time to dance

Africans leave lots of space and time for dancing.

A church service is NOT complete without tons of dancing. Dancing is fun, and it is freeing. Everyone dances regardless of whether you think you can. All you have to do is shake your hips and move your feet, don't worry about the rhythm. Sometimes I get pulled up to dance, and other times I do it by choice. Two Sunday's ago has been my favorite dancing experience of all. We went to a service that was held for the Alliance churches in Libreville. It was held in a stadium and it was packed. Tim, who is a Pastor always gets special setting, and this time we did too by association. We were on ground level in Pastor setting, and of course, we get pulled up to dance during worship. So imagine this, a stadium full of Gabonese and the 15 whities dancing as if enough attention is given to us already. The crowd erupted when we began to dance. As I was dancing, I looked up and saw a little old lady, probably around 60, grinning ear to ear, moving her feet to match mine. The greatest thing about that is, she isn't just some little old lady, she is my sister, and one day will be dancing together in Heaven before our Father.

Monday night we enjoyed dinner at Mama Christine's house. Mama Christine is a nurse who helps with the Mobile Medical Clinic and she was gracious enough to have us all over for dinner. Of course, the night was not complete without dancing. As we sat in a circle, everyone took turns leading songs from the middle and demonstrating any motions and dance moves. We danced and sang together as joy overflowed from our hearts.

Not only do the Gabonese like to move, but they like to let the Holy Spirit move. Church services can take hours, and they usually do because the Gabonese will never cut the Holy Spirit out. It is easy to see the Spirit moving here and maybe because that is all I notice when I don't see the planning for service or understand the words that are being shared. In Forgotten God, Francis Chan shares two obstacles that keep me/us from connecting with and allowing the Holy Spirit to move.

1. Comfort. Why do I need the Holy Spirit if I can comfortable? I mean, the Holy Spirit is my Comforter, but if I am already comfortable, I don't need to be comforted by Him. It is only when I am uncomfortable, uncertain, and confused that I need and rely on the Spirit.

2. Volume. Sometimes with all the friends I hangout with, family I keep in touch with, homework I stay on top of, texts I send and receive, music I listen too, and TV shows I try to keep up with, my life is VERY loud. When my life is loud, the Holy Spirit is not the first thing I am listening to. Francis Chan says that " Our lack of intimacy is often due to our refusal to unplug and shut off the communication from all others so we can be alone with Him." When we live loud lives and never remove ourselves to quiet places, the Spirit is less likely to be heard.

My life is loud and comfortable.

"When we are at our wits' end for an answer, then the Holy Spirit can give us a answer. But how can He give us an answer when we are still well supplied with all sorts of answers of our own?" -Karl Bush

I want to be at my wits' end while living a quiet and very comfortable life so that the Holy Spirit can move within me as I live a surrendered life of following Him.

the sound of roosters

Are roosters ever quiet? It doesn't seem like they are here, at all. I fall asleep and wake up to their sounds. Do dogs ever stop barking?? Here, that thought is highly unlikely. They are tons of stray dogs always running around getting into fights with one another. Recently, I tried to go up to a stray puppy to pet it but it was too terrified to let me get close. In that puppy's experience, if I get close to it, it means I am going to beat it. Sad, but very true. Do army men ever stop chanting?? Okay, they do. But their chants are another alarm clock of mine as they run right past the compound in the very early morning. The chants are becoming part of my dreams. Also, do marching bands have a full out practice at seven in the morning?? OF course they do! That's what woke me up this morning. It caught be by surprise.

I hope it doesn't sound like I am complaining, because that's not my goal. These sounds have become apart of my everyday routine here. It's hard to remember the sounds I heard at home as I've been here for five weeks now. I only have a month and a half to go, and that thought is insane to me. While it feels like I've been here forever, the time passes so quickly. So with the time I have left, I'll continue to listen for the sounds that I will soon be missing.

It's amazing what you'll hear if you listen for a second.

I haven't posted recently, and that is because most times I simply don't know what to post about. We do tons, but at times, it feels like I have nothing to share. I guess most of you would read mostly anything I write on here since there is an ocean between us. I do have tons to share with how God is working and the ministries I am involved in. My goal is do a better job with keeping everyone updated. I'm sure it will help both of us when the time comes for me to return home.

Did I mention life is so easy and simple here?? Today I will be spending the day on the beach. I'll aim to post more later.

Happy Father's Day!

Daddy, this one is for you. Happy Father's Day, from your little girl. Sorry I can't be there to celebrate with you and the family, make sure you aren't missing me TOO much. As I write this you guys should be sitting down to eat those Lobster dinners.YUMMY! Hopefully everyone is treating you well today, figuring I am the one who usually keeps everyone in check.

Thank you for being the Father that you are. Thank you for always being yourself, because through that I knew that I never had to pretend to be something I wasn't. Thank you for always encouraging me to follow my heart. That sounds a little cheesy but I knew that if I followed my heart, I didn't have to concern myself with what others were saying. Thank you for teaching me that it's okay to take risks and fail and that my failures are never something to be ashamed of, but rather lessons to be learned.

Remember that you are my favorite Father, and I will always be your little girl. The little girl who loved going to the comic book store with you, who thought it was strange and awesome that you would let me eat ice cream for dinner, the girl who loved driving the big van down the alley on your lap, and the little girl who would pretend to fall asleep on the couch so she could be carried upstairs in the arms of her daddy. I LOVE YOU! Happy Father's Day. :)

ps. I owe you a breakfast when I get home. I'll buy.

I'm not good with titles

Would it be wrong to say that this place feels like home?? It feels like that more everyday. I can honestly say that there is a strong sense of community living with my brothers and sisters. It's insane to think that I didn't know some of them a few weeks ago with how close we are now. The roads we drive on are becoming so familiar. I could probably give you directions to the Hope House. These are my home streets now, and they will be for another eight weeks. And the beautiful faces I get to interact with have quickly stolen my heart and made this feel even more like home.

We endured a bumpy twelve hour trip to Bongolo. I could make that drive sound awful but I won't because it wasn't as all. The purpose of our trip was for it to serve as a team bonding and prayer retreat. While we were there, Tim went over different ministries that we would be able to get involved in this summer. After spending time prayerfully considering where the Lord was leading us, we came together to share. During my quiet time listening last week, I was reminded of the passion Christ has given me for children. You see, I was really hesitant to say the Hope House because I knew that is what I wanted to do, but I wasn't sure it was where God was leading. I was reminded that those children are just as important as any other person I meet, that they belong to Jesus, and that those kids need love just as next as the next person. I don't have much to offer this summer, no special talents or skills, but I can love those kids, so that is what I will be doing. Everyone shared what the Lord was leading them to get involved in and Tim released us from a spirit of 'do' and into a spirit of 'being'. Yep, that's right, Tim and Meredith don't care what tasks we accomplish this summer because they both understand that we are here for a much greater purpose. This summer will never be about the things we are getting done, but it will instead be about the people we are becoming. Sometimes this is harder than other times. It seems easy to not worry about everything that needs to get done sometimes, and let the Holy Spirit work on who HE is transforming me into. Other times, my westernized view of tasks tells me that I need to get a task completed in a certain amount of time or a billion other things won't be able to follow. My job this summer is to be. That is all.

The task of being does NOT mean that I do absolutely nothing. It DOES mean that my focus is not on the tasks, but instead on what God is doing in me and through me. So let me share a little about that. Currently, I am reading Forgotten God by Francis Chan. I have gotten very far in it, but already I am challenged by how much I actually led the Holy Spirit lead in my moment- by- moment life. I have a lot of quiet time here (we aren't TOO busy since we are concentrated on the 'being') to think here. It's all good, but sometimes it's hard, because I know that the Holy Spirit is moving and continuing to break and transform me into who I am in Christ. At home and at school, I ignore those quiet moments and try to avoid them. Let's face it, it sure is easy to avoid what the Spirit is doing. But now I find myself face-to-face with silence and what is happening is beautiful. So I encourage you to set aside the tasks of your day, and just 'be'. 'Be' in the presence of the Lord and let HIM work on who you are meant to 'be'.

In the introduction of Forgotten God, Francis Chan writes, “ The benchmark of success in church services has become more about attendance that the movement of the Holy Spirit.”

I would even go on to revamp that and say that our lives, ( mine included) has become more about success and tasks than the movement of the Holy Spirit. What a tragedy this all is. May we learn to put off all the tasks that keep us from letting the Spirit work, and let our experiences with Him be marked moment-by-moment.

the things that matter

There are about one-hundred and one things I could blog about. Internet connection hasn't been the best, so I haven't had much time to post. We did tons this past week and I am having trouble choosing just one topic to blog about. The good thing is, the ministries that we helped out with this week are those that we will be involved in all summer, so eventually the will all be written about. But right now I am trying to decide if I should write about the work we are doing at the Hope House with laying posts for a gate to be built, the way the Hope House children attach to your hip and want nothing but other than to simply be held (all afternoon), or the church that we are helping to build in a town just outside the city, where the children are the majority of the church and they come and watch and play when we work leaving little time for any work to actually get done. Or I could tell you what a humbling experience it is to work with the Mobile Medical Clinic and see people that are truly sick come for any simple ailment at all. Then there is the baptism that we were blessed to be able to watch as I have never seen the act of baptism be such a time of freedom and celebration.

I could go on and on about the details of all of those ministries and projects. But I choose not to waste both my time and yours, because the truth of it is that those details and projects have little importance when compared to the people behind them. It's all about people. Often, the Westernized view places great importance or finishing the project in the shortest amount of time possible. In Africa, it is just the opposite. Importance is always placed on people, regardless of the task at hand. When you truly live like this, it is freeing. Freeing as everything seems to slip away until the only thing clear is the person standing before you. And in that freedom, the Holy Spirit has more room to move as our own agenda is relinquished. So my summer won't be about work projects, and details that will never matter in the end, instead, my summer will be about relationships. Our investment in relationships is the only thing that is eternal. First, my relationship with Christ is eternal and will always prove to be my greatest investment. And the people I invest in are eternal. If I have the ability to impact a life for Christ by investing and simply interacting with someone, why on earth would it matter how many bricks need to get on the roof per day. Somehow, when people reign with importance in your life, the work will be accomplished. It may not be in your timing, or perfectly the way you need it to be, but it will be finished.

I've been taking pictures, and as much as I would love to show you all of the beautiful faces that I am blessed to be surrounded with this summer, uploading them isn't a fast process.

Today my team and I will spend the day at the beach before we head off to Bongolo tomorrow. The drive is about twelve hours long. The first six hours will be on paved roads, and the last six are on unpaved. We return Saturday as we will spend the week sort of as a prayer retreat and as time to do some team building and continued bonding. Prayer for safety as we travel, unity as we bond as a team, our van which is the biggest way we exercise faith every day, and for our heart, that Christ would continue to open them wide in order that we may have a clear picture of Him as our focus.

Getting Started

Since this is our first week here in Gabon, it's pretty much all orientation. We spent Monday on the beach with a team from Crown College for their last day. It was a pretty easy day to be an intern. Not many locals swim in the ocean as it is a very western practice, so we were the only ones enjoying the water that day. The beach was beautiful and the water was warm. Needless to say, I prefer this side of the Atlantic Ocean a bit more.

Tuesday morning was started off with an orientation. We went over some housekeeping rules and Tim shared a little about what their ministry here in Gabon is centered around. We talked about what people base their significance on and concluded that it was often on awards, accomplishments and a sense of fulfilling their purpose. As Christians, we know our purpose from what I Corinthians 10:31 tells us, “So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” Regardless of where I find myself in any given moment, my purpose is to bring glory to God, and God alone. Same goes for you.

That sounds pretty simple, and I wish that it was sometimes. Since the fall, three things are competing for our attention within our minds. They are Me, Satan, and the Holy Spirit. My own selfishness and Satan's scheming keep me from ultimately paying attention to the last and most important one competing for my attention, the Holy Spirit. Truly, the Holy Spirit is the only One that matters among that group. The Holy Spirit is where all of my attention needs to be fixed upon.

So this week is basically about going around and visiting the different ministries that we will be apart of this summer. Tuesday we went to the Mobile Medical Clinic main location. We met the nurses and I got to see Mama Janine again. I think she remembered me because she started talking lots of French and pointing at me when I shook her hand. We visited a few other locations and got to see some medical stations, most of which are the best in Gabon. The ministries are truly blessed by the resources and land the Lord has given them. Today, Tuesday, we went to the Hope House Orphanage. For those of you who came last year, they live in a different house now. This house is bigger and better suites the needs of the ministry. We worked on building concrete columns so that a fence can go up around the facility. We also got to play with the children, and I loved seeing familiar faces. I am so excited that I will get to spend time there this summer, each week, building relationships with the different children.

We went to the open Market today, and it was not s insane as I remember. I am not sure why that is, but I am thankful for that. It was busy, we were called after, and we were stared at. I forgot all my manners( a necessity when in this market), and looked out for myself and my teammates. We'll be visiting there lots this summer.

The internet doesn't always work, so my plan is to type it up in a word document and then paste it onto my blog. This way I will be sure that I am writing about what is happening, and you lovely folks won't be missing any part of my summer. :)