Through the Seasons

I just may read this passage of Scripture from Matthew chapter 6 every morning.

Treasures in Heaven

 19“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

 22“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

 24“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

Do Not Worry

 25“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

 28“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Most of our preparation these days includes caring for ourselves – what to pack as excess baggage, what to pack as air freight, what to leave behind, what to make sure we take with us… so many decisions! 

But at the end of it all, it’s not worth fretting over.  But, as always, that’s my temptation.  I’m a thorough person so I want to “think of everything”.  That puts a lot of pressure on me – so – every day I have to remind myself that He is God and He is in control and that I am NEITHER.  I’ll forget things.  Something (or many things) will go wrong.  But I rely on Him to make up for my shortcomings.  He knows my weaknesses.  It’s about time I realize and accept them as well. 

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The tenth and last people group in the region we’ll be working is the Sangu. Here is information on them taken from www.thetask.net.

About 99% of the Sangu people follow traditional religion. Neither Islam nor Christianity has penetrated in places away from the main roads. Some people may follow one of these religions, but likely have not given up their own traditional practices either. The Sangu are a very proud people and do not easily receive anything new from the outside.

In many areas there are no churches at all. The church leaders are very exhausted in their work of evangelism and church planting. They appreciate any help they can get to draw their people to Jesus. Bible Translation is one way to help to reach the Sangu with God’s Word in the language they understand.

Geography and Climate: The area is extremely dry for about 8 months of the year and then the plains are flooded during the rainy season.

Population: 75,000

Cultural Information: The Sangu people are the original pastoral inhabitants of the vast area of flatlands towards the southern end of the Great Ruaha River System. More recently a large rice project sponsored by the Chinese was introduced. Some of the Sangu people have learned the art of planting rice from them and now have their own smaller rice paddies. The Sangu also plant millet and maize but often experience hunger. Some own cattle, goats, and sheep. During the rainy season flooding is common; rains are sometimes so strong that the rice gets completely flooded. In the dry season water supplies may be up to twelve kilometers away. The villages are far apart, spread over an immense area. Even the individual homesteads are at a distance from each other with people living quite independently of one another. Most houses in the Sangu area are built of mud and sticks or mud bricks. Generally each village has a school, but many of the children in the more remote places do not get to attend.

Very few Sangu have received higher education and there are very few Sangu pastors and evangelists.

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We recently heard from friends of ours who are currently at language school in Tanzania – where we’ll be soon enough.  They said that it’s COLD there and will get COLDER by the time we get there – so we’re preparing for that!!  It also sounds to me like learning Swahili is HARD.  So those prayers have begun in full force.  Up until now I’ve looked at it like it would be fun and interesting – and it still will be – but it’s also survival.  Just to put a little extra pressure on myself.  I need to keep repeating, “I don’t have to absorb everything at once.” and “I’m going to make mistakes.”  And it’s okay.  (it’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay)  I’m still looking forward to it.  I’ve just got to give myself a little grace to learn at my own pace.  (Hey, that rhymed.  That could be my little motto.) 

Check out the Lang Lingo to see what our friends have said about language school so far. 

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I woke this morning with the realization of just how crazy packing is going to be.  The Packing Beast I’ve lovingly named it. 

First, we have to put in our carry-ons breakables such as camera and computers, entertainment such as books, cards, cross-stitch projects, and an extra set of clothes just in case. 

Our checked baggage needs to contain everything we need for our extended layover we’re taking to visit friends. 

In our excess baggage we’ll pack everything we have to have for language school. 

Then we’ll send the rest over by airfreight and the books through something called book bag. 

By the time we actually pack though it should be a breeze because I spend a lot of time packing in my head.    All that practice and forethought should help in some way I’d think!  At least I hope so! 

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 A quote courtesy of Nat:

“The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the
rain.”  -  Dolly Parton

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My first thought when I woke up this morning was, “How are Christmas cards and gifts going to work this year?”  I laid in bed for about 30 minutes running different scenarios through my mind.

How feasible is it going to be for me to buy Christmas cards and mail them in time, all while being in language school at a campsite?
Who should I send cards through mail and who should I email?
How hard would it be to send cards through email to a massive amount of people from an internet cafe?
How long will the cards take to get there?
Should I just buy them now, get them ready, and mail them from there in November?
Should I buy them now, get them ready, and have a friend mail them from here?
Can you even buy Christmas cards now?
Can you even buy Christmas cards there?
Where will I buy Christmas gifts for my family?
When should they be mailed?
How feasible is it going to be for me to buy Christmas gifts and mail them in time all while being in language school at a campsite?

I realize I’m planning ahead to an extreme right now but I’d rather think of this now than when I can’t do much to resolve the issue.  Of course I will know more then but… I just want to make sure I can get at least a few Christmas cards and gifts out.  Maybe this is a good question to ask my contact in Mbeya. 

It’s amazing what I think about these days.  I exhausted myself before even getting out of bed with how hard I considered every option I could come up with.

If you don’t get a Christmas card from us this year, know that we tried and began trying to figure it out in June… 

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As I was asking for help on the scrapbooking front I heard from a woman who does stamping, mainly making cards.  I went to visit her today.  She showed me the cards she’s made and then gave me tons of supplies so I could do it myself – and more importantly – share it with others around me. 

I sat down to write her a thank you note and realized I could make my first card and send it to her.  Here it is:

The Front

The Inside

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I’ve been working slowly but surely on the project for Jonathan.  Do you know what it is now?

I also started a new project.  This one captures my favorite season:  Autumn.  But this is just the beginning.  (Ignore the red string – it’s just my place holder.)

I’ll keep updating you as I progress…

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Okay, this isn’t the deepest post I’ve ever written but I just have to share my discovery!

I have used a curling iron on my hair since I was old enough to be trusted with one (maybe even before).  I curl, curl, curl each section of hair then spray, spray, spray it down.  It usually relaxes quite a bit by the time I head out the door and by the end of the day it’s completely flat.  But I have been determined, nonetheless, to curl this hair.

The problem?

I have stick straight hair.

Well, today I decided to use a flat iron.  Just a few quick strokes through my hair and voila!  A hairstyle!  It’s like my hair was saying, “Well, this is what I wanted to do anyway.  No sweat.”  For once I wasn’t fighting my hair but working with it. 

That’s not to say I won’t ever use a curling iron again though.  Some habits are hard to break.

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But right now it’s not.  We’ve begun to buy things to take with us to Africa.  We need a 3 year supply of dental floss, contact lens solution, razor blades, deodorant… the list goes on…  Handing over the money for all that is HARD.

I have to remind myself that a) God has provided for these expenses and b) I won’t be buying any of this stuff again for 3 years. 

After we get everything we need through our own purchasing and the generous giving of others, we’ll have to split everything up between what goes with us as excess baggage and what gets airfreighted over.  I’m actually looking forward to that because I love getting organized. 

We also learned of an economical way to ship books called “the book bag”.  They’ll take a good 6 months to get there but totally worth it for the lower cost.  (Of course, I’ll take a stash with me in excess baggage to last those 6 months.)

The bright side of all this is that we don’t have a lot more to go and then we’ll get to start packing everything up.  Days seem much more relaxed now than they did a few months ago.  One day at a time is much easier now than it has been yet in this whole process.  Yay for progress!

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