Back Home

So it's over. I arrived back in Winnipeg on Wednesday, May 13th and
have been enjoying home cooking and family company ever since.
Thank-you for your thoughts and prayers. I hope to connect with you
soon.

- tim

It's been a while

So much has happened since I last wrote and there is no way that I can
recount it all. First of all, to those who are praying, thank-you so
much. My grand-parents have told me that they pray for me at least 2
times a day and others have told me they're praying as well. I am so
blessed to have people who have very truly joined the ministry out
here. If you haven't started, feel free. I'd just like to tell you
about something that happened that really encouraged me and that might
encourage you too.

As you may or may not know, I live with a guy from the church named
Rafael and some of his extended family. I love them. They are
Jehovah's witnesses and Rafael and I have been praying for
opportunities to share our faith. Anyways, the other day I was on my
way to the bathroom when I was called to the living room. I came and
saw one of the teenage girls looking very sick and"out-of-it"on the
couch. Somebody asked,"Can you pray for her?" I couldn't believe it.
I thought they might be playing a joke and after I was done praying
the girl would jump up and it'd be all funny for them. But I said I
certainly would pray if she wanted me to. But before I could start
praying she said very clearly"I don't want it." I thought maybe she
wasn't in on the joke with the others and told her I would just pray
for her from my room. However, later I found her having trouble
walking and falling to the ground unable to talk or move. I looked at
the others around and they all looked really worried. Maybe it wasn't
a joke after all. We got her to the bedroom and put her in a
comfortable position. I asked the others around if I could pray for
her because she seemed unable to talk. They all nodded their heads.
So I began to pray with half the family watching (Rafael was out at
the time) that God would heal her of her sickness. Nothing happened;
at least not immediately. After I had prayed everything I could think
of praying I stood up and told them there that the power was not in my
hands but in God's. I had asked God to heal her and that was all I
could do. 5 minutes later she was back on the couch, still looking
very sick. But after 20 minutes she was eating, laughing, and joking
again. I was pumped. When Rafael got home I shared with him what
happened. He was so pumped and we praised God for what he is doing in
our family's life.

Isn't that cool?!! I thought it was pretty sweet. I'll try to keep
you updated on what's happening in my family here. If you want to
pray for them their names are Abwee, Chuspi, Scorpion (Chuspi's
boyfriend), Ramani, Dodo (like the bird), Claude, and Thomas.

1 1/2 Answers to Prayer

So I've been trying to pray a little different recently. I've been
trying to talk to God with the attitude that he is listening. The
Bible says that he listens and intellectually I believe it to be true.
Yet often when I pray I talk to myself or I run through a checklist
of things I need, hoping it does some good. So I've been praying for
less things, remembering what I prayed for, and watching intently to
see what happens... on a good day. I'm a work in progress.

The other day as I was walking I really felt like an ice cream cone
(they sell this awesome ice-cream on the street. It costs about 40
cents and usually doesn't give you diarrhea). But I only had 20 cents
in my pocket. I let God know that I really felt like an ice-cream and
that I would love it if it only cost 20 cents. I promptly forgot what
I had prayed (like I said, I'm still working on it), and kept on
walking. I saw an ice-cream vendor and walked up to see how much it
cost. To my dismay it cost 40 cents. Ahhh. So I said, "thank-you"
and walked off. But the guy called me back. He told me he'd pay my
other 20 cents!! I was pumped. Then I remembered what I had prayed
and praised God as I ate my ice cream cone.

The other one has to do with food as well. About 2 weeks ago I was
sitting outside a store close to my house chatting with somebody. I
had earlier bought a yogurt at the store and I ate it as we talked. I
finished the yogurt but my craving wasn't satisfied. I sat there
wondering if I could justify buying another yogurt. Then the thought
came to mind that maybe I should pray and ask God for a yogurt. It's
kinda a ridiculous thing to pray for and I wasn't sure what to exactly
pray. As I was pondering what to pray my friend who I was talking to
asked me out of the blue, "Hey, do you want another yogurt?" I
laughed. How could it be so perfect? I said yes and enjoyed my
second yogurt incredibly. I didn't even begin to pray for it and God
answered!

So now I'm asking God for a corvette, 1000 hamburgers, and a million
bucks to go with my swimming pool full of Jello. No, God can
obviously not be controlled and manipulated by feeblies like us. But
I think He likes it when we honestly place our desires in His hands to
do what He wants. And sometimes He surprises us by doing just what we
so selfishly asked for. Who can compare to this God?!!

Sunday Sunday Sunday

I'd like to tell you about what I do on Sundays after church.

I go to a zoo of sorts.

I run around with a bunch of kids and try not to lose my head while
they have the time of their lives. It's great!

Every Sunday afternoon is Soccer School and Francesco and I have been
helping out with it for the past 2 ½ months. The person in charge is
this guy named Jordan de Fritas (Fritas is the Spanish word for French
fries and he is sure to order them whenever we are in a restaurant
together; to keep with his name of course). He is from Brazil and is
in the country to coach the Men's National Team. He is a fantastic
guy who loves the Lord as much as he loves soccer. When he speaks
it's probably as much Portuguese as it is Spanish but the kids love
and respect him and we do too.

And the kids… all 36 of them. What a joy and a challenge! Much of
our time is spent in crowd control, yelling things like "Drop it!",
"Leave him!", "Quiet!" and other equally threatening words. As far as
I understand, discipline in this country looks like this:

- ignore the problem until you are incredibly mad
- ignore it a little longer
- yell something
- take your anger out by clacking your kids on the head or something worse.

Usually things stop by the third step but it's not uncommon to see
parents "disciplining" their kids on the side of the street. It's
just how things work. So it makes it difficult to control the kids
when you're not good at ignoring things, didn't grow up in a yelling
family, and don't have the guts or the desire to smoke the kid on the
head. But to be honest, things are getting easier. The kids are
truly loveable and I'm starting to understand things a little better
(both culturally and language-wise). Praise God for his help in times
like these.

But now it all changes. Jordan was let go as the coach of the
National Team and left for Brazil on Wednesday. And now Francesco and
I are in charge. Before Jordan left he showed us how everything
worked and gave us all the equipment needed to continue the Soccer
School (hundreds of dollars worth of stuff). What an amazing
opportunity! I wish Jordan was still here but I feel that part of the
reason God has us in Equatorial Guinea is to continue this amazing
ministry. The first Sunday without Jordan is this week and we will
need all the praying we can get. Even though we feel very
unqualified, we feel peace that the ministry is in God's hands. Let
the zoo begin.

Hospital

So today I went to the hospital for the first time.

And I wasn't going just to visit somebody.

I needed help.

I needed to be checked for AIDS. Now I should say before my parents
hit the floor that I haven't been poking myself with used needles and
I haven't been doing anything that could make them into grand-parents
anytime soon. I needed it checked to finalize my papers that let me
stay in the country. I won't know until tomorrow whether I got it or
not but I feel like my chances are pretty good of the test coming up
negative (as I understand, negative is a good thing).

The hospital was made sometime in the 60's and it feels a little like
walking down the tile hallways in Tier at the University, except more
run down and with people lining the hallways. I got there at 8:00 and
waited with all the moms and their babies who also wanted a blood test
(the kid next to me threw up and her mom caught it in her hand.
That's loving your child!!). Finally at 10:00 I got in. I was
relieved that everything was sterile and I let the man know that I'd
rather not get AIDS while getting a test for AIDS. He laughed.

Anyways, I'll go back tomorrow to see if I can stay in the country
AIDS-free. Otherwise, see you next week.

Oct. 25 2008

Right now I'm sitting in on couch in Jason's house. Him and his
family went on a mini-vacation for the weekend and we (Justin,
Francesco, and myself) are house-sitting for him. Quite a nice break.
Lots of things have been happening and I want to tell you a little
about it.

Here's what I do in a day:

6:00-6:30 - wake up. Immediately realizing I slept through my 5:30
alarm... again. When I set my alarm in the evening it just feels so
possible. After spending some time with Jesus I go and haul some
water from the well to be used for the showers and flushing of the
day.
7:30 - meet Francesco at the corner store close to our house. Pick up
breakfast (usually bread with beans for 20 cents - so good). Together
we walk to the work site. The path we take leads us over a sketchy
bridges and past the same people each day (not to mention the
beautiful mountains in the backgroud). It's a 30 min. walk and I look
forward to it each morning.
8:00 - begin work. For those of you who don't know, we are building a
Bible School. We mix cement with shovels, make bricks by hand,
construct walls, pour columns of concrete, and pretty much anything
else that needs to be done. It's super fun work because you can see
your progress each day. They hope to begin classes in the new site by
January.

Neat story: While we were transporting already-made blocks by
wheel-barrow, we came across a pretty big snake. It was a spitting
cobra about 1.5 meters. I removed a brick from the stack and there it
was, curled up and overflowing in the uncovered block. I tried to
play it cool, being wary of being the scaredy-cat foreigner, but when
I told someone about it everyone came running. Dao and Everisto, our
resident hunters came running with shovels. As soon as the snake
showed itself, Dao lunged with the shovel and chopped the snake pretty
bad. They killed it. Roly said that it probably wouldn't have killed
me, so that was nice. Anyways, I spent the rest of the day being a
little paranoid each time I removed a brick.

1:00 - finish work and head home.
1:30 - arrive at home, shower, eat, and maybe nap
3:15 - Spanish lesson

The evenings are spent either at the Bible School for classes (i'm
taking 2 courses; Discipleship and Panorama of the New Testement), or
doing other random things. The evenings are pretty short because
everyone is always in their houses here by about 9:00.

9:00 - have supper and watch Spanish soap operas.
9:30 - shower and go to sleep.

Sundays mornings are spent at church (I've been helping in Sunday
School with the kids. Lots and lots of miscommunications... haha).
In the afternoons Francesco and I go and help at a soccer school for
kids. It is run by the former coach for the national team. His name
is Jordan and he's just a great guy who loves Jesus even more than
soccer. This next weekend (Oct. 31 - Nov. 2) we are having a retreat
where we will talk about Jesus and train. I can't wait.

Jesus has been so good to me these past few months. This is His
ministry and it's fun to be a part of it. He is so good.

- Tim Bock

A Lifetime in Bata

I have been struck by the question, "What would it be like to be born, to grow-up, to work, and to die in Bata?"  Nobody's asked me but I've wondered about it as I buy bread from an old, bored woman on the street (paying twice as much the regular price and knowing it; she seemed so miserable), or as I talked to the kid who I bought caramels from (my first frivolous purchase).  I am just meeting people all the time who I don't know their stories or what makes them tick. 

I really don't understand people here well at all.  In so many ways they are like people back in Canada (they know of Justin Timberlake of all people), but every now and then I am smoked in the face with something I just don't understand (like why does nobody use bikes here???  I have no idea).  For the most part, the whole culture shock thing hasn't been a big issue.  I don't think it's as much culture shock as it is an inability to communicate effectively.  In fact, as I think of it, it is kinda like when i used to stutter real bad.  I feel like I'm at someone else's house who I don't know very well and I can't really relax or fit in anywhere; and if anyone tries to talk to me, I drop the ball and make things a little awkward.  But each day gets easier.

I live with some awesome people.  Rafael is my main connection in the home.  He's about my age and he loves going to the church by our house.  He's kinda quiet but when he's with his friends (usually at the church, which is the main place where people hang out) he comes alive!  He laughs lots and 2 nights ago we had our first time truly laughing together and both understanding what we were laughing about.  It was in bed (sharing beds here is no big deal) and ya, we were talking about who we liked; just like i was back in gr. 5.  It was great and felt sooo good to laugh. 

We also live with Dodo, who is Rafael's niece but she is our age as well, and Ramami who is about 15 probably.  Ramani is actually Dodo's niece.  Families are crazy extended here.  It's great.  Our house is very homey and sufficient.  It's different in the obvious ways.  Like I shower using a little bucket dipping and spilling over my head, and I sleep with a mosquito net.  Sometimes it feels very missionary-esque.  Other times it really doesn't, like when we are sitting around in the evening watching tv (like today, 24 was on in spanish, kinda weird). 

There is lots to share and it's hard to sum up my feelings.  This whole concept of God living in me has been on my mind recently.  The verse I read this morning was , "On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you."  Pretty cool.  How would my life change if I understood this. 

Sorry about no pictures on this blog.  I haven't taken any and I don't have a digital camera.  I will try to change that as soon as I can.

sorry about no pictures, and no video's