10- of English students, Malawian travels, and life in Africa

Greetings to all from the land of Africa.  Tanzania.  I know to many of you the name Tanzania means nothing.  A place you've heard about, a place from which you've seen pictures.  Obviously, you're getting this update, so somehow you have a connection to this beautiful country. :)  But for me, Tanzania is becoming home.  I love this place, and the more I pour my heart into it, the more I love it.  I find myself loving the people- so diverse in their personalities, their opinions, their goals- yet similar in so many ways.  I have friends here.  People I have laughed with, cried over, yearned for, argued with, loved deeply, and many who in turn, have loved me back.

I love this country.  It's a diverse land, but the valley in which I call home is flat.  Off in the distance, the mountains tower on the outskirts of the valley and some of us yearn to go and find out what is in them.  Around us, in the valley, rainy season has come.  LIFE in the form of fresh green plants pop out of practically every available piece of sandy ground- ground that just a few weeks ago looked utterly impossible to host seeds of life.

Zack and Warren have spent the last three months teaching English to an energetic group of young people, and it's been so exciting to watch the Word of God being taught to them every day and their hearts becoming accountable to the truth they hear.  One of them has already come to the end of himself and saw his own wretchedness and believe in the saving blood of Jesus!  What a joy it is to watch God working.

Several weeks ago, one of the students went home in demand to her father's wishes, and we decided to go visit her the following Saturday.  We set out that morning, trekking through the lonely wilderness as the morning sun became more and more intense.  We received a warm welcome and enjoyed a few hours there, catching up with Roida, meeting her family, and eating delicious ugali and goat (I ate my first liver and heart and found out they're absolutely delectable!). Zack informed us that the real reason Roida's dad pulled her out of school was due to lodging issues with Mraja (our next door guesthouse owner) and that he didn't know where else she could stay.  We all looked at each other and I exclaimed, "well if lodging is the only problem, that's stupid! We have plenty of room at our house!"  And so it was, when we left Roida's house, she was with us.  A week later, Mraja declared that he was closing his guesthouse and his family was all moving out to their farms for a few months.  Roida's best friend, Rehema, was still living there and was left without a place to stay as well.  So now we've been blessed with two 14 year old girls- and I am absolutely loving having them around!  I've been stretching my Swahili, gained two "daughters" (they call me Mama and I call them my children:), grin at their girlish, dramatic giggles as they get ready to go to bed at night, and dread this weekend when they graduate from the course and go home again.  I'm sure we'll be seeing more of them though!

Today I came to the realization that it's halfway through December, which means the holiday/wintery season is in full swing in America.  Teresa and I have been trying to recreate the atmosphere (with cranberry and peppermint scented candles, peppermint and eggnog chocolate and coffee's, and even some Christmas music thrown in the mix), but somehow it's hard to remember that this actually is the holiday season.  When you're sweating in intense sun and heat and nothing ever makes you think "December", its hard to remember the season you were so attached to in America! :)

Three weeks ago, Rachel and Rebecca Oberholtzer returned from their furlough.  It's been very good to have them back and integrated into the work here again.  Their parents visited for a week and when they were ready to head to America, Trudy joined them to leave for her furlough. Rachel and Beka escorted them to town, so for three days I was "alone" in the village, without any of the other girls to depend on. It was an incredibly stretching experience- running the clinic and just doing normal life with no one else to rely on for help in Swahili. It was the best thing that could have happened to me at this point, and even tho I worried myself half sick over how it was all going to go, I was blessed to see how God was so much bigger then my fears and language limitations. 

The day Rachel and Beka returned, Teresa got very sick, and we began immediately treating for malaria. About midnight that night I was deep in the routines of switching out cold washcloths, keeping clean sheets on hand, checking temperatures, and making sure she got her meds on time, when Tim came in for the thermometer because Sheryl was running a high temperature as well. The next day was a blur as Teresa was too sick to do anything for herself and Sheryl wasn't around at all as she fought off her bout of malaria. I did what I could to keep the household running, the children quiet so Teresa could rest, while worrying my heart out about Teresa- all on about 3 hours of sleep. As the evening shadows began to fall, I sat by Teresa's bed once more trying to decide if I should just go ahead and start an IV on her.  I decided to give her a little more time before running over to my clinic to get the supplies, and was very thankful when her temperature finally began dropping and she was able to keep liquids in her. As the rest of us gathered for prayer meeting that evening, I brewed myself mug of strong coffee in hopes it would wake my foggy, exhausted brain, but it didn't help very well. 

The next few days flew by as Teresa continued needing a lot care. Saturday she was feeling much better, so I slipped off to have lunch with Rachel and Beka at our favorite little restaurant in Kilabuni. While I was there, Sheryl called me to say that Teresa's temperature was going back up again and she was obviously beginning another cycle of malaria.  By this point she had completed her medication regimen and so we needed to come up with something else, and something stronger to kick the stubborn strain.  I was back to doing all I could to keep her temperature down while dear Beka ran out to the medicine stores to get a new supply of malaria medication.  Teresa also asked for prayer and an anointing, so we had a sweet time of sharing and prayer together that evening.  Over the next few days, it was exciting to see her slowly begin to gain her strength back, although we butted heads a few times when I thought she really needs to take it more easy and she was determined she could get up and do something! :)

Teresa needed to renew her visa, so this past Saturday, we headed out of Ivuna on the early morning bus.  The bus had us to Mlowo in a little under 3 hours- an incredible record breaker!  We got out to our mission house here in Mbeya by 11 and had plenty of time to rest and gain strength for continuing our trip to Malawi. It's been amazing to have time to rest, read, journal, and skype to the states and SEE people who mean a lot to me.  We traveled to Malawi on Sunday and back on Monday.  Hours of hopping from this public transport bus to that one, walking through the borders and getting our passports stamped, and riding on the back of bicycles flying down the Malawian road. Sitting by the lake drinking in the water and sunshine, eating meat and cheese sent from the States and our precious little bag of Doritos we found at the Malawian grocery store, strange conversations with an overly friendly groundskeeper, the electricity going off in the middle of the night causing us to wake up hot and grumpy in our mosquito net with the fan off...and then we were off, headed back the way we came the day before. The bike taxi, the public transport bus, using Malawian kwacha for the last time, and we were back on the Tanzanian side of the border.  Another 3-4 hour bus ride brought us safely back to Mbeya. This morning we did some shopping and tomorrow morning we need to go back down to the market and stock up on produce to take back to the village for our team.  Lord willing, we plan to catch a lorry to Ivuna tomorrow. 

Exciting things have been happening in Ivuna lately.  A Bible class in our own neighborhood has begun twice a week, and it's thrilling to watch Tim and Sheryl's porch fill with neighbors who are hearing the word of God.  Our neighbor boy, Basilio, has been facing his own real need of Jesus' blood and the fact that he can't live a victorious life alone.  Pray for him and for Zack as he has been putting a lot of effort into Bas' life.

Sad things have been happening as well, including a lot of fighting and wife beating.  My closest friend in the neighborhood, Mama Glanti, was beaten dreadfully by her husband the other night.  We found her laying motionless on her bed the next afternoon in pitiful condition.  Her one eye had a big gash across the top and was dreadfully swollen.  She was wounded and bleeding physically and emotionally, and my heart cried with hers as I flopped beside her on her mattress and gently rubbed her back for awhile.  She's a dear woman, so tender and sensitive, and has shown signs of soon being ripe for the kingdom of God.  I dream of the day when she will be born again and have begun to pray the same for her husband.  God delights in working out the impossible, and I'm asking for the impossible with this one.

Well, I suppose I have rambled enough for one time.  I think I'll close this update with this one last thought that has been seriously convicting me lately. 

               "the loaves that Jesus used to feed thousands had to first be broken"

I want to be used by Jesus.  I want my life to feed thousands.  Am I willing to be broken in order to make the kind of difference I long to make?  Are you wiling?

-kim