Through the Wardrobe

So, I apologize beforehand, but this is going to be a lengthy blogpost... hopefully you guys can bear with me! I am now writing from America, and it is hard to believe that last week at this time, I was in Africa. It already feels so far away.

So, my time at the beach was absolutely wonderful! I had an amazing time reading books, spending time in the Word, journaling, taking long walks on the beach with the Lord, swimming in the ocean, and eating really good food :) It was such a blessing to have that time with Him where I had nothing but time to soak in His presence.

One day, as I was walking along the shore, a guy approached me and asked what I was doing. I was rather annoyed (as this had been about the 10th man that had approached me... confessing his love for me or asking for my contact information), but I told him that I was talking with God. Curious, he said, "So you are a Christian?" I told him I was, and he proceeded to ask me to tell him more about Christianity. Before I came to the beach, I had prayed that I would have opportunities to share the Gospel, and our God is so faithful... what a perfect opportunity He gave me! I shared the Gospel with him, and he seemed intrigued. He didn't have a Bible, and I just so happened to have an English/Swahili Bible on me, so I gave it to him. He left me right away to go read it. Once again, it's such a reminder to me that missions is everywhere I go... it's all about having a heart that's ready and willing to be used by Him. It's a great thing to be reminded of as I was about to head back to the States :)


my little hut that I stayed in!

 



some of my favorite things: Bible, journaling, the beach, and a bottle of pop :)



SO beautiful!! What an incredible reminder that we serve a God who is faithful and who fulfills ALL His promises!



the moon one night... pictures do not do it justice!



the view right outside my beach hut!

 

so this is me and the Lord on one of our many walks on the beach :) Haha, there were definitely Africans laughing at me when I took this picture... I don't even want to know what they thought!



the resort... such a beautiful place!

While at the resort, I had a lot of time to look back on my journals and reflect on what the Lord has taught  me these past 4 months. I know that the Lord will continue to reveal to me more of what He's taught me in Africa throughout the next months/years... but here are some of the major things that I have already learned from experience:

• Humility- I am weak, but God is strong and I must depend on Him for His strength. 1 Corinth. 3:7 is my theme verse for the past months: "Neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who makes things grow." I must be faithful in planting and watering, but trust God to make things grow... and to give Him all the glory when things do grow!
• In order to love my neighbor as myself, I must give of my time, energy, and money.
• Hospitality is a means through which the Lord works powerfully.
• I need Christ to love through me. I need to see each person as a person for whom Christ died, and I am to love them as such.
• Loving Jesus comes first. Serving Him comes second and as a result of my love for Him.
• Missions is everywhere. All I need to do is have a heart that's willing and obedient to whatever He asks of me.
• In order to further the Gospel, I have to forfeit my "rights"... "rights" to a warm shower, to having clean clothes, to have my own personal space, etc.
• Overall, I have just fallen so much more in love with Jesus, and I am ever learning what it looks like to have a heart that is completely taken up with the realities of who He is and eyes that are captured by His majesty.

The plane ride back was long and tiring, but on the positive side, I had a 6-hour layover in Amsterdam, so I took a little boat tour of the city! Who knew that Amsterdam was a little Venice?! It was beautiful, but definitely a stark contrast to African culture. All of a sudden, people on the streets didn't ask me how my family, my home, and my life was. Actually, eye contact was completely avoided. And instead of paying the equivalent of 25 cents for a pop, I had to pay about $4.00 for a pop (Amsterdam is ridiculously expensive).

so charming, isn't it?

all the architecture reminded me of Orange City :) Our own little Dutch town in the middle of America!

It was such a happy moment to be met at the airport by my wonderful parents and to spend the weekend with some of my amazing friends. It's actually been a rather easy transition... I feel like I've been in America forever. But every once and a while, I am just overcome... with ache for Africa and the kids there, with the realization of how incredibly blessed I am, or with a disgust of some of the luxuries that we have in America. Last night, I was just hit with the fact that my bedroom is 3 times the size of a house that 4 people live in in Africa... not to mention that I have a bed, clothes in my closet, food in the refrigerator, and a car in my driveway. I am so grateful for these things, but sometimes I'm not sure what to do about the disparity I see between my life and theirs. I am fully confident that the people in Africa are happy and that the answer doesn't lie in putting carpeting in their house or putting an extension on their house. However, I do want to make sure that I'm not spending money on luxurious things for myself when some of my new friends can't afford to send their kids to school or feed their family. I'm definitely still processing things, and I hope to continue to struggle with these things and continue to be impacted by my time in Africa.

so happy to be back with these girls again! Thanks for coming up to visit!!



so good to be back with my sister again!

Thank you all so much for your prayers and encouragement these 4 months. I am SO thankful for it!   

Change

As I am writing this, I am on a bus, leaving Iringa and headed for Dar. I have such mixed feelings… feelings of excitement to finally see my wonderful family and friends, yet a sadness for leaving a place that has so captured my heart. Somehow, there is a deep knowing inside of me that this will not be my last time in Africa. I’m not sure when or where the Lord will take me back, but I am confident that He still has plans for me here.

I couldn’t have asked for a better last day of school or last weekend here in Iringa. We had a little part y at school, and the students sang me the sweetest “Goodbye Stacy song”, gave me a t-shirt that they all signed, and made a very cute book for me. We ate cake and enjoyed our last time together. I’m going to miss my sweet students a lot.

the teachers that I worked with

On Saturday, the teachers were gracious enough to go on a 3 hour drive to Musoma, so I could fulfill my dreams of swimming in a waterfall in Africa. We had a lovely 10 km hike by the river complete with two guides- one leading with a machete and the other in the back with a gun. It all felt very adventurous, exotic, and daring… and that it was as we saw loads of elephant dung strewn along the path AND a COBRA AND A PYTHON!!! That’s right, a cobra AND a python. I would’ve walked right into the black cobra had our guide not stopped me. I know you’re supposed to act all calm and slowly move away, but I couldn’t help myself… I darted behind the man with a gun as fast as I could. We then saw the python on a rock, and THEN, he went in the water and swam. Did you know pythons could SWIM?! I had no idea, and I sure wish I found that out AFTER I fulfilled my life’s dream of swimming in a waterfall. But thankfully, the pythons stay away from the pounding of the waterfalls, so we had an incredible afternoon filled with showering under the falls, talking, having a picnic, and having some time with the Lord by the river. It was the perfect way to spend my last Saturday in Tanzania, so thanks to all those who made it happen!

I love African trees... so unique.

 Black cobra! This was after I felt I had maintained a safe distance

right before he plunged into the water. Sick!

this is elephant dung. It's huge!

I’ve been thinking about what it’s going to be like to adjust back to life in America, and here’s a list of some of the things I will have to adjust to (some will be quite easy to adjust to, others quite difficult!)

·         No longer being a celebrity

·         No longer having random men in the street confessing their undying love for me every single day.

·         Being able to drive… along with that driving on the right side of the road

·         Having a toilet that actually flushes

·         Having a hot shower

·         Not seeing people dancing and singing in the streets every day

·         Having reliable electricity

·         Not having random people in the streets telling me I’m beautiful (my self-esteem is going to take quite a blow when I get back to the states!)

·         Not getting hugs from random children

·         Not falling asleep to the sound of a mosquito buzzing in my ear or a chorus of dogs barking every single night. (at least I HOPE this is an adjustment I have to make!)

·         Not waking up to the rooster every morning

·         Not getting to go on hikes every weekend

·         Worshiping with a band

·         Not waking up to perfect weather every single day

·         Not having to wash my clothes by hand (Lord, thank you for washers!)

·         Being able to talk with people without half our conversation consisting of “Can you hear me?”

·         Huge grocery stores… well, stores in general

·         Being back in a materialistic culture

·         Being able to brush my teeth out of the faucet… wow!

·         The business of life in the States.

There are a lot of changes to take place. Sometimes, I think it will be like I’m stepping back through the wardrobe after being in Narnia… no time has passed, nothing’s changed, and it will all feel like a dream. No matter what changes lie ahead, I am so thankful to know that the Lord is constant, and He is the same God in Africa and in America. He is still faithful. He is still loving. He is still holy.

Well, I’ll be seeing you all VERY soon! Please ask me about my time in Africa… I’d LOVE to share about it with you!

In Him,
Stacy

Twice in a Week!

So, in order to make up for the last few weeks, I decided to do TWO blog posts in one week... pretty crazy, I know. Also, good news: I found someone who has the same size camera charger as I do, so I can take pictures now!!! I'm pretty excited about this.

This is my last week being at Iringa International School, and I'm trying to soak up every minute of it: spending time with the kids, taking long walks around the town, and eating chapattis and samosas. This week is filled with a lot of lasts. Some good, some bad. I was quite happy to finish washing my last load of laundry by hand, and I'll be quite happy to take my last cold shower. However, it will be hard to have my last walk along the dusty path to school, and it will be difficult to have my last day with my students.  

This past weekend, I went to a meeting site for kids sponsored through Compassion International with my new friend, Lydia (she's a Tanzanian woman who makes chapattis for the teachers at school... so good!). There were about 60 kids that met there. They sang songs, learned verses, and listened to a Bible story. It gave my heart SUCH joy to hear sweet African kids singing at the top of their lungs in worship to Jesus. It was a small piece of Smile, and I enjoyed it a lot. I've been going there every day after school this week, and I met two kids Musa and Hawa. We played soccer, learned the alphabet and shapes through drawing with sticks in the dirt, and sang songs together. I only wish that I would've known about this place sooner so that I could've gotten to know the kids more.

After hanging out witkids in the morning, Lydia and I spent time together. She just got a job at an international school about 8 hours away. We celebrated by getting pedicures... only $1.30 U.S. dollars :)

On Saturday afternoon, some of the teachers and I went to Kisalnsa where many of the families from school went on a camping trip. It was beautiful! It reminded me a little of Minnesota because there was a lake/pond and a forest. We also had a delicious meal at night... a nice little break from the African food. It's been so fun getting to know my students more outside of school... something I don't think I would have the opportunity to do so much in America.

On Sunday, I was walking to church, and this tiny, sickly-looking kitten was caught in a thorn bush. He was meowing like crazy, and I couldn't stand the sight of him caught in all those thorns, so I got two Africans to help me get him out (no worries mom and dad... I used paper to get him out. I didn't touch him!) The Africans were talking and laughing in Swahili. No need for translation: American girls are crazy. I named the kitten Francis and tried to give it milk, but it was too weak to drink it. It was so sad to watch. He was shaking violently and meowing. We set it under a tree and told him he would die with love. Later on, he disappeared. We like to think that some cat took him under its wing and nursed it back to health.

Only 6 more days in Iringa, and then I'll be going to the beach in Dar es Salaam for four days. I'm so thankful to have this time to reflect on all that the Lord's taught me here in Africa and to prepare myself to head back to the states. My friend said it well, "It will be like a honeymoon with Jesus." Yes it will be, and I'm looking forward to spending the time with my Beloved!

"Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in eway. The Lord be with all of you." -2 Thessalonians 3:16