Day 3 stringing and popping

Up, bright and early at 5:45 am. Gotta have food ready by 7 for the guys. A similar breakfast for most days: scrambled eggs, buttered oatmeal, toast, bacon, fruit juice, tea and coffee. Then, it’s off to work! For the guys, and for me!

First, it’s kitchen clean up, then shower time and a little bit of writing before fixing sandwiches to take to the guys for lunch. We make ham and cheese sandwiches along with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on bread fresh from the bakery, with Pringles, cookies and drinks for their midday meal.

We take them their lunch at noon and I see that the Bible school is coming right along! The library is nearing completion with finish work. The windows are in, painting is finished, and the light fixtures are up. It‘s going to be a beautiful building that serves the campus well.

Gayle and I visit with them for a few minutes and then it’s back to the house to begin prep for supper. We have lots of fresh green beans to string and break up, potatoes to wash and cut up, whole chickens to clean, soak, cut up, and season to grill, cabbage to chop for slaw and brownies to bake for dessert. It is going to be a busy afternoon of work!

Fresh produce is one of my very favorite things. I love all types of veggies and if they are fresh from the garden, all the better. We had the bounty of fresh produce that Gayle brought back from Moka on Sunday afternoon, some were gifts to her, some she purchased. One of the things she purchased was a big bag of green beans, a lot of them—a whole lot. I don’t mind prep work but what I really like to do is cook, so as I’m sitting at the table taking the ends off, stringing each one and then popping it into a couple of pieces, I start getting bored. “These are going to be good. They’re nice and fresh. I wish I could get beans like this at home.” I prep a bunch more and I think, “Man, there sure are a lot of beans. Four steps to each bean. I’ll never get done. What a bunch of beans!”

It escalated from there. Then, as I kept stringing and popping, I thought about working for the Lord. Some jobs are in the limelight. Some are not. I was working for the Lord, and I was prepping veggies. I realized that doing something for the Lord isn’t always the big job, isn’t always up front, isn’t always fun or always interesting. Working for the Lord at the task He’s set before you is about walking and not fainting. It’s the daily task that’s rarely even noticed. It’s being faithful in well doing, regardless.

So, as I was stringing and popping the Lord spoke to my heart gently. He said, “If I was sitting beside you in the flesh and I asked you to string beans, would you do it?” No answer was necessary on my part. Of course I would, and I’d be honored to do it! It was so simple. My task, for that very moment, was to string and pop beans.

Dinner turned out well, but I thought it probably would. With all those great ingredients, it had to be good. Grilled chicken was juicy, beans and buttered potatoes, tasty, brownies…yummolicious! I’ve cooked for my family for 41 years and as a kid since I was 12 yrs old and I still get nervous when preparing meals for others. I want everything to be perfect and, let’s face it, it won’t always be so! The Lord has helped me on this trip and I need Him to keep helping me. I’m always my harshest critic when it comes to cooking or baking but so far, even I think the food has turned out pretty well. Thank you, Lord!

Cleanup doesn’t take too long as everyone helps out some, even after laying block all day. I try to stay up and write then but I am exhausted so Byron and I go to bed at 8:30! Me? Before 2? Yep. And I slept all night, too! It was a busy, very busy day, but a good day. A very good day!

Father, thank you for lessons about the small things. It's not just the one in front who has a heart for the things of God. You use even the most minute tasks to show us what is important to You. Help me to walk and not faint. To do the job set before me with a content heart. I love you and thank you for the task at hand.

Suz

Day 2

Saturday night as we prepared to turn in, we heard African drums and chanting. It was loud and ominous and captured my attention immediately. First came the drums, then we heard chanting, then cheering. For a split second I wondered if it were some sort of sporting event because of the cheering but then I’d hear the drums and chanting and the whole feeling changed. It wasn’t a good sound. It sounded dark. I asked Gayle about it the next day and she asked me if it could have been a bar or night spot noise. I didn’t think so. It didn’t sound celebratory or drunken at all to me, so she said it may have been a witchcraft ceremony.

The menu for this morning included oatmeal, scrambled eggs, toast, fresh apples and watermelon, orange juice and mixed fruit juice and coffee. I got done in record time and everyone said it was good. We had to leave for church at 9:30. Thomas, a friend of Pastor Carrol’s, drove us to the church in his van because Gayle had gone to Moka where she pastors a small church, and she takes the car. Thomas is from Ghana and is a tradesman. He makes rattan furniture, etc. He has a wife and some of his children here in Malabo and he very kindly drove us to church just in time for Sunday School.

There were three classes being taught at the same time in the unfinished sanctuary. Two classes were taught in English and one in Spanish. We broke up into two groups for the English classes so neither teacher would feel slighted. Our teacher, Paul, was well versed in the lesson and with the exception of the acoustics (it was very loud and echoey), I enjoyed the class. I thought he did a good job especially when someone asked a question and no one volunteered to answer. A man asked a question was about how the Lord’s mercies are new every morning. He wanted to know what it meant. No one wanted to commit himself to answering it so our teacher said, “Our brother asked a question to learn more about the things of God. Will no one help him understand what he needs to know? “ It took twice asking this same question but finally a woman gave him an answer.

She was Christy, a diplomat from Nigeria living in Malabo. She explained how the Lord meets our changing needs every day and the Lord is merciful to each of us by meeting these needs when we call to Him. She answered his question in a way that the man understood and he left knowing a little more about the Lord and His goodness.

The worship service was great! Lots of music, prayer, offerings and dancing. We also had communion at the end of the service. I love how the church in Malabo receives the offerings, tithes and missions giving. There are labeled boxes on pedestals for each type offering: tithes, missions and general offerings. They are lined up across the front of the church. First, tithes payers come up bringing their tithes with them. They stand in front of the box and the whole congregation and pastor prays for them and over their giving. It’s a solemn moment and, yet, happy. They are doing what the Lord requires and it is good.

The other offering boxes are lined up and the music begins again, loudly and lively! People come from both sides dancing as they bring in their offerings at the same time, meeting in the middle and then leaving up the center aisle. They sing, they clap, they dance. It’s beautiful! I love the joyfulness of their giving. It makes me want to dance, too!

Communion requires one be a born again and a water baptized believer for participation. If you qualify and want to partake, you must walk forward with everyone else to receive the bread and wine. One man prayed over the bread, another over the wine. We prayed, partook and praised. It was beautiful.

If I had to describe the main difference I see in US church services and Malabo services, I think it’s that everything is not so private. You come up front to pay your tithes. You come up front to bring offerings. You come up front for communion. It creates accountability and allows others to see Christians following the Lord, obeying His teachings. Another difference is that anytime during the service, music, preaching, or even after prayer if someone likes something she heard or if something sung blesses her, that person brings up an offering right then. It doesn’t disturb the service and it blesses the heart of those in the congregation. It allows one a quick view into the heart of another.

We ate lunch at a nice Chinese restaurant. I had chicken and pineapple which sounds really good, but the sauce was a clear cornstarch sauce that made the dish unappetizing. I mostly ate the rice, spring roll, bok choy and my hot jasmine tea, so I still left satisfied.

Dinner was grilled burgers, pinto beans with tomatoes, garlic, and onion, jasmine rice, fresh lettuce and carrots from the garden. Gayle received the lettuce and carrots from someone’s garden as a practical offering and they were delicious! She also brought home a big sack of fresh green beans and cabbages. I think I see beans and coleslaw on our dinner plates soon.

It was a good day and after our late dinner I went to bed early because I was tired. I find it hard to write down all I’m seeing and experiencing. I can’t overcome my feelings of desperation for the people of Africa—and it is spiritual need that I write of as with witchcraft ceremonies, but also of physical need. There is no place to look where poverty does not invade. Like the ubiquitous trash everywhere one looks, there is poverty and lack. The weight of dust, dirt, filth is overwhelming. It breaks my heart to see people living this way but, I also wonder how much of it is my American culture that pushes me to think how hard it is here. Not every culture has the same standards of cleanliness so is it them…or me?

I will write a lot about food on this trip but it’s my focus because I’m the cook. It’s on my mind all the time; what’s for breakfast, lunch, dinner. What’s the plan for tonight? How can I make this taste like home? Should we have a dessert EVERY night?

Food is our fuel for the job at hand. The guys need good food and lots of it. I want to make it tasty. When our need for nourishment is met generously, when we have familiar foods prepared in familiar ways, I think it makes being the distance a little shorter, the longing for home a little less painful, being away from home a little easier.

Father, thank you for providing for us in safety, in strength and in sustenance for this trip, for every day. Jesus prayed, "Give us this day our daily bread." We are grateful for needs met, however great, however small. I love you.

Suz

Day 1

Our flight to JFK went fairly smoothly. We had to pay a $300.00 oversized baggage charge for the two weed eaters we purchased for Pastor Carrol in Orlando and at JFK we sat on the runway for an hour and a half waiting for our turn in line to take off. The delay made us hurry to our gate in Paris so we had no time to look around or try any foreign treats. We went straight to boarding for our flight to Malabo. Byron and I had seats on opposite sides of the plane so I asked the young woman sitting beside me if she’d switch seats with Byron so he could sit with me and she agreed. So my hubby and I got to sit together for most of the 8hr flight. It was a nice thing for her to do.

I talked her for a little while at the end of the flight and she said her name is Dilara and she is a 20 yr old Turkish college student. In Texas, the others pronounced her name just as it's spelled and they ran the "Di" and "lara" together. It should be pronounced "De-lata" with a little roll on the "r." It's much prettier said this way and she wishes the others had pronounced it the way her mother intended. She had just completed a 3 month work/travel program in Corpus Christi, TX, where she worked as a hotel housekeeper. The bonus was a five day stay in New York City where she did some shopping, sightseeing and saw a Broadway show: The Addams Family She was heading home to start her new semester two weeks late but was confident she would catch up with her missed class work. She is studying to become an ecological engineer like her father and sister and is beginning her second year at Istanbul University.

I asked her about ecological engineering and she told me she was only studying it because her father and sister did, and her father was the one who had suggested the work/travel program. I was impressed with her courage, this girl who’s never left Turkey, never been to the USA, who's never even had a job, and who doesn't really want to be an ecological engineer. Her heart is in the arts. She wants to become an actress and be on stage. Ecological engineering is what she studies because she doesn’t know what else to study and because it was a family choice. Quite a conundrum. Why does someone with her whole life ahead of her spend 4 yrs and much of her father’s money pursuing someone else's dream?

I enjoyed talking to this young woman who may one day become a talented actress or even a great ecological voice. She has potential for anything she wants to do, but I wonder if it will be her dream, her father’s dream or will she make choices in her young life that will take her down a completely different path. She wants to be known by her correct name, “De-lata,” but she’s studying a field that’s not truly hers.

Does the Lord look at us and see great potential for us in Him and see us going down avenues that don’t suit who we are? Are we following someone else’s dream and passing by God’s best for us? Each one of us wants to be known for who we are and still sometimes we wander off into directions not at all good for us or we do things that totally change our course from which we can never return.

We made it to Malabo along with all our bags and the weed eaters. Gayle had a great pot of homemade chicken veggie soup and we made ham sandwiches to go along with it. We talked a while. We caught up. Had fun fellowshipping and turned in pretty early. We had church in the morning and my job was just beginning. Breakfast bright and early at 8. It would be a good day!

Father, thank you for safety, flight connections met, and meeting new people. Guide Dilara, guide us in your chosen way so our potential in You will be fulfilled. Give us strength to do the tasks ahead of us. I love you, Jesus.

Suz

our departure

We leave for JFK in a few hours, then to Paris and on to Malabo. It's hard to believe how quickly the time has passed--even though it's not been a terribly long time--just since June. I'm happy to report we should have power when we get there. That's welcome news--and even though it will certainly make things easier for us as a team, it's difficult to imagine how Pastor Carrol and Gayle have tolerated it for 4 weeks now! The generator they have is old and expensive to run so it wasn't used as often or for as long as they needed it to.

I've been doing errands for the last two weeks making sure I have all my necessities and a few wants. Today was a very long day of transporting pups to Amy's house, picking up last minute items, and dinner and dessert with our girls and families. There was also a trip to the doc for me because of a diverticulitis flare up. He added a couple of prescriptions to my list and I'm feeling much better now.

Pastor Gary recently preached about Jesus sleeping in the boat while the storm raged as He and his disciples headed across the lake. Their destination was the other side of the lake and they were going to get there. Jesus said so. But the disciples became terrified on the way because of the storm. They panicked when the way to the other side wasn't what they'd expected. The way hadn't been smooth, painless and perfect. They lost sight of what Jesus told them. They awakened Jesus and He calmed the storm and, ultimately, them.

We've had a few, very few, glitches as we've prepared to go on this trip, but we are heading to Malabo as the short term destination the Lord has set for us. It's not going to be a vacation. We are going to work to complete a goal, but I know it will be enjoyable and satisfying and fun because we are setting out to do what the Lord has asked with people who all have the same focus. How much better can it get?

I'll post as often as I can and bring you along with us on our adventure of a lifetime. Please pray for us all.

Father, thank you for this opportunity and for providing a way to go on this trip. I am humbled and grateful for your hand on this project, for your hand on us. Please bless us and help us to accomplish all that YOU have planned. I love you utterly...

Suz

Aunt Wanda's birthday!

It was a Sunday, Sept 23, 1928, in Sweetwater, Tennessee, when my maternal grandmother, Myrtle Patterson Kidd, gave birth in her home to Wanda Lou Kidd, my dear aunt. She already had 3 sons, Garnet, 7, Earle. 5, and Kenneth, 3. Wanda was her first baby girl.

Even though weak in her body from chronic asthma, tired from taking care of her 3 active little boys, and exhausted from labor, she must have been happy to finally have a daughter. Wanda was the baby for three years until the others started coming along: Barbara, Margaret, Don, Polly, and Nancy.

The family struggled to make a living. George, my grandfather, was a sharecropper and sometimes worked in the woolen mills. As a girl, Wanda and the others had to feed the chickens, milk the cows and tend the garden, as well as go to school. It was a hard life and they may not have had much, but they never went hungry.

Wanda grew up and went to work as soon as someone would hire her. As soon as they were old enough, all the children had to have jobs and contribute to the household budget. As long as she lived at home, she never questioned that it was her responsibility to work and help bring money in to support the family.

Wanda grew up to be a wonderful young woman who married her sweetheart, Bill. They moved from Tennessee to Michigan to begin their married life and my parents followed. After I was born, Aunt Wanda took care of me for a year while my mother worked. As I grew up she took me with her on bus trips to Tennessee to visit family and other trips to Indiana to visit Uncle Bill's family. We were travelling buddies. She took good care of me and we had lots of fun together. She was my friend then, as she is my friend now.

Aunt Wanda has always treated me with respect and listened to me. I remember having conversations. She'd talk, I'd listen. I'd talk, she'd listen. It's a rare gift when someone really listens and even more rare when she listens to a child or young adult. Aunt Wanda listened and I always felt important when I was with her, as I do now.

When I spent Saturday nights at their house there was always church on Sunday morning and I watched her live a Christian life in a practical way. I saw her write out her tithe envelope. I heard her sing in church service. I learned how to behave in church by her example. I learned that church was a place to worship the Lord, but where you could also make great friends! I still remember some of the ladies she was friends with at Missionary Church in Royal Oak, Mich. She was my example of a true Christian in every day life.

Over the course of their lifetimes, Aunt Wanda and Uncle Bill opened their home to many family members when they needed help for a time and also took on the responsibility of raising foster children. As a young girl, I remember meeting many new "cousins" and observing how each one was brought into the home and simply accepted as one of the family.

Aunt Wanda turns 83 years old tomorrow and is still interested in what's going on in mine and my family's lives. She has her own tremendous aches and pains but still asks me about my children and grandchildren, about what we've been doing and what we plan to do. Although her health does not permit much activity, her interest in life beyond her bedroom walls is amazing, vibrant and alive!

Happy Birthday, to my dearest Aunt Wanda! You have been my best friend from the day I was born until this very moment. I love you and wish you only good days! The Lord truly blessed me when He brought us together!

Father, Thank you for your gift of Aunt Wanda to me. She's a perfect fit! I love you, Lord, for your great blessings to us. Please bless her in amazing ways even now!

Suzanne

check, check, check--Malabo, here we come!

Dogfood, check. Dog gates for Amy's house, check. Blue's meds, check. Instruction letter for the three pups, unchecked. It seems like a simple task taking care of 3 pups--after all, they are dogs, not children, but they do require some instruction about their habits, quirks, behaviors. If for no reason other than it will probably make our month long absence easier for our daughter to take care of them. Probably. I hope so.

Three, old, cantankerous Chihuahuas aren't a walk in the park--even for us! At this very moment, Treasure wants to go to bed so she's staring at me and "harrumphing" every few seconds so I'll go to bed and take her with me. I'm not ready to go to bed. She's just going to have to get over it. I'm not going to be put to bed by a bossy pup!

The pups are only one element that need attention so we can leave in a week and a half. I'm also trying to get our clothes together. You know, just enough, not too many, and just the right type--not too hot, but what if it gets a little chilly? I don't want to over pack--I can't over pack. I get one suitcase of up to 50 lbs and a carry-on and I don't want to be packing the night before we leave this time. I would like to be done with everything a day or two before. I've never done it before. Maybe this will be a first!

I'm going to miss my family like crazy. I've had my kids and their kids close to me their whole lives with the exception of vacations and mission trips, so this bothers me. Communication is a nearly daily occurrence...now. Soon? Not so much. I guess if there's one sacrifice long term missionaries make that touches my heart the most, it's the loss of geographical closeness with their families. Even now, my dear friend's daughter, son-in-law and and two young grandkids are preparing to go to Eastern Europe as long-term missionaries. Even though it's a God ordained assignment and they have worked hard and waited for this day for a very long time, my friend will be away from them for extended periods of time and she will miss them all terribly. I am happy because her children are doing what the Lord has set before them and I am heartbroken for my friend's pain.

There are still many things to think about and so many things left to do. Many boxes to check--to cross off the list. This is a story yet to be lived and written and I can hardly wait!

Father, Thank you for this upcoming adventure! I don't know what the days and weeks will bring but I am trusting you, regardless. I love you utterly.

Suz

planning for Africa

We had an organizational meeting about the Africa trip last night and everything went well. We met a couple new guys who are going with us on the first leg of the month long mission and I think they will work well with our team. There was talk of immunizations, flights, baggage, what to take, tools, mud for the blocks, how many block there are to lay and how many the team can lay in a day. I thought about my roll in the mission, cooking and helping with team support and wondered if I am up to the task. Sleep eluded me all night last night as I mentally went over my list of things to remember, to buy, and to do before our date to leave.

Byron and I went to the doc today for new prescriptions and advice about malaria and travelers diarrhea--ever present possibilities when going to a third world country. I wrote out my list of errands to do and purchases to make and with each check off, I thought of two more to add!

I know I'm stressing over this stuff and I don't want to. I'm sure if I were more confident in my ability to organize, I wouldn't keep going over these things, but I'm not, so I stress. But it's really ok. I'm not in a tizzy or anything, I'm just trying to be thorough. I am really looking forward to this adventure. I can't wait to go to church with our African brothers and sisters! Their services are such celebrations with great music and dancing! It's different and worshipful and fun :) I wish I knew more Spanish so I could communicate better, so I'm going to drag out my Spanish textbook from community college and see if I can refresh my memory a bit. I'm sure it will help some!

It's going to be a good trip! I just know it will! It will be hard work, but it will be good. The Lord has His hand all over this one in the way it was brought up and worked out. It was only June when our team was asked to come--and now, with the Lord's help, we are leaving Sept 30 and will return Oct 28! How's that for amazing? What a privilege to be doing this!

Serving the Lord is nothing if not exciting! Please pray for the team as we move toward our departure date.

Father, you amaze me! I am in awe of your providence and ability to orchestrate circumstances and situations. There is no one like you! I'm so happy to be called your friend:) Thank you for your love and your guidance. I love you utterly.

Suz