Africa, man!
I’ve been to this continent before when I was a teenager in 2008/2009. I remember the trip vividly and how God moved those few days.
The joy here is unlike any I’ve experienced. The sense of community and caring for your neighbor is huge in Zambia. This month was “all girl month.” The girls from my team combined with the girls from another coed team. We also had three “exposure” girls. (Girls under 21 who spend a month on the race in order to decide on doing it themselves.) In total we had 10 girls plus one of our squad leaders for a brief time. I was indifferent about the “all girl” theme this month. Little did I know it would end up being one of my favorites. (Africa is really just my favorite)
This month we stayed with Pastor Brian and his family in Lusaka, Zambia. Pastor Brian is head pastor at Great in Christ church which is across the street from independence stadium in Matero East, (in case you were wondering. )
This month has been a lot of things!
Door to door evangelism, passing out flyers, preaching, teaching, orphanages, clinics, nursing homes, and schools. We did all of the things. This month was filled with unpredictability. If there was ever a month I learned about NOT having expectations it was this month.
Back home we trip over time. Everything is planned, everything has a start time and an ending.
That doesn’t happen here.
Every day was subject to change so much to where you wouldn’t even count on the next hour . This proved to be a challenge for me this month. I never realized how much I appreciated set schedules. I THOUGHT I was go with the flow already. But here’s what I appreciate about the scattered schedule….life is simple and complex all at the same time here. Many times this month we pulled over to help someone on the side of the road. Pastor Brian would pull off and say “one moment” and I’d watch as he truly loved like Jesus in a tangible way. He didn’t have to know his neighbor to stop and show them love.
Sometimes when we’d be waiting and wondering why it was 2 hours past our pickup time I admit I would be frustrated. In hindsight I am so thankful for the missed times because it wasn’t a miss. God moves constantly without us having any part of it. He is constantly pursuing his children. I learned so much from our contact this month. I learned that you don’t need a congregation to have church, you don’t have to spend hours in prep to preach because God will show up with or without polished statements. I learned that you can love people you barely know and feel at home and with family. I learned you can cook a feast over a coal stove when the power goes out. I learned that nsima is best with fried fish. I learned that Africans love tacos because they put anything they want in a tortilla (chipati) and call it a day. Peas and green beans included.
I learned that hours of walking and praying while passing out flyers is worth it if even one person experiences Gods love.
Something I’ll never forget about this month is the impact it made to have Americans walk through the neighborhoods to greet the people who lived there. Pastor Brian told me once that just greeting the people in town made a difference. It made me sad to think that because of my skin and the country I was born in that it carried a weight. It was a privilege to step into their world, to shake every hand, to give every hug, to utter every “muli bwanji” (how are you?) and hear them giggle. It was a blessing to walk into their lives for a moment and shatter every wall of cultural difference and separation and to say that We are all Gods children.
When we would pass out flyers I would walk up to people and say “Muli bwanji! My name is Lydia and me and all those azungu (white) girls over there are missionaries from America. We came all the way to Lusaka to tell you something very important. Jesus loves you and he has a plan for you.” That’s all it is folks. Jesus loves us. He wants to know us. There are people around us everyday who need to posses this knowledge. They need to know that there is an extraordinary savior who wants to take our ordinary lives and blow them up with his love.
This month was probably the first month I felt myself rub up against some real heart issues. The first 5 months were the “honeymoon phase” of the race for me. I have had several life changing and incredible encounters with God but this month was not cute!
I found myself homesick and irritable. I spent a lot of time filling my time with cooking or getting to know our hosts. Which were good things! I didn’t realize the toll it was taking on me to not address the feels though.
I wasn’t dealing with any of the emotions I was encountering. I was stuffing and hoping I’d wake up the next day without having to address it because “I’d feel better after some sleep.” The details of everything that combined together for a mess aren’t worth the time to type out. The big idea was that God was taking me from a place of complacency to a place of finally and actually being ready for change.
I can’t tell you a time in my life where I ever truly wanted change and sought it. I don’t do things that potentially could fail or make me look dumb. I don’t risk things in case they don’t work out. The race was the first step I’ve taken in my life for change. It was my first baby, adult step. The real act of courage is going to be changing the lifelong lies and habits I’ve adopted. This past month I would sit and pray and ask God to break my pride, to waste me on His ways, to give me boldness , courage, and strength. Last week I was sitting outside at a standstill with God. I wasn’t going to move until He moved me. That’s when He showed me that He was indeed doing exactly what I had been asking. He said “Lyd, I am.” I was like “Ohhhhhhhh, gotcha!” Made sense. He’s super patient and nice.
All of that irritation and passivity was pride surfacing and it was ugly. Where did it even come from?!
My old habits and thought patterns have/are rubbing up against the fact that I AM a new creation. He IS doing some rearranging in my heart. I want change because I cannot afford to go home the same . Jesus wants to come into the ugliest and messiest parts of our lives. He wants to transform our crippled hearts into springs of water and life. We have to get to a place of absolute dependence on Him. We have to come to an understanding that the way we romanticize sanctification is not realistic. This shit sucks. To put it bluntly . Who wants to dig out ghosts from the past and rejoice because change is coming? Like really though? There is a huge part of becoming like Jesus that I am learning depends on understanding your value. When we understand what it means to be one of His kids, we can trust that His change for our lives is good change. Trust is a lot harder than I thought it would be. But it is truly is so sweet to trust in Jesus.
Jesus trusted His fathers plan for His life. Jesus, like us, had free will. God had a plan for Jesus and Jesus could have changed it up a bit to fit his own vision of what redemption looked like. But the Fathers plan? That one was was for all of mankind for all of eternity. I’m so glad Jesus chose us. I can learn from Him how to trust because He trusted also.
This month I had the opportunity to invest in an incredible group of women. I had the opportunity to gain a Zambian family. I got to tell people that Jesus loved them. I got the privilege of sharing what God is teaching me in a sermon. I got to experience God showing up and moving in and through me when I was at a loss for words.
He gives us a choice . I knew this but I didn’t understand it truly. Jesus is a gentleman . He never forces His plans or will on us. His grace is given freely and we can accept it. We can let it change us and we can choose to walk in it. When we begin to walk in boldness and the understanding of who we are as children of God, I believe we will see countless miracles happen in our lives.
FUNDRAISING!
This month the art auction held on my behalf raised a good chunk off of what I owe in order to stay on the race. I am still in need of around $3,000 to be able to stay here and finish the work God has for me. Would you prayerfully consider partnering with me in support? Thank you!
