AH.
ok, so I haven’t updated in a while.. but now you get three events in one! Special!
Number One: We had a Pumpkin Party at the end of October at our house and invited some of the american families we know here to join in. Festivities included pumpkin carving, bobbing for mangos, awesome costumes, and a homemade pinata. It was great time getting to know everyone and eating good food.
Number Two: This past week (Friday for English) at Destiny, the students had their final exams for the first quarter. The kids were grateful to be through with them and it was a great experience of how school is done in different cultures… which also means everybody gets Thursday and Friday off from school!
Number Three: Last weekend I went to the house of a fellow teacher. I got to meet her family and friends as well as eat delicious food! It was a great time to get into the community and deeper into who she is. We had a blast and I’m looking forward to spending more time with her in the next couple months.
Pictures coming soon!
Many times I know characteristics that are true of me – of my spirit – that I just can’t form into words. I’ve realized that through the many conversations I’ve had with people, trying to communicate with the limited vocabulary I have (kids, really learn your vocab words – don’t just memorize all 20 of them ten minutes before the test). But every once in a while, I find something in literature that speaks truths that were before unspeakable with my mouth – striking a chord that vibrates at the same frequency as my soul. This happens to be one of them. Probably obscure to many who are reading this, but maybe for the one or two it speaks to (truth about who you are, or an insight into who I am), I put it up none-the-less.
“Aficion means passion. An aficionado is one who is passionate about the bull-fights… Men would come in from distant towns and before they left Pamplona stop and talk for a few minutes with Montoya about bulls. These men were aficionados. Those who were aficionados could always get rooms even when the hotel was full. Montoya introduced me to some of them. They were always very polite at first, and it amused them very much that I should be American. Somehow it was taken for granted that an American could not have aficion. He might simulate it or confuse it with excitement, but he could not really have it. When they saw that I had aficion, and there was no password, no set questions that could bring it out, rather it was a sort of oral spiritual examination with the questions always a little on the defensive and never apparent, there was this same embarrassed putting the hand on the shoulder, or a “Buen hombre.” But nearly always there was the actual touching. It seemed as though they wanted to touch you to make it certain. Montoya could forgive anything of a bull-fighter who had aficion. He could forgive attacks of nerves, panic, bad unexplainable actions, all sorts of lashes. For the one who had aficion, he could forgive anything.” -Ernest Hemingway (The Sun Also Rises)
How much I love our God and the mysterious and wind-like ways His Spirit moves.
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random picture. because it is my blog and i felt like it. enjoy.
The past few weeks I have begun to realize (yet again) how great a hope to which I have been called. As followers of Jesus, we have distinctive characteristics that distinguish us from the world – the most distinctive, I have seen, is that we have a hope. The hope of Jesus’ righteousness replacing our own, the hope that one day all will be set right – justice will reign, beauty will flourish, love will abound, and all people will acknowledge the significance of Christ – the assurance of the acceptance of our God. As I have talked with people here, I’ve seen that without the hope of Glory, nothing matters. Many here risk being beaten or left to die in a desert because they are so willing to find a hope – a hope of a better life somewhere other than here.
This is true in all of our lives in a sense – our hope is of a better life than the one we began crying out of our mother’s womb. We, as lovers of Jesus, have been born again to an abundant life, an abundant life that’s lived from our spirit’s new birth until eternity. Let us understand each morning how great the hope is that we have been given! Do not take this love for granted; our Father has foreknown, predestined, called, and justified each of His children! No matter what happens in this life, whether trials or loves, persecution or acceptance, suffering or comfort, our God has chosen us to become part of this royal priesthood – Jesus has beckoned us forth to be a part of His body, His bride. “In this life do not be discouraged,” calls Christ to his disciples, “Do not be afraid; do not lose hope. One day, I will set all things upright.” Let us look to Him – and simply look. That is all we have to do – look to Christ – seek the One who has chosen us in Himself before the foundation of the world.
Saturday night we had roommate night – you know, cooking dinner and playing games together, rather normal activities. This particular night, however, nothing normal about it.
Let me start from the beginning. Erin (one of my roommates) and I went to buy vegetables for our stir fry that we were making for dinner. All normal things: eggplant, carrots, snap peas, onions, cabbage, etc. Now, where we live it is not normal to find snap peas, and Erin was so excited that she found them she even called Courtney (another roommate) to let her know. Fast forward a few hours. We have chopped, diced, snapped, peeled, and cooked all the vegetables. We just got through seasoning it with soy sauce and garlic powder. Now for the taste. Mallory and I were first – we noticed it had a spicy tang to it, which was peculiar because none of the seasonings we added were spicy in the least bit. Courtney and I smelled the okra – here is the conversation that followed amongst all of us:
“Oh man, did we but spicy okra?!”
“Do they even have spicy okra?”
“I’ve never heard of it”
“Well, it is northern africa…“
“Taste the other stuff, see if it all is really spicy”
So, Mallory takes a bite of some random vegetables (not including the okra) and starts running around with her mouth on fire.
I take a snap pea, chew it up, and swallow it to see if the spicyness even soaked into it.
I begin to run around the room with my mouth on fire.
“Did we buy spicy snap peas?”
“Look on the receipt to see if it says spicy snap peas”
“We bought CHILIS”
great night. We had filled our stir fry up with half a kilo of chilis (both ends snapped off, btw, so the juice could seep through every other vegetable).
But wait, the fun didn’t end there. Next on the agenda after dinner was to make orange drink (tang, milk, and ice blended together). To make a long story short, the blender broke about 1/5 of the way up and shot a 2 square inch piece out from the side, spewing orange drink and plastic everywhere. Great experience. Luckily, it was the second batch and we each still had enough to savor. Courtney actually ended up snapping two of the flying plastic pieces back on, and we duck (yes duck) taped it back together. Worked like a charm.
Meskel was a couple weekends ago – it’s a holiday here that the Orthodox people celebrate to honor the finding of the true cross Jesus was crucified on. With it comes a huge bonfire in the middle of the city along with many little bonfires in various neighborhoods. We had one of our own, as you can see.
It was all fun and games (with the tradition of running around the fire) until it collapsed. Don’t worry though, there were no casualties.
What am I saying? It was still fun and games after it fell down.
These are two beautiful girls we met in a different part of our neighborhood (my roommate and I were on our way to eat when we stumbled upon them).
And here are some long overdue pictures of the children I teach during the day. This is the fourth grade class.
Here’s a look at the fifth graders as well.
These smiles were captured in front of the upper grades school building.
My time here has been challenging and good in many different ways. You can continue praying for health – it’s apparently pretty easy for foreigners to get sick here – seems like someone else each week. Also that the Lord would provide relationships with nationals who are open and have time. Remember, our God is faithful and good. Let us give Him glory with each breath.
Love and peace from Africa.
Since I’ve last updated, we’ve had many events happening in country. The New Year (2002) came to greet us on September 11th, and with it came many visits to people’s homes. We were invited to drink coffee with them, eat lunch/dinner with them, as well as have a great time. Here’s some proof of the great time I spoke of.
I finally did take some pictures of who/what I have the privilege of walking past every morning/afternoon.
School started this week and I began teaching English Grammar and English Reading for 3rd through 7th graders. It is interesting and good in very different ways than teaching in America is – the whole language barrier adds an interesting challenge but the children are beautiful and loving nonetheless. Here’s the awesome view from an upstairs window at the upper grades campus of the school.
Also, few days ago, we celebrated a roommate’s birthday. We all went and made coffee bean jewelery – it was a blast.
The past month has been a great time to get acclimated to the altitude as well as the culture. The Lord has been faithful to show himself to me at a place on the opposite side of the globe than I usually talk to him at. Continue to pray for our God to show Himself among the people who have lived here all their lives, as well as the people who have come here to love them. I love and miss you all.
There is this man on our street who sits on the pavement everyday – not begging as many people do, just covering himself from the sun, the winds, the outside. He probably has no idea who his next meal will come from. He has too many years under his belt to do manual labor and not enough sight or strength to hold a good job. I wish I could communicate better with him but each time I pass, “Hello. Peace be to you,” must suffice. I want to hear the stories of the years that have left the scars on his body. I want to ask him what he ponders all day. I want to tell him that there is a Rescuer who promises us that we don’t live by bread alone.
Imagine – that sentence that Jesus uttered as he was teaching the disciples to pray: “Give us this day our daily bread…” He trusted His Father to provide it for them everyday. He didn’t have stockpiles of bread in the pantry and loaves of money in the bank. The money he used was a shared fund and then was also shared with those in need. He wouldn’t make sure he had enough for ten years before he gave to those who didn’t have enough for ten minutes. I want to conform to the pattern of Christ – love as recklessly as He did – not worrying about the clothes I will wear or the things I will eat. I want to be Christ to others.
I know our God is faithful – let us start to look to Him for our daily bread.
I went to visit the school I will be starting at next Wednesday the past few days: getting a tour, helping with a couple ‘teacher training’ days, and getting curriculum for what I will be teaching (English Grammar and English Reading for 3rd through 7th grade). As of now, I have about a fourth of what I will need for next Wednesday, but hey – no big deal. They currently have Pre-K through 7th grade (this is the first year they have 7th grade) and acquired a new building in order to handle the extra children; they had been blessedly out-growing the old one for a while. This school is in the middle of one of the poorest areas in the city; they are privately funded and continue to accept new children because of people sponsoring a child’s year for a few hundred dollars.
Here is the Pre-K – 2nd facility. It is kind of an L shape and goes on about 3 or 4 rooms more to the right. Hareg (in the photo) is the owner of the school.
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And this is the new building… It will house 3rd through 7th grade if I understand right.
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We also later went to a friends house. Much of the time when someone comes over they do a ‘coffee ceremony’. She explained to us that some people will do this three times each day. It was an interesting process and very good coffee coming out of it all.
Here she is putting lots of sugar in those little cups. Did I mention the coffee was good?
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I’ve realized this culture is very relational. They are not bound by time, instead, they just want to hang out and talk with you – even make a little food or coffee if you come to their house to visit. The Lord is teaching me much about just being. Being in His time, in the present (the only real time), worrying about nothing and seeking His kingdom to come. He’s been showing me again what He told Abram in Genesis 12: that He bless us so that we may bless others. Pray that He continues to teach His people through the people here and that we may be peace, encouragement, hope, salt, and light to a people that desperately need it and don’t even know.
Let us remember Jesus proclaimed, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom.”
k boy, sorry I can’t be there… but – HAPPY 6th BIRTHDAY!! enjoy the breakfast.
I hope you are learning more about sharks and snakes everyday – and all those other cool things that you’ll have to teach me all about when I get back. For now, know that I love you.
I made it here at about 6:30pm African time (about 10:30am Central Time). The plane rides were great – I actually knew two people on the first plane ride and the time went by pretty fast – which is a good thing when you’re on a plane for 9+ hours. I’m living with 3 other girls in a house/apartment here and today I went to a meeting with all the women serving in the city and then a little ‘orientation’ while the team I’ll be working with told me a bit about life here. It may be hard to get pictures up considering everyone uses dial-up in this country but I’ll try. It’s actually much like Haiti in the way the houses are structured.
Continue to pray that I will adjust well, have no health issues, learn the culture and language (and my way around the city) , and am able to build relationships with the people – national and americans – here. Tomorrow I will hopefully go to the school I will be teaching at. Until then…
