It seems that there is more for me to tell you than there is time in which to tell you. I am experiencing far too much to be able to fit everything into this space that I have. Then again, perhaps even if my time and space were unlimited, I would still never have the ability to make you fully understand what it is truly like for me. . .
The past week or so has been full of it's ups and downs, as every week is. The good things that happened outweigh the not so good things by far, as they always do. The preschool program has been amazing! The local villages have been beyond receptive to our new school and are very eager for their children to become involved. This program has been limited to children of ages four, five and six because our resources are limited, but I am hoping that someday we might be able to expand beyond that. As of Thursday, our numbers peaked at forty-two children! That's a lot of kids! It is most encouraging to see their willingness to participate and learn. It almost brings me to tears every morning when I ride up on my bike to see them all eagerly awaiting my arrival, nearly falling off their benches with anticipation.
We have, however, hit a slight and most unfortunate snag. The young man whom I was training, Fremont, has been called up to work in the mine. This is something he has been waiting for, and it is very good news for him, but we had no idea it would be so soon. It has left me without a teacher and interpreter. I went to the children this morning to tell them the news. Someone from the church was supposed to meet me there to interpret, but no one showed up. After singing with the children for a while, there was nothing left that I could do without an interpreter. So, I told all 30-some kids to follow me. I walked them up the road to the roadside and bought them all a piece of bubble-gum. They were very excited! :) Then, not knowing what else to do, I told them, "Mukeye kikwipilo kesha." Which means, "You should come to the church tomorrow." That's all I knew to say, and I figured we would take it from there. We parted ways as everyone headed to their villages. Later I saw the man who was supposed to meet me to interpret and he went and told all the parents to take the rest of this week off from preschool and hopefully we will have a teacher by next Monday. I walked some of the kids home and met their parents. They were so excited to introduce me to their moms and dads and their parents were very excited to see me. It was a good day. We are searching desperately for a new teacher, though, and praying hard.
As long as I live, I will never forget walking down the road with over thirty preschoolers following me. I was packing one on my back and had five holding on to each hand. The rest of them were stumbling over themselves trying to get close to me. I was thinking about this later that day and I was trying to figure out how I could re-capture it so I could share it with everyone. There is no picture, no video, and there are definitely no words that will ever show people what it was like and how it made me feel inside. I found myself talking to God about it last night in prayer, because he is the only one who was there with me. I kept saying, "Oh, I loved it when. . ." or "Remember how she smiled after. . . ?" I can picture God nodding and smiling right along with me and I am forever thankful that he is here for me to share these things with. These are the moments that I wish I could pause and hold onto forever. These are the moments that I want to share with all of you. These are the moments that I live for.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Every day is a miracle. . .
Hello, all! Things are going very well here in Mumena! I wish you all could be here to see God as clearly as I am able to. As I work with the people and all of the children, I am filled with a joy that I thought I would never know. God is truly amazing in the way he works things out according to his purpose.
I started the preschool this week, on Monday, and it is going well.The first day was good, but not many children showed up because of communication problems. That, unfortunately, is not uncommon as we try to put things together. We worked it out, however, and on the second day we had about 35 children! It was wonderful! They are so eager to learn and so full of life and energy that I am just amazed. They all took the time to bathe and put on their nicest clothes to come to school. It made me very proud to see such enthusiasm, not just from them, but from their parents as well. If this works out, it can be a very good thing for the community. The children are sharp and are catching on to my teaching much quicker than I originally thought they would. I am incredibly excited about that!
The children have shown me so many things and taught me so much without even trying to or knowing that they were. Language is not as big of a barrier as some would think, or as I thought at first. It can be frustrating when you are trying to communicate something and nothing is getting across to you or to the person with whom you are talking. However, it has been a blessing to be with these children and not know what they're saying. Often times I can tell what they want or need just through their actions or facial expressions. Today I was sitting on the ground watching them play at break time and a little girl came up to me and smiled (I love the fact that smiling is the same in both languages). She grabbed a hold of my hand and just stood next to me, looking into my eyes. I pulled her onto my lap and she laughed (which is also the same) and seemed very excited to be so near to me. There were a few other girls who followed her lead and came over to sit with me. They were touching my hair and my arms and my clothes and saying things that I couldn't understand. I could, however, feel their desire to be held and loved. I could hear in their voices that I was making a huge impression just in this moment that could seem so small to someone else.
After class none of the children wanted to leave. They all wanted to stay and hold my hands and touch my skin and tell me the few words they know in English. I will never forget today as I stood there looking down at them. All 35 of them were holding onto some part of me whether it be my arms or my hands or my clothes. Their big black eyes were looking up at me with questioning gazes. They were all smiling, showing their white teeth, and their little black fingers were moving up and down my arms as they inspected me. It's as if they wanted to see what I felt like. They are learning to trust me one step at a time and it is truly an experience that I will hold onto for the rest of my days.
I have been here almost two months and have already learned so many things from these people. They are loving, kind, gentle, and eager to please. They make do with what they have (which is near to nothing) and they keep on going day after day. They never question why they don't have more and they seem very content. They are hard workers and very strong. The women spend most of their days hauling water from the well to their homes so that their children can bathe, and so they can cook and clean. They get up early in the morning to heat their coals so their children can have a hot breakfast. They are up late at night trying to finish their day's work. They do their laundry by hand, they cook everything over a fire, they hand-wash their dishes and bathe their children. They sew their clothes, clean their homes, butcher their own chickens and pigs for dinner. They have an average of 4-5 children per family, and more if a mother dies. There is one lady here who takes care of all her nieces and nephews on top of her own children. There are almost 20 of them! Yet, she manages.
They do very well and the only thing they are missing is hope. They don't have any hope for a future or any hope of coming out of poverty. There is no hope. You can see it in their eyes and hear it when they speak. In fact, I have often wondered to myself what exactly keeps these people going? What motivates them to keep on keepin' on? That is where I come in and the rest of the missionary families. We are here to teach them of hope. There is a God who loves them unendingly and wants them to live forever with him. There will be no suffering! No AIDS! No hauling water for baths! There will be no tears, no mistreatment, no lies. There will be no disease, no sickness and no dying. This is a message that gives them hope and gives them somethingto live for. When we go to church I love to sit back and watch their facial expressions as they hear the message. I love to watch them clap and sing from their hearts about a God who is coming back for them someday. It's almost unreal that I am able to see these things first-hand. It's like every day is a miracle. Every smile, every laugh, every song, every baptism. The angels in heaven are surely rejoicing every hour that we spend here seeking and saving the lost.
That is how the ministry here is going. That is what it is like for me here every day. That is why I wanted to come and do what we are doing.
I started the preschool this week, on Monday, and it is going well.The first day was good, but not many children showed up because of communication problems. That, unfortunately, is not uncommon as we try to put things together. We worked it out, however, and on the second day we had about 35 children! It was wonderful! They are so eager to learn and so full of life and energy that I am just amazed. They all took the time to bathe and put on their nicest clothes to come to school. It made me very proud to see such enthusiasm, not just from them, but from their parents as well. If this works out, it can be a very good thing for the community. The children are sharp and are catching on to my teaching much quicker than I originally thought they would. I am incredibly excited about that!
The children have shown me so many things and taught me so much without even trying to or knowing that they were. Language is not as big of a barrier as some would think, or as I thought at first. It can be frustrating when you are trying to communicate something and nothing is getting across to you or to the person with whom you are talking. However, it has been a blessing to be with these children and not know what they're saying. Often times I can tell what they want or need just through their actions or facial expressions. Today I was sitting on the ground watching them play at break time and a little girl came up to me and smiled (I love the fact that smiling is the same in both languages). She grabbed a hold of my hand and just stood next to me, looking into my eyes. I pulled her onto my lap and she laughed (which is also the same) and seemed very excited to be so near to me. There were a few other girls who followed her lead and came over to sit with me. They were touching my hair and my arms and my clothes and saying things that I couldn't understand. I could, however, feel their desire to be held and loved. I could hear in their voices that I was making a huge impression just in this moment that could seem so small to someone else.
After class none of the children wanted to leave. They all wanted to stay and hold my hands and touch my skin and tell me the few words they know in English. I will never forget today as I stood there looking down at them. All 35 of them were holding onto some part of me whether it be my arms or my hands or my clothes. Their big black eyes were looking up at me with questioning gazes. They were all smiling, showing their white teeth, and their little black fingers were moving up and down my arms as they inspected me. It's as if they wanted to see what I felt like. They are learning to trust me one step at a time and it is truly an experience that I will hold onto for the rest of my days.
I have been here almost two months and have already learned so many things from these people. They are loving, kind, gentle, and eager to please. They make do with what they have (which is near to nothing) and they keep on going day after day. They never question why they don't have more and they seem very content. They are hard workers and very strong. The women spend most of their days hauling water from the well to their homes so that their children can bathe, and so they can cook and clean. They get up early in the morning to heat their coals so their children can have a hot breakfast. They are up late at night trying to finish their day's work. They do their laundry by hand, they cook everything over a fire, they hand-wash their dishes and bathe their children. They sew their clothes, clean their homes, butcher their own chickens and pigs for dinner. They have an average of 4-5 children per family, and more if a mother dies. There is one lady here who takes care of all her nieces and nephews on top of her own children. There are almost 20 of them! Yet, she manages.
They do very well and the only thing they are missing is hope. They don't have any hope for a future or any hope of coming out of poverty. There is no hope. You can see it in their eyes and hear it when they speak. In fact, I have often wondered to myself what exactly keeps these people going? What motivates them to keep on keepin' on? That is where I come in and the rest of the missionary families. We are here to teach them of hope. There is a God who loves them unendingly and wants them to live forever with him. There will be no suffering! No AIDS! No hauling water for baths! There will be no tears, no mistreatment, no lies. There will be no disease, no sickness and no dying. This is a message that gives them hope and gives them somethingto live for. When we go to church I love to sit back and watch their facial expressions as they hear the message. I love to watch them clap and sing from their hearts about a God who is coming back for them someday. It's almost unreal that I am able to see these things first-hand. It's like every day is a miracle. Every smile, every laugh, every song, every baptism. The angels in heaven are surely rejoicing every hour that we spend here seeking and saving the lost.
That is how the ministry here is going. That is what it is like for me here every day. That is why I wanted to come and do what we are doing.
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