Bitter Sweet, How it Should be : )

Well this is the end… some days it felt like it would never get here and other days it felt like time was slipping away faster than I could grab on to it and really understand all that was going on around me. Here is the play by play from the last week in the bush!
Monday we went back to check on the little boy who we’d given medicine to. He seems to be doing fine. There was a big nice tree on the road on the way back to our home compound so we took the opportunity to climb it and look around and really take in Africa. The smells of freshness in the air, the sounds of women pounding in the distance, the feel of the sun on my skin, being able to look around me and not see any buildings on any side of me but just clear land with a hut dotting the horizon every few kilometers, our big shade tree; these are all things that I’ll treasure as we head home. When we got back to our home compound that afternoon one of our moms told me that one of the toddlers had said my name! We haven’t ever heard her say actual words before. She’s still in the cute babbling trying to talk stage so it was really sweet that my name was one of her first words! I spent that evening with “Linda” and her husband joking with them about being old. I started calling her husband “dotijo” an old man and she got a big kick out of that and laughed real hard! She said that’s right because he didn’t go to the dance party the Monday before and all the old men and women stay home and sleep. He tried to defend himself and say that he went to another village to dance, but I have friends in the other village and I told him them didn’t see him there either! So we all laughed about him being and old man… he’s 28 and says he is still a kid because he has no hair on his face… silly. It was a fun night.
Tuesday our fill in supervisor came out to spend some time with us and say good bye to the lady who had prayed to follow Christ, but she was out at her sister’s compound because she was having a baby so we got a little lost and ran across a knew compound and met some new people which turned out to be fun. We said goodbye to another lady on the way back to our home compound.
Wednesday morning was good bye time for our host family… that was the hard one. My little boy looked so cute in his new sweater that I got him at market! I told his uncle to tell him every day that I loved him and he told me he would : ) We also gave a little something to everyone in our immediate family. We went out on moto taxis and I left first. I hugged all the women and waved at the men then our mom called me back over to her and she was crying and told me to greet my family for her and thank them for letting me come live with her. I cried a few tears when I saw her eyes welling up. The rest of the day I spent packing and cleaning… staying busy.
Thursday we got to go back out and say good bye to the new believer since we didn’t get to see her on Tuesday. She was excited to see us and we gave her a parting gift too. She wasn’t near as hard to say good bye to because I know for sure I’ll see her again! That night Lauren and I and the other two girls we’ve been working with in the other village had a bon fire and roasted spam and played with glow sticks and pop rocks and listening to music. It was a great final night in our town in the bush.
Friday we came into the capitol city on the bus… always an experience. The bus didn’t have any more seats but the driver let us on anyway and we just sat on the floor. Then I got hit on the head by a big metal bar! The driver stopped the bus to check on me gave me some gum and called him my poppa b/c he checked out my head! Silly.
The weekend we spent resting from the bus ride and sleeping off the big bump on my head. Saturday night we had carolers at the mission compound! Sunday night we went to a Christmas play and caroling at church! Today is Monday and we started debriefing! Tomorrow we’re doing some souvenir shopping and a debriefing session. Wednesday we have our last debriefing session then that night we go to the airport!!! Debriefing has been neat to process everything with other people and articulate the things that the Lord has done. I’m real excited to get home and tell you all so many stories that I couldn’t write here, and show you pictures! Please join me in praying for traveling home. I would really like to not get stuck in JFK because of weather and I would really like for all of our connecting flights to be on time. If all goes as planned I’ll be in Texas late Thursday night!! There really is no place like home : ) It will be so sweet to be home and to see christmas decorations and hug all of you, but there is a bitterness in leaving these people we shared this part of our life with. But I guess that's the way it should be. If I wasn't sad to leave here or happy to come home something would not be right about leaving. Biiter sweet... See you soon : )

Powing Planting and Harvesting!

What a week! Monday we didn't get out to the village until the evening because we had so many things to get done in town with the post office and internet but we got to go to the dance party to celbrate Tabski! It's the holiday when they celebrate Abraham almost sacrificing his son and God giving him a goat... well we went out to the field late at night again and had a blast dancing to the drums with all the other young ladies in our village and watched the guys dance too! Tuesday we went to visit a new lady. She had heard about us and was hurt that we hadn't yet come to see her! She asked for stories and kept asking for stories. She was difficult to read though, we aren't sure if she was just trying to provoke us and see how far we would go with it or if she was really interested. The next day we got to go visit one of my favorite ladies!! She asked us last week how she could follow Jesus after the story of the woman at the well. This week we did the story of Jesus raising Lazerous from the dead. It was a little crazy at her hut with kids being loud but she was attentive and there was a need in me to stay there and try to talk about the story even though everything was loud and distracting. The Lord gave me straightforward questions to asked. I asked if she understood that Jesus gave his friend life and she said she understood. I asked if she wanted life from Jesus and she said she did. I asked if she wanted to follow the road of Jesus and she said YES! Our fill in supervisor was in the hut next to us talking with this ladie's husband and I went and got him and told him we needed help with language and he explained very clear to her that the road of Islam and Jesus was 2 different roads. She understood that you cannot follow 2 roads and she wanted Jesus. She prayed right there and told God she was sorry and she wanted Him!!! It's so neat because the Lord told us so many times to be content without seeing the harvest that what we count to be slowness is his pacience that he'll send other workers out to harvest what we've plowed and planted but we got to see the first harevest in our village!!! How stinkin cool is that?!? Well after she prayed Lauren and I were crying the sweetest tears of joy and I jumped up and plopped down on her bed next to her and hugged her so tight!! We told her she was in our family now!! We're going back this week to give her some taes with bible stories so she can start learning and sharing with her friends and to say good bye to her. The day just kept getting better, we got to go to a neighboring village tha some friends work in and talk to new believers about batism! There is a new little church body in Africa! Thank you for your prayers!! The Lord spoke to me out of Coloassians this week and said that prayer is labor... thank you for laboring along side me! You have worked and this is the fruit of your labor!

Thursday we got to go give a little boy medecine for an ear infection, and pack up most of our hut. We have Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday morning in our village. Then we say good bye. Good byes are hard, but in arabic they have a phrase "in sha allah" if the Lord wills it. So when we leave here I get to say mi warti in sha allah. I'll return if the Lord wills it. I've gotten to see every aspect of the Lord's work here in these 4 months. I've gotten to labor in prayer in tilling up the hard soil in planting and now in harvesting!!! We get to continue laboring along side missionaries all over the world in prayer when we get home and even plow plant and harvest in America!! I'm so excited to be home, but the bitterness in leaving a second home here will be in my heart as well. Thank you again for laboring with me.

Think About Such Things...

Our time left here in Africa is coming to a close and ever moment seems even more vital to ministry than when we first got here. This past week was a full one, and tough. I was sick last weekend and decided to go out to our village Monday morning even though I wasn't feeling 100%. If we didn't only have 2 full weeks out at that time I would have stayed in to rest, but our time is short so I went out for a full week. Monday we got out in the afternoon and spent some time with our African Family. Tuseday morning I was not feeling any better, but I knew that I needed to make the most of our time in our village so we set out anyway. Our fill in supervisor came out with us and it was refreshing to be in his prescence. He's been a missionary in Africa for over 15 years but he still has this go get 'em excitement about where the Lord has placed him! We storied with a couple of ladies, came back to our hut and I crashed on my cot. Wednesday morning Lauren and I set out alone and went back to a ladies home that we had been to on Tuesday. She was working the first time we had gone to see her the day beore. Wednesday we did the story of the woman at the well with her and she asked how she could follow Jesus! We were so caught off gaurd we didn't hardly know how to respond! What a sweet surprise. We talked to her about prayer but didn't really have enough language to show her how to follow. This week we are going back to her place better prepared and our supervisor will go out with us to help. On Thursday we had planned on going out to another comound that we hadn't storied in yet, but the Lord changed our plans. We ended up staying with our African family and serving them. My little boy, they call me his mom now, was sick and his mom wouldn't take care of him. I had him asleep and she said he should wake up and stand up. I said no because he's only 3 and he was sick! So he slept with me in my hut instead. I got to love him all day Thursday. Friday we were in for the weekend. We celebrated Thanksgiving with a few other missionary families on Saturday and had a really nice time with them! On Saturday the people here were celebrating their own holiday called Tabaski. They celebrate Ishmeal almost being sacrificed by his father Abraham. (In the Islamic tradition the story says Ishmeal, but in the bible it's Isaac) The head of the village or family sacrifices a sheep for the sins of his family or village. We get to tell them that Jesus was the once for all sacrifice for our sins!

Throughout the week my thoughts are what kept me. If I had been thinking about my body and the dirt and bugs and a million other things the week would have been misserable, but the Lord was clear with me that I had to keep my mind set on Him and things that are worthy of praise and He would gaurd my heart and mind with His peace! See Philippians 4:4-9. It says to rejoice always! Think about things that are lovely and worthy of praise and the God of peace will be with you! (Thank Mrs. Cato for sending the Philippians bible study!) So even though my stomach did not want to be out in the village, when we went out if I kept my mind set on things of Him, He gaurded my heart and my mind. I'm feel much much better this Monday and looking forward to out last full week out in our village! The following week we'll be out in the village Monday and Tuesday and come in Wednesday morning to pack and head into the capitol to debrief and catch our flight! Looking forward to seeing you all!!

Fresh and new for the finish

Well our supervisor is headed to South Africa to have some work done on her back and her supervisor has stepped in to take care of us for the remainder of our time in Africa. We get to go to his house with his family every weekend now so we can rest in between our weeks of ministry out in the village. We are headed that way now and just stopped off at the internet cafe to update. Every Friday their family does pizza and a movie night! Yea for family time tonight! I'm excited to spend time with a mom dad and little sister for the next few weekends!

This past week we went out to our village on Tuesday and storied at 2 compounds. It was an encouraging day with ladies who were excited to hear bible stories and talk about them! It's cold now in Africa! I mean I'm freezing at night under my fleece blanket! It's really exciting! Our chief on Tuesday night sat outside listening to his radio with a blanket wrapped around his whole body! We had a great time being back on Tuesday night laughing with our brothers and joking and being silly with them. Wednesday we went to a compound that our mom had told us not to go to because the husband is a religious teacher. We just went to greet the ladies and feel it out first and didn't do stories the first time going there. We had chewtum with 3 different ladies! They all wanted us to come to their hut and try their chewtum! One of them even asked about hearing a story so we're going back there next week to tell them stories! Thursday we went out to the other side of our village. About a 2 mile walk. We storied at 2 different compounds and the first lady told the stories back to us which was pretty neat! The second one was not as thrilled. She was not willing to even carry on conversation about the stories so we will not be going back to her place unless she outright asks to hear more. Today is Friday and we came in this morning. The other girls are not feeling well and my stomach has been funny since I woke up. We're blaming that on eating chewtum 6 times this week!

Over all I feel like the Lord has been faithful to give direction and make us attentive to His spirit and He has really led us to some neat people! Please continue to pray for the Lord to continue to speak to us in that way! We have 2 more full weeks out in our village and the last week we may or may not be going out depending on packing and saying goodbye to our people and all that sort of stuff. I'm so so excited to come home and wear scarves and JEANS and not a skirt! But I'm also very excited to finish these last few weeks out strong and to wrap things up here! Thank you for your prayers!

October 26 -November 14 :)

This week we stayed in with our supervisor a few extra nights to get some extra rest. The heat and being with the people 24/7 is more draining than I had imagined it could be….

Monday (Oct. 26) Went out to our village around 2 in the afternoon. We went to the well with some of the guys and ladies and I got to redeem myself from the week before and not being able to carry the water on my head! I carried this about 30 liter water bag with one of the other guys from the well to the water trough kind of thing. Our supervisor picked us up that evening and we got egg sandwiches from a street vendor and talked to some random people on the street. Tuesday we went out around 12 found a new compound and did stories there. Also went and storied with another lady that we are pretty well acquainted with. Wednesday we slept in late and went out to our village that night and stayed the night. Thursday our supervisor’s supervisor came out to visit us and see our work in out villages. He was really encouraging to talk to! It has been raining still which is weird because rainy season is supposed to be over at the beginning of October… but one of our friends and I played in the rain and the guys do this ninja play fighting thing with sticks so I play fought with him for a while in the rain and we had a really good time! Went out that afternoon and storied with an older lady who was in the middle of mourning over her son’s death… they do this very ritualistic mourning thing and women are not to come out of their hut or bathe for 40 days. They just sit on the floor completely covered head to toe, but she was willing to listen to a story and her granddaughter listened too so that was neat. When we got home we came to the realization that male testosterone is the same across all cultural boundaries… our brothers were arguing about who was stronger by the show of who carried the most millet on their head that day!! They are 20 and 28 and they took us to see the millet they carried so we could judge their strength! It was A LOT! We still joke about this now : ) Friday got to share coffee with our oldest brother and he shared shi (tea) with me. Our younger brother is the most fun! We sat there while our oldest brother was inside and made fun of him for a long time and laughed together! In their culture it’s out of the ordinary for siblings or cousins to NOT make fun of each other sooo by getting to make fun of them I’m sooo in the family! I love it! Later the chief’s second wife was sitting outside of our hut listening to some Christian music our language teacher gave us in their language. The song said I follow Jesus forever. So I’m singing this and she says questioningly “you follow Jesus forever” and I said yes and Lauren came over and asked if she knew who Jesus was. She said no so we got to share the gospel with her and told her she could follow him too. She told us she couldn’t, but now she knows and we can pray for her to dwell on that conversation. It raining AGAIN on Friday and there was a really pretty rainbow after : )

This week we got after it and went to a bunch of different compounds trying to scope things out and plan out the rest of our time in the village. Monday (Nov. 2) I learned to cook some African food with “Linda” (the young lady from earlier that I asked your prayer in building a relationship with). She taught me how to cook niri in the cauldron looking thing over the flame outside. It’s just pounded cooked millet like everything else they eat. We really just got to spend some good time with our family all day. At the end of the day, a small but neat breakthrough, our youngest brother who’s so funny is completely against anything concerning the Lord and has been very vocal about it, but we told him we were reading and studying and he said the word of Jesus? We said yes and he said that was GOOD!! Like I said so small but most definitely worth rejoicing over! Tuesday we went out to 4 different compounds. The first lady and her son who was in his late 20’s were both really excited about hearing the stories and asked us to come back and tell them more. We also got to spend some extended time with this lady and pound and sift millet with her and cook. We ate cho ball there with her. The next lady wasn’t very excited about what we had to say and we learned later that her husband is physically abusive and she gets beaten if she has people over so she really had good reason not to be excited about it. We decided against going back there unless she specifically asks for stories and invites us in. At her place we had chewtum and beans. The third lady is one that we have gotten to know pretty well. She is always excited to hear stories and repeats them back to us after! She’s really sweet. We had chewtum at her house that I made. The fourth lady was a lot of fun! She was quite a bit older and was fascinated with my glasses and the camera! She wore my huge rose colored sun glasses with her bright orange head wrap and we got a picture of her looking like the coolest hippy grandma I’d ever met making her chewtum!! I showed her the pictures I brought of friends and family and she saw one of me and Brad with our arms around each other and was amazed… in this culture men and women do not touch. She laughed at us and then introduced us to her husband and started joking about putting her arm around him and we got her to do it! We got a picture of them smiling with their arms around each other!! That’s a really big deal for this culture because they don’t smile in pictures usually either! Like I said, she was a lot of fun! It was a long but very successful day! Wednesday was a little bit of a beat down… we visited 2 compounds closer to our family and they were not receptive of the bible stories. But at the same time they were very kind and invited us to sit under the shade and drink tea. So I’ve started praying against kindness for the sake of kindness. That might sound harsh but I’m beginning to understand why the Lord doesn’t want us to be luke warm. It’s really frustrating. We really need to have clarity in where to spend our time and if people are just being kind but not listening to the Word then our time is better spent elsewhere. We have 4 weeks of ministry left and we will not be able to see everyone in our village, it’s just too big, and our time is short. So we will not be going back to these 2 compounds unless the people specifically ask to hear stories or ask about Jesus. Thursday was quite possibly my favorite day of ministry! We had planned on going to the other side of our village to story at one compound with one family but the Lord had other plans for us! We got there and there was just one man. He told us all the ladies were at another compound further back so we went there. It turned out they were in the middle of a marriage celebration. In our culture marriage is a sorrowful thing for the bride so she does not take part in the celebration. Her close family and friends who are ladies gather to eat and ring gifts to give her but she goes somewhere else during the party. So we get there and greet the ladies and sit for a little bit, then one of our closer friends tells us to go inside to eat so we follow and sit down to eat this bowl of niri and oil sauce. About 5 minutes later a lady comes in to do her ritual prayers in the same hut that Lauren and I are in. It was really strange and I asked Lauren why she thought this lady came in to do this. She quoted Ephesians… to remind us that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, so we began to pray right there out loud pretending to have conversation with each other while this lady was bowing down in vain on her prayer mat. Then another lady was outside washing up to come in and pray. We ended up praying there in that hut over individual ladies for at least an hour over about 12 ladies. I ate that whole stinkin bowl of niri to try and have an excuse to stay in there and pray! Crazier things have been done for the furthering of the gospel! Friday we stuck around our compound with our family some more. Lauren got to paint little girls toe nails and I spent more time with “Linda” and pounded millet with her. Later her little one had a poopy blow out and around here moms just take off their babies clothes (if they’re wearing any) and get some water and clean them up with their bare hands. Sooo being a culturally appropriate servant of these people I took off the little ones shorts, got some water, and cleaned her up! Her mom was thrilled! That night another one of the little ones has crying a ton so I put her on my back and she fell asleep right there. Women carry their babies on their back here and that’s where they’re used to being so seeing that my back is where she’s be most comfortable I strapped her on and she was out, it was really sweet : )
Monday (Nov. 9) I got to ride the bus in to the capitol city, about 9 hours away, with one of our ministry partners and we had a really fun time together! It’s Friday right now and we’ve been in the city all week taking some rest time. We have seen giraffes, went sand boarding with some friends we made, had meals with other missionary families, went shopping at an international market, and slept in air conditioning all week! It’s been wonderful. I’m ready to be back out with our people in our village! Our supervisor is having some back problems and is going to have that checked out. There is a possibility that she will have to take medical leave. In that case our ministry here will look a lot different for the rest of our time here. We know that The Lord is already in control of all of it and He has really given me peace about whatever happens. It’s neat how He speaks with such foresight and prepares me for things in advance.
Over all I’ve been missing home, but not in a way that is overwhelming that makes me wish I were anywhere else but here. It’s a weird thing. The Lord really does give peace that passes all understanding! I’m so so thankful for your prayers! I love you all so much and I’m excited to see you soon and share pictures with you! I’m hopeful that it won’t be this long between blogs ever again, but nothing is completely reliable here in Africa. I will blog weekly to the best of my ability to keep you updated on what’s going on and how you can be in prayer.
For now please pray for….
Our supervisor’s situation with her back
The Lord to give us clarity in what direction to take with our ministry in the village
The Lord to stir up the people’s hearts to seek Him
Him to give us endurance for our remaining weeks in Africa!

October 12- October 24

So this update is going to be two weeks worth!  Last weekend our whole area didn’t have electricity for most of the weekend so no internet.  This weekend we have electricity but the water is off in our town… good thing we live in a village with a well, no one can shut that off! 

 

Last Monday, October 12^th, Lauren and I went and explored some in our village and walked about 3 miles and found no one.  Our village is really spread out so we’re trying to figure out where everyone is.  Needless to say, we won’t be going that direction again.  Tuesday we went to the mission medical center about an hour away from our town to take our mom in and get her eye checked out.  She just had a seed of millet in it that needed to be taken out.  The medical center was really neat.  Almost all the workers are Christians and it was just a much brighter environment because of that than what we’ve gotten used to out here.   It’s really incredible how the Holy Spirit really brightens things up like that and it’s neat to be aware of too.  Wednesday we went to another village that our supervisor has work in and did discipleship with a few believers.  It’s a rag tag group of about 5 guys between 25 and 35 who are a lot of fun!  We played baseball with them with a plastic bat and bases made of sticks then I got to tell them the story of Jesus calming the storm, in their language, and they understood all of it!  Thursday morning I got a little discouraged because our village just isn’t in the same place as the others around us.  There are no believers there and we’re at the beginning with them.  The Lord really led me through scripture that morning and reminded me of all the things He told me in advance that I was going to struggle with and reminded me that it was His work to do and finish anyway, not mine at all.  That afternoon we went out and storied with 3 ladies and 2 of them were really excited about the stories!  We’re going back to see them this Tuesday!  Friday our supervisor picked us up and we can in to no electricity boooo!  I know what you’re thinking she lives in a hut in the bush she should be used to not having electricity… when we’re out in the village it’s expected and it’s great to sit under the tree and rest in the shade, but on the weekends we need to sleep in the room with the window unit a/c and get some good rest.  It finally came back on Sunday night so we stayed in Monday to rest in the a/c.  Sounds a little lame but soooo needed.  Tuesday October 20^th went out to another village our supervisor has work in and our country was having voting.  Of course we don’t get to vote because we’re not citizens, but the king let us play in the ink that they stamp their thumbs with and we had fun with that : ) Wednesday the highlight of the day was going to the well… we decided this was the day to try to be African and carry the 2o litter water jug on our heads; not a good idea.  Our family got a good laugh out of it and now they know I really am the most stubborn missionary to come to Africa!  They told me I had no strength and I couldn’t do it so clearly I needed to prove them wrong.  Well I really couldn’t do it.  I got the jug on my head but balance is not a thing that I posses and it was leaking, really bad.  So I took it off and decided I would just carry it with my heads that’ll work.  Wrong.  I got it a little more than half way there trading off with Lauren (she joined me in being stubborn) and I gave in our mom put her jug on a donkey and she couldn’t even carry ours because it was leaking! So she said to leave it in a bush and she’d come back later to get it.  We’re never going to hear the end of that one.  I got to chase around our little brother with a water bottle because he wouldn’t stop making fun of us.  I’m so glad we all have a good sense of humor : ) Thursday our mom said we were going to a funeral and we never ended up going to it because she had some other things that came up so we spent the morning with the family.  Our older brother taught me how to make African tea, they call it ashi.  And I got to share coffee with him.  That night I got to chase little brother with our mat rolled up because I heard about our well fiasco again!  By Friday we were a little stifled because non of our plans worked out so we were like ok Lord just plan the day for us please, and what do you know, one of our neighbors came and asked us for stories we said today at your house and he said yes so we said we’d be there in a little bit!  We got to tell him 3 stories and he enjoyed them and understood!  Saturday morning we came in to electricity and no water, boooo!  So we brought in like 10 litters form our well.

 

The Lord has been teachin me more about His work and I’ve gotten to pray a lot for the workers He’ll send after us here.  He’s given me some specific things to pray for them so that’s been really neat!  I also got a package this week!!!  It had a card full of everyone writing and letters from some of you that meant a ton to me!!  Thank you so so much!  I know now what Paul talks about when he writes about being encouraged by other believers.  Your prayers and letters and cards are such a big uplift!  Thanks so so much!  I love you all!      

half way there... livin on a prayer

This one is going to be shorter, I just want to give you the highlights from the week because we don't have long at the internet cafe today....

Tuesday we went and found a new village with our supervisor and the people there were very welcoming. They gave us sweatened sourred milk which is a really big deal for them and it was actually really good. So our supervisor is going to start going there more often and start doing bible stories with them.

Wednesday we went to one of our regular villages to do discipleship and got in a good conversation with the king! He started talking about hell and our supervisor just boldly told him that the road he was following would lead him to hell. She went on to tell him the one true road that leads to heaven is Jesus. They debated friendly and he asked if she would come back and spend a day explaining this further. His wife is an Islamic religious teacher in the community. Pray for the Lord to take out Satan's strongholds there.

This weekend was our midterm review so we're half way there! That song has sung true for us... oooooh we're half way there oooohhh oooh livin on a prayer take my hand we'll make it I swear. It really does just take prayer and hanging on to each other for Lauren and I right now and it sweet to struggle through it together. Keep praying for endurance and a steadfast, willing spirit to sustain us for the second half of our stay in Africa. Love yall!