It was a day that we had baptisms of two twin boys at church. I was standing in the lunch room, catching up with my mom.

"Hi Gwandma," I heard a little voice say. A little voice that at 6 years old, still struggled with the "R" sound.

I didn't realize who this dark-haired girl in the red polka dot dress was until she had her arms wrapped around my middle in an embrace. I looked down to find my niece, and all at once became overjoyed, greeting her with, "Hi Sweetie!"

It had been 7 months since I had seen her sweet face in our church.

As if her sudden presence turned on a faucet, my eyes started to brim with tears. I looked over at my mom to see that her eyes matched my own.

"I can't do this," she told me, shaking her head. Losing control, she fled to the nearest bathroom.

I almost followed her, and then thought better of it, knowing in my heart that if I joined her, we both would return with puffy, red faces.

So instead, I stood by myself in the lunch room. For a moment, everything continued to buzz on around me while I composed myself. Breathing deeply and willing my tears to go away, I wiped at my eyes and told myself to be strong.

A couple of minutes later, I found my 2 oldest nephews, the brothers of my niece. I was glad to see they had accompanied their dad, as well, in attending the baptismal service on this special day. The twin boys getting baptized had him as a Sunday School teacher a year before, and had invited him to come.

I sat down while my oldest nephew ate his lunch and chatted with him awhile. We talked about his school, his teacher, his friends. When it was time to head upstairs, I stood up front with my nieces and nephews and sang. During the song service, my oldest nephew looked at me and asked, "Should I sit with Grandma?"

"Yes," I answered immediately. "She would love that."

He needed no further prompting. During that afternoon's service, our bench was filled with 6 of my mom's grandkids + myself from 2 different families... more than it has seated in quite some time. It was almost like things had returned to the way they were before.

I sat closely to my two oldest nephews and helped them with puzzle books, and watched two older boys be baptized.

Sometimes I think it's rather silly that I allow myself to become so upset over something that seems so small. But these special moments with my nieces and nephews... seeing them run upstairs from Sunday School every Sunday, eat a chocolate donut, sing upstairs, sit with them during the service... all those little moments add up. Suddenly, those small things equate to something really big.

So it's not that I mourn for where they are now... which is still a lovely church environment with a wonderful Christian teaching. Rather, I mourn what has seemingly been taken from me, which are all those little moments in the future that I will never have back.

Yet in all things, God has a plan. I am learning to see the good in all situations, regardless of what my own desires are.

For those of you who have journeyed along with me on my African trip via my stories, thanks for reading! If you don't have Facebook, I will post the pictures that the FB world has been enjoying over the past couple of weeks. There are quite a few albums-- the early ones are "teasers" that I posted, and then the rest of them will refresh your minds from my blog posts.

At the very end, I am posting a video that summarizes my African experience. It's called "Africa 2011." Click on it to view.

Enjoy!

Taste of London

Taste of Zambia

African Journey: Traveling & Tour of London

Sports Day: Wednesday in Africa

Our VBS Day: Thursday in Africa

Friday in Africa

Last Days in Africa 1

Last Days in Africa 2

Africa 2011

Love you all!

T

Last Days in Africa...

Saturday

Heather’s alarm went off at 5:20 a.m. I snoozed in bed until she told me that we had only 5 more minutes before we had to leave and then I reluctantly rolled out of bed.

It was early and cold, and my bed was warm, not to mention one of the most comfortable beds I have slept in for quite some time.

After getting dressed and finding out where the bus was, we boarded. The team slowly but surely trickled in, and we started off for the airport in Lusaka. The two teams with us all week were headed home, including several who had been there for 2 weeks, a group of 3 who had arrived a week before, and 2 who had spent the summer in Zambia.

About 15 minutes into the journey, our bus driver, Joseph, pulled to the side of the road. Bus trouble.

It didn’t take long for a few team members to fantasize about being left in Africa for a couple of more days until the next flight would be leaving. However, fortunately we were able to flag down a couple of other vans to load our luggage and our bodies into.

We were carrying another African in the front seat of our van, but he hopped out halfway through and since I was sitting backwards on the ground in the back, I took his seat in the front.

It was then that I fell in love with the front seat. For starters, I quite enjoy the unique situation of being seated on the left rather than the right as a passenger. Secondly, at this particular point in the day, it was early morning and the sun was rising in front of me. In a slightly drowsy mood, I dozed as the sunlight streamed in and warmed my face. Third, I really like being able to see right out the windshield in front of me, as it offers a great view of Zambia culture like an Imax show. Why did I not discover this sooner?

We were soon at the airport, so we hopped out of the vehicles and took any luggage in sight, quickly stepping into line and allowing the necessary team members to come claim their luggage. We said our good-byes to them, and when we were confident that they would, indeed, make their flight, we wondered outside and waited for Joseph to come pick us up. Unfortunately, he was 40 minutes away.

I worked on a Word Jumble in the pleasant morning air, and we chatted and made plans for the day. I was delighted when David suggested going out to breakfast and then shopping.

Joseph finally arrived, and he took us to Mint Café. It was a cute little café set in a shopping mall, with green chairs, tables, and menus and over-sized silverware decorating the walls. Their selection was awesome! I ordered a waffle with caramel sauce and cinnamon sugar… it was amazing… similar to eating an elephant ear for breakfast. I also added a mocha-nutella-hazelnut blended coffee drink. Dream come true! Up until this point, I wasn’t sure that Africa had very many sweets or desserts. It was cause for concern. Worries vanished!

David ordered a hearty breakfast, Heather a mushroom-egg omelet, Whitney had an avocado-egg omelet + a Twix crepe, and Kailey had mint tea and some delicious-looking toast with veggies and meat on top.

We then went in and out of a few other shops. Before doing so, we met up with a guy in the parking lot to buy some Zambian soccer jerseys. I broke down and bought one for myself and for my brother after seeing how cool they were. I wore mine for the rest of the day.

David took us to another mall that was better for shopping, and we all purchased some fun things at a craft store, and bought some soccer balls for the LS kids at a Walmart-type store.

Around noon, we grabbed lunch at another AMAZING café. In the words of Heather, “It smells like heaven in here.”

We all ordered a sandwich, and then once seated we had the opportunity to select from various delicious smoothies, coffees, teas, and shakes. Heather and David both ordered a white-chocolate freezola. Oh my word. It came as a frosty white concoction, and it tasted similar to drinking a frozen marshmallow. It was very good!

Luke met back up with us at this point, and we hopped in the van that Josep had been driving us around in. We traded it our for the huge bus we had originally started out in, and all 6 of us rode back in it to Kitwe!

The journey was long. I started out in the front again, my new favorite spot. I eventually made my way back… most of the others had stretched out across 3-4 seats to take a nap. I did the same, then headed up for some more front-seat action. We stopped a few different times for bathroom breaks, and bought a bunch of oranges. They tasted SO good and refreshing. I peeled and ate 2 oranges and shared some with Joseph. Cookies also helped sustain us all as we talked about many things on the way back.

We didn’t arrive back to Lifesong until around 7 pm. We were dropped off back to our little house to take showers. The water heater wasn’t turned on, so I experienced my first freezing cold shower. Doable, but not enjoyable.

The boys had planned on coming back in about 30 minutes so we could eat dinner and watch a movie. Heather was busy making eggs and potatoes. Whitney had just stepped out of her shower, and everything went black.

“This is not happening!” I heard her shout.

It was. Power outage. It was completely dark, but fortunately I had just opened up my laptop to download some pictures, so I used it as a light for Whitney. Kailey had a laptop, and Heather dug out her Farm ‘n Fleet flashlight. We set it up in the kitchen and sat on the couches for about an hour. Whitney went and got her pillow, and laid on the kitchen table for awhile!

We had a little pow-wow there. Almost an hour and a half went by before the boys finally showed up. The first thing David did was give us a cell phone. Thank goodness! We were wondering how to communicate with them.

David and I broke down and ate some cereal. It was 9pm and with no dinner or electricity, dinner had been put on hold.

Right after my 2^nd bowl of cereal, we decided to put the movie Tangled on. Luke had just gone on a hunt for some matches and had no luck, but brought in a little brown puppy from outside. I was mildly disgusted until I sat down on the couch and it fell asleep in my lap… and then it was so cute, I couldn’t not like it. It kept stretching on me and growling in its sleep. Aw.

Suddenly, the room lit up. It had been about an hour and a half without lights, so we were thankful for electricity! Heather hopped up and finished making dinner as we enjoyed our movie.

It was a long day, but a fun one… we finished it off relaxing and everyone crashed afterwards.

Sunday

We were up and ready for church by 8am, when David picked us up. We attended United Church of Zambia, the same place we went last year.

As always, I love the African singing and praise. They move and dance with such joy. The lesson was weaved with the phrase, “Your days are numbered, so live them wisely.” The pastor read from Ecclesiastes 3 (one of my favorites!), Daniel, and Ephesians (about walking carefully). It was a good reminder to live responsibly and live intentionally… I sometimes forget that my days are numbered, and it is only God who knows how much time I have. I must make every day count and not waste a minute or this precious time—it’s truly a gift.

The service was only about 2 hours long, and we left a little early since they were going right into communion.

After church, Heather, Kailey, Whit, David, Luke, and Shane (he is going to be moving down here in September with his wife and kids to help run the school) all drove to Nsobe Game Park, which is about an hour away. Upon arrival, we sat outside in the BEAUTIFUL weather and ate lunch.

It is situated on a grass knoll by a huge lake. The trees shaded us, the sky was blue, and the weather was perfect. It was so relaxing and enjoyable. Most of us ordered chicken burgers. After lunch, we walked over to the snakes and were even able to check out the deadliest snake in Africa. Yikes! We also held a baby crocodile and saw some birds, bunnies, and owls.

At 3pm, we left for our game drive. It was so relaxing and pleasant. I was reminded again and again by the sights and smells of Fall. I know this is their winter, but it’s crazy to me that I will be returning home to a humid summer in Central IL!

We saw deer-like animals everywhere, monkeys, and zebra… no giraffes. L We did get to revisit the wonderful huts tucked away in the woods… we all agreed that it would be absolutely amazing to stay in one of them. They are open to the beautiful African air, all of them have beds and a bathroom and seating with beautiful furniture and the option of massages, spa services, etc.

After our game drive, it was almost 4pm so we headed back to Kitwe. It was almost 6pm by the time we arrived back and traded out a vehicle, so we decided to eat at Mona Lisa’s for dinner. It was amazing!

We ran into Bob Walker and his family of TEN kids, as well as Rachel, their tutor. They had decided to go out to eat on this very night, too, to celebrate all the kids passing their grades and moving onto the next. It was fun seeing their adorable kids again. They are all so friendly and cute.

We ordered pizza and cokes, and enjoyed a relaxing evening eating dinner. The pizza was amazing!

After dinner, David drove us girls back to Plot 1 for a relaxing rest of the evening.

Monday

Monday was our last full day in Zambia. We got ready in the morning and walked to the school. Upon arrival, I helped David with a video project while the other girls finished up a work project.

We video-interviewed Lucy (the principal), several teachers, and older kids. The goal is to put this footage on the Lifesong website. It was so neat being able to hear everyone talk and give their perspective on LS School and all the work God has done and continues to do in Zambia.

After this, we grabbed a light lunch and everyone walked to the compound. Lucy and Albertina came with us. We took a couple of the kids with us so they could show us their homes. The compound is about a 10-15 minute walk from the school.

We stopped by Veronica’s home but no one was home, so we moved onto Alan’s home. In seeing the compound for the second time, it was a little less daunting and a little more eye-opening. We saw tons of children (who don’t attend school) running around, toddlers without clothes or unattended walking by, ladies carrying food and very few men.

We were invited into Alan’s home and sat down on the floor and talked with him awhile. We found out he doesn’t have a blanket to sleep with at night, so we gave him one. On the way home, David talked to him and found out that his uncle (as a double orphan, he has no parents) comes home drunk frequently. He may have the opportunity to live on the LS grounds with an African couple there, which would be awesome.

When we returned to LS, we ate a snack of crackers & cheese and yogurt, then went outside and read books to the girls. They absolutely loved it! We started on dinner.

After this, Luke and David took us to the strawberry farm which is about a mile away from the school. There are other vegetables grown there but mostly it is rows and rows of strawberries.

We had the chance to walk up and down the rows, pick strawberries for dinner, and pop a few in our mouths. They were delicious! Some of the boys from the school were there and had fun helping us. It was about 4pm in the afternoon. The sun was getting low in the sky and warmed us all as we enjoyed this beautiful place! We were also able to tour Shane’s home, which is situated on that land. He was there working on it and getting it ready for his family to move in sometime in September.

When we returned to David & Luke’s, we finished up dinner, which was an inventive concoction of chicken, tomato sauce, potatoes, carrots and onions over rice. And, of course, fresh strawberries. It was really good!

After dinner, we made popcorn over the stove, then decided to have a late-night snack of crepes with strawberries, honey, and Nutella. They were delicious. Heather gave Luke a haircut, and we all sat around and relaxed, discussing what we would take home from this trip.

It was a special last day. Tuesday was our very last day in Zambia, and David took us by the Curio Market on the way to Ndola. We bought some fun things and headed to the airport. David ate lunch with us there, then we said our good-byes.

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This Africa trip was such a breath of fresh air in my life. I enjoyed renewing friendships I created on my first trip, and was encouraged by how God is working at Lifesong School in Zambia. Satan is still alive and well in some situations, but God overcomes! Furthermore, it instilled in my heart a desire to continue to travel to other countries and cultures and capture their stories.

Love you all!

T

All the kids did a great job singing and dancing, but my favorite was an older girl who recited the 23^rd Psalm. Her voice was strong and powerful, and very moving.

It was then time to say good-bye to the kids. It was a pretty emotional farewell. A lot of the Americans were either misty-eyed or crying, and some of the LS kids even broke down.

After piling in a big bus for our 5-6 hours journey to Lusaka, we waved good-bye one last time to the kids lining the rock pathway.

The rest of the day was spent sitting very closely to one another in the bus. Halfway through our journey, we stopped at a grocery store and bought groceries for lunch, since the restaurant we were going to eat at was too busy.

We picked out lunch meat, bread, chips, cookies, fruit, and yogurt. I am sure that our mob of white American was quite the spectacle in this busy grocery store, but it was an interesting experience.

Especially when a group of us had to go to the bathroom.

“Expect a very thorough pat-down,” David warned us.

He was right! Before using the bathrooms, we had to stand with our arms held out while a lady literally patted every facet of our body to make sure we didn’t have a gun or stolen item hiding in a crevice. I must say it’s the first time I’ve been through something like that!

However, while slightly uncomfortable, it is these experiences that are memorable and eye-opening to their culture.

After buying the groceries, we loaded back up onto the bus and created a lot of crumbs from the sandwiches and chips… enjoyed the sweet-tasting fruit and yogurt, and devoured the cookies. A lot of us talked, played Euchre, read books, or napped for the remainder of the trip. At one point, I was given the floor to administer a verbal Myers-Briggs personality assessment. I was so excited to talk about this with a bunch of willing listeners—it was like a dream come true! Personality types never grow old for me…

By the time we arrived at Eureka Game Park in Lusaka, it was around 5pm and getting dark outside. We wouldn’t have time for a game ride L but we did entertain ourselves for a few minutes with a giant pile of corn cobs.

We climbed to the very top and did some group jumping. Then, after one of the boys did a back flip, Luke decided to take a whack at it and literally almost whacked his head off. The top of his forehead hit a piece of wood while he flipped, and the read of his forehead was scraped and bleeding. After nursing his wounds, we ordered dinner and settled into our chalets.

The chalets were nice—some had several beds and others just 2 or 3 depending on who was staying together. We met up as a team and ate dinner, and then grouped up in one of the bigger chalets for devotions and share time. David Z. talked about evangelism during his devotions, and then we all had the opportunity to go around and share what we felt God was teaching us on this trip to Africa.

It was very encouraging to see how each and every person had something different they were experiencing. God is so big and works in each individual’s heart in unique ways, and it is always exciting to me to see how He speaks to us all personally.

For me, this trip had been interesting thus far. I wrote in a previous blog entry that while I was excited for my 2^nd trip for Africa, I was hoping that my expectations from my previous trip wouldn’t be shattered when this trip was completely different.

I will say that this trip was definitely different from my first in a lot of ways. The first and most obvious was the fact that since I had been here before, nothing was new to me. The unique culture differences, the places, the faces, the kids… even the travel. I had done all of it before. And while it had been done before, you can’t recreate something that has already happened. This is neither good nor bad, but as a lover of new things, new places, and new experiences, this “newness factor” of shock and awe did not exist for me on this trip.

Furthermore, I remember from last time that I had to do a lot of processing. Seeing the church, the kids, the school, the compound, the living conditions, and hearing the stories of a lot of the African people had my heart in knots. I had to think through all of that and come to terms with the fact that different cultures operate in different ways. I had to examine my own life and consider that just because God had blessed me with food, clothes, and “wealth,” this was not cause to feel guilty but a call to responsibility. I had to look into the eyes of orphan children and instead of wanting to cry or shout that it is not fair, I had to hug them and love them and pray for their hearts as they grow in this country.

So without the newness of the culture or a lot of heavy processing, I felt a little more prepared this time for what was in store. In light of this, when David asked us to pray about what it was God was trying to show us on this trip, I felt a little bit at a loss until I realized all that God had done for me on this journey and what He was saying to me.

In the first place, when I told Sheila I wanted to make it work to come back to Africa on this particular trip, I was a bit hesitant because I knew I had to come out a few days later than the team and I was hoping for a travel buddy or two. She had just been to Arizona visiting, and had been hiking with my cousin, Stefanie, who mentioned her daughter might be interested in going.

Sheila passed this along to me. However, she said, “Your cousin is interested in going,” so I automatically assumed she meant my older cousin. I said something to her (Whitney), and then realized she meant her own daughter (Kailey) who is so interested in missions and travel. As it turned out, both of them were elated and excited for the chance to visit Africa! And they would be my travel companions.

I mentioned the trip to Heather, who was on my team last year, and she was excited to be able to work out coming along with us. She has been an awesome addition to our trip and really clicked and connected with my cousins.

I knew that this was such an amazing opportunity for my cousins, and I was so excited to share this experience with them. It’s awesome to see how God works it all out.

The other insight God laid on my heart was what I shared with the team—the fact that our VBS topic—being a TRUTH seeker—is rock solid, and as believers who BELIEVE it, why are we not more adamant in sharing it? A convicting truth to me lately is that if I believe everything I say I do, why am I not more concerned about all of the souls I know who aren’t going to Heaven?

We do not save; we do not having saving powers. Jesus saves, but we can be instruments. We can be lights. We can shine Jesus. And in a dark world, a little light makes a big difference.

Another area is trust and faith. In America, it’s easy to become self-sufficient to the point where we don’t “need” God. I have breakfast every morning, a car to drive to work, a job, and a life of security. Where does God fit into that? At what point do I rely fully on Him to meet my basic needs? Most days, I don’t… to my shame. I envy those in the far corners of the Earth who do not have food or water every day, because their Faith must always be strong.

Yet, that is no excuse. We are called to decrease so God can increase. I am called to diminish my SELF so God can be exalted and His glory may be revealed.

After share-time, we all walked back to our chalets for bed. Upon entrance, Heather just about had a heart attack when she spotted a huge spider on our wall. She promptly ran away to recruit some boys to help her take care of it. A team of 4 came to our rescue and exterminated the creature.

A few minutes later when I came back into the bedroom ready for bed, Heather had pushed our beds together.

“We’re sleeping close tonight,” she told me.

And we did.

This is the day we overslept. Heather had tried to set an alarm on her ipod, but it died in the middle of the night so we woke up when the other girls were banging on our door to leave.

We quickly got ready and walked to school. I was actually thankful for the opportunity to walk. It was one of my favorite parts of last year’s trip. It’s such an amazing chance to experience African culture in its reality… you see women walking down the dirt road balancing baskets on their head… children in uniform marching off to school… men riding bikes or wheeling the crippled.

The boys did an amazing job finishing up the pillars in the morning, and the other guys and girls finished up other small work projects in the morning.

Once we got to the school, Heather and I organized the sweatshirts we brought to hand out to the kids. Last year, we handed out t-shirts on the last day and all the kids loved them. This year, we went with bright yellow hoodies since it is cooler weather this time of year.

When this was done, I ended up wandering over to the playground and sat down on a swing with a little boy. We swung awhile together, and I found out his name was Lysart. At this point, 10 kids were pointing at my camera asking to “copy” me, so I let them have it. They had demonstrated to me by now that they could successfully use it, so I wasn’t too worried.

Lysart and I swung for a long time and sang songs. We spelled his name and mine, and we talked. I loved it. One of the more bossy girls there stood in front of me and kept drawing me pictures on this board with a rock—it was so funny. She drew a picture of me, and would erase it and then draw another picture and everyone would laugh. I recited a poem to them about snow, but I don’t think they understood since they’ve never seen snow in their life.

About this time, Heather came to find me and her and I, along with Whitney and Kailey, went inside to make tuna melts for lunch. After lunch, it was our day to do the VBS lesson. Our topic was “How to be a Jesus Truth Seeker” and so Whitney read our lesson, and then narrated our skit. We recruited a few others to help us with our “Good Samaritan” story. Our craft was to decorate some colorful foam visors with paint and markers and stickers that said “Jesus Truth Seeker” on them. The kids loved them!

After the craft, I went around and took group pictures, then the kids played a game on the field. Also on this day, we saw William, which was really exciting because after learning about his crippled feet on last year’s trip, we were anxious to see his feet now whole! He walks and runs, smiles and laughs, plays with other kids and chases girls. It is so exciting to see him have a love of life now, whereas before he would sit in a corner by himself and not smile. God is so good, and it was so neat to see how He helped us help him.

When I was out on the playground, a girl came up to me and said, “Hi, do you remember me?”

I asked her what her name was, and she said, “Karen.”

“Karen!” I shouted, and hugged her immediately. I didn’t even recognize her! I love Karen, and bonded with her last year. This year she has grown about a foot, and her hair was froed, which made her look even taller. But it was definitely Karen! I had sent her some pictures, so she was excited about those, and we talked and hung out for awhile.

We handed out the hoodies to the kids and they LOVED them! It is so exciting to see how their faces light up. They immediately put them on, and just as I hoped, the bright yellow looked AWESOME on them!

After the kids left, Andrew (the art teacher) showed Heather and I his paintings and drawings. I purchased a fabric with an African woman and her baby painted on it, and he used actual fabric to sew on her clothes. It is so neat and I can’t wait to frame it as a piece of art. Heather chose some of his cards, which she loves, and a painting with a beautiful African tree.

It was good to see Andrew again. I had taken one of his art classes last year when I was here and talked to him quite a bit, and I must have mailed him pictures after last year’s trip because he couldn’t stop talking about it! He wanted to take a lot of pictures with Heather and I, using his film camera. It was so great!

That evening, the staff and cooks at Lifesong prepared us a traditional Zambian meal. I knew what I was in for based off of last year. Fortunately, fried chicken and potatoes are on the menu, but aside from that, you have your selection of nshima (their staple food), soup, termites, caterpillars, and many other unfamiliar foods! However, most were brave and tried a little of everything.

I sat at a table with most of the staff and the cook, Elijah. Every time I would stop eating for just a second, they would look at me and say, “Eat!” In their culture, it is considered rude not to try everything and not to finish. Unfortunately, my eyes are always bigger than my stomach, and they gave us a LOT of food to choose from!

I talked to Elijah for awhile, and he asked me why I came back to Africa. I’m actually really glad he did. It made me think what it is that drew me back. Afterwards, we all had a chance to get up and share something. The staff, the teachers, and the Americans.

There were quite a few of the older boys with us from the school, so it was neat to hear what they had to say, too. It was the most touching to me to hear them speak. One of them actually brought tears to my eyes. He thanked us for coming and told us we would never know how big of a difference we made. It seems so small to me, but it is so big to them. I can’t shake the feeling that every time I think I am going to come “help them,” they end up showing me more than I could ever show them.

After share time, everyone went inside LS School for singing & devotions. Caleb had an excellent talk on worship, and how true worship is when we seek to image God. I loved this thought, because worship is something that can tend to be put into a box. It has to look a certain way, feel a certain way, or be a certain way. However, worship is such a personal thing to each individual, but in and through that, it can only truly take place when we seek to imitate Christ and who we are in Him.

The first morning in Africa, we were up and ready early to leave for school. About 10-12 of us packed into the little Noah to head to Lifesong. It was always a tight ride, but very cozy. :)

The kids at Lifesong start out every morning in rows of their grades and sing. This is one of my favorite parts. Lucy, the principal of the school, dances around and sings with all of her heart. It is very refreshing to watch—there is no holding back. All of the kids sing and clap and dance… the sound is amazing, and I can’t help but think that someday, that is what Heaven will be like.

On this particular day, the Lifesong kids were going next door to the neighboring school to compete in a sports day. We were there all morning with them, cheering them all as they ran races, played football (soccer), and netball (similar to basketball).

A lot of the American team members had bought soccer jerseys so they wore them on this day. It was fun to be a part of this special event. Whenever the LS kids would score a goal in soccer, all the kids would cheer and literally flood the field in celebration.

We ate lunch, and then it was time for VBS. Joe, Justin, and Sheila were in charge and did a great job with their skit and lesson. The craft was a Jesus bracelet with beads that tells the story of salvation.

This year, we worked on a work project in the afternoons or during free time. David had us do some painting on the new building, which houses an awesome computer lab and some other classrooms. He also had the boys construct some pillars for the new building to make it aesthetically pleasing to the eye. His goal is to present nice structure and aesthetics as much as possible to the kids. Since they are so used to seeing poor constructions and “good building” is not something they see as much as we do in America, he thought it would be a nice touch.

To complete the project, the boys measured and cut the wood, and some of us girls sanded it down and painted a special paint on it. Other girls worked on chiseling out concrete blocks for the base. It was quite the job! Right at first, all of us were working on it and tools were limited, so we used anything from axes to hammers.

Some of us girls worked on dinner that night—it was a bean-vegetable-hamburger concoction with noodles and garlic bread. We enjoyed that and then Justin had the devotions on the Fruits of the Spirit. He started out by praying the Lord’s prayer; it was neat to hear it prayed out in a serious fashion rather than just skimmed over or read.

We hung out for awhile, and then most of the team traveled back to Plot 1 for the evening. This was the night that my Whitney, Kailey, Heather and I would move over to the bigger guest house to make more room for everyone. As we did, some of the girls came over to help us with our luggage. They were looking around the house and checking it out since it is so nice, and suddenly we hear a scream from one of the bedrooms. We rushed in and saw Kaylin pointing at the wall. There was a lizard and she was completely terrified.

KaraLea, ever the brave soul, waltzed over and grabbed it, sticking it in Kaylin’s face. Kaylin was not a fan and grabbed Heather and started to run out of the bedroom, and as she did so KaraLea came in for another tease… Kaylin freaked out, tripped, and took Heather down onto the floor. It was very amusing. Let’s just say there was a lot of screaming and laughing, so much so that the couple that lives on the property came over to check on us.

The boys ended up coming over to hang out for awhile, and we watched some of the first team’s bungee jumping videos. They were pretty entertaining!

**The following are some thoughts I have regarding a current situation in my life. Without getting into the “what,” I wanted to share the “how God is working” part.**

The crying always catches me off guard.

Maybe it’s because deep down, I don’t feel like it is something that I should cry about. So when the tears do come, they stream down my face abashedly uninvited.

Yet it makes me sad, and the recipe for tears is sadness.

There are so many other worst-case scenarios. No one is dying. No one is moving away. No one is choosing an alternative lifestyle.

It’s just that a decision is being made—one that unintentionally but ultimately causes hurt. I can put it into perspective. I can exercise my use of rationale. I can believe from the bottom of my heart that this is truly what they feel God wants them to do. But all those things don’t take away the hurt and the sadness. It just doesn’t.

Through it all, it has shown me that God works in ways that are personal to each individual, and the way He works for one person is not necessarily the way He works for another. I can’t always understand why Person A can drop their life and move away to a foreign country to do missions. I can’t always understand why Person B chooses to stay in his boring job and use that as a mission field. I can’t always understand why Person C feels comfortable where she is, and why Person D moves on to another place. The point is, I am not Person A, B, C, or D. I’m Taryn. Jesus speaks to me personally through our relationship together, and no one else is in on that. My job is to follow Him as He leads me.

The way He leads me may never make sense to another, and it may be a beautiful thing to someone else. The point is, I can’t spend my whole life doubting others and their choices or claiming it is faulty because I don’t understand. Sometimes, my job is not to understand, because it’s not my decision to understand. At the end of the day, we all make decisions for better or for worse, and it is up to each of us as an individual in our own personal relationships to Christ as we make those decisions. Some people have an amazing source of wisdom in family and friends, and some people do not, but one thing we all have is the source of Truth—the Word—and God as our guide.

I can write and know all this in my heart. But I still miss them, and I always will.

God works in mysterious ways, and in the end, Truth & Love WILL reign. May we all show Love in the best way we know how while we live on Earth.

**As I have progressed on this journey, I have found certain treasures to be helpful to me along the way. One was found in one of my favorite devotional books called “Jesus Calling.” I will share its words:

“When things don’t go as you would like, accept the situation immediately. If you indulge in feelings of regret, they can easily spill over the line into resentment. Remember that I am sovereign over your circumstances, and humble yourself under My mighty hand. Rejoice in what I am doing in your life, even though it is beyond your understanding.

I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. In Me you have everything you need, both for this life and for the life yet to come. Don’t let the impact of the world shatter your thinking or draw you away from focusing on Me. The ultimate challenge is to keep fixing your eyes on Me, no matter what is going on around you. When I am central in your thinking, you are able to view circumstances from My perspective.”

I have found that keeping Christ at the center of my thinking drastically changes my attitude and perspective. God is teaching me over and over that the only way to attain true peace and joy in my own life is to take my “self” out of the way. Self wants what self wants, and self gets easily confused and swayed by emotion and circumstance. But God guides, and when I let him take control, all else falls into place.

One promise I love about our God is that He has the “grand scheme plan” figured out… and with that, our best interest at heart. The situations we find ourselves in can’t and won’t always make sense. After all, we serve a God so much bigger than ourselves… who are we to think we can understand Him and His ways? It’s a foolish thought. So with that in my mind, I look ahead to the future where I know God has so many wonderful things in store, all orchestrated by events, actions, and circumstances that surround me now.

May God be glorified in and through it all!

Love you all,

T