An uphill battle

Mbamie got some good news a few days ago... her husband was told by immigration in Africa that he is leaving Sept. 7th for the USA. This has been many years in the making. Mbamie and her husband and 2 small kids will finally be reunited after war tore their family and home apart.

Then she got bad news... her husband's sister died suddenly. She is the only sibling who knew he was to leave, the one that was going to take over his home and the responsibility of his two grown children (ages 19 and 21, but in the African culture are still considered dependents while in school). He can't go to Togo where the funeral will be because he is already in immigration processes to come here. The family including his grown children don't know he is about to immigrate. He is the oldest and would be expected to take part. Mbamie is scared that he will try to help with funeral stuff and never make it here, ruining any work done with immigration to reunite them.

Pray for Mbamie, her husband, all his family and a 12 year old girl who has lost her mom. May they receive comfort through their intense grief. May Mbamie's husband find solutions to the problems that have arisen through this and maintain understanding and peace with his family through his departure.

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Meanwhile, I ran across a difficult situation with Mpasteur, Mbamie's brother. He is a pastor and the most manipulative and the least trustworthy of the 4 siblings that I have met. I have great relationships with the other 3 African refugees, but I don't trust Mpasteur due to the way he has demonstrated a total lack of communication with his daughters and due to his ways of manipulation. Case in point: when he wants me to do something for him, he starts to call me "sister", "aunt" or some such flattery. It totally irks me. I've told him and he got better about it. I told him if he wants to ask for something, just ask.

Well, he asked me to come to his grand opening worship service for his church group. I know for a fact that he has always had hopes that I would translate for their group. I do love the faith of African christians and love this family, but I am not so sure about Mpasteur or about joining any organized religious group. I wouldn't mind visiting sometime or even meeting to pray or share together, but I fear that they'd think we were joining or something if we just came once.

I said I'd pray about if I should attend and he said that I needed to come because he wanted his pastor friends to see how diverse their group was and they would want to meet his family and friends. That did it for me, I'm outta here! Why do groups need warm bodies to feel validated? He didn't really care if I was there, he just cared about how good it would look if we came and what we could offer them. What if I looked like Frieda next door or talked like Meshell? Would he still want me at his service and be introducing me to his friends? I told him we didn't want to be paraded around and that the Lord was calling us to not pray on the corner, but in the closet and to not display the works we do. I got a blank stare. I don't think I can even explain what's in my heart, but it's not another marketing filled show to display to those they want/need to impress in order to prove that they are doing something worthwhile.