MASSIVE UPDATE TIME Pt. 2: a new year [January]

Although I still hadn't started teaching yet, January consisted of….a lot!

The school had a big celebration for their 10th anniversary. As the one in possession of a camera, I was designated the official photographer for all of the festivities. Two days we cleaned (CLEANED!) the neighborhood up and down, from cutting down brush and hoeing up rocks and weeds to picking up fossilized trash buried in mud in the middle of the road. A lot of gross and hard work, but it was a blessing to the community as well!

Also in honor of the anniversary, one day we went to a nearby orphanage to bring them a bunch of supplies. I was super excited because this was the first time I had been able to go to an actual orphanage…as I expected, as soon as I got there I never wanted to leave…I could see myself giving up anything to stay and love them, they were so precious and in need of love…

this baby was found abandoned at a bus station when he was 2 months old.

It was over WAY too quickly… But several of the orphans who go to the school came along on the trip, so at least I got to still be with them as I was torn away from the others!

After meeting up with my parents and my brother Alex in Ethiopia to meet our new adopted brothers, Zerihun and Melaku (will write about that later!), Alex flew back to Tanzania with me to visit for a couple weeks. First time to see my family (or anyone from home) in 4 months!

The first day he was here was my 22nd birthday (and my "golden birthday"? never really understood the importance of that…someone clue me in…) -- probably the most uneventful birthday ever :) Except for skyping with my boyfriend James and my friend Edwin surprisingly giving me two gift-wrapped Kit Kat bars at worship practice! Super sweet. Although the next month, though, my fam had a big belated 'birthday dinner' for me, with fabulous food, and invited people over…really nice of them!

I took him to the school (which had just opened, although I wasn't teaching yet) a few times to play with the kids. Of course a new mzungu creates quite a stir. We sat in the baby class during their snack time, taught the 4th graders how to play Heads Up Seven Up, and Douglas taught him Swahili vocab, quizzing him on it periodically throughout the day.

One day we took a 3 hour bus ride (make that 5.5 hours if we include the 2 1/2 hours sitting on the side of the road with a flat tire…) out to a town called Babati to visit the child the our family sponsors with Compassion International. His name is Alex (originally Juma, but changed to Alex when he was baptized in honor of my brother Alex, whose birthday is one day away from his!). I loved meeting them and wished we stayed longer… just knowing Swahili and their culture well enough to immediately connect with them was so cool. I relish destroying their expectations of what Americans are going to be like :)

We each planted an avocado tree that they had bought in our honor…that was a first!

We also spent a couple mornings clearing out one of the overgrown yards up at the orphan house. Well, the first time was a fail because Alex's started like fainting all over the place from heatstroke…so he'd be laying face-down on the other side of the yard groaning and I yelled, "Tired?" and he's like "Uhhhh…I felt dizzy…I think I'm gonna throw up…I'm seeing black spots…" And I throw my rake down, "Alex! We're going home now! We're gonna go check if you have malaria!" And he's like "No Lindsay! No!! I'm FINE!" He tries to get up and pick up his hoe and go back into the scorching sun, so I steal his hoe with much protest and he begs me with much sweet-talk to give back the hoe like it's his bag of crack.

I'm like, "How long have you been feeling sick?" 

"Oh, just like 5 days…since I got here…" 

"FIVE DAYS???!? Why didn't you tell me!!!?" 

"It wasn't that bad!"

"I'm not giving you the hoe!!!"

I thought I kind of understood boys after all these years with them… but I don't understand Alex.

see the determination...

The second time was better and we got a lot done. Mostly with the help of whistle-while-you-work Seven Dwarfs-type songs we'd make up, like:

I've been workin' in the garden

All the live-long day

I've been workin' here with Alex

Just to get these weeds away

Don't you feel the sun a-beatin'

Making your face so red?

Don't you wish that you had slept in?

You'd still be in your bed 

And then Alex would chant some Army Ranger running hoo-ah type song that I'd have to echo… 

A-! (Army!) 

R-! (Ranger!) 

M-! (Men!) 

Y-! (Yankee Doodle!) 

R-! (uh…Ranger!) 

A-! (…Army?) 

N-! (Never Give Up!) 

G-! (…Give Up!) 

etc etc

Halfway through, I actually got a call from the orphanage administrator saying the neighbors called him complaining about the noise…oops.

One day before he left we went to a nearby conservation forest to hike and go boating. Super peaceful and relaxing and informative, except for the part where they failed to clarify me that the boats cost 10 times more than I heard their broken English say. ($17 and $70 sound dangerously similar in Swahi-nglish)

Other January highlights: 

- Going on an hour-long epic quest with Miriam at dusk to find four escaped chickens, carrying one under each arm on the way back (read: I'm carrying TWO perturbed winged animal at the same time, trying with no free hands to balance on a rickety pile of roofing beams and wooden planks in negligible lighting). I've never physically touched a chicken, so hugging one was a new experience. 

- Started leading worship in Swahili in church every once in a while! They always want to give me the English songs to lead, but that usually ends up with the congregation miraculously losing the ability to sing and just staring at me, so I told them the English songs are more accessible if one of their own countrymen sing it themselves! Want to see?

for other pictures, you can go to my most recent Facebook photo album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2803358&id=838965&l=47d7c6840c
and other pictures with my brother Alex: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2790420&id=838965&l=6287b5d9d3

blessing

(trying out this blog-update-through-email thing...hopefully it works, would be nice to do from my phone when I'm miles away from a computer connection!)

Why are we so bad at recognizing how blessed we are? Even if we simply realized every moment how things that used to plague us don't plague us anymore, we would be freaking out at how great life is! From little to big…every moment there is something to rejoice over.

The other morning I woke up and was sitting under my mosquito net praying, and I remembered how it used to be in the last house we stayed in--every night, a dozen mosquitoes would be resting on the outside of my net. Sometimes it sounded like there was a small plane in my bathroom from all them buzzing around in there; I couldn't open my closet door without 3 flying out as they rested in the warmth; the time it took to dress in the morning was doubled because half my time was spent battling them. Now I see one maybe once a week…how great is that?!?

But I totally forgot.

Remember having an earache, a headache, nausea, congestion where you can't breathe out of your nose -- constantly distracting and you can't wait until it goes away. Then the first moment you realize it's not there anymore, you're so joyful! But of course we'll forget again what a blessing it is to breathe freely, eat freely. I mechanically put my contacts on in the morning, forgetting what a miracle it is that I can see.

The night before that I wasn't feeling too hot -- back pain, finger injury and toothache. But then I thought about it -- a small section of my back, one knuckle, and a centimeter of my mouth -- what is that, 99.9% of every part and function of my body inside and outside?? Talk about glass-half-empty…that's a freakin' overflowing goblet and I'm saying it's undrinkable, laying on the ground in (relative) pain feeling sorry for myself.

I wish I could look at actual statistics for these, but unfortunately I'm not in the Land of Perpetual Internet
But looking at basics only:

I was born -- in America alone, 4,000 lives per day aren't given this chance
I have my freedom -- millions are slaves
I have parents -- millions don't [Not to mention parents that love me]
I have food -- millions don't [Not to mention as much food as I want]
I have water -- millions don't
I have a home -- millions don't
I have an education -- millions of children yearn for the chance
I can see [Not to mention the resources to fix it if something's wrong]
I can hear
I can walk

If you're discontent--*who are you comparing yourself to?*

What do you think about to fight your own selfishness?

chip in!

If you've been keeping up with my story and are interested in contributing to support my ministry here, now you have a chance :) Since September I have just been living off my savings, but at the beginning of the year I had to start paying back my school loans, and I just bought my ticket home, so that's put a strain on my finances. Living expenses are so small here that literally ANY amount is a huge blessing! I spend only an average of $30 week on food, bus fares, internet, cell phone and offerings to the church. When I leave at the end of April, I'd also really really like to be able to bless the church and the school and my family with as large a gift as I can manage, but right now I wouldn't be able to manage much! As this is just a one-time need, I don't have a tax-deductible organization to go through, but you can give through ChipIn through this:



The goal amount that's set on it just represents what I've spent just living here, but again, any amount of contributions are super helpful :)

love and blessings to you all, more posts coming very soon....

MASSIVE UPDATE TIME pt. 1: holiday season [December]

ok, I've put it off long enough…time to jump back in...!

School let out for the holiday at the beginning of December, so I didn't have a whole lot to do for more than a month…this meant lots of family time :) Pastor Eric got back from the U.S. a few days before Christmas, so everyone was reunited again. Here's my Tanzanian fam, eating out on Christmas Day -- basically the same format as my fam at home, except that trevor is switched out for a feisty girl. [left to right] Abraham (20), me Samuel (15), Mama, Pastor Eric, Miriam (19).

Our Christmas lunch consisted of 3 heaping platters of grilled meat (goat, cow and chicken), french fries ("chipsi") and soda! Pretty fantastic.

The church decked out for the holiday!

As people from home asked what they could send me for Christmas, it was hard to think of gifts I wanted or things from America that I can't get here. On a daily basis, it's not the most helpful attitude to always be thinking of the stuff you don't have or wish you have -- I have to wrench my head into a different mindset from the way I usually operate! I'm pretty sure the media and the people around us have the most to do with our conceptions of whatever we think we need or want -- if you don't have the media telling you what you need to be cool, or other people around you with cool stuff that you can covet, what else do you need than your daily necessities? Here I have WAY more than anyone else -- I don't look at anyone else and wish that I had what they have or that I could live like they live (ok…except for maybe cool African fabrics and tailored dresses…my fav! [right! -->])

I realized the things I now wish for are so different…the extinction of flies, "unlimited nights and weekends" (oh America!), water fountains…some silence to record music, my brothers to sing with, the hug of a best friend…patience, humility, selflessness, to really look like Jesus… Nothing that fits in a USPS Priority Mail Small Flat Rate Box.

It was actually a very difficult time for me. Compared to the faithful traditions and worship-like Christmas frenzy of America, the level of celebration here is almost indiscernible -- everyone decorated the church that week, and the family went out for lunch together, but mostly there was nothing to distinguish Christmas and Christmas Eve from any other day! Since in my mind the holidays are inextricable from family, Christmas Eve alone in my room was really hard to get over, and I was definitely way more self-pitying than I should have been! I was reminded that Jesus spent the first Christmas ever in a dark and dirty stable, not curled up by a fire sipping hot chocolate. Thankfully my room smells slightly better than that, and our electricity didn't even cut off that night. During that time, people brought gifts to Him, not expecting to receive any. He was our gift. He's always been more than enough. That was never more real to me than that evening, remembering the night He was born, on my bed with only Him and my tears, and listening to "I Celebrate The Day" by Relient K about 15 times…"I celebrate the day that you were born to die, so I could one day pray for you to save my life."

New Year's Eve, on the other hand, was insane. We had mkesha, an all-night church service/prayer/music & worship event. The worship team played [see above], all the choirs performed songs, individuals sang, etc. I got my earplugs out for the 6-hour service because Tanzanians like their music LOUD and I'm not a fan of hearing loss. Mostly Miriam and I and our other youthful friends entertained ourselves by making up ridiculous dances…by 11:30 the craziness had set in and we ended up outside to have more freedom for our dancing impulses.

At midnight (to my great astonishment) everyone started screaming and running back and forth in the church to find every single person they know to say Hongera ya mwaka mpya ("Congratulations for the New Year") leaping on each other, laughing -- I was literally physically injured by half a dozen people who either bowled me over while running by or 'congratulated' me a little too energetically. I seem to specifically remember an elbow to the face at one point… The following video doesn't come close to capturing the explosion of old people sprinting around, but you can get the idea. We kept this up for about a quarter of an hour before they turned on music and everyone that was left started dancing! 

Being someone in thorough possession of the "Physical Touch" Love Language, dozens and dozens of people running to hug me was actually very moving, especially after the last week of feeling so lonely; there were definitely some tears threatening to escape. I realized how fantastic and loving all these people are and was so blessed at how they've accepted me into their family!

New Year's Day we had a bunch of people over for a small feast. Mama made me pray (in Swahili) for the food and actually I was pretty impressed with myself, for once it didn't end with the typical mortification I feel at the prayer's conclusion. Too bad it wasn't videoed…

me & Mama, dressed up on New Year's Day, in front of our house!