Bathing with Bees!

Now, there are many things that I have done here that I never thought I would do… this is something I love about living in new places and about the adventurous spirit of God. The Bishop asked me to travel with him to some villages where the MK people were so that I could meet all of these people and encourage them as well. Being so far away, they often feel that they are forgotten (and in all honesty often do get neglected). I wish so much that you could see their smiles and hear their voices. Ah! I just wish everyone could be a part of showing these people who God is…. Wait: You are, thank you! J

You should know that this trip consisted of traveling 60 miles. In 5 hours. I’ll let you do the math and see how fast we traveled ;) On the way there we had men jumping out of the Land Cruisers with machetes to chop down trees that were blocking the paths. Now, to be fair, this was my first trip out to the ‘deep bush’ in Africa. But I think the people that I went with were a bit overly concerned about me… “Would it be too hot? Would she eat the food? What about traveling on the rough road? Would she be able to sleep? Will we have to take her back like we did the other kawaijaa (white person)?” They were so funny.

They have no idea what I lived through in South America, how hot it is in Texas, nor do they know about the games I play in my mind to psych myself up to eat some of the food (peanut and ant sauce, fish eyes anyone??). One thing did throw a twist: there was so little water around that the basins filled with water to bathe were surrounded by bees. It’s true; this week's title is not a metaphor my friend! I must admit that one time I did bathe, and the other time I only pretended to bathe because there were so many bees around! Eh! I have been attacked by bees before and it is not something I care to relive.

What it all comes down to is the Lord has prepared and formed me for this task. It is always amazing to see how little it has to do with me- it’s all Him. He has given me his heart for these people...and I pray he is showing you his heart for these people as well!

You know, these people have been waiting over 5 years to see progress with the translations in their language….  Next month we will have 3 freshly translated books to distribute and teach with. In April we will finish another 2 books. We sent 2 of their youth to a vocational school and we will begin training a lady in transcription next week.  It is amazing to see the progress…humbling to see how the Lord answers the prayers of his people. Thanks be to God!

 

Rest and Relaxation?!?

Hah! Life is funny. So at the 3 month mark of the first year in North Africa, my organization requires that we take a week of R&R so that we don’t go insane and never come back ;) The retention rate here is less than fabulous. 

As much as I would like to say “Eh, I don’t need that” by mid January I could tell that the time was quickly approaching where I was going to start screaming. I was grateful for a little ‘space.' Here in North Africa I am constantly bombarded with requests (Can you teach me computer? Can you give me X amount of money? When will I see you? Help my family with X? Can you give me a job? Etc, etc), with projects (vocational schools, trainings, meetings, girls program, translations, learning Arabic, visitations), with men (can I visit you? Will you visit me? Marry me? Can I have your number? I love you. Etc etc). Everyone has expectations for me. And they are almost always not appropriate or possible. So having a break from the bombardment seemed like a good thing.

I am sure you can see where this is going…I have a good friend in Nairobi who I was going to stay with for this break. I was welcomed with open arms as my friend miraculously received a week off of work to be with me.... 

Don't let my smile fool you! This beach was not peaceful ;)

Nairobi is a huge city, as is Mombasa. Traffic everywhere. In the matatus I was squashed between people on a consistent basis. In Mombasa we were constantly bombarded with people “I can be your bodyguard.” “We will go dancing tonight, yes?” “Is that your real hair? It looks like Beyonce’s hair (what??!!)” “Buy this, come here.”  Etc etc.  Bahhhhh!! Leave me alone! My Kenyan friend got a small taste of what it is like to be a white lady :) 

My friends took great care of me and taught me how to navigate life in the big city. I cooked quesadillas for them (AND I made the tortillas from scratch! watch out world!) I never dreamed I would learn how to get from place to place by myself in Nairobi... but I did! It was good for me to get away and to be with a girl my own age. But the funny thing is that the Lord just confirmed once again how much I love where he has me in North Africa. Some people leave their break thinking "Eh, it is already time to go back??" But even as I travel around Africa, I want to return to my tukul and my friends in my town. Even though the rest of Africa has nothing good to say about my country, my heart is there. 


I will just have to learn to deal with all of the requests and expectations….and remember that HE is the one who moves and saves, not me :) 

January 1, 2012: "Livin' on a Prayer Baby!"

I was invited to visit the village of one of my friends. It is about 10K from my house and I really wanted to go see and encourage the people there. So I thought “Eh, 10K isn’t that far, no worries! Plus, I know that Marsha has been out here before- so if she can ride there on a bike, I can too.”

Well…. This was no paved, relatively straight 10K journey....and as we began I noticed that my handlebars were acting funny - they were getting looser by the minute. We were riding up and down big hills, carrying our bikes overs streams, crossing on little logs and stones. We were crossing through brush on extremely narrow paths where there was grass taller than my head; and all the while the handlebars were still loose and shaky. Keep praying!

Well we finally arrived (in one piece Praise the Lord!) to my friend’s compound. Upon arriving my friend looked at me and said “So Leah, you are ready to preach this morning??” Now, naturally, nothing had been mentioned about this before. Nobody asked me to come visit their church AND to preach. However, you will be happy to know that I came prepared :)  **Always come with a sermon or speech in your pocket while visiting because it is inevitable that you will be asked to speak. It has never failed.** So I answered graciously “Ah, I am very happy to preach.” Keep praying.....

I was then invited into a hut for breakfast. They presented me with a huge plate of food: asiida, and something else that I couldn't identify. **I don’t ask because I have learned it is better to eat in ignorance than to allow the knowledge of what I am eating to gag me!** Now, church was supposed to begin at 10:30am but when we arrived not a soul was there- people were all drunk from the night before. SO, I was taken into another hut where I was fed another meal. Yes, 30 minutes after the huge breakfast I couldn’t finish I was required to eat more :)  About an hour later everyone had been rounded up from the community and there was a full church. The service went well and I shared my sermon “When God speaks in New Ways” and it was amazing to see the people listening. With over 75 adults 100 children in the room there was not a peep while I spoke.

After service I greeted everyone and their dog (or goat in this case) and was guided back to the hut where I sat with the elders and was fed another meal.Goodness gracious!! Soon after that I went outside to speak with the women and children. They are so lovely....and broken. I am beginning to learn that the common question is “When will you come back here?? When will you come visit us again??” Keep praying....

After about 5 men tried to fix my bike (no one was successful by the way), we returned back to my friend’s compound. We were chatting and as I was holding a baby it peed all over me (remember: no diapers here)! I was discreet and I don’t think anyone noticed. **Why be discreet you ask?? Because they probably would’ve made me bathe there and then use their clothes if they would’ve noticed (no thank you!).** Then they took me into the hut and guess what they gave me?? ANOTHER huge meal!! What??? 

 

As dusk was approaching, it was time to journey back (note: I learned that Marsha did travel here, but it was on a motorcycle, not a bike- joke’s on me ;)

Whew! And at last I made it home…. After having my skirt ripped off (did I forget to mention that??), traveling over 20K, jumping through rivers, preaching the Word, getting peed on….. After eating 4 huge meals in 6 hours,                    encouraging the people, playing with the children, and getting covered in dust – my heart was beyond happy. This is what I was made to do and I loved every minute of it. These people are in desperate need of encouragement and truth. And when they see the effort that I go through, I promise you- they listen. Even though I know that the effort I made was small compared to the effort they made in welcoming me….Even though I know my trials are nothing compared to theirs….the Lord gives me a voice that is strong. Keep Praying.....

Oh merciful God, hear the cries of your people! Let my life be a part of your answer. Let my life be a part of their song of reconciliation with You. Let my spirit draw people towards Yours. Let people see that you have remembered them and as a result praise your name. What a humbling and amazing task awaits all of us.

United Christmas of America!

So, this isn’t the first time I have found myself in a foreign country away from family at Christmas time. Let me tell you a Christmas tale of an American in North Africa....

So something inside of me compelled me to start inviting the UN men to the Christmas service, as there was a 9am English service and all of them speak English. I started off with the 2 that were in my compound. I thought it would also be nice to cook something for them. So I was planning maybe a small little lunch with them. Well, then I started to invite the other people to the service as well: Muslims, Hinuds, Atheists, and Christians alike. It turned out to be quite the popular idea. Most were happy to join me for the service. None of them had been in a church while in the UN, and some had never even been in a church. 

Well, that then brought up the issue of dinner: I couldn't very well invite all of these people to a Christian Holiday Service and then only feed 2 of them. Soooo, I ended up inviting the whole lot of them for dinner at 7pm in my compound. I was prepared to cook 2 chickens, fried potatoes, rice, papaya salad and cole slaw. The British ladies were in charge of drinks and dessert.  But as the number kept increasing, I thought that I better request that some of them bring a dish as well because I didn’t have enough food….

We all went to the church service; there were about 8 of them who went. I have to admit, it was nothing like the ones in America, and it was less than fabulous in my opinion. However, all of them at least pretended like they enjoyed it :) So after that service I biked it on over to the MK (my people group) church service which began at 11. I made it right on time. This service was lovely, and it lasted from 11 until 3:30. Whew!  It was a looong service! There was also lunch with the locals afterwards, so I had to rush and finish eating in order to make it home in time to cook everything.

Long story short, it was a miracle. Every single dish turned out great. There were 12 people there from 9 different countries. Now, believe me, I thought it was a nice night and I enjoyed it. But I was unprepared for the response I got from everyone. Everyone kept saying how great of a night it was, and how they were so, so happy that I organized everything and cooked. Person after person, time and time again. It was so good for me to see that these people understood that I was welcoming them and wanted them to celebrate a Christian Holiday with them. God’s love definitely showed through. Praise the Lord!

But it doesn’t end there- the people enjoyed themselves so much that they wanted to do something similar on New Year’s Eve at our compound, knowing full well there would be no alcohol. There was a group of about 9 of us and we all shared our testimonies, or our thoughts about God. And at the end of it one of the men said “You know, we need to have something like this every week. We need so much encouragement and it is so difficult to do things by ourselves. Can we please set something up?”

So now we have a weekly Bible Study for the UN; anyone who is interested can join. And you know what the great thing is: it was their idea. It wasn’t the white people trying to convince the UN that they needed to study the Bible and know God, but rather they saw that we were there to share with them and encourage them, regardless of their faith, and wanted more of it.

God is good! 

"The Whole Day"

So I greeted my new friend in the middle of town. Abdu* welcomed me and began with a big smile “I hope you have given us the whole day….”

Well, of course, I hadn’t. I thought this was a 2 hour meeting of sorts. You see this is the thing: I never quite know what I am getting myself into here. What I think is a meeting to discuss a project ends up being something quite miraculous.

I was meeting with refugees from the areas in the country where there has been war nonstop even during times of ‘peace.’ They are all young: 16-25. Their families are not here; no parents, no sisters, no brothers. They had never welcomed a white person to their area before… and the girls were quite shy at the beginning. The men started to share with me a little bit about their lives in their state and what they were doing here.

And their next words were so genuine: “We want our sisters (by sisters they mean any girls from their state) to know you and for you to encourage them. We want them to have someone to look up to and help them.” Now, I know I am not the answer, but I sure can point them to the One who is.

I started to speak to the girls in my broken Arabic and found out that they are in fact students at the primary school where I am hoping to work with a Girls Mentoring Program. Isn’t God funny?? Already opening doors from within. These young girls had prepared a fabulous lunch and blew my socks off.  One of them asked me “Ita bi rija ini miteen??”  When will you come back here?

I was so incredibly humbled. I must confess that I think my heart breaks a little more every day. I know I cannot do justice to all that the Lord shows me here and allows me to do, but He is on the move friends....

Enter into the Joy......Part 2

So, the adventures from the capitol city continue! I left off with the lawyer promising me that he could get everything done in 2 days. I was, of course, skeptical at best. The next day I heard from the lawyer that one government office was complete! Whew! Later that day I get a call from the lawyer telling me that there are some 'issues' with the other office and could I please just come over and speak with them.

These 'issues' were actually not a huge surprise, as I had noticed a theme in the requirements that we weren't quite up to par with. I quickly emailed and called some supervisors and colleagues asking for feedback. Of course, no one is available or answering. That meant that I just had to whip up a document that would make them happy and was actually accurate....and ask for the Lord's favor and make the official like me ;)

I had just been connected with a friend of a friend here who has a vehicle and we went to the offices and waited and waited. And then the official arrives and gives me a mouthful.

But I smile and speak some Arabic to him. He was quite pleased that I knew some Arabic. I talked my way in and out and all around as he did the same. It was an interesting round robin and I will spare you the details. But I closed with another smile and some more Arabic and left it up to the Lord. Upon leaving, I did not really know if he would give us the certificate....

Later that night I am contacted by the lawyer letting me know tomorrow we will be finished. No problems- and would I like to go see the city with him (it was 9pm)?? He was eager that I know his city. Hah! At 9 at night in a crazy city the young savvy lawyer wants to show the young female American around, no thank you ;)

So the next day, true to his word (or should I say the Lord's faithfulness!) we have both of the certificates in hand!! Woohoo! It only took 2 days and more miracles than I can count. These are just a few of the events that transpired... there are oh, so many more. He will never fail.

The journey ended with another UN flight (that I had to rearrange because my work in Kenya got canceled) where I was followed around by and Ethiopian and a man from Butan carrying my luggage and inviting me to live in their countries. Never a dull moment I tell you. It is a good thing that I can make up policies like "I am not permitted to give my number out" whenever needed....

As I was there, the Lord directed me to the passage where he talks about 'entering into the joy of the Master.' The entire time I have been here, I am acutely aware that this is exactly what I am doing. If you read the parable, you will see that risk is involved. You will notice that the 3rd man took no risk- But why?

He did not know His Master. We are given a description of his perception, which is sadly quite inaccurate.

As we come to know our Master, in Spirit and in Truth, our lives reflect that trust and assurance in Him. We can take the risks and taste the Joy. Praise His Great Name!

Enter into the Joy of your Master: Part 1 of 2

The task was clear:  Go to the capitol and renew the registration for my organization with multiple governmental offices. In a newly formed country. By myself in a crazy city. The legitimacy of the organization was on my shoulders!

You know at this point I can't help but notice a theme; call me crazy, but it seems as though the Lord delights in giving me tasks that are just 'out there.'

About a month leading up to my trip we began an extensive email round robin of acquiring documents with our office in the States, getting reports from teammates, coordinating with contacts here for whatever crazy requirements the country was going to decide it wanted. The hope had been that I would meet up with the individual that helped us last year.

Well, less than a week before leaving we are told he will be out of town. Of course ;)
And our other contact will not be available either. So I begin hunting for different people, and everyone I was put into contact with was going to be out of town. I swear it was a conspiracy!

A few days before leaving I am promised the world by several people. I figured if I had 4 different people do that, maybe- just maybe 1 would pull through. One of the people that was going to be out of town put me in contact with a lawyer he had worked with before. I was trying not to get my hopes up too much....

I arrived on Wednesday (on a UN helicopter, free RT- gotta love my UN buddies!). It was all up in the air once I got to the city. Would anything work out?? The odds were not with me. Oh- let's add something else to the mix - right before leaving I was informed that MAF (who is my bank, emergency evacuation, postal address and general transport) had suspended all activity in country. So all of the money I had transferred to do the registration - I am not able to get it.

Upon arrival I called a friend of a friend at the UN because he was going to take me to the lawyer's office (at this point I didn't know if the lawyer would even agree to work with me). Miracle: the contact answered his phone and was actually able to come and get me! AND the lawyer answered his phone! He was actually in his office, and yes he would meet with me!!! Let's just say that the relief was great- honestly if this hadn't worked out I don't know what I would've done.

I rode on a motorcycle with my 3 bags to the lawyer's office. I came fully prepared with any and every document you can imagine stamped and signed. He says nonchalantly that he can take care of everything. I ask him for a time frame: 2 days tops he says.

Pah! Yeah right! It takes 2 days to even make a phone call here sometimes! And, not to mention last year it took 10 days....

After changing money to pay him I end up waiting a few hours for him to be available again, and in that time I became BFF with his entire staff: Mery, Freidah, Cliff, Reech, and Simeon. The power of a few Arabic phrases really is amazing ;)

During this time I was informed from the locals that they have heard of how dangerous Texas is. Hmm interesting - they have been through 50 years of civil war and they think Texas is dangerous ;) God Bless old movies.

After about 4 hours there I was escorted in the lawyer's luxury SUV (in this country?? what??!) to the compound where I was staying. In the next post I will tell you how it went....