Life is weird.
It’s up and down.. you know? it’s to the side, is crooked .. it’s to and fro. You make it, you fake it, you shake and bake it. A few days and your heart can feel great, your mind is at rest and you feel like around every corner Jesus will be there to give you a hug.
Then some weeks you fail, and fall down and mess up and quite frankly life just hurts.
I am a piece of drift wood on a stormy day in the ocean. I drift between these two worlds.
I am jacks bleeding esophagus.
I am jacks thrown up yogurt parfait.
Consistency is something in my life I always long for, always wish I had. But if I had it would I get bored? No. But I think I would. Which tells me maybe I should grow up. There are exciting elements to not having a routine life, but in matters like reading the bible, praying… growing… perhaps eating healthy and staying in contact with those I love… I could most certainly use a leg up in the climbing of the consistency tree.
For the past few weeks since I was out in the jungle for a month, I have been under the supervision of lovely Elizabeth. She is Project manager for Program Development. She is the brilliant lobe who wrote the impact assessment and trained all of the numerators and myself. She is a mover and a shaker. She’s is also quite fun and loving and caring. I learn a lot from her. We hang out very much outside of work and it’s very nice. I have been able to be her secretary these few weeks. When she leaves for meetings during the day in town, I organized her desk a little bit, run make copies, arrange for quick meetings and drink the rest of her coffee.
A new intern comes in 3 days and to be honest I already don’t like her. What? I’m just kidding. But seriously. What if she is really cool and people like her better than me? No I’m not serious. I’m excited for her to come. She just better not be cool, or funny, or good looking.
Totally kidding. Noooot really
Her (new intern) and I for the month of July and my last weeks in August will be running VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL! IN THE MIDDLE OF THE JUNGLES UGLY WET MOUTH. The philistines are upon us and I am not excited about it. And by philistines I mean rainy season. When it rains here, it waterfalls. You can’t walk out of your house in it without feeling like you just tried surfing for the first time. You are soaked and sad. So new intern and I will be upcountry and out in villages for 9 weeks playing with kids and telling them about Jesus in gross conditions. But who really cares. I get to tell kids they are loved and play games with them and act like a child. It will be great. I’m working on the curriculum for it now… brainstorming inventive ideas… how to make these kids ‘get it’ but not just understand in their minds about Jesus, but in their hearts. I’m thinking lots of skits and puppet shows. And candy!! And hugs!!
I was deemed Project Manager over VBS 2010 which made me nervous… nervous where my entire insides were attacked with waves of anxious lizard tales that tingle with the force of a thousand tooth fairy prickles…
Yet it also gave me a sense of worth and significance as far as leadership goes here at sp. I’ve been just the ‘intern’ for 3 months now… taking orders… taken numbers. Now though I get to oversee a project… make some key decisions… and feel needed.
VBS is taken quite seriously here actually, as it should. Satan hates it. The devil wants to destroy the efforts and the love the VBS team wants to put into these kids all over this country. Telling the younger generations about a powerful God and seeing life changes is the best thing we can do for the foundation of Liberia and its potential rising leaders! So of course these labors will be met with stronger opposition than I think we understand. I know the team of 2009 faced many scary spiritual warfare type situations out in the villages, where they felt very oppressed and could sense a greater evil trying to destroy any and all of their work with the kids. So VBS Liberia 2010 definitely needs some prayer. I want to piss Satan off. I want him to try and ruin things, I just want to be prepared when he tries. I am fighting for a great power here and have confidence in that victory. We just need to be soldiers along the way and not be discouraged. So if you want too, go ahead and pray for our team. It will help.
Anyone else watching The World Cup? Anyone else think that they saw some cuties on the Japan team Monday night?!!?
Today I am catching Mexico vs France.
Yo quiero taco bellllllllll! No but seriously
Hello World.
In total I have been out in the ‘bush’ for a month now. But as of this past Friday Impact assessment 2010 is officially over!!! :Slaps the nearest moving human beings rear end:
I was co-supervisor with my boss and friend Elizabeth who was head supervisor, over five Liberian Numerators who, overall, did a fantastic job at executing the profession. I’ve already written about what we did, but let me REFRESH ya. Went into over 60 communities, talked to over 600 people, and traveled to two different districts, in one fantastic country, to find out if Samaritans Purse has made an impact on them! Woot woot.
I was peed on, stepped on, pooped on, kicked and I almost ate monkey.
Speaking of Monkey, I am putting up some pictures of a monkey who really had some spirit. You can see a couple of his different excited expressions/poses. One he is raising the roof, another he is fist pounding it, and the other one he is just ‘hanging out’ with his friend.
Hahaha get it. HANGing out
Anyways, I liked this guy. If only he weren’t dead. If only he still had a head? If only this family weren’t going to eat his dirty meat for dinner.
In between the 4 weeks of the Impact Assessment I had the privileged to come back one weekend and go to a campout with the Think Home ladies. We watched movies, made a bonfire in the woods, danced around like wild zebras, had a fashion show and enjoyed a day at the beach playing in the water.
The time shared around the bonfire that night were seconds in time I won’t ever shake from this brain of mine. Each girl, including myself, was given a piece of a branch that when it was their turn, they would stand up and throw into the fire representing the burning of their old life and old ways. When it was their turn they also each had the chance to say something to the rest of the girls and it was open for anyone to ask for forgiveness if there had been any quarrels or wrong doings that had transpired between any of them. Through sobs and tear stained cheeks some of the girls got up and laid their hearts out for all of us to see beating. I was struggling to hold it together. Many of them expressed how thankful they are to their teachers and counselors for bringing them out of the destructive and hopeless lives they were living; some got up and thanked Jesus for loving them despite who they used to be and what they used to do; and others got up and went to the girls around them asking for forgiveness for things done. When it was my turn I just prayed I would be able to talk, and I was.
It’s all kind of a blur but I told them that Jesus loved them no matter what they did, where they had been and even after the things they will do. I told them they were precious to God and that they had every reason to live confidently because their identity is found in Jesus… not in themselves, not in their friends, and not in men. I told them they are strong women who shouldn’t be afraid to take this world by force, because they can make a difference. By the time I sat down I realized that what I had said was what I needed to hear myself. I was preaching to Merilee just as much as I was speaking to those girls. The power that was in that place that night was overwhelming and I knew that God was there and that He would continue to work in their lives.
Nothing really can top my experience here in Liberia so far. Ive seen so much and done so much. I feel ripped up and sewn back up, and its beautiful and God is good. I only have 2 and ½ months left!! I am half way done. I can’t imagine leaving at this point. So I wont imagine it. I’ wont think about it. Aga gah gah
Tonight I am eating home made lasagna, and moist cake. Then watching movies on a projector on a huge wall. Yay life.
