Monday, November 23, 2009

Our time is almost gone...

Hello all!

The past week has been quite eventful. Let me take the time now to fill you all in on my life thus far.

The trip on the bus on the way back from the capital city was rather uneventful. It was long and hot and I slept most of it thanks to Dramamine. We spent the next day resting and reorganizing since Melissa didn’t come back with us. Mike and his family (Melissa’s team leader, our new fill-in supervisor) came down and we ate lunch and discussed what the future is going to look like. We found out later that Melissa is going to leave the country to seek medical care for her back. As of right now it’s still unclear whether or not she’ll return before we leave, but it doesn’t look like it. So instead of going in to Melissa’s on the weekends, Mike will pick us up and we’ll stay at their house most weekends (they live 3 hours away). I was a little concerned about all the details to begin with, but now I am at peace with everything, thanks to Dad.

Tuesday we went back out to our village. One of our moms, Laidy, had her baby while we were away. It’s a precious little girl. She’s a good size and looks really healthy. We got to hold her and hang out with the family most of the day.

Wednesday night was the highlight of my week. It’s been getting really chilly at night so after dinner I put on my hooded sweatshirt and my sweatpants and we started making some ashi for the chief and hot tea for us. As we sat there drinking in all the warmth our tea had to offer, we seized the opportunity to tell the chief another story from the Good News. We really wanted to share about the love of Dad, so we thought about it for a few minutes and decided to tell him the story of the prodigal son. We hadn’t actually prepared anything or thought much about how much language it would require, we just went for it. We asked him if he wanted us to tell him a story and he happily agreed to it. We then told him about a man who had two sons. One son was a good son. This son worked in the fields for his father and was a good worker. The other son was a bad son. This son took money from his father and went to a city far away. The son then spent all the money he had taken and spent it on things like ashi and shirts (we couldn’t come up with anything better) and then when he ran out of money his friends left him. He had no money for food and he had no friends. He then decided to go back to his father because at least he had food. As the son was coming home the father saw him a long ways out and ran to him, hugged him and said “I love you.” Then the dad killed a sheep for him and the roasted and had a party like they do for baby naming ceremonies. The chief understood everything we said and even retold the story to one of his wives instantly and he told the story way better than we did. They all seemed to really like the story. We then told him how the dad in the story was like our Dad and how we are the bad son because we have sin and we’ve taken everything we can from our Dad and left Him. But just like the dad in the story our Dad still loves us and if we return to Him He will run after us and welcome us home. He will always welcome us back no matter what we’ve done while we were away. He loves us no matter what, we just have to return. The chief understood everything we said and even applied it to him and retold the story and the application to us. I was so happy that tears came to my eyes. I know it’s ridiculous, but after over 5 months of trying so hard with a difficult language and hard concepts when we finally go across that Dad loves him no matter what and to have it make sense to them it was almost too much for me. I was so proud of us. I couldn’t stop smiling. We finally did it without any special preparation or help of a translator. Dad did it through us! Of all the vessels in the world He chose us to deliver this message at this time in this place and it felt great.

We don’t have much time left now and it saddens me. I feel like I’ve finally got what this is all about. I’ve been able to successfully share the Good News on the spur of a moment and it crossed all the cultural barriers and was understood. I’m not sure anything can get better than this. I still can’t believe He chose me to come here to do this. What an honor. I’m so in love with Him right now it’s not even funny. But it’s almost time to leave. Only a few more weeks here. I don’t want to leave. But then again life here isn’t all roses…

On Thursday Lindsay and I got locked in our hut for 45 minutes! That’s right, we got locked in a mud hut in Africa. We were not alone though, we had Nana, the two month old baby, with us too. Oh and we were locked in by a TSA lock, one of the locks with a three digit code. Hannah-tu, only nine years old, had gotten a little upset with us for shutting the door to our hut and somehow managed to lock us in our hut. This wouldn’t have been so bad but nobody knew how to unlock it. We knew the code and we told several people, but they would look at the lock, spin the dials a little bit and then proclaim that they didn’t know how. Finally someone when out to the fields and got the chief because he’s the only one that knows how to operate those kind of locks.

Friday we headed back to the family that we are staying with on the weekends. We went a day earlier than we expected because we’re all getting a little sick due to the change in the weather. When you are used to 120 degrees, 70 degrees seems like frost bite. The weekend was really relaxing. We were able to just hang out and be in a family atmosphere all weekend.


My Heart
For those of you who don’t know me very well, I’m ridiculous. If you look that up you find all sorts of synonyms for it including, but not limited to, ludicrous, preposterous, absurd, silly, outrageous, unreasonable and my favorite…incredible. I am all of those things. The antonym is sensible. That’s something that is rarely attributed to me. Often I don’t think things all the way through. Let’s take this trip to Africa for example. Let’s look at what I was getting myself into.
Africa is hot…I don’t like to sweat.
Africa is dirty…I don’t like to get dirty.
Africa has limited food…I’m a picky eater.
Africa is full of bugs…I hate bugs.
Africa has gigantic snakes…I’m terrified of snakes.
Africa has parasites…I’m afraid of parasites.
Africans wear headscarves…I’m not really a scarf kind of person.
Africans wear bold, mismatching patterns…I’m into earth tones and pastels…that MATCH!
Africans rarely touch each other…physical touch is my number one love language.
Africa has the poorest countries in the world…gifts are my second love language.
Africa is full of work…I’m not a huge fan of work.
Africa is full of millet…I love flowers not millet.
Africa is full of morning people…I’m NOT a morning person
Africa is for strong people…I am weak.
Africa doesn’t run on a watch…I thought I didn’t either.

If I was a sensible person I would have opted for a different culture, or at least a different climate. If I were a sensible person the idea of living in a mud hut would have sunk in and I would have run in the other direction. I was not assigned to Africa…I chose Africa. I wasn’t thinking, but Dad was. It has been incredible. I’ve learned a lot because of it too.

I’ve learned that after a while you don’t notice sweat running down your back.
I’ve learned that after living in Africa you stop seeing the need to shower constantly…you’ll just step out of the shower and start sweating again and before you know it you’re dirty again.
I’ve learned to enjoy all sorts of food. I can eat bread and salad and actually enjoy them.
I’ve learned to not think twice about killing bugs with my bare hands.
I’ve learned that some things don’t change…I’m still terrified of snakes.
I’ve learned that parasites aren’t the end of the world…just take cipro.
I’ve learned that headscarves provide a nice alternative to showering daily.
I’ve learned that just because they don’t match doesn’t mean I don’t have to.
I’ve learned that if you want to hug someone you just have to teach them how.
I’ve learned that gifts come from the heart, not the pocketbook.
I’ve learned that hard work helps you sleep at night and gives you a sense of achievement.
I’ve learned that you can find flowers in the desert and millet is good roasted.
I’ve learned that you can get used to pounding at 4:00am and if you do happen to be awake at that time Dad often makes up for it by providing a beautiful sunrise.
I’ve learned that God only uses the weak.
I’ve learned that a waltz ain’t a waltz if you’re rushing it.

And that brings me to the next topic on my heart… “a waltz just ain’t a waltz if we’re rushing it.” That’s a line from one of Amber Dlugosh’s songs. I’ve been reading Captivating by John and Stasi Eldridge for the second time. Last time I read it I was at Windermere working at the Edge (a challenge course), which happened to be one of the best summer jobs ever. I was able to read about the beauty of Dad then go to work outside and drink in the beauty of His wonderful creation. I saw deer drink out of a shallow creek and raccoons play in the woods, one time while I was at work I even saw a small red fox just chillin’ in the woods. I could see the beauty of Dad’s creation everywhere I looked. I could even see it in the people I worked with. Each of them had unique characteristics that I could see directly reflecting the image of Dad to me. In Amber I saw Dad’s sensitivity, in Chris I saw Dad’s desire for us to enjoy Him, in Kayla I saw Dad’s delight in each of us, in Malissa I saw Dad’s nurturing spirit, in Coty I saw Dad’s protection, in Jered I saw Dad’s passion, in Clark I saw the love of Dad, and in Dan I saw Dad’s desire for us to do good. All of that to say, that last summer I experienced the beauty and love of Dad daily. I felt beautiful even though I was sweaty and disgusting because I knew that I was actively being pursued by the creator of the universe. Dad was literally using everything in the world to show me His love for me. That summer I wasn’t worried about the future. I didn’t have to. I knew it was taken care of. I mean I’m sure there were days that the weight of the world seemed to be on my shoulders, but those just aren’t the parts that stick out to me. Sadly when that summer ended so did my ability to see Dad’s love for me. I mean I knew he loved me, but I just didn’t feel it the same way anymore and to be honest that really sucked. So the past year has been a heavy one. I’ve constantly felt like I need to know what to do…about everything. I felt like I need to know what I was doing the next semester and when I graduated. I felt like I needed to either be content with singleness or catch Mr. Right real quick. I wanted a foolproof plan. As it turned out my plan turned out to be further proof I was a fool. As you might recall from previous posts I’ve had a bit of difficulty giving over my future to Dad because I want things to go my way. This also includes that I want things to happen in my timing. Dad has recently convicted me of how difficult I’m making things by always desiring things to go my way in my time. Dad is still trying to romance me the same way He was that summer at Windermere, but I’ve been missing it. He’s created a beautiful symphony to set the pace of dance of my life, but I’m trying to rush things. I’m trying to lead and stepping on His feet in the mean time. I’m missing out on part beauty of the mystery of the future by trying to plan everything out ahead of time. I’m rushing the steps trying to figure out where we’re going next. I’m missing out on the excitement and thrill of not knowing what comes next. I’ve never been a very good dancer; just ask anyone who’s ever dared to dance with me. Rhythm just doesn’t come naturally to me, but it doesn’t mean I can’t learn to follow. After all, a really good dancer once told me that it only takes one good dancer to make a couple look good and right now I’ve got the best partner in the world, I’ll even let you in on a little secret… He created the dance. So I’m learning to follow. I’m trying to be fluid. I relish in the beauty of the present and flirt with the mystery of the future. I’m at rest and I can see the beauty in all of it…including myself. There’s nothing like being romanced with someone who knows you better than you know yourself and let me tell you…He knows me. And after all…”a waltz just ain’t a waltz if we’re rushing it.”

No comments:

Post a Comment