Flogging Judas

It never ceases to amaze me, all of the interesting...and strange...customs and traditions that are celebrated here, even among Christians! While we were out driving last Friday, I saw a teddy bear sitting in a chair on the side of the road. There are always beggars everywhere sitting like that, but it seemed a little funny to find a stuffed animal. We just figured maybe some little girl wanted to giver her doll a chair. The bear also had a plate in his lap, so maybe the child thought he was hungry? Well, after the Easter celebrations had finished (Easter Monday is actually a bigger holiday here than Easter Sunday, although I'm not really sure why), we were out visitng with our neighbors and asking them how they enjoyed their holiday. A few of the older kids got very excited and told us that they "flogged Judas." Apparantly, the custom for the Christians here is that on Good Friday, they make a Judas doll. They dress him up and set him on the side of the road with a plate in his hand, and half a Bible at his feet. I don't really know why half a Bible, or how they even get half a Bible (hopefully they don't rip one!), but that's what they do. They leave him there all day, then they "flog" him, and then dump him in the river! There seems to still be quite a bit of infulence of animism, as well as some Catholocism, mixed in with their Christianity. It is always a struggle to get to the heart of the issues there, but pray that as we continue to disciple the new Christians that they would grow in Christ, and in their knowledge of the Bible.



Easter Sunday went extremely well. The kids absolutely loved the Easter egg hunt! It was so adorable! And Megan, Mrs. Owens, and I, had traditional African outfits made, so everyone thought it was great that we were wearing them. We even attempted to make head wraps :)



We had a team meeting this weekend to discuss ways to revamp our youth outreach. Our attendance has been way down the past couple of weeks, and in general it is just difficult to get the youth to commit to anything, because they have so many other things competing for their time. It is especially difficult getting girls to come, as they seem to have to do everything around the house, from cooking to laundry and taking care of siblings, among other things. And with no electricity or running water in most of the homes, these chores take much longer than you might expect! So Megan and I have decided to have a time just for the girls, building relationships with them, at a time when they are available. We invited the five teenage girls who live in the houses next to us to come over on Tuesday evening, after they had finished eating and all of their chores. In a culture where the role of women is so extremely downplayed, we feel that it's important to have a time where we can really just minister to them and show them how important they really are and help them to see their worth and their value in God's eyes. We had a great time of painting nails, looking at pictures, and talking about boys, relationships, and purity, which actually went very well. Please pray for us as we continue to try to reach out to these girls. There is a little bit of a language barrier, as their English isn't very good, and we obviously haven't mastered Krio yet, but between the two we seem to be able to have fairly good conversations. Please pray that their hearts would be open, and that God would open up opportunities for us to really witness to them, and that He would give us the words to say to reach these precious girls.

I also ask that you would be in prayer for the upcoming Independence Day, which is April 27th. There will be massive celebrations and parades all week and, given the tenuous nature of the relationship between the political parties as it is, there is the potential for rioting. Pray that this truly would just be a time of celebration and nothing more. And please pray for me too as I start to really wrap up my time here. Pray that I would really make the most out of these last three weeks. Pray that I stay focused and not get too distracted by everything that will be going on once I get home, but that I would keep my eyes and my heart open for whatever God has in store for me here. Thanks again!!