Beholding Him

Bad news: my camera battery died, and I lost my charger. Hence, no pictures. For those of you that know me well know that I am an avid picture-taker and that I am quite disappointed about this.

Also, sorry it has been so long since I last blogged! The last two weeks, I have been teaching the entire class, so my life the last few weeks has consisted of school and writing lesson plans from sun-up to sun-down. Here are the updates on the only things in my life not related to lessons:

• I killed a humongous cockroach AND the biggest spider I have ever seen in my apartment last week. My Chacos have not only been useful for walking everywhere, but they make excellent bug killers! I would've taken a picture, but like I said, my camera battery is dead. I left the remains of the unwelcomed visitors in my apartment, and the next day, they disappeared. I soon found out the culprit was a mouse that had made its home in my apartment! I have seen Cinderella too many times to kill the mouse, but I did chase it away with a broom. 2 of my neighbors came over to help me with this, and it was quite the comical scene. I must say, killing all these bugs makes me feel quite brave and Africa womanish!
• The other day, I was in a meeting at school, and all of a sudden, we heard blood curdling screams outside. We rushed to the window and saw these two girls writhing on the ground in pain, throwing off their clothes, and repeatedly screaming. They were being SWARMED by bees. It was one of the most awful things I have ever watched. We finally got the girls inside, and we started pulling bees everywhere off their body as they just whimpered and cried. I guess in Africa, if one bee stings, it sends off a scent that alerts all of the other bees, so you end up getting attacked by hundreds of bees. Needless to say, I am now terrified of being stung by bees. 
• The other weekend, there was a church choir convention going on right outside my apartment. Their voices sounded beautiful, but they went from 5:00 am to 12:00 am. I don't know how they do it! The one thing I do know, is Tanzanians LOVE to sing.
• On Saturday, many of the teachers went on a 4 hour hike up to a cross on top of a mountain. It was absolutely beautiful! (the following pictures are taken from Megan's facebook... thanks Megan!)




sitting at the foot of the cross at the top

 



Some of the cute kids that followed us for a while on our hike yelling, "Mzungu!" How I'm going to miss that when I return back to the states.

Lately, I have been dwelling on Psalm 34:5, "Those who look to Him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame." and Isaiah 60:5, "Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy..." I've been thinking what it looks like to truly behold the Lord's face... to be so enraptured by it that your entire being swells with joy and that you become radiant with the glory of His face. How do I stay in this mindset in the midst of planning for lessons, teaching, and spending time with people? All I know is that I want to behold His face. I want my heart to be set on His face, and to be captivated by His beauty at all times. 

This is an excerpt from a sermon by Charles Spurgeon. It convicts and challenges me, and I hope that it can do the same for you. It's about being a good soldier of Christ (and is actually what we shared a little bit of with the prisoners in Uganda.)

 

"The Christian soldier not only acknowledges Jesus to be his King, but his heart is full of loving devotion

to Him as such. Nothing can make his heart leap like the mention of that august, that more than royal name. He remembers who Jesus is, the Son of God, “the Wonderful, the Counselor, the Mighty God.” He remembers what Jesus did, how He loved him, and gave Himself for him. He looks to the Cross and remembers the streams of blood whereby he was redeemed, even when they were enemies of God. He remembers Christ in Heaven, enthroned at the right hand of the Father.

He loves Him there, and it ravishes his heart to think that God has highly exalted the once-despised and rejected One, and given Him a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of things in Heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth. He pants for the time when the Crucified shall come in His Glory, and rule the nations as their liege Lord. He loves Jesus so that he feels he belongs to Him altogether, bought with His blood, redeemed by His power, and comforted by His Presence. He delights to know that he is not his own, for he is bought with a price. And since he loves his King, and loves Him with an ardor unquenchable—for many waters cannot drown his love, neither can the floods quench it." -Charles Spurgeon

(If you want to read the rest of the sermon, here's the link! http://www.spurgeongems.org/vols16-18/chs938.pdf)

Also, for anyone else who wants to be challenged in their faith, check out the videos here. They're short videos and are a great way to start off the day! www.ellerslie.com/Bravehearted_Thots.html

That is my prayer for myself and for you, that we will behold the Lord's face and that our hearts will be ravished by Him, by His glory, by His sacrifice, and by His love.

Love and miss you all... but I will be seeing you in 2 WEEKS! 

Simplicity

I just got back from a weekend retreat with my church, and it was such an uplifting time of hearing how God's at work in the lives of everyone around us. We serve the God of the nations, and He is at work all over the world!


This is where the retreat was at. Such a beautiful and peaceful place to have it.

We spent the time worshipping, having seminars on outreach and witnessing, playing volleyball, and having a Caleigh (a Scottish dance... kind of like a square dance. Really fun!) 

This one family from the church lives accross the river. This is how they travel accross the river. It's like a little zipline chair. Isn't that awesome! I felt like Tarzan at home in the jungle.





Loved the tree swing! Only wish I had Alupot to swing with.

This past week has been really good! As the time to come home draws nearer, I just get so excited to see my family and friends again. So this past week, I was missing home a bit, and I was asking the Lord what my purpose was here. And He provided me with SO much encouragement this week! I got a letter, some encouraging emails, and one of my students and his sister presented me with a gift this week. They made a book about 2 talking butterflies (named after their names) that love "Miss Taicy". It was one of the sweetest gifts I've ever received and such a great reminder of my purpose here: to love. The sister asked me to start helping her with her homework on Mondays. She's a Muslim, so I'm praying for this opportunity. Also, I've gotten to know my neighbor! She's a German girl serving as a nanny for a missionary couple here. We've been studying and memorizing the book of Philippians together every night, and it's been so good. The Lord has shown Himself faithful time and time again. I am so thankful that He has been with me throughout every step of the journey. 

Wiebke (my neighbor) and I

Although there are times that I do miss home, I must say that I do love Africa. I love the simplicity of it all: I love that we don't need a band and fancy lights to worship God. I love seeing clothes dry on the line outside. I love that I have to walk everywhere and have ample time to pray. I love that everyone greets you on the streets. I love receiving hugs from random kids on the street. I love how hospitality is a way of life. I love playing soccer in a dress and sandals. I love seeing people randomly dancing/singing in the streets. I love how fashion isn't so important. I love not being so BUSY and that there are less distractions. I love watching African sunsets every night. I love that I have to depend on God and that He is my refuge. Although I miss all of you so much, I have to say that I am so glad the Lord has brought me here. Only about 33 more days until I get to see all of your lovely faces! But until then, I want to cherish my time here and soak in everything that the Lord wants to teach me.

Mungu akubariki! (God bless!) 

Safari Stacy

I started teaching math this past week! AND I really loved it! I love having to think on my feet, modify for each of the students, and think of creative ways to teach. It's been pretty reaffirming that I did choose the right career path :)

sunrise next to the baobab tree. I had to get up quite early for it, but it was completely worth it :) And I don't know why this picture insists on being placed here, but we saw this while on safari.

Also, we had Wednesday and Thursday off of school because of Eide (a Muslim holiday). 4 of the teachers and myself went to Ruaha National Park, and I became SAFARI STACY! Let me tell you, it was awesome! We saw loads of lions, elephants, giraffes, zebras, hippos, crocodiles, ostriches, monkeys, warthogs, hyenas, antelope, dik-diks, etc. etc. We also got uncomfortably close to the lions and elephants... within FEET, but thankfully we survived! The Lion King soundtrack played repeatedly in my head throughout the safari... it was just so fitting. I took over 250 pictures, but I will just put up a few for you here. The pictures don't do it justice, but they give you a glimpse of some of God's incredibly creative works! 

so many giraffes. They were awesome!

 

water buffalo. I kind of think they look like girls with pigtails, but supposedly they're dangerous



Mufasa! We got a little too close for comfort with this lion... and he looks hungry, doesn't he?!

 

This is Sarabi with baby Simba. Above is his father Mufasa.

Self-explanatory. It's kind of hard to see, but there's a lion laying down that was QUITE close! 



These are the zebras we watched the sunset with. Amazing.

 

we ended up driving a little bit too close to these elephants (they were blocking the road). The big elephant looked like he was getting ready to charge us as we passed. Scary! 



"The heavens tell the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world." -Psalm 19:1-4

All of us teachers in our BACKYARD for the night. So incredible. Got to wake up to the sound of elephants and hippos!


While we were on safari, we drove around all day, and I found myself thinking about the future a lot... what it would be like coming back home, student teaching in the states, what I'm going to do after I graduate, upcoming weddings of friends, etc. All of a sudden it hit me: I'm on a safari in Africa and this is what I'm thinking about?! 2 Corinth. 10:5 came to mind: "We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." I realized that I was seeing some of God's incredible creation, and I wanted to be in His presence and have my thoughts focused on the amazing God He is! While we were driving around, I started to use the time to recite Scripture, pray, sing praises (in my head!), commit all my worries to Him, and praise Him for His awesome creation. Not only was it a fantastic safari, but I had some great time with the Lord, which left me feeling refreshed and more ready for the months ahead :)
 
We sang this song in church today, and it really resonated with me. This is my prayer for myself and for anyone who may be reading this. Lord, may we live for your glory!!