More to Come

Even though I graduated from college four years ago I still remember that day clearly.  We all sat in the gym which they had converted that day to be a sort of a stage for us and we listened to the president of the SGA quote Dr. Seuss, "Oh, the Places You'll Go!"  I still remember the atmosphere filling with a slightly sarcastic air; we were graduating from community college, what places would we go?  We were from a tiny town in rural Maryland, what things would we see?  To be honest, not many of us had grand aspirations, most were just there to get a slightly better job and live a quiet life, not a bad thing, but really what people would we meet?  Even then her proclamation stayed with me, "Oh, the places you'll go!"  I've thought of her words many times recently, of how right she was.  Who would have expected the beauty or the wonder of the places God has graced me to go or the people he has honored me to meet?  Oh, the places I've gone!  The urban center of Cape Town with the beauty of Table Mountain and the bright blue ocean always in view.  The breathtaking Zambezi flood plain, painted in hues of blue and green and wrapped in the golden light of the rouge setting sun.  The pulsing city of Belgrade with its amazing Eastern European vibe.  Oh, the people I've met!  What an honor to meet such and amazing and eclectic group of people all over the world with a heart to see God's Kingdom come no matter the cost to themselves!  The Van Collers who gave up their lives in South Africa to speak the gospel to the hurting and unreached in Zambia.  The teachers at the VOH school in Mongu who lay down their lives everyday to see the most vulnerable children in Zambia protected and taken care of.  The pastors and members of New Horizons Church in Belgrade who fight the spiritual battle everyday for their city and their nation, who seek out the most hurting and addicted in their community rather than shying away from the pain they know that it could bring to their own lives.  The leaders at my own church in Christiansburg and all those around them who willingly lay down their lives to help anyone who asks them.  These are the people I've been privileged and honored to meet; and that's just been in the four years since I graduated from college.  And my question in this is always, "God how could you be so good?"  His answer comes softly every time I look at the words carefully pasted on my journal: But my child, just wait, there's still "More to Come."

Hope and Humility

I once heard humility defined as seeing oneself in proper perspective to God and man.  To me that fits.  What could be more humbling than knowing how desperately you need God or how much you need your fellow man?  When I see in proper perspective I see how utterly hopeless my life 
would be if it was not for God's moment by moment intervention.  This revelation brings me to my knees, sometimes it puts me on my face in tears.  But it does not end at how hopeless I would be without God; no, this perspective carries on to how much hope my life contains because God is in my life.  He has said, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."  As I look at the situations and circumstances in my life, my need for grace is so apparent.  The sadness of leaving my friends and students in Zambia; the strange circumstances I found upon my return; and now the search for a job, not knowing what direction to look.  Yes, grace is what I need in this moment.  But here is my hope, that God's grace is sufficient for my every need.  That I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.  That He will give me the grace I need even as I humble myself to ask for it.  That though I cannot carry on in Zambia, there is no gap left by my absence because God cares for those He loves.  Those are the thoughts that cause an inadvertent smile to begin to form on my lips even as I ponder the decisions and paths before me as well as the things that I have left behind.  And so I hope in humility that God's plans and purposes in this time will prevail.  And I hope and pray that you too find hope in whatever circumstances you find yourself in today.  God is faithful.  His love will never end.  Selah.

The Wonders of the World

As many of you may have already heard, the past two weeks I’ve been on a sort of expedition or adventure.  At the suggestion of one of the head missionaries at the Zambia Project, I left Mongu for a couple weeks for a time of refreshment and rest in Cape Town, South Africa.  During this time, I was to attend a women’s conference put on by Hillsong and to do my very best to rest up for the rest of my journey in Mongu.  On April 8^th, I and three other missionaries embarked on what turned out to be a five day drive to Cape Town from Mongu.  We had some unexpected occurrences, including but not limited to: four tire changes (or maybe it was five, I honestly lost count), three elephants crossing the road while we drove at night, a stop by Victoria Falls in Livingstone, and some awesome Afrikaans folk in Southern Namibia.  To say that it was an adventure would be an understatement.  But the adventures did not stop there as we arrived Cape Town and we had a daily view of the beautiful Table Mountain, named last year as one of the ten natural wonders of the world.  I also had a glimpse of the culture shock which many missionaries endure when crossing from a place of such desolate poverty into a place which sometimes has such posh lifestyles.  Even amidst all this beauty and strange emotion, I encountered yet another wonder: the soothing and gentle whisper of God, reassuring me of who I am.  Reassuring me of who He is.  Reminding me of His heart for the orphan and the widow.  Reminding me of my purpose and my value.  This truly was a wonder to my dry heart; as streams in a desert, His words watered my soul daily, bringing peace in what seemed to be a world of chaos.  His gentle voice began to wash away the hardness that had begun to develop in my heart, not hardness against those in need, but hardness against the attacks the enemy has waged against me since I arrived in Zambia.  So many days in Cape Town I sat…just sat…in wonder.  In wonder of His love.  In wonder of His grace.  In wonder of Him.  His Presence is the greatest wonder that I could encounter on this journey and the one which brings me the most peace.  And so I drank in the beauty and refreshment that He sweetly lavished on me.  As I return to Mongu this week it is my deep desire and hope that the wonder I have experienced in His presence will not be a fleeting moment as when one looks at a natural wonder, you see and then it is gone when you walk away, but instead that these wonders would carry with me as one who lives at the foot of Table Mountain, drinking in its wonder day by day never loosing that sense of awe.  

Welcome to My Day

It’s still dark when my alarm goes off.  I quickly hit it to make that obnoxious noise stop.  Then, as I do every day, I lie in bed and think about my day.  What will happen at school today?  Do I have what it takes to teach these kids?  At VOH school we take our roles as educators very seriously.  Young Katongo tells us that he has no one to talk to at home so school is the place where he has an outlet to speak his mind.  Mubila has positive affirmation and two guaranteed meals a day at school, which is not something that is necessarily always true at home.  Little Joseph feeds on every word we say to him, nourishing his mind on each morsel of information he can grab a hold of.  Naomi is learning how to receive adult interaction not only on a regular basis but also without being the center of our attention at all times that she is with us.  Each day at school is vitally important.  And each morning that weighs heavy on my mind, keeping me in bed all the longer.  When I finally roll out of bed and get ready I make the trek up our immense hill to school.  Immediately I am met by children wanting to talk or to get a high five.  I go and talk to my fellow teachers about what is going on in Mongu or about the children or about our weekends, whatever is the most interesting that day.  After we spend some time together, it’s off to work.  We spend the day playing games, singing songs, and teaching the children everything we think they need to learn.  It’s loud and chaotic and fun and wonderful.  At the end of the day, I leave school exhausted, hoping that I find enough energy to complete whatever evening activities lay before me.  I collapse onto my bed, waiting for the noise in my head to stop before moving on to my evening activities.  I look forward to my times in the evenings with the other medium term missionaries and catching up with people over Skype.   Then I prepare myself to start again tomorrow.  

On Leadership

Recently we've been having many discussions about leadership at Hope Church.  What does it look like to be a leader and what does service to the Lord really entail?  I know many of you have much more wisdom on the subject than I do, but I thought I would share some of the conversations that we've had.  Leadership is meant to influence.  Some of the most valuable things we can influence others with is hope.  Leaders know that every move they make is watched by others and they seek to make each move to glorify God to influence others to walk with the Lord, to bring hope into their lives.  They must be people of integrity, who speak words of life because people listen when they speak.  Leaders take responsibility, they don't cop out when the people they are leading mess up.  I mean check out Moses when the Israelites made the golden calf, he says to God, "if you don't forgive them, please blot my name out of your book."  How is that for leadership?  He wasn't even there when they sinned and yet he takes responsibility for it.  He stands in the gap for them and puts his own life on the line to defend them even when they've royally screwed up.  Leaders stand their ground when things get hard.  They persevere under trial because they know that the testing of their faith produces endurance.  They find their strength in the Lord and they know that they must be refreshed in Him daily if they want to survive in the positions they have been assigned.  Leaders don't lord it over the people they lead but instead seek to serve them.  They know that "Whoever seeks to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for my [Jesus'] sake shall find it."  They don't seek a title or a position but push others toward greatness and seek to be surpassed by their peers and the ones they mentor.  So are you really a leader?  Am I?  I think by the grace of God we all are called to be and by His strength we all can be.
Grace and Peace.
Rose

Something Worth Fighting For

It has been quite a while since my last post and much has happened during that time.  Since my last post, five of the medium termers have gone home, which makes base a much quieter place.  We’ve also had several more weeks of school and as Pre-School teachers we are beginning to see the fruit of our hard labor (and it is hard!).  Children who knew almost nothing just eight weeks ago, now know basic shapes, colors, numbers and the beginnings of phonic sounds.  It’s amazing!  And I’m very proud of God’s babies that I have the privilege of having in my class!!  (Even if I get annoyed beyond all reason with them on most days).  Not only are they learning, but their overall classroom behavior is improving.  Praise God!  I’ve also stepped down from children’s church on Sundays, which gives me a nice break from being in charge of children.  On base, we had such a nice weekend last week, where six of us sat down for three nights in a row to watch the Lord of the Rings movies.  I haven’t laughed so hard since leaving home and it was refreshing to be in the company of friends for such a long time.  And yes, I did say we laughed, I’m afraid that Lord of the Rings will never be the same for me.  So as I continue to walk on this epic journey called life, I’m thankful for the reminder of Samwise which paraphrased goes something like this, “The people of the great stories, they had many opportunities to quit.  But they didn’t.  They pressed through, because they had hope, hope that there is something worth fighting for, some good in this world.”  I bid you good night my dear friends and remind you to press on, because there is Someone worth fighting for, and He has already won. :) 

Grace and Peace,

Rose

Grace Sufficient

"Tomorrow is going to be chaos, there will be children crying and wetting themselves and they will cry when they see you because you are the first makua (literal "English-speaking", practical "whitey") they have ever seen."  This was the warning I and my co-teacher George (who thankfully is a Lozi) received the day before our first day of school.  Needless to say it was enough to put the fear of God into me.  The day was indeed a form of organized chaos, but there were no tears and no accidents, and though the children were slightly enamored by my ivory skin, they did not run in fear.  And though the following days have been filled with crying children, "accidents", and defiance...there has been another element much stronger than all these...grace.   George and I are an awesome team and work our very hardest not only to teach these children but to show them the love of Christ while we teach, but let's be honest here, we're both rookie teachers and we have two classes of nearly thirty kids every day most of whom do not know English and have never been in a structured environment like this before.  So for the first few days (and even still) I woke up every morning thinking "what have I gotten myself into?!" but each time I was reminded of the verse in 2 Corinthians, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."  I was also reminded of something that has been a personal word of encouragement to me, that God will not call me into something He has not also given me grace for.  Each day it has been exciting to see the ways that God graces me and George, He always steps in just when I think we're about to crash and burn! Ha! Moral of the story: Preschool is hard but God is great and thankfully He made children adorable. ;)  Until next time my dear friends, trust in the God of all grace because He supplies grace sufficient to whatever need you have.  And don't loose that childlike quality that sings and dances in the rain and forgets about convention from time to time! :)

Grace and peace!
Rose