What DO You Do All Day?

I've had several people ask me just in the last week what exactly it is that I do over here. Since others are asking, I thought maybe some of you were wondering too. :)

It is counter-cultural of me to be here, living with my parents on the foreign mission field at the age of 25. Most missionary kids go back to the States once they reach 18. So first, let me tell you why I came to Africa. In May, I graduated with my Master's degree, and I am so glad to be done with school! With my parents packing up to head off to the mission field, life as I knew it was coming to a close. No longer could I live with my parents. Moving out and finding my own place meant that I would have to find another job. I loved working at the church, but to be perfectly honest, there was no way I could pay a normal set of bills on those wages. It worked great when I had minimal expenses from living at home, but moving out on my own meant I would have to find another job. I had nothing against working another job, but honestly, I loved working for a ministry with a purpose. I loved knowing that everything I was doing - big or small - was contributing to the ministries of my church. Working a secular job just didn't have the same satisfaction to it. So the other option was to come with my parents to Botswana. And why not? There was nothing holding me in the States. I love Africa and her people, and I could be a help here. So that is when I determined to come over here and help with the ministry, for at least a year, but maybe more.

I'm not going to lie and say this has been easy. The hardest thing has been the loss of my independence. No longer do I have three rooms to myself and my own bathroom. No longer do I have the ability to set my own schedule and eat whenever I want. No longer can I jump in the car and go shopping, or run errands. I'm a girl, so it's not exactly safe for me to be running around town by myself, nor do I have my own car. No longer do I have friends around to hang out with, or opportunities to be involved in all the things I enjoyed at home. No longer can I take walks by myself or even with the dog. No longer do I have spending money. Okay... the loss of a steady income is probably the hardest one for me! :) Everything is different now. I'm either at home, or I am out running errands with my brother or parents. BUT - the blessings far outweigh the drawbacks, and I'm so thankful for this opportunity in my life.

So what DO I do all day? What a good question - I'm so glad you asked. :)

First, let me say that I am NOT at home just sitting around. There are a lot of negative connotation that can come with the term stay-at-home-daughter. Whatever your view on that (that is another whole post right there!), I can guarantee that I am not a stay-at-home-daughter that is just twiddling her thumbs waiting for the closest thing to a Prince Charming to come. I HATE being bored, and you already knew that if you knew me. I have a hard time sitting still for long. :)

My main area of responsibility is our correspondence school and literature ministry. We have almost 3,000 correspondence students, so that alone creates a great need for someone to oversee, grade, print, and mail the Bible studies. In addition to that, we print and give out quite a bit of literature - from salvation tracts and gospel booklets to discipleship material. The past couple weeks I have been very busy in sorting out what literature was already here, getting the masters filed away, reformatting things to a new paper size, and updating our Bible study database. I think we are finally ready to roll - but we still have only half of our equipment for the print shop. Until our container arrives, I have to be content with only our Riso (high-speed duplicator) and one long-reach stapler... all folding, cutting, and collating must be done by hand.

In addition to our literature ministry, my dad is still overseeing Challenge Press in Emmaus. We haven't done much yet, but I know there are some new publications in the works that will give me plenty to do in the evenings.

I always love the opportunity to do Bible studies, but on an African timetable, this usually eats up large portions of your day. For instance, I schedule to meet a lady for a Bible study in the early afternoon. I arrive half an hour early, because that's when I could be dropped off. She is at least an hour late, and then when she arrives, she brings a friend with her, so we rearrange and do a different study, which must be cut short because they have to leave. By this time, I've spent well over three hours in preparing and waiting, just to have 15 minutes to talk about something else. Just remember - Blessed are the flexible; for they shall not be bent out of shape. :)

My dad and brother have several group Bible studies each week in a handful of different villages. Sometimes I get to go along to these, but often they are in the evening, and it is safer if I just stay home. Besides, someone has to stay home and do all the work!

Other than that, it's just life as usual. Except, it is not life as usual, but life in Africa. Everything takes longer here. Bills are paid by going to the bank or the post office and standing in line to pay cash. This takes several hours each week. There is not a one-stop-shop to get everything you need at once. Just the weekly grocery shopping requires stops at four different stores, and even then, you never know what they will have in stock. We make a menu and plan our shopping list, go to the store and buy what they have available, and come home to change our whole menu! There are very few processed foods, and the ones they do have are very expensive, thus just about everything we make is completely from scratch. With tile floors, a dog, and unsealed windows blowing in dust all day and night, we sweep the floors just about every day and the kitchen more than once a day. How glad I am that we have a washing machine again!!!! The first three weeks we were handwashing like we did last year, and that takes up HOURS of your time! We've done quite a bit of entertaining already (even without a dining room table!) for meals and overnight guests, and look forward to a group of guys coming in January for a time of training. In all this, Mom and I work very well together, knowing each other's strengths and weaknesses. :)

The last part of my day is taken up with communication. I'm so blessed to have friends around the world, but keeping in touch with them takes a conscious act on my part. It's not like we see each other at church each week to chat - I must make the effort to stay in touch, as well as remember to pray for them. I LOVE getting emails, so write me, please! (Okay, shameless plug for emails over. :) Seriously, there are a few of you I've been meaning to write and will eventually get to it, but if you want to hear from me, you could always write first!)

Add to that our trips to Gabs about our visas (4 hours away, so that's an all-day event!), trips back and forth to South Africa (last one-way trip from my brother's house was made in record time - 6.5 hours!), and other things that come up as various crises and appointments, and you know what it is that I do all day. But above all, I'm so glad to be right where God wants me to be for now. I'd much rather be doing this than living the "American Dream" all by myself - working 40+ hours a week, just to keep an apartment and a car. I love Africa! :) Life is good. :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

We've been in South Africa since Tuesday celebrating birthdays at my brother's house and doing some shopping for things that we couldn't find in Botswana. Today we head to another missionary's house to celebrate Thanksgiving with them and spend the night. Then it's home to Botswana in the morning!

Today actually 'feels' like Thanksgiving as it is rainy and cool. I made some pumpkin spice coffee creamer, and I plan on putting on a sweater and drinking pumpkin spice coffee all day. Happy Thanksgiving!

We have so very much to be thankful for. At this time last year, I never imagined I would be back here again for the holidays this year! I'm thankful that we can be here to celebrate with family, even while we miss the family left behind.

To friends and family spread out across the United States and through the world (the more I travel, the more my close friends reach into all corners of the world)... we love you and miss you and wish our internet was better so we could stay in touch more! We are thankful for each one of you that has prayed for us and made a difference in our lives.

It was a good Sunday today! I took some pictures, but my dad stole them all for his blog. :)

I made a little friend! When visiting at her house this week, she began crying when I left, saying she wanted to go home with me. But whenever I pull out my camera, she gives me this serious look... no smiles, but she still make a pretty cute photo. :)

Decorating a New Room

I believe I promised you some pictures of my room. I've taken some pictures 'in progress', but there has really been so little progress, I'll just show you before and after. :)

This is when we moved into the house:

Not the very day we moved in... because then I had a green blanket for a curtain. :) This was probably two or three days after we moved in when I got real curtains for the window. As for paint color choice, my room has the best color in the house! However, when you look at the wall up close, it is very much in need of another coat of paint. There are stains, holes, patches in various stages of completion, and the trim at the ceiling comes down onto the wall about two inches. I'm still not sure how soon the painting will get done... it may be a few months until we get to it. So I decided to start cozying up my space for now... just working with what I had.

Here is my room today:

Just about everything I have added to my room has been a happy, accidental find. For the most part, I did not go looking for anything in particular, I just happened to be out shopping for other things (like groceries or office supplies) and I would happen across something - on sale! - that I thought would go perfectly in my room! 

I'm in love the curtain topper fabric. It's a brownish-orange, depending on your angle and the time of day. The lampshade and the edges/back of the pillow are all the same color as the curtain fabric, though it's hard to tell in this picture. For my fellow mistreaters out there, the brown curtain is currently straight-pinned. :) 

The mosquito net I bought mostly for looks, but it's come in handy a couple powerless nights!

I'm so thankful for that dresser! You can see the closet all the way to the left of the picture, but I have the smallest closet in the house and no hang-up space for dresses. We picked up the dresser from some Americans who were having a moving sale, so I inherited it because of my closet size. :) Of course, considering I only had two suitcases coming over, everything I had *could* fit in the closet, but it is nice to have the room to spread out and organize.

You can see my paint chips on the wall... I'm leaning very heavily on a taupish-gray color... but I'm afraid it will look too much like wet cement. I would really like to have a gray room... it's a very soothing color for me, and I think it will be cooling as well. Also, with all the warm and natural elements in my room already, I'd like to counteract with a cool wall color. I'm still undecided... I keep leaning toward a creamed coffee color, just like my old room. :)

Some things I'm looking out for right now: I'd like to find a nice big mirror to put over my dresser, a big basket to use as a laundry hamper, and a duvet cover for my bed. I will probably look in South Africa for a nice duvet set and ask for it for Christmas.

Anyway, that's my room as of now... always changing! But it suits me for now, and it's nice to have my own little space again. :)

Weather Whiplash

I'm amazed at the great and drastic changes in the weather here. This rainy season has just started and has been so much rainier than it was last year at this time. It makes for some interesting situations if you don't remember to be prepared for anything.

Here's a day that happened recently:

3PM - It is sweltering hot outside, when suddenly the wind picks up and it begins to rain. We rush to take clothes off the line and remove things from the yard, while the big drops first stir up dust and then begin to pool into puddles.

4PM - The rain stopped, the sun comes back out, and the heat returns. Within 30 minutes or less, every evidence that it has just rained is evaporated.

8PM - Out of nowhere, a big, black cloud rolled by and dumped us with rains and gusty, cool winds. I actually put on a light sweater!

11PM - It's beautiful outside. Inside, the windows are shut tight to keep away mosquitoes, but it's the first time I've gone to bed without being sweaty since I got here.

5AM - I wake up early and open the windows to the first rays of sun. The weather is still beautiful, and I go back to bed feeling the fresh, cool air on my face.

7AM - I get up (for real this time) and notice that my room is already heating up from the sun's rays. The breeze is still nice, but I pull the curtains to try to keep out as much of the sun's warmth as possible.

9:30AM - We are just leaving for church, and it is hot outside! I can tell it's going to be a very long service outside.

11AM - We are about halfway through our church service, which is more like a Bible study. We are sitting on a curb in the market, in a corner that doesn't get much activity on the weekends. It is mostly shaded where we sit, but still I am already sweating.

1PM - We are home and turn on the air conditioning. It's got to be over 95 degrees outside, which is not bad considering we've broken 100 most of the days this week. It's nice to have lunch in the cool indoors after the hot morning outside!

3PM - Way off in the distance, a storm cloud approaches. More rain perhaps?

5PM - Sure enough! With the rain comes another drop in temperature, and we fling open all the windows to enjoy the respite. Within an hour, I have my sweater on again. :)

Weather whiplash, anyone?

I'm very thankful that we are getting more rain this year. When we were here last year from October-December, I don't even remember it raining at all until the end of November, with the exception of a couple night showers. Even then, it only rained a few times up until the time we left and never for very long. This year, we've had some incredible thunder storms and great lightning displays (and, consequently, a lot of power outages). It also rains at some point, just about every day. But when it is so sweltering hot, it is definitely a relief!

Book Sale!

As we walked out of the store the other day, Sam wondered about an interesting setup on the other side of the parking lot. We had seen a truck and trailer with several tables of something set up over there as we entered the store, but didn't get closer to check it out. Curiosity got the better of us, and we decided to see what was for sale. Imagine my surprise when we drove over to find a book sale. (!)

This picture doesn't do justice to how many books were available... this trailer, plus the back of a truck, plus two folding tables' worth. The books were all old, dusty, and well-loved. The English gentleman (we've dubbed him Bookman Bob since we never asked his name) says he buys them at SPCA sales in South Africa and brings them over to resell here. I've yet to find a used bookstore here in Francistown (or even much of a real bookstore), so I was ecstatic.

I limited myself to four books - one I'd read before, one I'd been meaning to read, one I thought I'd try, and one the gentleman recommended as we chatted about our reading interests. I now have these four books propped up on my dresser with the one book that I brought and my two journals. I hadn't realized how much I missed having my books around me.

Since coming to Africa, I've read several books on my Kindle, and I'm still very much in love with my e-reader. However, there is something to be said of the hominess a shelf of books brings to a room.

Next time I see Bookman Bob, I'll have to stop and pick up a couple more books. And maybe I'll ask him what his real name is, too. ;)

A Storm in Francistown

ETA: Within a couple hours of posting this, our power went off again. Why... I have no idea. This time we make toasted sandwiches on the grill and had just finished supper when it came back on! I love Africa! :)
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Sometime on Friday our power happened to go out. We were gone at the time, and when we arrived home, realized what had happened. Maybe I’m just getting to be too African, but it didn’t even phase me. We weren’t sure what caused the outage, but does it really matter? Life goes on...

Friday evening the power was still out. Our dinner plans obviously weren’t going to work out without a stove, so Sam and I decided to go get some bread for sandwiches. We thought we would open the fridge once to remove everything we needed, and if the power was still off after supper, we’d eat up the ice cream. :) On the way to the store, I noticed the dark, ominous-looking clouds rolling in to town. We also noted a large truck of security guards who were being dropped off to various houses serviced by that particular security company. With the power off in the whole neighborhood, it was part of their responsibility to still protect houses under their contract. I was excited about the prospect of a storm, hoping it would cool it off. I think it was the hottest day since we’ve been here, well over 110. The winds were picking up and we gave our neighbors a lift, since it looked like it was going to pour any second.

Arriving at the closest shopping center with a grocery store, Sam let me out at the front door just as it started to rain. The shopping center is shaped as a short, squatty T with the entrance at the bottom. I walked in and immediately noticed that there were twice as many security guards as there usually are, and they all had their sticks out and ready. (Power outages are prime times for looting in stores, and they had obviously had this problem before.) Just as I reached the intersection of the T, the wind reached its worst. If I was in Pennsylvania, I would have thought it was a tornado! The power flickered, a couple of the plexiglass panels in the ceiling broke loose, showering everyone below with rain and debris. I ran for cover as people started to scream, and security guards began closing the doors and gates on the shops closest to the front. Just as Sam came running in from the rain, the power died completely and the security guards finished closing up the grocery store.

So much for our bread… but we weren’t leaving any time soon. By now, we were all the way at the end of the T, the furthest away we could get from the main outside entrance. Yet still I could feel the rain blowing in, and trash and debris were swirling all over the shopping center. People huddled in all the corners, trying to wait out the storm. After waiting several minutes, we decided to make a run for it, getting soaked in the process. The far end of the parking lot was several inches deep in water… it just had nowhere to go!

Back home again and we decided to use up our milk and have cereal for supper. We also tried to make chocolate chip cookies on our grill. It was a valiant effort, producing results that were pretty good, but can be improved on. In fact, I foresee a power outage tradition in that! We lit our candles and sat in the semi-darkness swatting mosquitoes for several hours. I think that is the worst part of having the power go out… the air is absolutely still and stifling; you feel like you can hardly breathe. All windows open to catch the slightest breeze, and then the mosquitoes come. Ick…

Using the last of the water in our heater, we all took lukewarm showers and sprayed down with bug spray, ready to settle in for a long night. I had just purchased a mosquito net which I looked forward to using, but while nets keep the bugs out, they also keep any moving air out, making it even more stifling, especially when all is pitch black. Just then, the power came back on. What rejoicing! It went off and on some more that night, but most of the night was spent in relative comfort.

Saturday and Sunday it continued to flicker off and on. We found out that Tonota, a village just a few kilometers from us, did not receive a bit of the storm. However, just on the other side of town, whole trees were rooted up and billboards blown over by the violent winds. Much of Francistown lost power, and we were among one of the few sections that received power by Friday night. Some friends of ours did not receive power until Sunday afternoon.

When we found that out, it certainly put some things in perspective, considering we were mourning the loss of our internet. Our hotspot had been blown over and though we tried to find out what was going on, we soon realized that our main provider was still out of power. Monday we took a trip to Gabs to check on some paperwork and were thrilled when we got home and realized we had internet again. :) 

There are many things that I don’t like about losing power – the main thing being that we lose the use of our fans. Even if we didn’t have our air conditioning, I would be fine as long as there was a working fan. The nights are the worst with oppressive heat and buzzing mosquitoes. But there are also some aspects I love of not having power… I like the quiet evenings with only candlelight and conversation to amuse us. I like the challenge of making things on the grill… boiling water for coffee and frying chocolate chip cookies on tin foil.

Just another day in Africa…

Meet Kiara

Those of you who are friends with me on FB have already seen pictures of our house, but for security reasons, it is best if I don't publish those publicly. Down the road, once I start working on my room, I'm sure you'll see pictures of that. :) I can, however, show you a picture of the newest member of our family!

Meet Kiara:

She's an 18-month old Rottweiler, trained guard dog, and seems to have a sweet temperament. Rottweilers don't make friends easily (from what I've read about them), so she's still getting used to us and a bit reserved. Don't let her cuteness fool you! She can look pretty mean when she needs to. Her name is pronounced like Tiara, only with a K.

I've missed having a dog around the house!

November 1, 2010

The first day of November, and I’m finally starting to feel at home. We’ve been here almost a week, and the house is still bare with temporary corners and empty spaces, and probably will be for a while. Saturday I hung curtains, and now they glide in the breeze, edges skimming over the floor like they know they belong. Still I had a hard time envisioning this space for potential and making it mine. I’ve expounded before about the evils of overhead lights, so I purposed that today I would purchase a small table and lamp. I’m here to testify that it made just the difference I was looking for! My room is beginning to take shape, all because of a little warm light. Ideas float in my head, and I have paint chips taped up around a little dresser someone gave to me. I make a list of things to look for, on sale if possible! After months of packing up and cleaning out, and then living out of suitcases, it feels so good to finally be creating a home space instead of tearing one down. Tonight I sit in my room and think of possibilities in this new space, instead of mourning the one that I lost. I’m still sad over the loss, yet I’m excited about moving on. After weeks of feeling displaced and transitory, it’s nice to stay put in one place… at least for now. :)

A picture on the wall shows the beaming smiles of some of my closest friends, and I miss them all so much. I’d be lying if I said this wasn’t hard, because it is. It is hard to just walk away from everything and everyone that I love, but there is really nothing new in it, because it has been the state of my life for the past years. Flipping through my passport on our trip over, I realized that I’ve made at least one international trip every year since I graduated from high school. The majority of those were to Africa, so you can see where I’ve made my second home. The day we arrived in Francistown, we were hot and tired from traveling all day. We had two vehicles, but in order to fit everyone and everything, there were bags stuffed in literally every crevice. It was exciting, but everyone’s nerves were frazzled and all were slightly parched and mildly starved. I have to be perfectly honest and say that I was not being very grateful at that moment. Botswana never looked so barren, our house never looked so bad, the road between our house and my brother’s never seemed so long; I was gritting my teeth and getting ready to settle down to a year of miserable. Then who should I see but my dearest Botswanan friend? Though I missed her, written to her, and prayed for her often, when I saw her, I realized just how much I had missed her. The feeling was evidently mutual, for we both started crying on the spot and hugged over and over. It was so wonderful – I realized again just why I am here. She is a new Christian, alone in many respects, and so desirous of learning about God and growing in her faith. She, and many others like her, are the reason we are here. Just like a little warm light in a room, a little warm friendship can make all the difference in the world.

So here I am tonight, musing over how little incidents can make things seem so much better. It’s amazing how much better life will look if only you change your perspective.

“I am still determined to be cheerful and happy, in whatever situation I may be; for I have also learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances.” Martha Washington