Rolling with the Punches

The cell phone rings and we answer.  “Hello, Christopher, your car has been impounded!”  WHAT?  We had come into town to buy things for our house (which we are currently moving into). While in town, we had our car taken to the police headquarters to get a permit to cross the border, so we could go to South Africa on a little vacation/supply trip.  In the process of clearing our car, it was noted that something was amiss about the car and they said it looked like it had been a stolen car!  So we may have bought a stolen car!  We were able to get all our personal things out and are borrowing a monster of a car to get around town and continue our errands, but we have no idea what is to happen now.  Obviously, we aren’t going on any vacation!  We were just informed as well, that IF we ever get the car back, it could take months to several YEARS! 

Here’s a new prayer then for all you prayer warriors: that we can either get our car back in a short amount of time, or that we can find another means of transportation.  We certainly can’t afford to buy another car, but we do have to get around.  God is in control  and we trust His goodness.  So as long as you stick with us in this adventure, you’re in for a ride (no pun intended)! 

We will keep you updated.

So you can see what you are praying for :)

When Paths Cross

Being a part of a mission hospital compound brings a number of short term guests across our path.  These people give up vacation time, sacrifice money they could spend on themselves, and they come and work with us.  Having lived at the guesthouse here at Karanda, we've been in close contact with several shorttermers.  We are thankful that we've had this opportunity to gain new friends and rub shoulders with some incredible people.  I recently received a book, One Thousand Gifts, from such a friend.  I have only started reading it, but it has already powerfully affected me.  Maybe its the recent loss of a friend and her child in a fatal car accident, or maybe the humdrum of life on a mission station that has begun to get to me.  Whatever the reason, I haven't been able to tear myself away from the words of challenge and encouragement to live a daily life of gratitude.  So I will not share a list of one thousand blessings (that might lose some readers), but I want to offer some gifts I've received from living here at Karanda.

1.  Going to sleep at night to the sounds of a cooing bird.
2.  Seeing much more of Christopher than we have in a long time!
3.  Friday Family Night of movies and popcorn.
4.  Missionary family who make a birthday memorable and special.

Sharing the same birthday with fellow missionary Kathy Christiansen!



5.  The temperature has cooled WAY down and I actually wear my fleece jacket in the morning!
6.  Green grass because we won't have it much longer as the rains have stopped.
7.  My African violets blooming like crazy on my windowsill.
8.  A husband who comes home after a long day's work and yet plays ball with his sons because they ask.

Daddy reading books at bedtime.

9.  Beautiful walks through farmland and riverbeds.
10.  Friendships from long ago and newly found ones who make this journey meaningful.
11. A heart that feels such great emotions.
12. Supporters who send us letters, packages, cards, and e-mails of tangible encouragement.
13.  No T.V. (can you believe it!) and the gift of many more hours to read, talk, play games.
14.  Prayer meeting nights and hearing the faith-filled prayers of our local staff.
15.  Bright, happy curtains for our new home just waiting to be hung!
16. Electricity and water has been on for long periods of time.
17. Skype dates with family...we can't wait all week for those!
18. Two heartily growing boys who have learned to play together and are each other's best friends.

19. Being able to settle knowing our TEP was granted.

20. Being given gifts of food by those who have nothing.

These just graze off the top of the iceberg.  We are so blessed!  Thank you God for paths that cross, for however long, and friendships and memories that come from them.

Answers to Prayer

Every Thursday night, the missionary staff, as well as the heads of the various ministries of the hospital, meet together for a time of praise and prayer.  It is a blessing to come together and hear what God is doing and what is on people's hearts for prayer.  We spend time thanking God for the ways He has answered our previous prayers, and then we break into groups to pray for ongoing and new requests. 

One ongoing request has been the need for rain as this season just has not been good for crops.  Many peoples' crops are struggling from not enough rain or too long of a time between rains.  We live among a people depending on what comes from their fields to make it from year to year. 

The number of patients filling the hospital wards is also an ongoing request along with a very overworked staff.  For the past several months, our family has been held up in prayer as our TEP (work visa) had been denied and then, as we put in an appeal, we were going month to month on extensions. 

Well this week we have some HUGE praises!  We've had some wonderfully soaking rains (actually every day since our last prayer meeting) and our TEP was granted just yesterday!  After 5 months, we are so grateful that we now can move into our house and settle a bit more knowing this is where God has us for now.  We know many of you were praying along with us and we thank you for lifting us up faithfully.  We don't know why this took so long, but there was reason, and we trust His ways in all of this.  We're looking forward to our next prayer meeting!

Two weekends ago, Christopher and a couple of the nurses went for a rock climb up a famous rock in this part of Zimbabwe called Pulpit Rock.  It was a great time to get to know these two guys better and enjoy the beauty around us.  We are thankful for the friendships that have begun and look forward to new memories ahead!   Here are a few of the pictures from the day:

The guys before the hike!

Pulpit Rock

Yes, they climbed straight up!  Not for the faint of heart!

At the top and what a view!

What a musha (village home) looks like from above.  Often extended families live close to each other.  So one family is in one circled area, and maybe the grandparents or a sibling and his/her family live in the nearby circle of homes.

Musha Visit

This week, the boys and I were privileged to be invited to lunch at a lady's musha home.  Musha is a village home.  Of course we were eager to go and have a cultural adventure.  She invited us to walk with her and look at her various fields.  This rainy season has been rough on people's farmland.  Many crops are failing or have a small yield.  Looking at her huge, beautiful fields, I was surprised that our hostess is a widow and has done most of this farming on her own.  Here is a quick photo-journal of our time with this gracious woman:

Outside her kitchen, a typical Zimbabwean hut.

Inside her kitchen.  I love that in Zimbabwe they have these built in cupboards that display their plates and other utensils.  It makes their kitchens so attractive!  Also her fire pit is unusual.  Most have their cooking pits right in the middle, but her stove is built up on the side and is safer for children.  At the hospital there are so many children that come in with burns from falling into the fire.

A feast fit for a king!  We had sadza-the white food-which is a stiff porridge made from ground maize.  The green is similar to collard greens in a delicious sauce.  Then there was rice with a sauce made from soya-mince (made from soy product), and finally a slice of squash.

One of her fields.  This one is cotton.  All through her field of cotton she had pumpkins and various squashes growing. 

A beautiful wildflower along the path to her musha.

Another set of wildflowers on our walk.

It was an honor to be invited into this woman's home and learn about her life.  Now when we see her around on the hospital compound we don't just recognize a face, but we embrace a friend!



Learning to Let Go

I, Dontie, am sitting here reading my Bible reading for today in James and the words jumped out at me:

"Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.'  Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow...Instead, you ought to say, 'If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.'"  (James 4:13-14a, 15) 

We have this illusion that we are in control and we make plan, but ultimately, we don't know what tomorrow brings.  Africa has been such a good teacher in that lack of control. 

Water may or may not be on for who knows how long.  Do I worry about that?  The power may be on or it may be off for 10 days straight.  Do I worry about the food?  What am I going to do with that month's supply of meat in the freezer that is thawing?  Every vegetable I pull out of the fridge (as quickly as possible to save every last bit of coolness), is going bad and we can't use them fast enough.  Do I worry and fret?  Am I in control of these circumstances? 

What about our future here at Karanda?  Our TEP (long-term work visa) was denied and we are in the process of appealing it.  We have had a handful of extensions, and we go month by month not knowing if we'll have to be out of the country or if we can stay.  My first instinct is to worry and wonder what is going on here.  I want stability and knowing what tomorrow brings.  But here in James (as well as so many other places in the Bible), God reminds ME that He is in control.  He knows the details.  This is ALL in His plan and He has a plan that is perfect and good. 

Christopher and I are learning to let go and just live each day.  For someone like me, this is a tough lesson to learn.  But what freedom it brings! 

• Yes the water goes off, but we learn to use what we have wisely and not worry. 
• Yes, the zesa (power) is off, but I have to go one day at a time, use my brain that God gave me to be creative, and ultimately trust that God is in control of even the zesa!  I have to let go and believe in His goodness.  Maybe that month's supply of meat can be a blessing to several people around who are starving. 
• Yes, we don't know where we will be after this month's extension has expired, but its ok.  God has a plan and He's got a reason for this uncertainty and I have to trust Him. 

So we now are learning to say, "If it is God's will..."  Because that is why we are here for whatever amount of time that is!

A section of our drive to Karanda Mission Hospital.  Zimbabwe is a beautiful country.

Some of our critter friends around (or in) our home:

Guinea Fowl right outside our door         

                    

                             Wall Spider hanging out on our wall

The largest snail we have ever seen.  We named him Sully.

 

A high bridge we cross getting to the hospital, and our car.  Water has gone over this bridge a number of times during the rainy season.  

All in a Day

Here is a snipet of what a day is like at Karanda:

Woke up to the roosters crowing at 5:00 AM.  This is farmland and most everyone starts their day at 5!

Water has been on for only a few hours in the morning these past weeks, so I hurry to fill up all our buckets in each room and the kitchen.  I make sure to flush the toilets several times.

Zesa (electricity) is off, so wait for the hospital generator to kick on sometime between 8 to 9 so we can have some coffee and plug in all the torches (flashlights) we used last night.  They charge in only a few hours. 

It begins to rain in torrents, so I hurry with buckets outside to collect water as we quickly go through all our "water buckets" even with being extra careful.  Several pots go on the stove to boil the rainwater that I will then put into our water filter.  It has to boil at least 10 minutes to kill bacteria before filtering. 

We thank God for the rain, but sure enough, there goes the zesa for who knows how many hours or days.  Our record so far is 10 days with no power (outside of the generator).  Someone figured out that in 20 days of February, we only had 96 hours of electricity!

Go to feed a fellow missionary's cat (Mittens).  The missionary is on home assignment so we are taking care of the cat until her return this month.  Find a fruit bat in the sink and it is still alive with a broken leg!  Decide to wait for Christopher to help me get it out.  Not feeling that adventurous and brave just yet! 

Christopher comes home from work for tea (half hour break), and he is my hero as he rescues the bat (hissing and all) with a bucket and gently releases it in a garden outside.  We admire the creativity of God in the wings and architecture of the bats body.  We even get a look at its little sharp teeth as it hisses at us shaking all over.  Poor little bat.

Visit with some of the ladies who come around selling fruits and vegetables.  I never know what they will bring and sometimes it is just one item.  But I try to buy from them as much as possible as there is a famine going on all around us in this area.  I would have never guessed with the green all around and crops growing beautifully, but last year's harvest was small and hasn't lasted through until this year's harvest. 

We hear that a World Vision truck is coming to the little town area outside the hospital to distribute sacks of corn and other items.  People wait in anticipation.  The boys and I walk to town to buy a coke from one of the hospital employees who also runs this little store.  The shelves are almost bare...but he always has cokes...and ice-cold too!  The boys and I practice our greetings with people in town.

 

Christopher gets off work unusually early, so we go with him to visit the Peds Ward.  The boys love this and I am once again humbled by the way they love on the kids, touching them and jabbering away with them.  They don't even seem to notice some of the abnormalities they see.  I wish my eyes could see past as they do.

Supper by candlelight and baths from a bucket.  We go out in the courtyard to look at the incredible stars in this African sky.  There is nothing like it!  We praise God for His awesomeness and thank Him for the chance to be here at this time in our lives. 

Climb in bed under our mosquito nets and pray for our families and supporters.  It's the end of another day at Karanda.

Deliverence for Patience

I wanted to share an encouraging story about what God recently did.

Patience is a 15 year old female who was admitted to our hospital one evening.  She was totally disoriented and was suicidal.  Her husband reported that for a month or longer she was refusing to eat, was having visual and auditory hallucinations, as well as various delusions. 

The next morning when I met her she was lying in bed with an apathetic expression and a hollow/blank look in her eyes.  I sensed that there was a spiritual problem present rather than a medical one.  As I evaluated her, I noticed a red string around her neck which held an item blessed by her religious leader.  (Many people here wear a string around their neck or waist as a way to protect themselves or ward off evil spirits.)  She was part of a cult that did not believe that Jesus is God, but rather their prophet/leader was God.

I said through the interpreter, “This necklace cannot protect you, only Jesus can protect you. This is not helping you.  Can I remove it?”  After hesitating, she agreed.  I broke the string and threw it away.  Then I asked if I could pray for her and she reluctantly agreed.  I prayed a prayer of deliverance over her and wrote an order for the chaplains to come pray with her as well.

The next morning, during rounds, I saw Patience, but she was a totally different woman.  She had already eaten breakfast, and was peacefully sitting up in bed, smiling.  The change was so dramatic it was amazing. As I sat on her bed, she immediately said in English, “Thank you.  I am free.” I excitedly replied, “Jesus did this!  Jesus set you free!”  Her nurse told me that her confusion, hallucinations, and suicidal thoughts were all gone. Patience told me that she prayed to my God the night before.  I was very excited for her and proceeded to thank the Lord for delivering this young woman.  Since she lives near the hospital, I invited her to come to our church and said she could even sit with my family.

Seeing what God did with Patience has been invigorating.  It reminded me that Jesus came to, “heal the brokenhearted and set the captives free.”