Reviewing the situation

This week we have been having a 20 year review of Salvation Army officers (pastors). This is the first time that these officers have come together since they got commissioned (ordained) 20 years ago. I have been quite moved by hearing their stories and testimonies. 20 years is a long time to be committed to something. One man talked about the 6 years when he, his wife and his 6 children all shared a bed in a one room house. Another man talked about being moved to a rural area with a newborn baby and struggling to find food for months because of drought. One woman started to cry because she said, "I guess we're going to retire without ever driving a car" (because only important people like divisional commanders and cabinet members get access to cars). The review really made me think about what officers back in Canada complain about....

We had really interesting discussions on integrity (in a place where the abnormal has become normal), status, retirement age (which has just gone up to 63, even though the life expectancy here has dropped to 31 for women and 34 for men), and other matters.

There were 2 ironic moments for me on the last day. The first was when we had a talk on stress relief that went 1 hour longer than it should have - and into lunchtime. The delegates were getting so stressed, but the teacher would just not stop talking! The other was in our final meeting - when the territorial commander came - and one item on the programme was for the 20 year review delegates to sing a song. They wanted me to sing too. So, we all gathered in front of the T.C. and sang - and he reviewed his notes the whole time; not looking up - even though he was the only person listening to the song! No one else seemed to find these 2 things funny, but I did.