"What?! It's been 6 months??"

Why, hello!

So, yes I do realize that it has been about 6 months since I have posted anything. Shame on me! I am sorry. The good thing is that silence in this case has meant that the Lord has been doing so many things that it is hard to keep up! I have decided that I will do a "Year in Review" as is appropriate at the end of a year (only I am few weeks late with that...oops!). I will present you with the highlights of each month!

And then I will go in to more detail in the next posts...hopefully :)

Mode of Transport to the Capital

January:  Began the New Year biking to an MK village and preaching. Attended a “Trauma Counseling” convening meeting in the Capitol. There were specific funds to start up programs in areas heavily affected by the LRA. My town is one of those areas, and I was designated as facilitator for this new program. We also sent 3 Youth to a Vocational Training School in my area.

February: Began the hunt for 3 Nationals with whom to work on the Counseling Project (this was quite the adventure!) Sent them to Rwanda for their first round of training. Visited a remote MK village with the Bishop and met many new people; spoke and encouraged them. Continued to spend time with the refugees; the young girls taught me how to cook some of their dishes.

Distributing new MK Books!

March: Attended the MK language conference; distributed 4 new MK Books: Matthew, I John, James, and a Song Book!!! This was very exciting and encouraging for the people. Contacted the UNHCR to do an Emergency Assessment of the Refugees in my area. Met with my counseling team to plan our projects for the year!! Journeyed to the Capital for Administrative work - it was SOO hot!

April: We had our "Convening Session" for the Counseling Program. This means we invited the leaders from the Government, Churches, Schools, and other Community Associations and introduced the program to them. It's purpose was to show the need for Counseling in North Africa (Awareness) and it was an invitation to send their employees to the training. Rainy Season begun and I was able to sleep at night again ;) My colleague arrived and my days of being the only staff member in NA ceased!!

UNHCR meeting with the Refugees

May: The UNHCR made several visits to my town to begin work with the refugees; we partnered with a local church to help facilitate these meetings. We began our first training of counselors; we had about 18 people from numerous organizations attend. I visited one of our literacy classes in the bush to encourage and support them. 

June: Completed the First Step (a workshop) for Training Counselors!! The second step is field training and mentoring. Work continued with translating counseling materials into the local Arabic. We prepared for our first visitors from the States!

July: We welcomed our visitors!! They met all of the people I love in North Africa and were such a blessing :) We celebrated the country's First Birthday. I got malaria for the first time, bleh!! 

August: The refugees were officially registered with the Government; we partnered with local church to provide assistance to some of the refugees, as their number had more than tripled. We began planning our first "Trauma Counseling Group." It was decided to work with a group of Orphans at a school and also a village attacked by the LRA several times. We    finished the editing of an MK Storybook!

Europe- can you guess where?! 

September: We traveled to Uganda for Branch Meetings; we welcomed 3 new members to the country! We transitioned leadership within the Branch and I was asked to be the Assistant Director. I traveled to Europe to visit my family for my "One Year Anniversary" in North Africa! We also welcomed visitors from our Regional Africa Team to my town and they helped with many projects!!

October: Our "Counseling Groups" began!! We met with school administration, guardians, chiefs of villages, etc and everyone was very eager to begin!  This is the Second Step in training people- we had a group of about 7 people helping whom we were mentoring during these groups. I got a new roommate!

Activities with the Orphans Counseling Group

A Chief sharing his thoughts in the Counseling Group

November: Started working a lot on local Arabic translations of counseling materials. Began directing the writing of a "Counseling Storybook' for children in Arabic. Continued mentoring and working with the 2 "Counseling Groups." The MK Storybook arrived!! We planned literacy efforts in conjunction with the new book. 

Group of Young Women at the Camp

December: Our Counseling Groups finished!!  The participants were very receptive and I am excited to plan our follow up with them :) Traveled to the Refugee camp up North for new counseling projects with a team of people from SIL, the Seed Co, and the Bible Society. Spent some time in the Capital to try and get registrations complete. Spent Christmas with teammates in Kenya!

Whew!!! I imagine that you are exhausted after reading all of that. I am exhausted after living all of that ;-) 

But, my oh my!! This has been, hands down, the best year of my life. Praise the Lord for how he works in the heart of his people. 

"Sing a new song to the Lord! Sing to the Lord, all the world! 

Sing to the Lord and praise him! 

Proclaim every day the good news that he has saved us.

Proclaim his glory to the nations,

his mighty deeds to all peoples." Psalm 96

A Mourning of Celebration

The Mk people had been planning this celebration for weeks.

August 22. 10am. Be in attendance. Special offerings were taken up weeks before, duties divvied out, and people from all over the community were invited.This was the day that the MK people were given permission to meet together and worship in their own language- this what they call a yom kebiir, a big day.So Wednesday morning arrived and everyone was still busy with preparations and anxious for the celebration to begin.

However, as we have all learned, tragedy does not respect our plans. It comes uninvited, devastating all who dare to love. We received news that our main Elder, the man who was respected throughout the community, the man who represented the MK people before the government, the man who guided his people through years of war, suddenly died.

The morning of celebration took a turn. The leaders all met together to decide what must be done: Do they continue with the celebration, or cancel it to go to the mahaal bika where the elder’s body was moved to?

The decision was made to continue with the celebration- this is a day that they must remember and give thanks to God for; it is something that this late Elder also took great pride in. Yes, it must continue they determined. After the celebration was over, everyone would go together to the mahaal bika to see his body and remember him.

The celebration took place, even though it was a bit subdued. Our main translator spoke, and my heart was beating  with joy as I saw him sharing with his people. I was given the last speech of the day, and tried to speak in Arabic only :) 

Afterwards, we all continued to the place of mourning together. The clouds had become dark and there was rain falling on us as we walked …. somehow even the clouds knew it was now time to cover the sun and partake in the mourning...it just seemed appropriate.

Friends, what I witnessed next I will remember forever. It was one of those moments when the world seems to stop, and you experience the glory of the Lord in a way that is new. There was a huge crowd of people, all standing in the rain and mud. His body was surrounded by dozens of wailing women. Shortly after we arrived, a pastor took out the new MK Hymn book and told all those wailing to be silent for a mintue - it was time to sing a song to the Lord. He led a song in their language and temporarily their wailing turned into a song. This was followed by a different leader getting out the book of Matthew in the MK language, one of only 3 books of the Bible that have been translated and printed, and he read from chapter 25 to encourage the people. What a powerful thing to experience for the first time! Yes, I have seen them read this book in church, but never before have I seen them read it with spontaneity and urgency like this. The Lord is beginning to weave His word into their lives...

What a mix of emotions! Joy mingled with sorrow in my heart; sorrow at this great loss, yet joy at seeing how the Lord is speaking to these people in their heart language like never before.

What a merciful God we serve; that in the midst of tragedy, he speaks to our hearts, in our heart language. 

The Grandeur of God

 I want to share with you something that was so incredibly encouraging and humbling for me. This is an excerpt out of my journal while I was still living in the States and preparing to move to North Africa:

April 19, 2011

Matt 9:38 – Lord would you continue to send out workers to North Africa, with this organization or without – nationals or expats. Would you prepare the way for this trauma counseling worker – bring up someone over there who has a passion and a heart for trauma healing – a local that I could work hand in hand with. Let it be a passion within them that has been burning and provide a door that the Holy Spirit will open with resounding clarity. Let your presence be so evident in bringing us together and in this work.

Eh! When I read this 2 days ago my immediate response was humble praise. How amazing is a God who can take a Texan and give her a passion for healing the hearts of North Africans and bring her together with 2 nationals who fit the prayer she prayed to a “T”!

The 2 nationals that I am working with in this counseling initiative amaze me every time I am with them. These are the people that the Lord raised up. These are the people who have a passion burning deep within their hearts. Together we make an amazing team – and it is amazing because it is the Lord who brought us together, who gave us the same passion, who continues to teach and guide us.

We end our first counseling workshop tomorrow. I have to tell you, the enemy was all over the place. Between swollen feet, throwing up, hives, and dealing with intense administrative issues, these past 3 weeks have made it necessary for me to cling to the Lord! I am excited to see what the Lord wants to do with these people who went through the training! (On the other hand, I am not quite sure I am all that excited to see what will happen to me! ;)

I treasure moments like these when I get to see a small glimpse of the grandeur of God. You know, I used to associate that phrase with marveling at the beauty of God in his creation- looking at mountains and oceans.

Now he has shown me His grandeur in a different way: In how he orchestrates bringing people together to fulfill the desires of His heart. His Spirit gives us the prayers and his Hand brings them to pass. Praise Him!

Compare and Contrast

I remember being in school and being assigned ‘Compare and Contrast’ papers. This is a nod to those days and the thoughts that are in my mind about the differences between seasons here.

                   Dry Season                                                               Rainy Season

Produce Available: Bananas Onions Tomatoes Greens	Produce Available: Eggplant                 Tomato           Sweet Potatoes Cucumber              Okra                 Irish Potatoes Pineapple               Onion              Passion Fruit Mango                    Bananas          Greens Cabbage                 Papaya
Bug Situation: Eh, they are too miserable to move anywhere.	Bug Situation: They love the rain…. Many, many bugs come out and inside my tukul as well. Bleh! Imagine trying to bathe with jumping crickets around you. No Thank You. God Bless mosquito nets. There are tons of butterflies, snails, termites, centipedes, moths, spiders (I found one with her sack of eggs in a cup in my room! Bah!)
Weather: Over 100 degrees. Miserable, sweaty nights. Dust clouds. I have now invested in a battery operated fan. Too bad I didn’t have one this past season.	Weather: Rainy ;) With amazing thunder storms. Cooler temperatures. HUMID. It sometimes reminds me of Corpus actually.
Environment: Dry, brown grass. Dry leaves. Hazey from the burning of fields and trash. Along with the haze, it snows soot from all of the burning. There are ashes all over everything.	Environment: Snakes make appearances; big and small alike. There are flowers everywhere (which smell so good!),  green trees and vegetation as far as the eye can see! Birds chirping all over the place. In the morning they are your alarm clock along with the toads. It is Springtime in the Tropics J  Oh yeah, and bats. Tons of them. Disgusting.
Travel: This may be the one place where the dry season wins: the main roads are easy (ish) to travel on, and planes and helicopters are always able to fly. The grass is short so it also makes travel safer (people can’t hide in the tall grass)	Travel: The roads are pretty awful and takes much longer to travel anywhere by road. AND traveling by plane and helicopter depends on the rains and how stable the (dirt) landing strips are.
Sleeping: Hot. Still. Sleep with only a sheet beneath you and a bowl of water and towel beside you to cool you down. Often I would sleep with a damp cloth on me and couldn’t sleep through the night.	Sleeping: Often I get to fall asleep to the sound of rain; I use a blanket often. Pleasant nights. However, one had to be careful being outside after sunset because of the mosquitos. Wake up fully rested.

 

Some people say that they have a hard time deciding which they prefer: rainy or dry season. I, on the other hand, don’t have any problems deciding that I infinitely prefer the rainy season, even with all of the critters. Give me an umbrella, some gum boots and I am happy. Oh, and a mosquito net to keep the bugs away please.

Dry Season

Rainy Season

Roller Coaster

Well of course there are no real (or even fake) roller coasters here….. unless you consider the drives on the awful roads here as such ;)  However, I will contend that there are many days when I feel as though that is exactly what I am on. There are times when there is hope: you see progress, you understand things a bit more, and things that you didn’t dare hope for begin to unfold.  

Oh, but then there are the hours when it seems as though there is no way in the world anything can change. The problems are too deep, too numerous, and too painful. God, how does one even begin to tackle this ever illusive concept of “transforming lives?”

These past 4 weeks, for various reasons, have been tough if I am honest. The situation in the country right now is challenging. We can’t keep going down this same road. Things were never brilliant relationally between the North and South, but these past weeks have proved that things are quickly declining. We have refugees coming here in increasing number who are fleeing the various conflict areas.

But it’s different now.

I know their brothers and sisters. They have been to my tukul, I have shared meals on their compound, and I visit their shops. I talk with them often.  I see the hurt in their eyes and the strain that they are experiencing. I hear the questions of “What have we done so that God is punishing us?” My heart breaks with theirs….and truthfully, anger wells up within me as well. One of them commented to me “Thank you for listening to us. So many people just turn away because the situation is too difficult….”

I tell them it’s the strong coffee ;)

In the midst of the twists and turns on this roller coaster ride, I must learn to see as God sees and ask for the grace to move as He moves. I must always run to Him. I must learn that even though it is difficult, it is good to grieve with people.

But we do not grieve as those without hope. We do not grieve as those who do not know their Creator.  

Fear not friends, I am learning :)  God is merciful. I am keenly aware of what a privilege it is to be working here, and with joy I look forward to the ways in which he will move in and through me. In my most recent newsletter, I shared many of the victories that we have seen. Amazing things.This post is just an attempt to share some of the challenges that come along with the victories ;)

Lord, let your justice prevail! Move your mighty hand and protect your children. You are not a God who will be mocked. You are the King of Kings, the Alpha and Omega, the One True God.

Reveal Yourself. 

My love affair with the Capital

It really amazes me how I end up in the Capital just about every month. There must be something about the 115 degree weather (with no a/c), getting harassed by men, the filth, the bug bites, and the expense (a large house here rents for $36,000 USD a month- no joke folks) that I just can’t resist.

Mr. Crocodile

Or there is some sort of force out there that keeps pulling me back. I must admit though: every trip is an adventure. And I always remind myself that is what I love…. right? 

“That which doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.”

In theory at least. This week I am sick – there is mucus all over the place, I am sweating 24/7, I am not able to sleep because of the heat, I hear mechanical beeping noises outside my window at 4 am, and I had a severe allergic reaction to a mango. Hmmmm.

I am waiting for the stronger part of the equation to pull through right about now ;)

I digress….. back to my love for the capitol. I feel compelled to share a few positive things *gasp* about this city. I have some pretty great friends here now. One of which offers up her large house for me to stay in, her drivers to take me all over the city, and her expertize of the administrative maze that exists in this new country. She is a fabulous. She showed me the good places to eat (something other than tomatoes and onions??!!), stopped me from throwing things out the window in frustration, and took me to the Nile.

My stare off with the crocodile

Yes, that’s right folks. I think my love affair may be with the Nile actually. I told her at the beginning of the week that I wanted to swim in the Nile.

Her: “Leah, that’s disgusting. There are parasites, crocodiles, and who knows what else in there”

           Me: “Yes, yes I know. But it’s The Nile.....”

         But first there was work to do:

 *I applied for a new passport (long story): just FYI the US Embassy here is an embarrassment. Not because of the building, but because of how it treats its’ citizens. It gets 0 stars from Leah.

*I got an official driver’s license here: woohoo, watch out NA! It’s a good thing the roads are so bad I probably won’t go above 10 mph. *Note* the steering wheel is on the opposite side of the car…. well, not car-  it is a huge Land Cruiser actually… eeks!

*I also applied for a work permit (boy was that a wild goose chase!), did a ton of administrative research, got an internet modem to work, and signed up for an NGO forum.

And then I swam in the Nile ;) Yes, we saw a crocodile. It was a baby one. But we all know that where there is a baby, there is the momma hiding near….

Yes, yes. The Capital is disgusting and frustrating. But, thankfully this trip I discovered some fun things! 

I couldn't resist...
*Disclaimer- no I did not jump in right where the crocodile was!*

"Asiiaka"

So the MK people have a language conference every year where they gather together from all over the country. They celebrate new accomplishments, discuss current projects,  challenges, and plan for the future. There is an executive committee, commissioners, archdeacons, and villagers alike. Oh…. and one kawaijaa (white person). It is quite the event....This is where my supervisors have previously spoken, encouraged, and presented new projects.

And this year I was to be the lone representative: the childless young woman replacing the old, respected leader (good sentence, aye? ;) The chairman of the executive committee commented “Ah, we are used to your colleagues.  You are young.”

Yes, thank you kind sir for your observation. 

At some point, I know there were people thinking “Eh! We have been waiting 6 years for someone to come and help us, and this is who we get??”

Taking away the books on boda boda!!

But I am grateful for a God who moves in unexpected people. I learned the Africa style of question and answer sessions. The floor is opened with a topic and everyone is invited to comment or ask questions. Then, after about 10 people speak, you must answer all of their questions at once. It's a good thing I had a notebook and pen with me! So I played the role to the best of my ability: I gave several speeches, answered numerous questions, encouraged the people, troubleshot problems, planed for new projects, and reported on the status of current projects. After being here for only 4 months, this is my role? 

The only word that can describe this conference is surreal. Amazing, yes. Exhausting (from 9am till 7pm), most definitely. But surreal fits best.

The whole time I kept thinking, “How is it possible that I am here representing everyone, speaking in front of government officials, presenting 3 freshly translated books of the Bible, and encouraging this group of people whom everyone has labeled as ‘behind.’ How is it that I have the privilege to facilitate and bring things together and actually see progress?”

It speaks to me of how great our God is if he chooses to use me. It is one of those ‘out of body’ experiences if you will. I come to realize even more how little I have to do with anything, and how Mighty He is. I see how much he wants for his people to know him. His desire is great.

Everything went well; I was given the seal of approval from the man who told me I was ‘very young.’ I was also given a new name “Asiiaka” which means one who works in the garden. People now call me this in the market ;) I have more women coming up to me and talking to me than ever before. It’s lovely.

Oh, and it was at the end of this conference when a search party was sent out for me. We were supposed to end at 4, and it was 830 and I wasn't home yet. The phones weren’t working and it was dark and people at my compound were worried about me. So 4 people arrived to ‘rescue’ me ;) At least I know that people are concerned about me (Are you comforted Mom?) 

Some of the things we, as a team, have accomplished these past 4 months with the MK people are: translating, printing and distributing 3 new books of the bible and a song book; we sent 2 youth to a vocational school to gain life skills; we are training another youth to work with the translation project; and we have made some structural changes in the project so that we can move forward at an even quicker pace.

Once my colleague returns literacy efforts will be back in full swing.   

God is on the move.