A Long Life of Serving

Recently, I was able to spend a week with my two sweet grandmothers, Momoo and Grandma. For over 40 years, they have both lived in Odessa, about a mile away from each other, and they would get together multiple times a week. But now, Grandma is moving to Colorado to live with family as it is not safe for her to live alone any longer. 

The week spent in Odessa was a busy one, painting and fixing things, as the house was about to go on the market. In the midst of all the work, one morning Momoo hosted a going away party for Grandma. It was such a blessing to see all the people who came to say goodbye. I heard many, many stories of how Grandma has for years faithfully served in the church, participated in prison ministry, volunteered at the crisis center, taught Sunday school (which she has recently stopped doing…she is 84), and the list goes on. What a woman. 

During lunch one day, Momoo (who is almost 88) told me how she and a woman in her 70’s teamed up to teach about 20 second graders in VBS this summer. Whoaaa. Talk about purposeful retirement. I was blown away. I am so extremely blessed to have such amazing women as models of what a servant of Jesus Christ should look like their entire life. I pray that I can be half as selfless and giving that they are. These two really are the epitome of a Proverbs 31 woman.

“She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: “Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.” Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.” –Proverbs 31:26-31

The Deep End

A few weeks ago, I kept the Pierce’s middle child while they prepared to move. Ben is a well-built 4 year old full of energy, so we spent a lot of time in the pool. His parents told me that he was a good swimmer, and this proved to be true, or at least while we were in the shallow end. After a little coaxing, I eventually convinced him to jump off the diving board into the deep end of the pool. I told him that I would be right there in the water when he jumped in, but that since he was such a good swimmer he would be fine without me. Ben finally mustered up enough courage and plunged into the water. Immediately, he began to panic, arms flailing. It was like he had never known how to swim. As I pulled him toward me to calm him down, his arms wrapped tightly around my neck. He exclaimed that the water was too deep and that he could not swim. His fear of the deep water had made him completely forget everything that he knew.

There have been times in my own life when I have jumped into water that seems to be too deep for me. Like Ben, I panic, trying to keep my head above the water, forgetting God’s promises and forgetting to trust that He is right there to keep me from sinking. It’s like everything I have ever learned from His word has completely left my mind. This reality hits close to home as I prepare to move to South Sudan. The entire task set before me is way over my head. At times, I feel as though I am sinking and may drown. But God is faithful, and I must continually remember that the Lord has called me into this “deep end”. It is His work in Nasir, not mine. It will be His power that keeps me afloat.

I am reminded of the story in Matthew 14:29-31 when Jesus walks on water. “Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”  Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him.” What comfort I find in the fact that “immediately Jesus reached out his hand”. There was no delay. Despite Peter’s fear and lack of faith, Jesus was right there to catch him. My heart is so full of joy knowing that Jesus does the same for us, even in our own fear and doubt. Whenever we feel like we are drowning in deep water and don’t know what to do, Jesus is just an arms’ reach away.

I'm a Slow Blogger....

Apparently I am not very good at updating my blog…. Since it is August and I have yet to finish blogging about the vision trip in March, I am going to give a quick synopsis of the trip in this one blog post. We spent another day and a half in Nasir. During this time we continued to explore the town. We ventured into the market again one morning to get a better look at what all was available. There was some food, mostly beans, rice, pasta, tomato paste, potatoes, and onions (along with some seasonings). There was also a meat market and a mill to grind sorghum. I was happy to see all that was available. We paid a visit to the town pharmacy, noting what medicine is readily available. Malaria pills, pain medication, amoxicillin, and similar drugs lined the shelves. Unfortunately, the MSF clinic had informed us that the pharmacists were not educated on the use of each medication. For instance, many times women would receive malaria pills or horse tranquilizers for dysentery. This did not sit well with me; this is a preventable issue. In fact, I have made educating some of the pharmacy staff part of my community health development strategy. Later that afternoon we had hopes of hopping on a boat and floating up the Sobat River to the neighboring village of Torpuot. As we walked along the river towards the place where the man with the boat was, the river was crowded with people bathing, animals drinking/wading, children fishing, women doing laundry, and one woman and her child came to gather water in their jerrycans. I still cringe when I think about yet another preventable health issue. We soon discovered that the man with the boat key was not in Nasir that day. The rest of the day was spent visiting another organization called ADRA, who provides health services, and we visited local schools. We met with some of the teachers as well. Both of these relationships will prove to be very helpful in our development strategies. The next morning we broke camp and made the mile trek to the airstrip. As we boarded the plane, I had mixed emotions. I wasn’t ready to leave, but at the same time it was so strange to think that in six short months this would be my home. So surreal. We flew to a village called Aweil, where our missionary friends with Cush4Christ are living. We spent the weekend hanging out with them and picking their brains for advice about living in South Sudan (most of the team has lived in South Sudan for at least a few years). It was such a blessing to be able to spend some time learning from them, and it was encouraging to see that living in South Sudan is do-able as a westerner. Many thanks to all of the Cush4Christ team.

Cracked Nasir Soil in Dry Season

Early Monday morning we hopped on the little Cessna plane one last time as we headed back to Uganda. On the way, we had to make a fuel stop in a town called Rumbek. While in this village, the pilot suggested that we get stamped out of South Sudan. After making our way to the small structure that was the airport for this town, we were told that the man with the stamp was on his way. We waited, and waited, and waited. Finally, someone ushered us into a SUV and drove us into town. We ended up at a government officials’ office, which was decorated nicely with tinsel. After he flipped through our passports and searched for a stamp, we continued to wait. A good deal of time went by as nothing happened. Finally, someone spoke up asking if we were good to go. He told us that he did not have the stamp; it was back at the airport. So he offered to escort us to the airstrip. When we got back to the small airport structure, we were told that the man with the stamp was still on his way. But wait! Suddenly someone realized that the stamp was inside a cabinet, but the cabinet was locked. Of course, the man with the key to the cabinet was on his way. We decided that we had waited long enough, so we told them that we would just fly to Juba, the capital city, to get stamped out. A few hours later we made it back to Kampala, Uganda. After eating just rice and beans for days, we were greeted by Neltia with the best cinnamon rolls I have ever tasted. However, I learned that eating these delicious balls of sugar and butter so soon after coming out of South Sudan comes with a price. In the future when I come out of South Sudan for my R& R, I will have to make the decision if being sick for a few days is worth the deliciousness or if it is better to let my stomach slowly adjust to normal food.

Cattle Horn!

As we boarded the plane the following day to leave Africa, it was bittersweet. I was sad to leave, but filled with excitement as I would be returning soon. I already can’t believe that I am less than month away from my departure date. Time has flown by so fast, but I cannot wait to get back!