what is to come in the future in Kiceland. 

A Multiplier or Diminisher?

I was challenged at the Global Leadership Summit gathering that was held last week (November 5th-6th) where some of my colleagues found ourselves seated for two days with Nigerian leaders from multiple backgrounds and ministries.
One of the most challenging talks for me was on being a multiplier. They said that Jesus was our perfect example of this kind of leader. You see who is around you, right under your nose, those leaders that God has already chosen and placed in your midst. And you don’t try to multiply yourself in them by sharing YOUR visions and YOUR dreams, but you help them to multiply…building on their abilities, giftings, and capacities! Having them dream and innovate.
One mistake the speaker said leaders make is that they are either the “idea man” or the “energetic one” and no one else gets ideas in or can keep up! Oooops! I was convicted of not listening enough or drawing out of those around me what they think. God forgive me for diminishing with my need to share all of my ideas.
Good example: Jesus. Found 12 “uneducated, ordinary men” and began a movement, a gathering of people that the “gates of hell can not stand against!” How? He lived, ate, spoke publically, and did everyday life with them. He challenged them to heal, minister, pray, and live beyond what they thought they were capable of doing, for nothing is impossible with God. He saw in them what they couldn't see for themselves.
My application: God has placed Jeje as the literacy coordinator over the Kuce Language Project. My job? To call out all what God has already put into him, do my best to grow it, and leave it to God! I take so much on myself, but it’s not up to me to make the Kuce literacy project thrive! How prideful of me to have ever thought it was! It’s up to God…100%! Wow, that is so freeing. Freeing to trust God, and to trust what God can do in Jeje and the other 11 teachers who’ve been trained to teach in their mother tongue.

Where did I start? The teacher trainers gathered in my office, and each of them received a piece of paper that had their name at the top. They were instructed to write one of their strengths as a teacher at the top. They all looked at me, and then one said, “It would be easier to write my weaknesses, I know those.” After they wrote one for themselves, they handed around the papers so the others could write on their papers. When they got them back I asked, “What surprises you on your paper?” The three that shared said the strength and then followed it up with, “But it’s not true.” I got the privilege to tell them, “It is true…if they saw it, it’s true, and now you just need to believe the truth about yourself.” What a powerful experience for me to witness them starting to acknowledge what God has placed in them to empower them to do this very challenging task of training other teachers to teach Kuce.

Dreaming Together

“We are going to dream together,” was how I started the meeting with my five Kuce literacy teacher trainers. These are five bright, motivated, and determined individuals who I’m training to be teacher trainers. They wrote their dreams on paper before we wrote them on the board. What I heard and saw moved me deeply. Their dreams are bigger than mine, as it should be. I thought my hopes were big, but to see it in their words, and to pray over them together gave me a longing to pray more earnestly for them. With dreams this big, the enemy must go on the defensive, and our God must rise as our Protector! I pray God would guard these dreams in their hearts, and that the impossible might become reality!

In case you can’t read them: For Bace to know and understand God’s love for them and worship him freely in Kuce. For Ce people to read. To achieve the goal of literacy in Kiceland. That this generation and the next will appreciate God for being Bace. Identify the lost glory and potention of Bace. Kuce taught at home and in schools. To see every village having a trained Kuce literacy teacher. To improve my ability and help my friends. To have God’s message of salvation translated into Kuce.

Light in Kiceland!

I (Christy) wrote this for our 2013 staff prayer booklet. You can pray and praise with us!

Praise for the Bace,
Speaking their Kuce,
Living in Kice,
Who hunger for Light!

Literacy primers are done,
To the classes may they come,
All praise and glory to the Son!
Who is piercing with his light!

Translation and review,
In Luke, may God see them through,
Experiencing these ancient words anew!
That they may carry your light!

Christy leaves in mid-December,
Training may the teachers remember,
And to the Spirit's leading tender,
As they give way to the Light!

Jeje, the literacy coordinator,
Baba Gideon, project motivator,
Alex Kudu, head translator,
Unity, Jesus, to shine your light!

This year held community meeting,
Youth event and literacy launching,
Taking flight, together praying!
May we trust the Light!

Come Youth!

The first 3-day youth event was held in the town of Jebbu Bassa where 44 youth received a certificate and a transition primer in Kuce. The low attendance made Christy think that maybe this wasn’t going to be what she had in mind, a catalyst for the youth of Kice to love and read their language!

However, at the end of the three days, one of the teachers, Igye Ruth said, “I didn’t think this thing was going to work, but it was really wonderful!” We have to do it in my village. The chief, her brother, agreed, and arranged for meals to be provided for us. Traveling to Zagun, I realized why so few youth had come from the villages. At the end of rainy season, the roads were almost untravelable (creative spelling), and the group pulled into the secondary school 2 hours after Christy was hoping. With no time to set up, we began the program with 2 classrooms, and a growing number of students. By day two, there were around 150 youth, over half of them pre-literate or at very basic levels of being literate. We managed with the two classrooms, but were thankful the next day when 5 were opened up. As in Jebbu Bassa, Christy gave a talk on sex and marriage from a Biblical worldview. The third day around 250 youth gathered for the closing ceremony to receive certificates and books.

Songs in Kuce were sung and the energy levels were high. Not everyone got one due to limited supply and reading levels of the participants, but we pray that those who came were blessed and motivated and encouraged to speak Kuce. On the drive back, the teachers were abuzz, and said, “We have to move around to all of the literacy centers! We can’t leave anyone out!” Yes! They have caught the fire! May God set it ablaze!