each face has a story

yesterday i was going through my images from this summer, i couldn't help but relive the moments i have spent with these people. each one has a story to tell, brothers, sisters, and parents that have shaped who they are. they have names and lives, on the other side of the world, and i have the opportunity to be apart of them, even if only for an instant.

kids in the second division military base outside of Juba (capital of southern sudan)

mary. she has no physical reason in the world to be happy. but has more joy than you would think possible for a three year old.

Joseph. One of my favorite chaplains. I worked with him for four weeks in Loa, while we were running a program at the local school. Seeing this guy love on kids, you would never know lost his parents at a young age.

Joska. She lives down the street from one of the chaplains and runs up to greet me every time I visit the house. She longs to be known, listened to, and understood.

a different kind of christmas season

Two years ago today, I returned home from my first trip to africa. My world had been changed forever.
For three months, I lived with no running water or electricity, eating beans and rice and maybe an occasional potato, three months with not one familiar face, watching as my Savior took away everything familiar to me and revealed himself to me through the faces and hearts of the african people I was living with. In a short three months, my world was shattered to pieces. The stories brought me to my knees in tears as I listened to a young girl tell me that she lost one of her three children to starvation, but that she trusted the Lord was going to provide for their meal tomorrow, of a soldier tell of how he left home to defend his country and returned to find that his family had been killed by the very people he was sent to fight. And yet these people were so full of joy, radiant at the knowledge that they were loved, protected and known by their heavenly Father.
Coming home, I flew through London and had a several hour layover. I left the airport and walked through Hyde Park at daybreak. Being only a few days from Christmas, the entire city was decked out. The window displays at Herrod's alone were proof of the commercial holiday season. The city was beautiful, but something was missing. The people I walked passed in London seemed to move from one event to the next, they had everything they needed to live comfortably, but they still looked empty. Life in Africa was the journey, the ups and downs of everyday happenings, the faith that a little boy born in a manger over 2000 years ago was sent to save them, and had changed their lives and mine, forever.
Christmas has always been a little better to me because of africa as I am reminded to live the journey and not the event.

what now?

i saw the face of jesus in a little orphan girl

she was standing in the corner on the other side of the world

and i heard the voice of jesus gently whisper to my heart

didn't you say you wanted to find me,

well here i am, here you are

so what now

what will you do, now that you found me

what will you to with this treasure you found

i know i may not look like what you expected,

but if you remember, this is right where i said i would be

you found me

what now

come and know, come and know

know me now, come and know me.

what now?

so, i am not a huge fan of stephen curtis chapman... but these words get me. for two different reasons. first, the little orphan girl that he talks about in this song, is now my cousin, Orly. she no longer lives on the other side of the world, and she has people around her who love her. they saw the face of jesus in her, paid a ransom to the chinese government and brought her home.

so what now?

what do i do to answer the call, i have seen jesus on the other side of world, in pairs of white beady eyes shining from beneath black faces. what do i do with that? how do i answer my call? i know that adoption is not the answer for me right now, but what do i do to respond?

it is becoming more and more clear that i am going back to africa this summer. maybe not permanently right now, but at least for the summer. i got a call from a friend a few weeks ago, she wanted to get together. we did, last week. in the midst of conversation, she told me about a very small missions team that her and her husband are praying about forming. they are asking four people to join them for a few weeks working with a team they served on for a year in Tunisia. Their dear friends and mentors from their hometown, her sister... and me. wow.

i have committed to pray about it. i am planning on going back to east africa this summer anyway, to visit molly, anne and a few others in rwanda, maybe gifti & helen in sudan and hopefully joyce's family in kenya. now maybe Tunisia too.

joyce

i met joyce two years ago, on my first trip to africa. we crossed paths, only for one night, at the frm guesthouse in kampala, uganda. we shared a bowl of spaghetti together, exchanged stories and parted ways. i left early the next morning for nimule and returned home to nairobi.

almost two months later, i met joyce again in nairobi when she came to teach bible study at calvary chapel. i listened as she shared her story to all of the women gathered around.

*this is her testimony, to the best of my memory, i may have some details off*

she was hired to cook and clean for the frm guesthouse only a few years before. surrounded by over a million people, living in the slums was lonely and hopeless. joyce was not a believer and really had no interest in God. within a short time of working at the guesthouse she began to notice that she was not working for ordinary 'mzungus' or white people. there was something different about the people. she began visiting church on sundays and asking questions throughout the week. one afternoon, she decided that she wanted to be apart of the family of God, and asked the Lord to take over in her life. almost instantly, it was evident that God was working in her life. she became the most radiant, joyful and encouraging person to be around. she ate up the scripture and spoke truth into the lives of those around her. she began volunteering at the church and leading small groups of women through the scriptures. her four kids accepted Christ and she managed to get her sister, eunice to visit church with her kids.

after she accepted the Lord, joyce was asked to take a position working in women's ministry at the church. she was one of the first female kenyans to take a role in the ministry, and hundreds of women began to hear her teach truth on a weekly basis.

her sister, eunice began working at the guesthouse when joyce took the job in ministry, and when i was in kenya, two years ago... eunice stated that she had accepted Christ as her Lord and Savior. i had the opportunity to spend thanksgiving with the frm team in kenya along with joyce, eunice and the kids. the joy that fills them and those around them is an incredible witness to so many in africa.

several weeks ago, joyce was diagnosed with a late stage of leukemia and given three to four months to live. her films were sent to a western hospital, hoping that maybe they would be able to offer some sort of promising treatment, but God had different plans. yesterday evening, joyce njeri went to be with the Lord. she has had such an incredible impact on so many women, and her time on this earth is finished. i am thankful that she is no longer suffering in pain, but please pray eunice and her four children as they adjust to life without her.

i look forward to the day that i can be with her again!

glasses

today i got glasses. i have been thinking about going to the doctor for a few weeks because of headaches and lots of squinting, but keep putting it off. plus, my vision is good, it always has been. dad was in town tonight, and took me to a walk-in eye doctor. two hours later, i walked out with two thin little pieces of glass surrounded by black plastic frames around my eyes. glasses. still living in denial, sure that my vision couldn't possibly warrant glasses... i walked outside. suddenly, i could see.

i had NO idea what i was missing out on! Everything was clearer, more defined. Black is blacker, white is whiter and every color is richer than before. It is hard to explain, but it is truly life changing!

so often, i walk through life, thinking that i am good. i am sure i could do more, give more of myself... but relatively, i am doing well. i wonder what would it be like for me to get glasses? glasses for my life. what does it look like for me to be more effective, more powerful for the gospel, for the lives of those around me. what area of life am i not living with perfect vision.

my loss in vision has been coming on so slow that i haven't noticed.

until last night, i didn't even know what i was missing. I live and breath color, as an artist and photographer... color matters. and i didn't notice.

what else in my life am i not noticing?

time-warp

it is hard to believe how fast time has gone. i am not in sudan, school starts in less than 20 days and it seems just like yesterday that i was living a ten minute walk from the l'arc de triumph in the center of paris. all of this, and yet i feel lost. stuck in a sort of time warp between three worlds, unable to actually live in any of them.

like new

you would have thought that it was christmas morning for over 600 kids at irya primary school in Loa this morning. i was privliged to call each of the 94 kids that i have been teaching the last three days, by name, to the front of the classroom, hand them a backpack loaded with new clothes, school supplies and a mosquito net and give them a hug. most of these kids have never in there life had anything unused, everything has had a previous owner. more often than not, two or three previous owners by the time it makes its way up to sudan.

the gang...

a show of hands when they were asked how many decided to ask Jesus into their life this week. yes, God showed up in big ways!

in my classroom

love covers irya primary

God showed up. mountains were moved. and something much bigger than us, happened. kids heard the gospel, many for the first time. we left behind something much greater than a 600 backpacks and red t-shirts.