delightful moments

Had a few delightful exchanges today while out and about town... fluid moments in time, where you share laughter, companionship, and joy on this fine line that is the "present", second by second converting the future into the past.

Buying a pair of rubber house slippers at the roundabout in our sub-city, at a corner stall we walk by regularly... we are greeted by a smiling young man with a depth in his eyes that exceeds his age. With my broken Amharic phrases (since I can't form a sentence yet), and his grasp of English... he searches through the mound of shoes to find my size selasa-smint (38) -- his eyes sparkle "Oh... 8," he says. The middle-aged man inside the stall is the one who answers my question of how much they cost (senta-new?)... "hulet meto amsa" (250) he says. We smile, I tilt my head back, switching to English "Last price?" His eyes flash with an understanding that I know the correct bargaining questions... and he answers me in English, "230... 20 birr discount" and he turns to another customer. I look back to the younger lad... he sees my hesitation. I know I'm not getting a deal, but I really want the shoes. He coaxes me in English, "It's a good price." I wink at him and then, as playfully as possible, shoot back: "Yes, it is good. But hulet meto (200) is better." He breaks out into laughter and the other customers (2 young women) also chuckle as they watch. Bemused, the middle-aged shop owner casts me a sideways look and trying to act a bit annoyed, says, "Go. Take them." Still chuckling, the young women say delightedly: "very good... he accepts!" The young lad quickly bags them, still beaming, hands them to me and gives a hearty handshake goodbye. I tell them we will come again... especially if they break. ;-)

Further down the way, we interact with some vegetable (atkilt) selling ladies. We are learning the words for tomatoes (timatim), potatoes (denitch), onions (shuncourt), carrots (karot), and other vegetables. There are several kinds of greens, which you cook differently. One I recognize as gomen or what we know as collard greens. The other one is more like a mix between spinach and bok choy, and I suddenly realize I don't know the English word for it either. (Now, in the States, I can clearly differentiate between my mustard greens, collard greens, turnip greens, spinach, bok choy, kale, and lettuces. But here, I want to relinquish my English labels and anchor what I'm seeing, tasting, touching with the local label/word. That's part of the language learning process.) I point to the spinach looking green and ask what it is, "mindinao?" I regret to say, I do not remember the answer... it takes many times hearing it. Then I review the things I've learned, pointing and repeating the name. I point to the collard greens, "gomen" but I am corrected, "No! habesha gomen!" (meaning "Ethiopian goman") I point to the cabbage, "mindinao? .... " Then suddenly, before they can answer, I try to be funny and ask, "ferengi gomen?" (white-foreigner gomen?). But AT THE SAME TIME, one of the other older ladies also decides to be funny and shouts out "ferengi gomen". We end up speaking in stereo. Laughter ripples amongst the 3 side-by-side stalls, and smiles all around.

Little moments. Laughter breaking down differences and uniting us in seconds of understanding amidst language and culture barriers. It's a beautiful thing... this really being all the same. :-)

along the journey to becoming a good Ethiopian

Things I am learning about how to become a good Ethiopian and do things the Ethiopian way... as per my Ethiopian brothers. :-)

1) Do not store up food in your cupboards. Use it up, then buy more. Buy your bread, vegetables, injera, milk, etc. on the day you plan to use it... not several days in advance.

2) Turn your water heater, stove propane, power strips, internet OFF when you are not using it or planning on using it shortly.

3) Do not walk away from milk you are heating on the stove. It WILL boil over.

4) Tea & Coffee are served after the meal. Not before. Not with.

5) When leaving the house, lock everything -- close all window shutters & lock drawers, closets, bedroom doors, house doors, out buildings, and finally... the gate.

6) Put onions, tomatoes, and berebere powder in almost everything you cook. ;-)

7) There are 12 parts/cuts to a chicken.

8) Liquid soap (dish detergent) is ferengi soap. The crumbly blue bar soap at all the little shops is Ethiopian soap. (I'm still trying to learn how to wash out water bottles with bar soap... will let you know when I figure it out... hee hee).

9) Salt. Ethiopian salt is like miniature rock salt... too small for an ice cream maker, but too large to just put directly in food or to fit through a salt shaker. It must be ground with a rolling pin before use. :-) And speaking of salt-shakers... you do not put salt on your food after it's cooked. The flavor doesn't blend well... you should put the right amount of salt in while cooking. :-)

10) It is 10 December. I went looking for Christmas decorations. Was told by shopkeepers that I am too early... come back in 10 days. ;-) Last-minute-Christmas-shoppers... come. This is your haven. (Ethiopian Christmas, or "Genna," is on 7 January).

Learning, learning, learning, learning... and that what life is about. :-) *happy sigh*

the extraordinary ordinary

After I've been overseas for awhile or to a number of places, I tend to forget to write down the more "unusual" or "extraordinary" things I see, taste, touch, take in... because they become such a normal part of life. Here are some of those things from the last couple weeks.

• Snacking on cactus fruit at a bus stop in Northern Ethiopia (which is really what dragonfruit is - but these taste waaaay different)
• Tasting custard apples for the first time in Addis - yummy!! (look them up - these things look funky!)
• Watching the beautiful landscape disappear under two separate layers of puffy clouds, as our 13-seater plane ascends over Tanzania
•  Seeing cattle, goats, & sheep hurried across the road in advance of our careening bus, by a little Ethiopian shepherd boy who can't be more than 6 or 7 years old
• Watching a breathtaking sunset behind the silhouette of a man leading his 3 camels home at dusk, bearing their burdens
• Squeezing onto a bus that is already packed with 3x the amount of human souls it was designed to carry (because a taxi costs 100-300x the bus fare)
• Scoffing at the outrageous price tags and walking away from familiar fruits, vegetables, & foods -- and filling our basket instead with local food items which are more reasonably affordable (and would be considered exotic at home). It seems strange to yearn for just one good ol' apple, when you can have your fill of cheap & delicious mangoes & pineapples
• Making it halfway through the day before I realize that I'm still wearing a loose-fitting skirt which I had thrown over my long pajama shorts this morning in order to be culturally-appropriately-decent when I went into the kitchen to make coffee this morning, in the event the house-helper or guard might see me walk by
• Unspoken rule #837 of living in Africa - your clothes do not necessarily have to "match"
• Spending more hours sitting in bus seats in the last month than I have in airplane seats in the last 6 months
• Not even blinking when the lights go out (again), or the shower is cold (again)
• Finding myself analyzing, comparing, and ranking water pressure, internet speed, and yogurt quality everywhere I go
• Realizing I'm probably a bit travel-weary, if nothing else, for the simple fact that I've slept in 14 different cities in the last 25 nights
• The shocking realization that I am materialistic... a spiritual slap in the face. How do I know this? I take an extra suitcase with me places, or leave room in the one I have, to bring more stuff back home with me. Sure, I can explain it away with all sorts of reasons, but the bare bones truth is... materialism has its clutches on me, too. 

More to come...

Dependency: the issue in missions

"You, Westerners, you know how to minister from strength, but you don't know how to minister from weakness. So it makes those of us who are weak... it makes it very difficult for us to partner with you."

"I stood a mendicant [beggar] of God, before His royal throne;
And begged Him for a priceless gift that I could call my own.
He gave the gift, but as I would depart,
I cried, "But, Lord, this is a thorn, and it has pierced my heart!
This is a strange and hurtful gift, that Thou has given me."
And He looked at me and said, "Oh, My child, I give good gifts, and gave My best to Thee."
So I took it home and though, at first, the cruel thorn hurt sore.
As long years passed, I learned at last, to love it more and more.
I found He never gives a thorn, without this added grace
He takes the thorn, to pull away the veil which hides His face."
(Martha Snell Nicholson)

pretty much!

If you have men who will only come if they know there is a good road, I don't want them. I want men who will come if there is no road at all. (D. Livingstone)

don't forget

True ministry is not a competition if we're all playing on the same team... HIS.

some perspective for the day...

"To avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, be nothing." (Lecrae)

an african proverb

.this. keeps me on my knees

Nothing like a sucker punch to the gut first thing in the morning, right? Reading bits and pieces of Jim Elliot's journals ... and this morning's.... man. this sends me to, and keeps me on, my knees.

"We were most interested in what you had to say about transporting an American culture pattern to another land ...this is what I've been talking about for the past two years!! It is what every American has been doing here in Australia (with one or two exceptions). With it all goes a most repelling attitude of superiority, which is not only expressed in the desire to superimpose American ways and methods on a people who have an already established pattern of life, but in a personal patronizing attitude. It is enough to make one weep! It has caused difficulty in every sphere where Americans have tried to work with Australians (especially in Christian work). That's why I have pleaded that Americans should stay home until and unless they are prepared to impose themselves on other peoples with a much different attitude of mind and heart, with a love that melts all barriers and prejudices and rests in the sure knowledge of a life really devoted to God and not to any national spirit." 

(excerpt from The Journals of Jim Elliot, quoted from a letter to Elisabeth from a friend, Jan Brooks, working in Australia. emphasis mine)

...this has so been on my heart these past weeks... I'm clinging to the promise in Romans 5:5 ("...He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love"). Pleading, asking for more, more, more of HIS LOVE to fill to overflowing, displacing all my own weak, human, failing love... and spilling out and over to the ones who are so dear and precious to Him... and also to me.

I've been looking for this quote...

"Obedience to the call of Christ nearly always costs everything to two people--the one who is called, and the one who loves that one."

(Oswald Chambers)

"second honeymoon"

I feel like I'm falling in love with Africa all over again. :) This week -- I've been completely enamored with the joy that is "African time." With the worth of people over tasks. With the value of community. With the smell of African earth that greets me when I open my windows each morning. With the dazzling smiles and firm handshakes of my colleagues.

Can't quite explain it. This continent so grips my soul.

it just isn't possible...

"We cannot be intimately exposed to God's heart and remain complacent." (H. Blackaby)

hope

"Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree." (Martin Luther)

embracing sovereignty

"Choose to bury your face, even your tears, in the mystery of His sovereignty. It's a hard choice, but one you will never regret. ... The choice we have is whether we are going to submit to a sovereign God or shake our fist and demand answers not intended for this life. ... I am going to humble myself before God and believe He has a purpose I will someday understand. I reject bitterness and hard-heartedness, and I choose to become submissive and wait. ... When you willingly take from God's hand whatever He allows, believing that eternity will prove His wisdom and goodness, even though you can't see it now, you are embracing sovereignty at the deepest level. And you are preparing your life for a joy so immense that few ever truly experience it."
Josh MacDonald, Gripped by the Greatness of God

I am a daughter of Abraham

Now the LORD said to Abram,
"Go forth from your country,
and from your relatives
and from your father's house,
to the land which I will show you;
and I will make you a great nation,
and I will bless you, and make your name great;
and so you shall be a blessing;
and I will bless those who bless you,
and the one who curses you I will curse.
And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed."(Genesis 12:1-3, NASB)

By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed
by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance;
and he went out not knowing where he was going. (Hebrews 11:8, NASB)

And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants,
heirs according to promise. (Galatians 3:29, NASB)

Was reminded this morning of sitting on the floor of a friend's house, struggling through the reality of moving away from all that was familiar just three years ago.  Amazed, as I again read these words, that this promise is no longer a future promise... it is REALITY.

Peter began to say to Him, "Behold, we have left everything and followed You."
Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel's sake, but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions, and in the age to come, eternal life."(Mark 10:29-30, NASB)

Amazed. Overwhelmed by wonder. Grateful.

What we do not have is an excuse...

Thankful for this brother's stirring words of conviction and perspective.

Heehee...

In the last couple months, I've welcomed 3 new staff members to Africa... :-) And they are slowly discovering that the most important part of transitioning to a new country/language/culture is to embrace this attitude towards life. ;-)

Grace is the face love wears...

“Grace is ... the face that love wears when it meets imperfection, weakness, failure, sin.  Grace is what love is and does when it meets the sinful and undeserving. It enables us to see beyond one another’s faults so that we can love one another without reference to whether that love has been earned or deserved.  It’s what God does when He reaches out in love–sinful as we are–and welcomes us into a relationship with Himself.” (J. R. Cooke)

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!!!!!

You know my heart... let it bring You praise

So many things in my heart these days, but feels impossible to express... such sweet comfort in His love and purpose even in the never-ending fight against the enemy's lies... he doesn't get to win this one. I don't have to understand what God is doing to praise Him... I can praise Him simply because He IS God and He is WORTHY... regardless of my energy & health, my circumstances, and my feelings. They are all subject to Him... and He may choose for me what He wishes. Lord, let it bring You praise! You have meaning and beautiful blessing in this season... have YOUR way.

I don't know what You're doing, but I do know who You are.

"...God's children please Him just as well when they sit patiently with folded hands, if that is His will, as when they are hard at work. But to be at work, to be useful, to be necessary... is just what I want, and I do find it hard to be set against the wall... I see now that my first desire has not been to please God, but to please myself, for I am restless under His restraining hand. ...if I could only have the health and strength for my beloved ones..."

"But how often I have prayed that God would do His will... in defiance, if need be, of mine! I have tried to remind myself of this everyday."

(excerpts from Stepping Heavenward by E. Prentiss)

something's missing

I love the passages of Scripture where Jesus welcomes the children. But, hanging out with children a lot myself... there's something that's so blatantly missing from every picture I've ever seen out there of Jesus with the little children. DIRT. I don't know about all of you, but I know when I hang out with kiddos -- I never come away as clean as the Jesus in these pictures. Ever notice that? That Jesus is always in white. And even with children clambering all over him... he's still perfectly clean and white? It never quite fits with my mental image of human Jesus -- fully God, fully man... with dirty handprints on his clothes and muddy footprints on his hem. :-) If you can find a picture like that -- send it to me. Because that's my Jesus... the one who welcomes me even when I'm dirty and might get stains on his clothes... He doesn't care, because He knows... it's all washable. His blood covered it all. So, uncaring, He picks me up and wraps me in His arms. That's my Jesus.

battles worth fighting

Sometimes there are battles worth fighting even if you know you can't win... for no other reason than to relentlessly affirm the VALUE of the ones you're fighting for. To stand up and say: "I want you to know, that it doesn't matter if I win or lose... I will fight for you. Because YOU are WORTH it."

is He not kind? is He not wise?

"You said just now that you would gladly go through any trial in order to attain a personal love to Christ that should become the ruling principle of your life. Now as soon as God sees this desire in you, is He not kind, in He not wise, in appointing such trials as He knows will lead to this end?"  (E. Prentiss, Stepping Heavenward)

Well then, I guess my life has finally begun...

David Livingstone...the man who left his heart in Africa

“God, send me anywhere, only go with me.
Lay any burden on me, only sustain me.
And sever any tie,
except the tie that binds me to Thyself.”

“There is one safe and happy place, and that is in the will of God.”

“If you have men who will only come if they know there is a good road, I don't want them. I want men who will come if there is no road at all.”

“I will go anywhere, provided it be forward.”

“Without Christ, not one step; with Him, anywhere!”

“People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa. It is emphatically no sacrifice. Say rather it is a privilege.”

“I am determined never to stop until I have come to the end and achieved my purpose.”

Do you feel jipped? Cuz you should...

Ceres Passion Fruit juice............ where have you been all my life!?!?!?
Now 2nd on my list, just below Tipco's Broccoli-Kiwi juice. :-) My American friends, you are being jipped on juice flavors... let me tell you.........

(I'd consider bringing some home for tasting, but I'm just imagining that conversation with the USDA customs office.... "Yes ma'am, I have Broccoli juice in my bag. Is that a problem?")