Hello everyone,
Thank you for your comments and emails. I am just coming up for air and I need to catch up with my communication. We have been busy with 2 projects in the community and many many assignments, in addition to 8-10 hours of lecture/teaching daily. I did not make it to bed last night--Over the last 8 days I have been able to grab 0-4 hours of sleep a day. But it has been worth it and now everything will be down hill from here. I just turned in a 16 page project charter this morning that was very time intensive. I feel good about it though, and I feel really good about all the very practical knowledge I have received in ALICT.
I helped to coordinate a Compassion Day where approximately 300 children came together to serve in their community. We painted play structures, planted gardens, painted classroom buildings, cleaned up the streets, parks and a pre-school. We really had fun with them, taught them about the Savior who loves them, played SO many games, sang SO many songs and loved them, working next to them to bless the community. I really can't tell you haw amazing this day was. God was there and filled me with strength and love like I will never forget.
Also I have been working with a young woman in Kayamandi who has a dream to start her own business and NGO. Together we have had many meetings at the government offices getting her ready to register with them and partner with many different people in the community to take the next steps toward her dream. She is such an amazing young woman, 27 years old, the mother of 2 small children, a Christian and truly driven to use her skills and energy to change her community.
It has been so easy for me to have these people at ALICT grow into family for me because I have had the mindset to create a new home here and they have been my community. So I am already facing some sadness knowing that we will all leave each other on the 20th. But at the same time I am excited to move forward with Kuyasa here in SA. I am convinced that God has a plan and that his plan he placed in me from the beginning of my life. I have been busying myself with excavating it for many years and I believe that this entire process has been a part of God's plan. I have to hold everything lightly and not rush--that is so easy for me to do. God will do what he will do despite my striving. I think if there is anything I must watch for now it is pushing in my own strength and getting ahead of God.
I have begun speaking with people at Kuyasa and have arranged accommodation for the next 4-6 months. I will be living in an apartment that is being rented by other American missionaries working for Kuyasa, they will be going on sabbatical for a while and asked that I help them with rent while they are gone. I feel good about this because it will give me time to build relationships in Kayamandi and ready myself to move into the township.
We are going away to stay in a church on the most Southern tip of Africa this Saturday night. They say that you can stand in one area, spread out your arms and you are holding the entire continent in your hands. This will really be a necessary time of prayer and absorbing all the spiritual elements of the lessons that have sat as notes in my notebook for the last week because of the busy schedule.
I am praying for all of you. I think of family and friends often especially with this transition coming up and the "Cabin" next month. I will admit I try not to think of the cabin because it is so sad to think I will not be a part of things. But I have peace too and I know I am where I am supposed to be. I feel confident that God will show me what to do and where to focus my time, energy and resources. I will be giving some money to a few of the students here who are closest to me--it is my tithe. They are incredible people doing amazing things and I know them, I have ate, slept, studied and lived life with them for three months. Out of 26 students I feel compelled to give to only 4 a men from Benin--working in sustainable agriculture, training and empowering the poor--particularly pastors who are unable to feed their families, Ivory Coast--working to give spiritual, medical and social aid/healing to a unreached and Muslim populations in the North that are AIDS infested and dealing with civil war presently, Bangladesh--working to increase awareness and irradiate the trafficking of women and children from the poor villages--these are lured and then trapped in prostitution and camel jocking in the cities, Tanzania--this man is a prayer warrior, fasts for days on end to see the youth of his nation empowered to become the next generation of leaders who serve God. These have really inspired and amazed me with Christ ALIVE in them, their passion to serve the poorest of the poor and their drive to work hard in everything God gives them to do. I want to invite you and any others who you think might like to pray about helping them to consider working with me to send them back to their communities with some seed money to begin with the Projects that they have planned while here at ALICT, which I listed after their countries. If you want more information please email me. they have all written 10-15 page project charters that detail their plan once they return to their nations and I can send these out over email.
I am so grateful to have all of you. I sit here at this computer--(hoping that I won't loose my Internet connection) and I am seriously humbled by what God has given me in all of you. So many people who love me, not because of anything I do, just because God has given me to you and you to me and so we love each other. This really baffles me sometimes, especially seeing how isolated others are in the impoverished situations I have encountered. Poverty has so little to do with money and so much to do with community.
Please pray for me--I am a bicycle, and all of you have helped me gather and assemble parts of how and who I am and even helped me to see how to use the things God gave me. Your prayers have oiled my chains and spokes and tightened my screws. I am who I am because God gave me people who love me and have helped to assemble my insides. I need God to hop on, I need the Spirit to do the pedaling, and the steering and keep me moving at the right speed--keep me balanced and not wobbly. Your prayers do this. And I pray for all of you too that God would enjoy, and empower the ride of your life. I love you guys.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Birthday Parties and Community Projects
Hello everyone, I recieved your greetings from Cassie if you visited with him at NCCC and also met Simon this week, I know he was with you also. Simon and his team trained us here in a series of 8 workshops this week, what an incredible man he is. My time at ALICT is two thirds complete. The learning we have done here has really been unique. They expect so much and facilitate learning in very unsual and experiacial ways. This has been really effective for me even though it is challenging. The navigating and working in this kind of extream diversity has given me more than a year of intercultural course work could. It continues to be one of the greatest experiances of my life and without question a privledge. Let me share one thing that has been very special to me.
I am heading up our "Social Events" committee which consists of two other student one from Latin America and one from Ethopia. Basically we plan Birthday Parties which consist of putting up streamers, giving some small item as a gift, having our Auntie Zena (who cooks for us) bake a cake, blowing out candles, prayer for the person celebrated and singing "Happy Birthday". We sing two ties in English, two times in French and two times in Spanish. We celebrated our third and final birthday on the 17th and I have to tell you these parties have been one of the most significant experiances I have had here. Africans, generally, do not celebrate their birthdays. In fact some have never attended a celebration like this for themselves or anyone else. One of the men we celebrated was turning 35, he is from Ivory Coast. He thanked us in tears and could not believe that we would honor him in this way or celebrate his life as such a special thing. He explained that there had been some foriegners in his counrty many years ago who had given him a birthday party, but that this one was the second he had ever experiance. We celebrated his life and his friendship together and the group lifted him to thier shoulders and surrounded him with hugs. And he cried. It was one of the most significant moments of his life, one he will never forget.
For a moment I wanted to devote my life to ensuring every child in the world had the opprotunity to experiance at least one birthday party. It had never occured to me that the majority of children in the world will never have their life celebrated in this way. We spend unreal amounts of money on children birthdays how can it be that so many never have this simple gift----I want to write more, but I have to go---I will add/edit later. I love you all.
I am heading up our "Social Events" committee which consists of two other student one from Latin America and one from Ethopia. Basically we plan Birthday Parties which consist of putting up streamers, giving some small item as a gift, having our Auntie Zena (who cooks for us) bake a cake, blowing out candles, prayer for the person celebrated and singing "Happy Birthday". We sing two ties in English, two times in French and two times in Spanish. We celebrated our third and final birthday on the 17th and I have to tell you these parties have been one of the most significant experiances I have had here. Africans, generally, do not celebrate their birthdays. In fact some have never attended a celebration like this for themselves or anyone else. One of the men we celebrated was turning 35, he is from Ivory Coast. He thanked us in tears and could not believe that we would honor him in this way or celebrate his life as such a special thing. He explained that there had been some foriegners in his counrty many years ago who had given him a birthday party, but that this one was the second he had ever experiance. We celebrated his life and his friendship together and the group lifted him to thier shoulders and surrounded him with hugs. And he cried. It was one of the most significant moments of his life, one he will never forget.
For a moment I wanted to devote my life to ensuring every child in the world had the opprotunity to experiance at least one birthday party. It had never occured to me that the majority of children in the world will never have their life celebrated in this way. We spend unreal amounts of money on children birthdays how can it be that so many never have this simple gift----I want to write more, but I have to go---I will add/edit later. I love you all.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Mountians and Valleys
Hello everyone, I am sorry that my time is so limited when I have Internet access. Last week I was hopeful to write and visited an Internet cafe, but the connection was so poor that it took me 45 minutes to bring up only three pages and I did not have time to write. But here I am and I am thankful to have a few minutes to connect.
The reality of 26 different cultures and backgrounds living together is beginning to set in. The group still enjoys each other, but I think we are having a harder time setting ourselves aside for the other person. We become irritated with each other more easily, but the challenge is good and shaping.
I have not written about our mountain adventures yet. During the course of our training we are exposed to 5-6 wilderness training activities that incorporate spiritual and physical disciplining with teamwork and community building.
7/27/07---Our first day together before the sun rose, we climbed into "combies" (mini vans), wearing the warmest clothing we had and drove in the rain almost 3 hours to a place we did not know. There we were dropped off in a field in front of what look to be an old church building and were told to get into teams. We did not know each other, we were all from different nations and many people on my team did not speak English well. We were given two poles of bamboo, one rope and trash bags for raincoats. Our instructions were to create a structure with the poles and the rope so that, as a team, we could carry one man. We were given a small map and told that we must carry one man over the mountain and he could not touch the ground. It was one of the most difficult experiences of my life, but I learned so much about myself and the others on my team. I felt like the true self in each one of us was pushed to the surface as we struggled, bled and hurt together. These people who had been strangers to me became a part of my heart in 6 hours time.
This passed Friday was our second "adventure" we were told to wear warm clothing and left for the mountain. We began climbing in two teams of 12 at 6:30 pm. We were told that the trail was very dangerous because of how sheer the drop was, how narrow that path was and how strong the wind would be. Each team was tied on to a rope together. The rope between myself and the person in front of me was too long, so in addition to the loop around my waist, I had the rope wrapped twice around my chest and once around my stomach. This was done so that if one person fell they would not be lost down the mountain, but the others could pull them up again. We didn't know how far we would go, but we knew that we would not be back until the following morning. The sun set as we hiked and meditated . We had small wind up flashlights in addition the moon. We rested for ten minutes every hour and continued to to top of the mountain as a team. When we reached the top at approximately 2 am, it was explained that we would have 20 minutes to rest and then travel down again. It was an amazing view even in the dark. Large water falls, thick vegetation, enormous rock faces, slowly creeping mist and incredible stars. We arrived, utterly exhausted, at the trail head again around 9:30 am. We had been angry, tired, excited, encouraged and many of us injured (I re-injured my right ankle), but we had done all of this before God, together.
I learned enormous lessons here about community, God's connection with me, asking for help, loving others, taking risks, changing my understanding of pain and the power of bonds for good and for evil. I am still sorting through and processing the experience. The trail was so narrow and the drop was absolutely terrifying, there is really no other way to describe it, nearly straight down for what looked like a mile. I was thankful for the dark because it forced me to stay focused on the path, if someone slipped with just a potion of his foot sliding on some wet plants, it would be over if he did not have others to pull him up by the rope. I am thankful for that night, the lessons and for my sore muscles today.
The reality of 26 different cultures and backgrounds living together is beginning to set in. The group still enjoys each other, but I think we are having a harder time setting ourselves aside for the other person. We become irritated with each other more easily, but the challenge is good and shaping.
I have not written about our mountain adventures yet. During the course of our training we are exposed to 5-6 wilderness training activities that incorporate spiritual and physical disciplining with teamwork and community building.
7/27/07---Our first day together before the sun rose, we climbed into "combies" (mini vans), wearing the warmest clothing we had and drove in the rain almost 3 hours to a place we did not know. There we were dropped off in a field in front of what look to be an old church building and were told to get into teams. We did not know each other, we were all from different nations and many people on my team did not speak English well. We were given two poles of bamboo, one rope and trash bags for raincoats. Our instructions were to create a structure with the poles and the rope so that, as a team, we could carry one man. We were given a small map and told that we must carry one man over the mountain and he could not touch the ground. It was one of the most difficult experiences of my life, but I learned so much about myself and the others on my team. I felt like the true self in each one of us was pushed to the surface as we struggled, bled and hurt together. These people who had been strangers to me became a part of my heart in 6 hours time.
This passed Friday was our second "adventure" we were told to wear warm clothing and left for the mountain. We began climbing in two teams of 12 at 6:30 pm. We were told that the trail was very dangerous because of how sheer the drop was, how narrow that path was and how strong the wind would be. Each team was tied on to a rope together. The rope between myself and the person in front of me was too long, so in addition to the loop around my waist, I had the rope wrapped twice around my chest and once around my stomach. This was done so that if one person fell they would not be lost down the mountain, but the others could pull them up again. We didn't know how far we would go, but we knew that we would not be back until the following morning. The sun set as we hiked and meditated . We had small wind up flashlights in addition the moon. We rested for ten minutes every hour and continued to to top of the mountain as a team. When we reached the top at approximately 2 am, it was explained that we would have 20 minutes to rest and then travel down again. It was an amazing view even in the dark. Large water falls, thick vegetation, enormous rock faces, slowly creeping mist and incredible stars. We arrived, utterly exhausted, at the trail head again around 9:30 am. We had been angry, tired, excited, encouraged and many of us injured (I re-injured my right ankle), but we had done all of this before God, together.
I learned enormous lessons here about community, God's connection with me, asking for help, loving others, taking risks, changing my understanding of pain and the power of bonds for good and for evil. I am still sorting through and processing the experience. The trail was so narrow and the drop was absolutely terrifying, there is really no other way to describe it, nearly straight down for what looked like a mile. I was thankful for the dark because it forced me to stay focused on the path, if someone slipped with just a potion of his foot sliding on some wet plants, it would be over if he did not have others to pull him up by the rope. I am thankful for that night, the lessons and for my sore muscles today.
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