Under the African Rain Clouds

How did everything arrive here on earth?

Why are we here? What is the reason we live?

Why is there evil in the world?

What happens when a person dies?

Who buries them? Where are they buried?

What happens to the person's spirit? Where does it go? Does it die with the body?

How does a man choose a wife?

How is the bride price determined? 

If a man wants a second (or third or fourth) wife, how does that work? 

These are just a few of the questions I have been able to spend my afternoons asking the Tonga people. After a morning full of studying the ciTonga language, I go out in the afternoon, either with my supervisor's wife or an interpreter and visit with different women and ask these questions and so many more. It's been another reminder to me of how welcoming this culture is. We can walk up to a person's yard, greet them, and then ask if they have time to help me learn about the baTonga people. And they almost always say yes. I can only think of one lady who was on her way to sell things in the market and didn't have the time. Every other home has welcomed us. And so we sit outside under the African sun (or these days, the African rain clouds that come with the rainy season) and chat. They always bring a wooden bench for me to sit on. They usually sit on the ground or on the concrete porch area outside their house. I sometimes feel silly sitting on the bench when I would be just as happy to sit with them on the ground, but I dare not offend their gesture of hospitality and respect by saying so. And I ask question after question. Some people are more open to talk with me than others. Sometimes things are lost in translation. But still I learn from every single conversation. 

And with each conversation, I fall more in love with the people I will be living with for the next two years. I hope my time here is spent as a learner just as much as it is spent as a teacher. I look forward to getting back to Siavonga in a couple of weeks and getting to build relationships with women and girls that will be my friends and cultural teachers while I am here. 

I do ask that you be praying for my health. I have spent the past several days not feeling well, which has kept me from doing many of the things I was so looking forward to doing during my time of orientation here with my supervisor. I am feeling better today, though trying not to do so much that I backslide tomorrow. Pray I will have really good health these last few days I have here at orientation so I will be able to learn and share more with the Tonga people. 

And because I know you're all dying for some pictures:

Micah, Emily, me, and Taylor at my airport arrival

coming in from the fields

outdoor cooking

These children waited by our car for almost an hour while we talked with people just so they could wave and say "Hello!"

sunset over Lake Kariba from the Langstons' kitchen window

the kids playing church with friends in the yard

Mwa buka buti?

Mwa buka buti? (That would be the morning greeting in Tonga. More literally asking, “How have you risen?”)

I am in love with these people and this place. Truly, I am. I feel so at home here in Siavonga. It’s been hard for me to think of what to write, because it’s hard to put everything into words. And the Internet connection has kept me from posting a blog too J Siavonga is absolutely beautiful though. Here’s the view from the Langstons’ veranda overlooking Lake Kariba:

Everyone I have met has been so wonderful and welcoming. I’ve been to the market a couple of times and I love meeting different women who work in the shops. I even got to practice my Tonga speaking to buy bread from the bakery. (Ndi yanda kuula cinkwa.) The woman laughed and helped me say it a little more accurately. But the smile on her face from my effort made the language learning all worth it.

On Sunday we went to a local church service in Siavonga. I really loved it, though I was a little sore after 3 and a half hours of sitting on a wooden bench. They LOVE their music. And even though I didn’t understand one word of what they were singing most of the time, their love and passion for God was so beautiful and exuberant. It was so wonderful to be a part of worshipping God in their culture. I was just soaking it all in and truly humbled to be a part of it.

I am also filled with anticipation to see what God is going to do here in the next two years. The local elementary school is overflowing with so many students that the children go to school in shifts for just a few hours a day. The high school hosts a Scripture Union where we’ll be able to go in and share the gospel with the next generation. There are some different villages around Siavonga that we’re praying God opens doors for us to enter into.

I’m also excited to see what God has in store for me personally over the next two years. I know there are so many things He has planned to teach me, humble me, stretch me, and grow me over these years as I spend time in Zambia. I’m excited about the friendships He’ll form and use to give me a new perspective on life. I’m anticipating seeing Him work in ways my own life and in the lives of those around me that are different than I’ve experienced before.

Continue praying for me. The Lord has been so faithful through the beginning of this transition to my new life in Africa and I’m praying He continues to sustain me and encourage me through each day. He’s filled me with His joy each morning and I’m so grateful for that.

Twalumba. (Thank you.)

The Airport

The airport is an interesting place. I'm waiting for the first of my two flights for Zambia. There are so many different people. As I type there's a man running sprinting down the terminal with his rolling suitcase nearly in flight behind him.  Another middle aged man just did a dance move for his wife and two daughters. I'll save you from having to picture it in your head. There's an elderly couple to my right who look very confused. There's a woman crying, what I think are tears of joy because she's smiling from ear to ear. There's a girl on the other side of the terminal doing yoga... or something. There's another family of four directly beside me. The mom is giving the two girls medicine and they do not like it at all. I must say, despite a few tears, they handled it like champs. And there's the precious British toddler named Ella entertaining all of us. (She has the cutest British accent.)

Airports are interesting because everyone is on their way somewhere. And everyone is so different.  Some are traveling with a large family. Some with a spouse. And then there are many people like me, traveling alone today. For some it's their first flight. For others, it's their hundredth. Everyone is doing different things while we wait to board. Some are reading, most are consumed with their phones, others are watching TV, some are on their computers like me, and some are just sitting. And I wonder why they just choose to sit.

And I think about my story that got me here, to sitting in the Atlanta airport en route to Zambia, and I wonder what everyone else's stories are. Are they returning home to London? Going to London for a holiday vacation? Just passing through on the way to the next place like me? Where is their next place and why are they going there? I'm sure I don't have even close to the most exciting or interesting story of the people waiting at this gate. And so I wonder the wheres, whats, and whys of everyone's trip.

--

Just a few minutes to go before boarding! I can't thank you all enough for your texts, phone calls, face times, e-mails, tweets, comments, and messages today. Many of you have brought smiles to my face throughout the day and I'm thankful for your prayers and encouragement to me and also to my family.

Zambia, here I come! :)

Come, Jesus, Come!

Merry Christmas!

For Nothing Is Impossible with God

Luke 1:37-38: "[And the angel answered her] 'For nothing is impossible with God.' And Mary said, "Behold, I am a servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.'"

Nothing is impossible with God. There is nothing that is too tricky or too complicated for Him to do. A virgin bore a child. 33 years later, that child died on a cross and 3 days later, God raised Him up from the grave. God shut the mouth of lions in the den. He kept 3 guys from being harmed when they were thrown into a flaming furnace. He enabled a young shepherd boy to kill a mighty Philistine giant. He made the sun stand still and gave victory to the Israelites over the Amorites. There is absolutely nothing God cannot do.

Oh, may I live a life that shows I have faith in the Most High God who can do anything. One thing we know about each of these people is they walked with God. They had faith in Him. They walked with God in their normal daily lives and that enabled them to walk with Him through some seemingly impossible situations. I want to walk just as closely with God when things are routine and good as when they seem impossible, because that's how I know I'll cling to God in the impossible. It won't be impossible because I'll be walking with the God who calms the winds and seas with a single command, the God who brings life to the dead, the God who saves, rescues, and redeems, the God who makes all things work together for good. That's the God I serve.

My prayer is that I'll remember this as I meet people in Zambia, well really that I'll remember it always. May I remember that there is no one I will meet in the next two years (or ever) that God cannot save from their sins. There is no one too far gone. Be it a witch doctor, a tourist, a middle-class American, or a beggar on the street. None of them are beyond His reach.

I don't know all the things my eyes will see over the next two years. I have no clue of the beauty and the tragedy I will encounter (we never do). But God knows every bit of it--every person I'll cross paths with, every child I'll share a hug with, every sunset my eyes will witness, every death my heart will mourn over, every tear I'll cry over orphaned children, every HIV positive woman, man, and child I can tell of the true and only Hope, every frustrating day I'll have, every joyous day I'll have, every woman and girl who will sit in my house to study God's Word. God knows all of it.

And that's why I can trust Him. Because even when it will seem impossible or hopeless, I can remember Luke 1:37: "For nothing is impossible with God," and pray my heart responds like Mary's: "I am a servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word."

11 days until departure!

Goodbyes and Hellos

Well, I’m still here in Richmond. But not for much longer. Our commissioning service is two weeks from today. As excited as I am to see my family and friends in South Carolina and then begin my new life in Zambia, I also know I’m moving into another season of transition and goodbyes. It’s hard to explain the bond I have with the people here at training, but I really do consider them my family now. I’ve grown so used to doing every part of my life with them—eating meals, studying the Bible, grocery shopping, sitting in sessions, watching movies, and everything in between. We’re together all the time. And I love it. (Well, most of the time). And I’m about to return back to doing life without them. Well, at least not with them physically with me all the time. But I do know the bond I have with people here is one that is not broken by being in different places. And I know they’ll be walking by my side in prayer every day.

And then after I say goodbye to this family, I’ll spend two weeks in constant goodbyes. Goodbye to friends. Goodbyes to family. And to say I’m not dreading that would be a lie. I’d appreciate your prayers for me as I prepare my heart for those weeks and walk through them.

Goodbyes are hard. There’s no way around it. But the thing that brings me great joy as I head into this season of goodbyes and transition are the hellos that I know are coming. Hellos to the Langstons, a family that my heart has grown to love and can’t wait to join in Zambia. Hellos to Zambian women who will be my close friends over the next two years. Hellos to Zambian children who I know will flood my heart with joy. Hellos to new experiences that will grow and stretch me in ways I can’t even imagine now. Hello experiencing God in ways that are different than any I’ve known before. Hello to mosquito nets and all kinds of critters. Hello to a new “family” in a new country. The joy of all these coming hellos floods my heart with hope and excitement and far outweighs the sadness of saying goodbyes. Each day I think I could not possibly be more excited about moving to Zambia and begin building relationships with the Tonga people. And each day I’m more excited than the day before.

I’m just 30 days out from taking a step onto a plane in Atlanta and beginning a new adventure with the Lord. And though I know those 30 days will be full of emotional highs and lows, I know He will be faithful through each moment of it. He will sustain me. With each goodbye, He can remind me of a hello that is coming. He’ll provide me with all I need.

Here’s how you can be praying specifically in the coming weeks:

·      Pray for God to continue to prepare my heart for the season of transition I’m heading into. Pray my time with family and friends would be full of joy and not sadness.

·      Pray I would really soak up everything in these last two weeks of training. We’re spending all of next week in our affinity group (mine is Sub-Saharan Africa) so I’ll be learning a lot more about African culture and how to share the gospel there. Pray I would be like a sponge to soak up all the information.

·      Pray for the relationships I’ll be building in Siavonga, Zambia. Pray God provide a national woman who can be my close friend and walk through life with me during these next two years. Pray the Lord would already be preparing hearts for the work He intends to do in Siavonga in the coming months and years.

Break Our Hearts

The very first day of my orientation here in Richmond, our main speaker said something along the lines of "If you feel deeply about the things of Christ, you will feel deeply about the things Christ feels deeply about." Something like that. He was talking about God's heart for ALL people. He talked about how if we loved anything less than all the peoples of the world, if there were people in the world we did not love, then we did not have the heart of our Father. Anyway, it reminded me of the song "Hosanna" and how we cry out in that song "Break my heart for what breaks Yours." What do we mean when we say that? When we ask God to break our hearts for the things that break His, what are we asking of Him?

One of the things I love about the IMB is the vision: Our vision is a multitude from every language, people, tribe, and nation knowing and worshipping our Lord Jesus Christ. It comes straight from the Bible:

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” (Revelation 7:9-12 ESV)

From every language: around 6,900 (Ethnologue)

From every people and tribe: 11,341 people groups; 6,422 unreached people groups (IMB)

From every nation: 196

It breaks shatters (that doesn't even seem strong enough) my heart to think there are so many places where the gospel has not yet been taken. Places where whole people groups have never had the opportunity to hear the name of Jesus. Not even once. They're real people, real lives. And you can no longer claim ignorance because you now know how many people have not heard. Did you catch it up there? 6,422 unreached people groups. Unreached means that less than 2% of that people group are believers. And over half of the world's people groups are unreached. Let that sink in for a minute. Think about how much God loves every single one of those people. He loves them all immensely. He loved them so much that He sent His Son to live a perfect life on earth, die a humiliating death, and then raise Him from the dead. He did that for them, just like He did it for me and you. And. they. haven't. heard. Let your heart break for these people like I believe the heart of our Father breaks for them. Commit to pray for them. Pray for God to raise up people to go and tell the gospel truth to them. Maybe you need to take it a step further and go. As God breaks your heart for these groups, maybe He'll call you to go to them. Be open to that.

Yesterday, we watched a video about the Taliabo people, a formerly unreached people group. It moved me to tears. It's a little over 30 minutes long, but I promise every second of it is worth it. I watched most of it through tears. I found it in 4 parts on youtube. You can watch it here. Realize their hunger for the gospel before they even knew what it was. And realize their joy when the truth of the gospel was revealed to them.

Lord, break our hearts for what breaks Yours.