13- A Glimpse Into What God is Doing in Ivuna...

someday a bright new wave will break upon that shore, and there will be no sickness, no more crying, no more war...

no malaria.  no insect bites that swell dreadfully and cause pain and trouble walking.  no tears. none.  can you imagine?  tears are a big part of our lives.  we say goodbye. again.  we miss people who live on another continent.  we lay to rest loved ones to never see alive on this earth again.  we grieve for the pain and heartache we see as a result of sin in the lives of those we love.  we at times may shed tears of righteous indignation when we see blatant sin.  but some day, some SWEET day, there will be NO more sickness or crying. 

...and little children never will grow hungry anymore...

can you imagine? never!  no hungry tummies rumbling for food.  no legs and arms that are too skinny from malnutrition.

someday we know not when, when time on earth is done and those redeemed from every land will all become as one, with voices of all ages praising God the three in one, and there will be a bright new morning over there, there'll be a bright new world for us to share.

the Bible tells us that there will be some from every tribe, every kindred, every nation, every tongue gathered around the throne worshiping the Lamb of God forever and ever. No language barriers, no night, no sin.  A bright NEW world we'll share. 

But for today, we are still on earth.  Sometimes it may feel unfair, when all one wants to do is join those who have gone on before, but I'm reminded that our work isn't finished yet.  God's purposes are very much alive and thriving, and He wants to use each one of us to be a part of compelling those from every land who have not yet received that wonderful gift of salvation which will enable them to have a part in praising God around His throne.

Our hearts are burdened for our people.  Lately, it seems as if the intensity of the battle has been rising and we find ourselves wrestling with the burden of their souls.  Our neighborhood is a very dark place.  Our neighbors drink pombe (local beer) until they cannot think logically, and major fights break out.  There was a terrible fight between several of our neighbor women just a few days ago.  I was laid up with a very swollen foot, so didn't see it take place, but Beka returned with burning eyes and heart full of pain as she related the violence.  Women wildly hurling bricks at others, one descending upon another with one of their huge farm hoes.  Angry words spewed forth, full of hate. They talked about it the next day, and readily admit to Beka that it's not right.  Comments are made how bad habits need to be changed.  Meanwhile, we watch, share truth, and pray because we know it's not simply a matter of bad habits being changed, these dear people need JESUS to come and change them from the inside out. 

One day we had a patient come initially complaining of headaches and dizziness, as well as something about an insect walking in her head.  It didn't take many questions before it was obvious we were dealing with something more then a physical or medical problem.  I called Beka in to join me, as my language ability isn't good enough to handle a situation like this yet.   With some more probing, we learned that at times this "insect" crawls over head and down across her eyes, and when it does, it makes her dizzy and then unconscious.  Sometimes 'it' goes in her throat and constricts so that she is unable to eat, and at other times 'it' travels up and down her back. Such bondage! Truth was shared, but they told us they already tried church and weren't interested.  The husband showed a hint of interest, but his poor wife- bound by the spirits- even refused us to pray over her.  As they walked out of the clinic, our hearts were heavy but we reminded each other that even if she refuses us to pray over her, she can't refuse us to pray FOR her.  So pray we have.  Oh may Jesus receive the reward for His suffering!

I've been spending a lot of time in continued Swahili study, and I'm not sure if I can really write anything about that that would be worth reading about!  Unless of course you are deeply fascinated with the struggles of Swahili grammer- subjunctives, noun classes, piles of new vocabulary words to study...yeah, I didn't think so, I'll keep it to myself. :) 

The past while I've been praying that God will infuse me with a renewed vision and passion for His heart for the world, as well as His heart for His children.  I've been feeling that I've not been experiencing nearly enough of Him in my life and I've been aching to find more life and passion in my heart.  God has been answering my prayer above and beyond what I've been asking for, through various routes.  For one, we girls have been reading through the book "What in the World is God Waiting For?", which is about the fulfillment of the Great Commission and how passionate God is that His people be ends of the earth minded.  It could be easy to look at my life as say, 'well, i must be doing something right because I am here at "the ends of the earth" if you will, so I must be okay'... but God has been stripping me of all potential of having those thoughts and showing me areas of my life that needed serious renewal.  Then on Wednesday night we watched the documentary on the Moravian Mission Machine, (totally worth the time, btw- I think every Christian should study on the Moravians!) and their testimony and the radical way they believed they were called to live shook me to my core and brought me to a new level of understanding what truly God is looking for.  The way they utilized prayer is incredible, and has been changing my experience as well.  I'm so thankful for the example of saints in days gone by who can spur us on to living a true, radical Christian life.  I have to think of a David Livingstone quote I happened upon recently... "I have found that I have no unusual endowments of intellect, but this day I resolve that I will be an uncommon Christian."  I do think it's incredibly sad that what God's heart for His people in the Bible is, now has to be considered uncommon because of how lukewarm Christianity in our world has become.  Radical Christianity is what the Bible is talking about, and we only have one life to live- people, lets make it worth living!  Let's not just waste our days by living some halfhearted version of being as Christian as we can to get by.  We have something worth living for, and the world needs to hear it! 

I've been reading in Luke the past few days and particularly the passage in chapter 4:15-16 stood out to me where it talks about how multitudes came to Jesus to hear His teaching and to be healed.  His fame went abroad..."and He withdrew Himself into the wilderness and prayed".  Such a key thought here, if Jesus felt drained from giving and giving to needy people, how much more we?  If Jesus felt the need to get away alone and pray, how much more we?  We short change ourselves and the people we're ministering to by trying to do things on our own strength. 

It's now a quiet Saturday morning.  The neighborhood echoes mainly with only the sounds of the birds and passing motorcycles.  Most of our people are out farming, and we are enjoying a laid back morning at home.  A few people dropped by seeking medical advice, and Mama Glanti scrubbed some of our laundry, but mostly we're just working on updates and talking amongst ourselves.  

Rebecca has been helping Mama Glanti start a bread baking and selling business, as a way to supplement her income, which she badly needs.  Selling pombe (local beer) has been the main way women make money, and of course we aren't advocates of that at all, so if we encourage Ma Glanti to not make pombe to sell, then we need to come up with an alternative!  When the Lapp's were here, Paul and Ben built a beautiful brick oven, so Beka and Ma Glanti have been baking loaves of bread and experimenting with the technique, trying their best to get it right.  After some challenges (one time the fire was too hot, and another time it was not hot enough), I think they're slowly figuring out what the oven needs to bake evenly and nicely.  Pray that Mama Glanti's business would take off (it's showing encouraging signs of doing just that...loaves of yeast bread is not something that is available here in the village, yet people really do like it.), and that it would provide her the income she needs to feed her family.

Continue to pray for the biweekly Bible classes held right here among our neighbors.  This past Tuesday there was an excellent turn out- the kivuli (porch) over at Zeiset's was full and overflowing, and it was exciting to hear the word of God being spoken to their hearts.  Thursday for various reasons, it didn't happen, but we continue to pray that God will work in the the hearts of our people- and He truly is!   I've mentioned our 17 year old neighbor boy, Basili, a time or two, I believe...tho I don't think I shared how several weeks ago he made the decision to accept Jesus Christ as His Savior!  It's been very exciting seeing his thirst for truth and the difference Jesus has made in his life!  I never heard him sing before, and now you almost can't find a time when he isn't singing when he's over at his mom's house beside ours.  I have to smile quite big every time I hear his voice strongly ringing in hymns of praise.  Did I ever mention that I absolutely love watching God work in people's hearts?! Well, I do!  :)

"missions (or life) is not about "what can I spare?"  the question is "what's it going to take?"  risk.  abandon.  sacrifice.  radical dependence on Christ.  EVERYTHING.  are you passionately committed to God's glory among all peoples?"

-asialink worker

just a little part of God's great, big plan...

Kim

12- Go In the World, Take His Love Into the World...

Saturday.  14February2015

"God so loved the world, He gave His Son to die, but the plan is hidden unless we tell them why.  We need a messenger of light before the shadows turn to night...WHO WILL GO?

Still we keep on thinking, somebody else will go- while the world that's dying urgently needs to know.  If we will lovingly compel, we'll storm the very gates of hell...WHO WILL GO?

Go into the world, take His love into the world, the time is right, the fields are white, there's work to do before the night; so we'll go into the world, take His love into the world...He is calling you and me into the world.

Be the great commission, go out and plant the seed, laboring together in time we will succeed.  His love was meant for us to share, to every people everywhere...WHO WILL GO?

Go into the world, take His love into the world, the time is right, the fields are white, there's work to do before the night; so we'll go into the world, take His love into the world...He is calling you and me into the world.

How will they hear that there's a God who loves them?  How will the blind regain their sight?  How can the lost find hope unless we tell them? We are to be a salt and light.  Look to the fields you'll see the harvest teeming, servants of God we must obey, all of the world will know that there's a God who loves them, if we'll only point the way.

Go into the world, take His love into the world, the time is right, the fields are white, there's work to do before the night; so we'll go into the world, take His love into the world...He is calling you and me into the world."

This song has been running through my head nonstop since this past Sunday when we spent time learning it.  The call loud and clear- will we be willing to answer the clear call of God?

It's a lazy Saturday on our mission compound.  The day started late, and the rain poured down in torrents.  We splashed through deep puddles with soaked khanga's wrapped around our shoulders, all ending up at the main house for a lovely brunch together.  The rest of the day was spent in various activities- intense games of Take One, singing, talking, and eating junk food dug out of totes.  (It IS Valentines Day, you know- chocolate really does need to be on the agenda sometime! :)  Eventually I got antzy and needed to get out of the house, so I wandered out to Kilabuni and sat in the corner of Zanobi's shop and sipped on hot sweet chai and piping hot maandazi.  Ahh, "nimeshiba" (I'm full!) I told Zanobi as he plopped hot pots of ugali and meat in front of me.  "Kula!" (Eat!) he demanded.  Yes sir, so I ate. 

 

I returned to the house, greeting neighbors along the way and sat rocking little Lemi for awhile.  He's about 2 years old, and is one of the sweetest, cuddliest little fellow I've ever had the opportunity to meet.  Regina said that while I was gone in Zanzibar, she would ask him where Kim was, and he would get this goofy little grin and giggle cutely.  I was thrilled to hear that he remembered me, as he's been one of "mine" for awhile now.  He'll see me coming down the trail from quite a distance away and will come running as fast as his short slightly-bow-legged legs will let him- straight into my arms.  And he usually won't leave for awhile.  He melts my heart every time with his many kisses and soft, tender heart.  Then I wish all over again he would have parents who actually care for him.  But he doesn't.  Lemi and his older sister Doto, have to fend for themselves most of the time.  Their Mother is an angry woman who constantly looks miserable and their father is the choir director at the Catholic church...but is also a drunk and doesn't treat his wife and family well at all..  Pray for their little family- Mama and Baba Velo and their two young children.

I thoroughly enjoyed having Deb spend a few weeks here in Ivuna with me, and then later the arrival of the rest of her group- Beth, and Lora.  It was so much fun to show my friends what my life in Africa consists of! On the 28th, we four girls loaded up on a lorry and headed to town, and the next day, on to Zanzibar!  We spent a lovely week on the beautiful island.  We enjoyed each other's company, the beautiful warm sunshine of the tropics, the gorgeous beaches, lovely Stonetown history and shopping, a spice farm tour, as well as connecting with the ones ministering the Gospel there. It all came to an end on the 4th of Feb with a ferry ride, last good-byes in the airport in Dar es salaam, then the girls caught their flight to Entebbe, Uganda, and I caught mine to Mbeya, Tanzania.  I spent a day in Mbeya shopping for our team as well as catching up on some sleep and emotional stability.  It was wonderful to return home to Ivuna, and to be welcomed so warmly by the rest of my team.  I feel blessed to be part of a team that I can be excited to return home to. 

Since then, life has been getting into a normal routine - of sorts.  Beka and I have been working together in the clinic- and it's been a blessing.  I've been learning a lot from her by way of furthering my language abilities, and slowly, slowly I build my Swahili vocabulary and confidence to use it.  Language learning recently has been an extremely growing experience for me.  I've been finding myself involuntarily comparing my abilities with the abilities of the others (who, by the way, have all been here longer then I), and then sliding down into some kind of grumpy despair thinking I'm not worth a penny since I can't communicate as well as everyone else.  Yeah, I know it's not true, but it's been a very real struggle the last month or so, and I'm learning so much about trusting God in every detail. Meanwhile I work on language exercises, read Bible stories in Swahili, and anything else that seems as if it will lend itself to building my vocabulary and fluency in this language that I'm learning to love.

Yesterday morning Beka and I worked with a young girl by the name of Esta, who claimed she was 17 and still in school.  She came to us wanting medicine to do an abortion.  Her big, watery, miserable eyes sunk deep into my heart as we sat there pleading with her to not kill her unborn baby.  We shared with her the consequences of sinning against God.  We explained to her what stage her 10-12 week fetus was in.  We found the heartbeat with our doppler.  We pled with her to think about what she was doing, and to choose life for this child.  Tears overflowed as she told us she was kicked out of her home by her parents and "had" to get this abortion.  We prayed for her, offered her a place to stay with us, and continued to make her accountable before God.  In the end, she still acted like she wanted the abortion and walked away from our clinic.  My heart has been so burdened for her and I wonder what decision she made.  I pray that our words would be sinking deep into her heart and that the Spirit of God will continue to strive with her.

The other day I told Beka that I'd really like to go down to the girls dorm at the secondary school, but was feeling a bit nervous about going by myself, so one evening we wandered down there and talked to some of the girls for awhile.  A few weeks ago we had gone down to the school to preach and we had sang some songs in English, and the girls remembered these songs and begged to learn the songs better.  So Friday afternoon I grabbed a song folder and "braved" the big school property alone.  I was feeling a bit nervous as I walked up to the dorm, but the excitement of the girls as I came quickly took away all thought of trepidation.  I hung out there for awhile, teaching them songs (There Is a God, and Bind Us Together- complete with the motions!) and thoroughly enjoyed my interaction with all of them.  I'm looking forward to interacting with them some more and pray that God will use me to challenge their lives.  They have been doing a very good job at stretching my Swahili and giving me a drive to learn more so that I can communicate better. :) 

It's hard to believe the Lapp family only has one week left with us here in Ivuna.  We have thoroughly enjoyed their interaction in our lives and the blessing they were to us.  It seems like this year has been full of nothing but good-byes, and it makes me long even more keenly for Heaven where we'll all be together and will never have to say good-bye again! "Let us pray for each other, not faint by the way- in this sad world of sorrow and care.  For that Home is so bright and it's almost in sight, and I trust in my heart you'll go there." 

I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for your prayers.

blessings from my hot African village...

kim

11- Greetings from Ivuna

Good afternoon!  It's a warm, breezy afternoon here in Ivuna.  The breeze blows through the our living room window and rustle of the corn leaves right outside remind me of summer in America. It's hard to believe that you Pennsylvania-ites and other "northerners" are experiencing the bitter cold temperatures of winter.  I'm perfectly content to be right where I am!  Right outside our front door the pressure canner jiggles merrily on the braizer- my second canner load of beans for the day.  If you would've happened to drop by our house this morning, you would have found me bustling around doing all kinds of "house-wifey" things.  What kinds of things, you ask?  Things like canning beans, cleaning both our pantry and the main pantry over at Tim's compound, sweeping our house, making lunch, scrubbing laundry, as well as drinking cappuccino as I spent some time with God. Now Rachel and I are thinking we need to soon run to the bomba to get several buckets of water. Not necessarily any earth shaking things, but normal life nonetheless, and stuff I really enjoy doing at times! 

This update has been long in coming, and for that I apologize.  It seems that when you're so involved in living, its hard to take time to sit down and write about life as it passes by. :)  A month has passed since I last wrote, and I'm not even quite sure what to highlight on now.  As you may remember, I struggled with malaria for two weeks, beginning my recovery just in time to help pack up and head to town for our retreat time. We left after church on Sunday the 4th of January.  It was an emotional morning, especially for Tim and Sheryl as it was their last Sunday in Ivuna for the next year or so.  I was feeling pretty exhausted and ended up going inside and sleeping most of the morning, which ended up giving me more energy for the Land Rover ride to town that afternoon.

We spent Sunday night-Wednesday night as a retreat for our Ivuna team.  Here are a few excerpts from my journal: 

 "We're thoroughly enjoying our Ivuna team time here this week, especially knowing that it will change so drastically before the week is up.  There's something so incredibly comforting about our 'normal' Ivuna crew.  We've been together for months.  We've seen the good, the bad, and the ugly and somehow you end up loving each other fiercely through it all."  "Being so sick has worn me out.  Not only physically, but emotionally and spiritually as well.  Back in Ivuna, I didn't know how I was ever going to be able to continue on with the work cuz I had not interest, heart, or vision for it.  I absolutely HATE pushing myself through life because I have to.  This time away is exactly what I needed.  Time to heal. physically.  emotionally.  spiritually. "to find rest in the arms of my God who won't let go.  Thank you, Jesus." “Last night, Teresa and I sat up late and talked as the rain came on. Of dreams for the future and where we most see ourselves in a few years. Times like this I can't imagine what I'm going to do without this girl...” “{Monday}, Tim, Sheryl, Beka, Zack, Warren, and I loaded up the Rover and headed to Mbeya. We first did a bunch of errand running uptown and then Warren dropped the rest of us off at Sedo Market and took the poor, rattly Land Rover to get fixed. We got lunch at a little hole in the wall, and boy did they serve us a feast! Rice and ugali, beef, beans, greens, and avocado, but I couldn't eat. I ate a little bit of the meat for the benefit of protein, but my stomach felt like it was turned inside out. Then we went shopping. My store list was a mile long and I was still too weak and tired to do much heavy lifting at all, so I was thankful for the stronger people in our group who could assist with that. Meanwhile, the Land Rover was taking longer then expected to be fixed, so Melvin rescued us with his little truck. We piled all of our stuff and five of us on the back and obviously made a funny sight- judging by some of the looks and grins we received. We went back up to Melvins to pick up a few items we needed there, and then headed back down to Ifisi where our retreat was stationed. It was definitely memory making- even all huddled under that big blue tarp when it began to rain. Most of all, I was thankful to get all stuff and us safely back” {wednesday}. “Ngozi Crater Lake. That was on the agenda for the day. I desperately wanted to join them cuz I didn't want to be stuck alone at Ifisi all day! The others said it wasn't too hard, so I decided to give it a try. We dropped Sheryl, Winston, and Amy off at Kauffman's and headed down to the area. We sang most of the way down, enjoying each others company and the beautiful drive. We ate breakfast, and then set out. The first 1/3 of the way was quite steep up, up, up. It wasn't long before I was quite worn out and realizing that this was probably the dumbest thing I could have done while still in recovery from malaria! But, I was determined to make it to the top, so with lots of resting and pushing, pushing myself- I managed to make it! I felt really bad when the others had to wait on me tho. :( It was worth it tho- the beautiful lake in the old volcano crater. The creation of God is an amazing thing, and I thoroughly enjoy getting new glimpses into His creativity. The others decided to hike down into the crater to the lake. I rested at the top and enjoyed the beautiful sunshine until all of a sudden the sun went behind the clouds and a cool drizzle began. Beka, Jeshua, and I slipped and slid down the wet mountainside, and the others followed shortly there after.”  end journal excerpts

Wednesday night, Zack's family arrived. They are here for nearly 2 months to help fill in for Tim and Sheryl as they go on furlough. It was great to be able to learn to know 5 of his younger siblings and parents in a relaxed retreat setting before heading home to our village. Friday morning, more visitors arrived- this time a bit more specifically for me! Three girls whom I spent time with at Hillcrest Home in Arkansas came to spend a few weeks in Tanzania as part of their 2 ½ month East Africa trip. Deb Lapp, Beth Smucker, and Lora Stoltzfus were warmly welcomed and immediately loaded up in the Land Rover with all the other young folks to go hike Mbeya Peak. I reluctantly made the decision to NOT go along as I was feeling pretty exhausted by that point. Right after everyone left, I crawled back into my bed (one in a huge dorm room that had 12 beds!) and slept for hours. It was an amazing day, but I was incredibly ready to see everyone come back and to have some action happening again.

Saturday and Sunday our retreat expanded to include all the Mbeya missionaries. We had the biggest group of wazungu Tanzania has ever seen for our mission. It was such a blessing to interact with everyone- lots of singing, volley ball, late night “earth-shattering” discussions, a Sunday morning church service in ENGLISH, and Dutch Blitz. (always Dutch Blitz!) It was a lovely week, all culminated in a heart wrenching end when Monday morning arrived and with it, the Zeiset family and Teresa's FastJet flight... or so we thought. After all the sad goodbyes were over, and tears were shed, I picked back up with normal life as bravely as possible. As we sat around making our plans for the day, we received word that the FastJet flight was unable to land due to the cloud cover and insufficient equipment to land the plane. (tiny new airports in Africa sometimes lack in important things!) To make a long story short, they ended up returning to Mbeya, and re-booked their flights for Friday. It was not exactly what we wanted to do...see each other again after all the painful goodbyes were over, but so it was.

Tuesday we returned to Ivuna...13 wazungu and our MOUNTAINS of luggage. Zack brought the Land Rover with his parents, four sisters, and all the luggage it could handle while Warren and Ben brought a lorry with the rest of the luggage. Deb, Beka, Rachel, and I boarded the bus for our trip home. It was a bumpy ride as the bus driver flew along. I flew entirely off my seat more times then I counted. The bus got quite dramatically stuck once and I looked at it skewed so recklessly across the muddy, goop-y road and in the ditch and wondered if it would ever get out. Well, with lots of man power, it did. :) 

It's been a week now, and we're back in our village routine. Back among the winding village paths, the crops growing tall and lush around us. Back to going to the clinic every morning and tending to our patients and their needs. There's lots of house work to do, neighbors to greet, and info to tell the Lapp family as they've been settling into their new house and role here in the village. They are doing very well at jumping in here and we have greatly appreciated all the spice they add to our Ivuna team. We've enjoyed yummy meals with the treats they brought from the States, singing out under the falling shadows of evening, greeting the chief, and other village activities that we've introduced them to. I have a feeling their 7 weeks here are going to go very fast.

Sorry, I don't have much clinic news this time- between being sick and going to town I've spent very little time in the clinic. Also, with farming season in full swing, the people are spending a lot of time in their fields and our patient count has dropped dramatically. I've been taking the opportunity to spend more time in Swahili study, and since Deb is here, we've been enjoying lots of good talks and times together. It's so much fun to introduce my life here to such a dear friend. Later this week, we anticipate the arrival of Beth and Lora in the village, as well as 2 other visitors who have been visiting at the mission in Mbeya.

God bless each one.

Kim- 'a life of love is only possible by getting in touch with the One who truly loves us. The closer I get to God's heart, the more I want to love others. I long to love because I have been so deeply loved.”