Proofs

Last week I got to give a test on dental hygiene to a girl in Elizabeth’s second grade class who was absent the day the text was given in class. She aced it. And I (even after correcting the other kids tests the night before) still second guessed the correct answers and had to again check the answer key. I have found myself with this thought a lot the past couple of months…”geez, if I only remembered half of what I learned in elementary school…” I thought it as I corrected tests on bones or heard the kids describe the water cycle. I have thought about it as I have heard kids name the capitals of countries that I didn’t even know existed. And I wonder, is all that information there deep in the recesses of my mind and if there were a way to tap into it would I do better at Trivial Pursuit or beat my friends at Scrabble?

Then today I was reminded that I actually once was a whiz in math—especially geometry. I remembered this as I was journaling about what the heck I am going to do with my life when I graduate. As my time in Africa is coming closer to an end, I have been giving more and more thought to what is next. Different ideas have popped into my head…pastoring a church overseas, going back on Young Life staff, figuring out what I would have to do to live on the beach in the Dominican Republic…and while many of the options seem viable and even desirable, they usually come attached with the conditional statement I mastered in geometry:

“If (fill-in-the-blank), THEN…(fill-in-the-blank).”

The difference is that now they tend to be more directed to God than to a math teacher. As in, “If you want me to live here, then all of my friends need to live there too.” Or, “if I am to live overseas, then I want it to be a place where people can easily come visit.” Or, “if you want me to be a pastor of a church, then I want the church to have such and such qualities.”

The thing is, I'm not so sure God is in the bartering business. Not that I don’t think God wants us to make it known what we desire. I definitely think he wants us to voice our desires. Yesterday I had the opportunity to be with some amazing Young Life International folks and in one conversation was reminded that God, while maybe not in the bartering business, does have some clear promises for us. One of them being “If you delight in me, I will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). I think this thought is often misunderstood. We may try to make it a converse conditional ("if God gives me my desires, then I will delight in him) or we may not understand that God's desires will actually become our desires. I am not sure there is geometrical way of explaining how this happens. But I guess sometimes you just need to lean into the promises before they are fully proven.

I've seen some cute monkeys...

...but none as cute as this one. Adam Paul Davelaar turns the big 1 today. Happy Birthday little buddy!

Climb Every Mountain

If you ever find yourself wondering if you ever accomplish anything, I recommend either doing the dishes by hand or climbing a mountain. There’s just something about both of those things that make you feel like a more productive person. Doing the dishes offers the quick fix of accomplishment whereas climbing a mountain leaves a more lasting impact (as in, two days later and I am still wondering if I will ever again be able to walk up and down stairs normally).

This past weekend I climbed Socialist Peak, which weighs in at 4562 meters (or about 15,000 feet for you Americans who stubbornly have resisted the metric system). Not going to lie, it was kind of hard and at a few points the thought crossed my mind that I was glad I had checked ‘yes’ to the extra “extreme activities” clause in my international health insurance. The tricky thing about Meru is that the first two days are really quite easy. I mean, don’t get me wrong, you are definitely not just going on a stroll, but your bags are being carried up by porters and you are bunking in huts that have giraffe near by! (look closely)




Then, the third day comes…or, perhaps the second day never ends. You get woken up at midnight, have some tea and biscuits and start off on your final ascent. Usually I am not too keen on hiking in the dark, but there were many a times in those 6 hours that I was grateful that I could only see one step ahead of me. Because one, there are about 5 false peaks (always a bit discouraging) and two, I was pretty sure there was nothing but a sheer cliff straight down just to the right as we scampered over the rock face on the left (which was, in fact, confirmed in the daylight). We stopped for a few moments to watch the sunrise over Kilimanjaro and then after another hour or so finally made it to the top. And it is then that you feel like you have just done something great.




Then you realize that you have yet to go all the way back down.

And go all the way back down we did. First we stopped at the second hut where we had “slept” the night before. We had a quick meal, packed up and were told we had to get going because of “the rains.” The descent was quite steep at this point and there is a stretch where there are about 1000 stairs (I am not even exaggerating…they put Mt. Baldy to shame). We made it to the first hut, sat for a few moments and then had to haul ass down to the gate before it got dark. Mt. Meru is in Arusha National Park and you have to be out by dark and is also why your guide is an armed ranger because you can encounter wild game like the herd of buffalo that was in our path just before we got back to the base.

When I sat down at the base, then I truly felt like I accomplished something. And my body is still reminding me what I have done every time I have sat down since.

And then the rains came...

Since I have been here I have heard this phrase a lot:"when the rains come..." As in, "when the rains come these dusty roads are going to be a mess" or "when the rains come the rats have a tendency to come into houses more." I have been waiting to see these rains for a while and a few days ago they showed up. Convenient timing since I am going to climb this mountain this weekend. I head out Friday morning with 5 Israelis and our guides. It is bound to be interesting. And, it is bound to be very, very wet.

African Chacos

"Mma Ramotswe nodded. She was familiar with people who liked to test out all sorts of theories about how people might live. There was something about the country that attracted them, as if in that vast dry country there was enough air for new ideas to breathe. Such people had been excited when the Brigade movement had been set up. They had thought it a very good idea that young people should be asked to spend time working for others and helping to build their country; but what was so exceptional about that? Did young people not work in rich countries? Perhaps they did not, and that is why these people, who came from such countries, should have found the whole idea so exciting. There was nothing wrong with these people--they were kind people usually, and treated the Batswana with respect. Yet somehow it could be tiring to be given advice. There was always some eager foreign organisation ready to say to Africans: this is what you do, this is how you should do things. The advice may be good, and it might work elsewhere, but Africa needed its own solutions." Tears of the Giraffe, Alexander McCall Smith

Which do you think lasts longer...a Vibram sole or a tire sole (usually guarenteed for at least 35,000 miles)?

The stars at night are big and bright....

This past week I had a chance to do something that I had done many a times in the Dominican Republic, host a workteam. I headed out to Malambo (seriously, a town in Maasai land in the middle of nowhere) with 10 Texans. We stayed in the "Help for the Maasai" compound that is run by Angelica, a German woman who has been here for about 25 years. And at one point in the week, two Dutch couples (real Dutch, not fake Dutch like me) showed up for a few days. Needless to say, there were many cross-cultural experiences throughout the week!

The group spent most of the week putting on eye clinics, working in the school and doing maintenance around the compound. And as with most workteams, one of the greatest concerns at the end of the week was "did we do enough?" Great things did happen during the week (though at one point I really questioned why we were giving out reading glasses to a predominately illiterate society...and I had a heck of a time trying to explain what "begotten" meant when I helped with arts & crafts at the school).
Some of the guys put up a wind generator which will surely benefit the compound and many of the teachers are desiring more teacher training after a few team members taught their classes. But if you ask me, the real work happened through the relationships between the Maasai and the Texans. By the end of the week, we had been invited to more bomas (homes) to drink chai than we had time for and the group was gifted 2 goats and countless amounts of beaded jewelry. And I was again reminded that not all communication comes through spoken language because let me tell you what, I had to think hard about what some of the Texans where saying at times, and I speak English!


While it was great to see people excited about getting new sunglasses and the hear the hum of the new wind generator, it was even more amazing to watch Angelica and hear some of her stories from the past 25 years of ministry. God does not call us to success, but to be faithful. And Angelica has been very, very faithful and through this faithfulness God has blessed the ministry. Yes I am sure she came with some new ideas and I am sure she has given some advice, but more than that she came with a heart to know people and to live amongst the people.

I do think short term missions do have value. But their value lies more in how the team is changed than what the team "does." I think the greatest thing that can be accomplished through a workteam is people coming to the realization that we often benefit each other most when we first listen. When we take time simply to observe and to be with people.