missionary musings

Old Writing. New Post.

As we prepare to leave tomorrow for Botswana, I am reminded of something I wrote many years ago. I fell in love with Africa and her people when I was 16, and anticipated the day I'd move here for good. I wrote this entry 8-9 years ago while I was home in New York preparing to move to South Africa. It's been taped in the cover of my Bible ever since...

Africa...

I close my eyes and I see children. Beautiful ebony faces; bare, rough-skinned feet; mismatched, ragged clothes; eyes that dance. Eyes that dance to the song of childhood freedom and innocence. Eyes that dance to the song...their song! I hear them. They sing with passion. No shame, no embarrassment, no inhibitions. Their faces radiant. Their voices angelic. Passionate strength. Innate harmony. Songs from their souls. Their souls! Lost. Bound in chains of tribal religions and beliefs. Blinded by the darkness of their minds. Locked in the prison of fear. Freedom! They need to be told. They need to know that there is a key to unlock the gate on the city of fear and death they live within. They need to hear that there is One with the power to set them free. "How, then, can they call on the One they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the One of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent?"(*) "Here am I! Send me!" (**) "He said, 'Go!'" (***)

And so I go...



* Romans 10:14-15
** Isaiah 6:8
*** Mark 16:15

Fruit Factor

Some friends arrived yesterday from the States. Casey was an intern with us in 2004; Beth has been out here on mission trips for many years in a row and is joined this time by her husband Marty (his first Africa experience). We’ve been planning and looking forward to this trip since October and it’s exciting that it’s finally here. I’m especially excited for Casey to see the growth in various areas of the ministry. She will get to visit the LaunchPad classes which she taught, revisiting with students she knew and meeting the many new ones that now attend. It’s a blessing that she can see firsthand the fruit of all she did as an intern two years ago.

Casey & Co. filled every spare inch in their luggage with blessings for us. My mom sent them lots of things to bring over for us – our mail, some things we ordered online, and some nice surprises. (Mom, the Christmas wrapping paper really added to the “Christmas feeling” we had as we opened everything!) They also brought us a resource for the ministry office that their church purchased for us – a resource/tool that has been on my wish list for years (God is faithful!).

But most of their luggage space was filled with 200 copies of our new ministry DVD…

We began work on the new DVD project last July. An amazing friend and partner sponsored the entire project, including flying out a film and production crew in August to get the footage needed. It took almost 3 hours of an on-camera interview to get two finished videos of 12 minutes and 3 minutes each. It’s been a long and extensive project, with lots of work being done Stateside by the production team. As things progressed, they would upload a small size, low resolution version for us to look at, edit, and approve. Now that Casey arrived with the actual finished product, we have finally seen for the first time the completed work.

We are so excited about it. It truly captures our heart and vision and what God is doing through us here in South Africa. It is a wonderful blessing to finally see it come to fruition after having worked on it for such a long time. I can’t wait to get it in people’s hands so they can see for themselves the fruit of their giving, praying, and laboring.

Fruit. I’ve mentioned it several times here already; it’s been on my mind lately. Jesus commanded us to bear fruit. Not just any fruit, but fruit that will last. I am challenged to judge my everyday life and all that I do by the “fruit factor”: Is what I am doing going to bear lasting fruit? What kind of fruit is the attitude I am displaying going to bear in the lives of those around me?

As I go about this coming week, I am striving to remain mindful of the fruit factor. May my life bear the fruit that it should as one surrendered to God…

Fours

I have always struggled with “favorites”. Maybe it’s because I’m indecisive, but I have always found it difficult (often impossible) to answer any question containing the word “favorite”. Anything requiring me to narrow down the sum of my experiences, preferences, and passions to one single thing for any given category is just beyond my ability! I thought I’d tackle some favorites and basic facts about myself in groups of fours - makes it easier for me not to have to narrow things down to one ultimate favorite. Even with fours, my indecisive brain had a difficult time deciding. This list is by no means complete and absolute…

Four Favorite Places I’ve Been

  • Okavango Delta, Botswana
  • Vipiteno, Italy
  • Cape Town, South Africa
  • Victoria Falls, Zambia

Four Favorite Foods

  • Ravioli (cheese, of course)
  • Chicken & broccoli from our local Chinese restaurant in Wading River
  • Turkey on a roll with mayo, lettuce, S&P from The Deli in Wading River
  • Spinach and artichoke dip with veggies from TGI Friday's

Four Favorite Beverages

  • Starbucks chai latte
  • Snapple peach iced tea
  • Cola-tonic & Sprite (South African specialty)
  • Malawi Shandy (“national drink” of Botswana)

Four Strange Things I’ve Consumed

  • Mopane worms
  • Pap and sour milk
  • Stacks of goat-cheese sandwiches
  • Snot-ball juice (actually called litchi juice, but with whole snot-ball-looking litchis on the bottom)

Four Movies I Can Watch Again & Again

Four Websites I Visit Just About Daily For one reason or another...

Four TV Shows I Really Enjoy Except that we're always a season behind here in SA, I love watching:

Four TV Shows I Currently Watch Once a Week

Four Books That Have Changed My Life

Four Books I Just Love

Four Authors I’ll Read Anything By

  • John Grisham
  • Andy Stanley
  • Anita Shreve
  • Max Lucado

Four Accomplishments Some more noteworthy than others...

Things I Miss Most From Home Okay, I kept changing these as I realized something else should've made the top four; then I decided to just scrap the "four" theme for this one - there are just too many things!

  • Family
  • Friends
  • Convenience of things
  • Customer service
  • Olive Garden
  • Starbucks
  • Target
  • Kohls
  • Amazon.com
  • Blockbuster video
  • Wireless hot spots
  • Panera Bread
  • Mom's home cooking
  • Dad's cheesy jokes (you know which ones!)
  • Driving an automatic
  • Drive-through Krispy Kreme
  • Sales (bring on the clearance racks!)

Tag, you’re it! Comment with your any of your own lists of Fours.

Gonna Be a Great Week

"It's gonna be a great week!" Niel felt like the Lord impressed that on his heart yesterday afternoon and he shared it with the staff at our meeting this morning. The week has already proven to be off to a great start...

More than enough money has come in to cover the cost of our new printer as well as the other expenses for this first run of 2000 curriculum workbooks! God's timing truly is perfect. We rejoice in His faithfulness!!!!

Can't wait to see what is in store for the remainder of the week...

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Genny to the Rescue

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I am sitting here typing to the hum of a generator. Well, actually it's more like the sound of a loud, obnoxious lawn mower than a sweet, gentle hum.

We woke up this morning to no electricity on our entire base. A call to the power company informed us that we were experiencing a "planned power outage" and would continue to experience this until at least 4:00 this afternoon - possibly later. T.I.A. - This is Africa!

My resourceful husband dug out our generator and fired it up. Everything that is plugged into the extension cord that is running from the generator into my office now has power, including our itnernet connection. Niel is off in town buying more petrol to keep the genny (African, shortened version of generator) running as long as possible. We are trying to make a productive day out of what started out as a seemingly counter-productive one.

In the midst of my growing to-do list, I thought it was a good moment to blog. While I try to avoid the "this is what I did today" type of posts, I do strive to share aspects of my life that will help you understand more of what my life in Africa is really like - planned power outages, gennys, and all!

African Time vs. Thrive Time vs. God's Time

Life has returned to its normal fast pace, yet I look at my new office clock and see that it's half-past "Just Now". (It's an African Time clock.) How we manage to keep such an unbelievably full schedule and fast pace amidst the slowness of African life always boggles the minds of people who come visit (and new staff members and interns!).

The presumption is that the ministry is laid back and slow, just like the Basotho are. Yet it's as though Thrive Africa has its own culture amidst the Basotho culture. While we still have the challenges of getting the Basotho to show up on time, register for events, or plan past today, on a day-to-day basis in the inner-workings of the ministry, things move pretty quickly. Our staff, like us, always tend to have more on their plate at one time than they can really deal with. But if we didn't need to rely on God, it wouldn't be a faith walk, now would it?

There are tons of pressing things right now that are keeping us all very busy and very in-prayer. Our school and after-school programs begin February 6 and so much needs to happen by then - including the printing of curriculums on a very large scale. The resources are yet to be there to accomplish this; "yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!" (Lamentations 3:21-22)

The tremendous difference between African time and Thrive time is but a drop in the bucket compared to the difference between our time and God's time. Even when we can't see it or feel it, God's timing is perfect.

I think I need to get a "God's Time" clock...

Looking Back to Look Ahead

I just cannot get my mind around the fact that it is 2006.

A decade ago I graduated high school. (No reunion planned - I checked!)

8 years ago I moved to Africa - a young, green missionary wondering what God had in store.

5+ years ago I got married - a young, green wife wondering what God had in store! :-)

4 years ago our ministry exploded as we bought our 2500-acre base and increased our responsibility and workload 100-times over.

2 years ago my parents joined us for Christmas in South Africa, finally seeing and experiencing our lives and ministry firsthand.

Last year Niel and I visited 9 countries (not including South Africa) between January and December.

And now, here we are... January, 2006. I look back back with awe at how God has made Ephesians 3:20 a reality in my life, and I look ahead with expectation and hope for all He has yet to do!

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"What's it like?" you wonder... Glad you asked!

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Christmas in Africa just isn't the same as Christmas in New York. My friend Natalie concurs that Christmas in Florida just isn't the same as Christmas in Michigan.

The fact that it's summertime here in Africa doesn't help much, but really I just long for my family and my homegrown traditions. Thankfully I have a wonderful husband who has grown to enjoy American Christmases; together we make celebrating in Africa fun. We put up a tree and decorate it with all our fun ornaments (Although I said I never would, we bought an artificial tree last year... There's no such thing as "Christmas Tree Lots" here, and we'd already chopped down all the suitable ones on our property for previous Christmases!); we hang our stockings on our mantle (Niel affectionately calls his stocking his "Christmas sock"); and we set snowmen up throughout the house (Ironic, though it may, be with 90-degree weather outside!).

The year our friends Dave and Amy celebrated Christmas with us in Africa (they were working with us in the ministry), Amy introduced us to her family tradition of baking Christmas cookies and gathering as a family to decorate them. We've been doing it ever since! We were a little late with it this year, but I finally baked the cookies on Christmas Eve; then on Christmas Day Niel, Marie (his mom), and I decorated them. We laughed at Niel's funny creations (gingerbread man with a Speedo?!), but we missed having my family around to help - my Dad is always a hoot when it comes to decorating the cookies!

The weather was on my side on Christmas. It was cold and foggy the entire day; we even made a fire in the fireplace in the evening! Now for summertime, that was very odd. But I didn't mind a bit. It helped it feel a bit more Christmassy than usual.

We had a good Christmas. It was quiet and relaxed, which was what we needed. We also got to talk to my family -- both the Brothers Grimm made it home this year, which was special for my mom.

We still have Christmas gifts on the way -- the packages my mom sent haven't arrived yet. The day they arrive, it will really feel like Christmas! There's nothing like getting some love and goodness from home!

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It's a Small World After All

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High-speed wireless internet has changed my life forever. Since I moved to South Africa, I've only had (on a good day) dial-up internet. While I was very grateful to be able to make use of sporadic, slow email access, it was also a daily frustration.

The biggest frustration was when the phone lines would get stolen---typically a monthly occurrence. Inevitably, the phone company would take at least a week to replace the lines.

(In case you're curious: The phone lines are stolen because they have copper in them. The copper is melted down to make bracelets and other African curios which many of our visitors have purchased over the years! Oh, the irony!)

This was my internet life (or lack thereof) since I moved here in 1998.

But a few months ago we upgraded to 24-hour high-speed wireless internet throughout the main area of our base. Seriously, my life has changed forever.

We are now online all day, allowing me to use Messenger to chat with family and friends more than I have in years! I can also "surf" now, which was a strange and new phenomenon at first. Those first few weeks, Niel and I would sit at our computers and ask each other, "What else can we look up online?" It wasn't an option for so long that we'd gotten out of the habit of it...

This is still Africa, so our 24-hour, high-speed, wireless internet is not without its kinks. But I am lovin' it. I feel so much more connected to people back home; it's as though the world suddenly got much smaller.

The best part of our high-tech internet setup is that it all runs off a car battery on our mountain! A nice blend of modern technology and ... the Stone Age!

Ag, shame!

A Genesis of Sorts

Well, I have thoroughly enjoyed the blogs of some of my friends, so I thought I might give it a try. I cannot guarantee a certain frequency, length, or enjoyability in my postings, but I will do my best. It is December and I spent the day in capris and a sleeveless shirt. The southern hemisphere will do that to you. Today was our ministry-wide Christmas party, which was a lot of fun. But listening to "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" in the aforementioned outfit is a bit of an oxymoron.

Our White-Elephant gift exchange brought lots of laughs. Our Basotho staff especially got a kick out of this strange "white people" method of giving (and stealing!) gifts.

I do love this time of year. More in the States than in Africa, I absolutely love the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Even here, though, our home is looking and feeling quite festive. We've got our tree up, stockings on the mantle, and snowmen galore throughout the house. I've even got a wonderful Yankee candle scenting our home with the smell of evergreen... Mmmm... I love it!

Joy to the world, the Lord has come!