My teammate
Rachel wrote a blog about our recent outing to the waterfalls and how it turned into an adventure. Instead of rewriting it again, I’m reposting her blog below.
|
Posted in Tanzania by Rachel Iverson on 9/20/2011
Abandonment. It’s what the World Race is supposed to be all about. We leave family, relationships, jobs. We cram the entirety of our worldly possessions for a year into a backpack. We forsake everything in relentless pursuit of God. Yet here I am at the end of month 9, and I am realizing that there are still many things which cling on to for security other than God.
I learned a huge lesson recently about what it truly looks like to be abandoned.
Two of my teammates and I took off on our free day in search of adventure. We hiked and found an amazing waterfall, where we splashed excitedly, despite the water’s frigidity. I know God was romancing all three of us in that moment. But when we returned for our bags, which we had stashed on a rock nearby, we realized that something was wrong. One of the backpacks was missing.
After an extensive search of the area, we decided that the bag was gone. It had belonged to my new team leader Pei Yee, who was now left in her soaking wet clothes, cold. Her shoes and change of clothes were gone, along with a few other items (luckily she had her camera with her!).
So there we were halfway up a mountain; I felt helpless. We prayed and asked God for wisdom, and then decided to head back into town. Pei Yee walked down the mountain barefoot. There were rocks in the path. To be honest, if it had been me in that situation, I would have sat and cried in despair. But as I watched Pei Yee, I was astounded by her attitude. Now dry and warm in Christi-An’s clothes, she said “C’est la vie” and smiled her way down the mountain, shoeless.
She never once got angry at the person who stole her bag. She did not mourn the loss of her things, asserting that they were just material anyway. When we got to the paved road, her and Christi-An found 2 separate flip-flops which had been discarded on the side of the road and fashioned them into shoes for Pei Yee to wear back into town.
Pei Yee understands what I am still learning- that there is nothing on this earth that I truly own anyway and therefore cannot find security in material possessions. |
|
|
|
Post thoughts: I’m just really thankful for how much God has really changed me. This month there have been so called ‘stressful’ situations, for example our travel day from Uganda to Tanzania (read about it here if you missed it), and now this situation. But somehow they never once affected me. And in fact, Christi-An prayed a very good prayer when we couldn’t find the backpack which taught me a lot. She said “Dear Lord, we pray that Pei Yee’s things will bless that person, and please help us to forgive and love that person if we ever find out who it is.”
Matthew 18:21-22
Then Peter came
to Him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against
me? Seven times?”
“No, not seven
times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy-seven times!”
We set out to the mountains early in the morning.
Many people carrying carrots, vegetables and all sorts of things probably for sale. Strong necks!
Found a nice little hideout with smooth rocks and a place to swim in.
Our not-so-big but nice waterfall.
Christi-An taking a shower in the waterfall.
Rachel standing in freezing water!
Me hurrying to come out from the freezing water after standing under the waterfall.
Climbing behind another waterfall. This was fun!
When my backpack got stolen, everything I had brought was stolen too, including my shoes, clothes, towel, rainjacket, hat, journal, etc. Thank God though that I had my waterproof camera with me in my pocket, but my camera case and other SD cards were gone. Here I am wearing Christi-An’s clothes and walking down the hill barefoot.
Despite all these, we still had a lovely time at the waterfall with beautiful mountain view.
Shoe #1: As we were walking, Christi-An kept praying “Lord, please give us a shoe.” At the bottom of the hill, we found one broken tyre sandal. We stuck a safety pin through it to keep it together, and then I found a piece of cloth so I wound it around the shoe to make it more comfortable. Doesn’t it look like a Japanese slipper?
Shoe #2: We reached paved tar roads and it was hot and very rocky (more so then on the mountain). So we fashioned another shoe for me: Bubble wrap under my foot, plastic bottle as shoe sole, all tied together with plastic bag. I was cracking up the whole time cause I thought it was too funny and bizarre. Something I would never EVER do in my life back home. While doing all this, 2 African young men walked by and they probably thought we were crazy. HAHAHA
Shoe #3: Shoe #2 didn’t last very long, and eventually we found another left shoe. We used the plastic bag from Shoe #2 to hold it together.
And this was my outfit all the way until we reached home. What an adventure, eh?
All the way home, Christi-An kept singing “Oh the Lord’s been good to Pei Yee. He’s given her some dry clothes, and some shoes. Oh the Lord’s been good to Pei Yee.” 🙂 This helped put a smile on our faces the whole way. This girl teaches me a lot.
Philippians 3:7-10
7 But whatever
was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I
consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing
Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them
rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a
righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through
faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.
