Some of you have been asking how the mandolin playing is coming along. Well, it's coming...Here's what I can do after 3 months. It's pretty rough, but hey, I'm getting better. Here's my last entry using a high speed connection. Figured I might as well upload a big video!
Sorry, it's not embedding. Here's the YouTube link
Friday, April 17, 2009
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Packing Time
I was excited at the beginning of this week because I could finally pull out the suitcases and actually start packing my bags. And I'm pretty happy with how it's going so far because it looks like I'll have room for everything and even for some of the extras I didn't think I'd have room for (like cheese and chocolate when I pass through Germany!)
People often ask what kind of things I take back with me, or what I can get here that I can't get in Congo. Here's a little rundown of some of what is going to accompany me:
--The Carryon. This will include my computer and camera and purse, etc., and also the mandolin I've started to play the past few months.
--Clothes. This wouldn't be such a big deal this time except that when I left Congo I had not one pair of pants that still fit me. So I've done quite a bit of shopping, which was aided by some fabulous Nordstrom gift cards from the past two Christmases. I also like to stock up on new underwear and shoes, which are quite important.
--Gifts. Gift-giving is an important part of relationships in Africa, so I go back well supplied with shirts and jewelry and other things for my closest friends. Oooh, my favorite this time is a little black baby doll for my goddaughter.
--Things for other people: This time it includes 3 digital cameras, a pair of jeans, a DVD, 2 battery chargers, a book, etc. There are innumberable other items that have been requested of me, but at some point I have to say no or I won't be able to pack any of my own stuff! I only get 2 bags after all.
--Toiletries: New face products, cream, hair stuff, etc. You can get generic stuff there, but it's nice to come equipped with some of the nicer essential items.
--Kitchen supplies: I'm getting better and better equipped in the kitchen with each trip. This time I'm bringing a garlic press, a small non-stick skillet, some more tupperware, more flatware, ziplock bags, etc.
--Entertainment: DVDs and new music to get me through the next year or so. I'm taking about 10 movies with me and loaded probably a dozen more CDs onto my computer. Plus a few books.
--Food: Besides the muesli and cheese and chocolate I plan to pick up in Germany, I've got a can of Kraft Parmesan, a can of cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving, and some spray on olive oil which I will use for making pita chips.
That probably covers about 90% of what's in my bags. The other miscellaneous 10%? Things like a mandolin book, tealight candles, a bath towel, cilantro and flower seeds, a new USB flash drive, etc.
People often ask what kind of things I take back with me, or what I can get here that I can't get in Congo. Here's a little rundown of some of what is going to accompany me:
--The Carryon. This will include my computer and camera and purse, etc., and also the mandolin I've started to play the past few months.
--Clothes. This wouldn't be such a big deal this time except that when I left Congo I had not one pair of pants that still fit me. So I've done quite a bit of shopping, which was aided by some fabulous Nordstrom gift cards from the past two Christmases. I also like to stock up on new underwear and shoes, which are quite important.
--Gifts. Gift-giving is an important part of relationships in Africa, so I go back well supplied with shirts and jewelry and other things for my closest friends. Oooh, my favorite this time is a little black baby doll for my goddaughter.
--Things for other people: This time it includes 3 digital cameras, a pair of jeans, a DVD, 2 battery chargers, a book, etc. There are innumberable other items that have been requested of me, but at some point I have to say no or I won't be able to pack any of my own stuff! I only get 2 bags after all.
--Toiletries: New face products, cream, hair stuff, etc. You can get generic stuff there, but it's nice to come equipped with some of the nicer essential items.
--Kitchen supplies: I'm getting better and better equipped in the kitchen with each trip. This time I'm bringing a garlic press, a small non-stick skillet, some more tupperware, more flatware, ziplock bags, etc.
--Entertainment: DVDs and new music to get me through the next year or so. I'm taking about 10 movies with me and loaded probably a dozen more CDs onto my computer. Plus a few books.
--Food: Besides the muesli and cheese and chocolate I plan to pick up in Germany, I've got a can of Kraft Parmesan, a can of cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving, and some spray on olive oil which I will use for making pita chips.
That probably covers about 90% of what's in my bags. The other miscellaneous 10%? Things like a mandolin book, tealight candles, a bath towel, cilantro and flower seeds, a new USB flash drive, etc.
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Leaving home and going home
Yikes! Less than two weeks until I leave to go back to Congo (via Germany for a few days). A common question I get is "What do you miss while you're in Congo?" or "What can you get here that you can't get in Congo?" Here are a few things off the top of my head:
#1 is obviously time with my family and friends. This is really the only thing that could possibly bring feelings of regret. I'll never say "Gee, I wish I hadn't spent all those years in Congo when I could have been back in the US with high speed Internet and lattes everyday." But the time spent away from special people is time that can't necessarily be made up for later. Plus, giving up luxeries and conveniences is a personal sacrfice, whereas familytime is something I force others to give up as well.
That said, high speed Internet and lattes are probably one of the first things that come to mind when I think of what I have to go without in Congo. That Internet connection over there is going to be pretty painful after these last few months.
The variety of restaurants and cuisine from around the world will also be missed. No Thai or Indian in Brazzaville. But I've pretty much had my fill and will enjoy visiting my favorite places back in Congo once again.
Listening to the radio, especially Christian stations, in the car is something I really love too. The excellent tradeoff, however, is that in Congo I get to attend lots of live concerts, mostly either Christian or jazz.
Wearing socks and regular shoes and jackets and layers has been fun the past few months. Not sweating is definitely a highlight of being back in the States as well. Although I am looking forward to the warmth of Congo (especially once the really hot season is over in a month or two).
OK, gotta run pick up my Indian take out!!
#1 is obviously time with my family and friends. This is really the only thing that could possibly bring feelings of regret. I'll never say "Gee, I wish I hadn't spent all those years in Congo when I could have been back in the US with high speed Internet and lattes everyday." But the time spent away from special people is time that can't necessarily be made up for later. Plus, giving up luxeries and conveniences is a personal sacrfice, whereas familytime is something I force others to give up as well.
That said, high speed Internet and lattes are probably one of the first things that come to mind when I think of what I have to go without in Congo. That Internet connection over there is going to be pretty painful after these last few months.
The variety of restaurants and cuisine from around the world will also be missed. No Thai or Indian in Brazzaville. But I've pretty much had my fill and will enjoy visiting my favorite places back in Congo once again.
Listening to the radio, especially Christian stations, in the car is something I really love too. The excellent tradeoff, however, is that in Congo I get to attend lots of live concerts, mostly either Christian or jazz.
Wearing socks and regular shoes and jackets and layers has been fun the past few months. Not sweating is definitely a highlight of being back in the States as well. Although I am looking forward to the warmth of Congo (especially once the really hot season is over in a month or two).
OK, gotta run pick up my Indian take out!!
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Orphanage needs urgent help
Please check out my blog about the House of Hope and spread the word about this urgent financial need. We have an opportunity to provide these orphans with a home of their own! Thanks for praying and a big THANK YOU to all who have already given. Help me continue on to see the project to its glorious conclusion!
Abstinence is the only road to freedom
On Africa trip, Pope says condoms won't solve AIDS
I noticed this article amongst the headlines because I was just talking about this very topic at lunch today. Based on what I've seen in Congo-Brazzaville, condoms absolutely cannot stop the spread of AIDS (in my humble opinion). Sexual activity begins in jr high school and continues with infidelity in marriage. Statistically it just seems impossible that the spread of an STD can be stopped when everyone is having sex with multiple partners...even if they're using condoms.
I talk about abstinence as much as I can and encourage the young people in my youth group to believe it's possible to wait for the one life partner destined for them. But it's a tough battle. Many people do not believe that abstinence is even possible. It is said that one's organs will not function properly if they are not used. The sad thing is that this is a lie that is the exact opposite from the truth--Abstinence is what promotes sexual health. Condoms are hardly needed for birth control because STDs and venereal diseases are so rampant that fertility is hard to come by.
I don't believe we can fight this war against AIDS through science and teaching people proper techniques. This is a social and spiritual battle. The beauty and holiness of a man and woman coming together needs to be reclaimed and cherished and prized. The married couple is the building block of society and when those blocks are in shambles there's nothing to build with and no shelter for people to live in. Exposed to the elements there's no telling what may befall them. That's what I see when I think of the AIDS epidemic. Societies that have fallen apart. Rather than helping them rebuild, we're just handing out helmets hoping they'll dodge the bullets amongst the wreckage.
I know that not every situation is the same, and there are different ways of spreading AIDS, but if the majority of people in a given society would be abstinent outside of marriage and faithful inside it, they would save their own lives and the lives of many others around them and we'd get control over this terrible monster ravaging the continent. That may not be popular opinion, but to me it just seems common sense. And it would solve so many other major problems along with it--unwanted children and teen pregnancies, infertility due to sexual activity, jealousy and lack of trust in marriage. This is a lofty goal, much more difficult than handing out little plastic wrappers, but in the end it's the only choice that produces real results and happiness and stability.
I noticed this article amongst the headlines because I was just talking about this very topic at lunch today. Based on what I've seen in Congo-Brazzaville, condoms absolutely cannot stop the spread of AIDS (in my humble opinion). Sexual activity begins in jr high school and continues with infidelity in marriage. Statistically it just seems impossible that the spread of an STD can be stopped when everyone is having sex with multiple partners...even if they're using condoms.
I talk about abstinence as much as I can and encourage the young people in my youth group to believe it's possible to wait for the one life partner destined for them. But it's a tough battle. Many people do not believe that abstinence is even possible. It is said that one's organs will not function properly if they are not used. The sad thing is that this is a lie that is the exact opposite from the truth--Abstinence is what promotes sexual health. Condoms are hardly needed for birth control because STDs and venereal diseases are so rampant that fertility is hard to come by.
I don't believe we can fight this war against AIDS through science and teaching people proper techniques. This is a social and spiritual battle. The beauty and holiness of a man and woman coming together needs to be reclaimed and cherished and prized. The married couple is the building block of society and when those blocks are in shambles there's nothing to build with and no shelter for people to live in. Exposed to the elements there's no telling what may befall them. That's what I see when I think of the AIDS epidemic. Societies that have fallen apart. Rather than helping them rebuild, we're just handing out helmets hoping they'll dodge the bullets amongst the wreckage.
I know that not every situation is the same, and there are different ways of spreading AIDS, but if the majority of people in a given society would be abstinent outside of marriage and faithful inside it, they would save their own lives and the lives of many others around them and we'd get control over this terrible monster ravaging the continent. That may not be popular opinion, but to me it just seems common sense. And it would solve so many other major problems along with it--unwanted children and teen pregnancies, infertility due to sexual activity, jealousy and lack of trust in marriage. This is a lofty goal, much more difficult than handing out little plastic wrappers, but in the end it's the only choice that produces real results and happiness and stability.
Monday, March 16, 2009
You know you're from Africa when...
Apparently there’s a Facebook group called “I’d Rather Be in Africa.” I don’t have to join such a group because I still live in Africa and can simply enjoy being in my country of origin for a while without too much pining away. But they’ve got one of those “You know you’re from Africa when…” kind of lists and I thought I would comment on a few of the items (there were like 100 things on the list, so I’ll spare you the details; sorry it's still a bit long).
You know you're from Africa when...
...you're appalled that American grocery stores only sell one or two different types of bananas.
Um, I’m not so bothered by the lack of variety so much as how big and too perfect they are. They look like they’re grown inside, not on trees. The taste leaves a little to be desired as well. One funny thing about bananas in Congo is they’re a little smaller than ours and you’re expected to eat more than one. I don’t know, bananas always seemed like a one per serving kind of fruit to me.
...your parents yell at you for forgetting to use silverware in public.
Well, that hasn’t happened yet, but I have caught myself using my hands a lot. I’ll pick my food up with a piece of bread rather than use a fork :o)
...you find all the non-white people on campus so you can be a minority again.There is indeed something unique about getting used to being the minority and I definitely zone in on the black people around.
...black outs are nothing new to you.
It’s funny when you get used to blackouts and suddenly you find yourself sitting in the dark and everyone just carries on with the conversation/choir rehearsal/whatever you happened to be doing. I was wondering where I was when we lost power a couple of times during the snowstorms at my sister’s house. Thought I’d left that in Congo!
...no running water for a day is just another ordinary thing
Unfortunately, yes. If it goes longer than a week it gets a little rough and we all lament the loss of the use of the washing machine.
...The smell of freshly rained on mud paths/tarmac is comforting.
This has always been true…I’m from Oregon.
...being an hour late equals being "on time"
Duh! 7 is 7 until 7:59!
...Cramming 7 passengers in a 4 passenger taxi is really not a big deal.
Certainly not.
...you know never to question what you're eating (even if it does taste good), cuz sometimes you just don't want to know.
My teammates always said this, but I’m not a believer. Hence, they both ended up with monkey on their plates before they knew what it was!!
...you invite people for a get together at 7 and they all come at 9.
I don’t know why this still catches me off guard. I mean, 30 minutes I can understand, but 2 hours late? Seriously? Sometimes it’s been very beneficial when the meal wasn’t quite ready yet!
...you keep converting the value of things in your home currency when u see the dollar value.
How else would I know if it’s a good deal or not? :o)
... you have another name in your home language.
Yep. Mikembi.
...someone is riding their bike down the road with corrugated iron strapped width wise across the back of the bike and its taking up more than half of the road.
And this would be Mike, our construction guy. He’s American but he loved pulling this kind of stunt.
...you've been proposed to while walking down the street
Just take it as a compliment
...You unwrap all your gifts carefully, so that you can reuse the wrapper.
I’ve always been like that, nothing new.
...Nobody in your family informs you that they are coming over for a visit.
If you love each other why should you need an invitation? It still usually annoys me. I have a lot to learn.
...You only make telephone calls at a cheaper rate at night
Is this why people call at midnight and 6am? It’s apparently not rude to wake someone up with a phone call (or by any other means), but that doesn’t really make me like it any better!
...you learn the native words for "white person" everywhere you go, because you hear it shouted everywhere you go.
Sure ‘nuf. I swear children learn to yell “mondele” as one of their first words.
...something that would normally take half an hour in the Western world takes a few days or weeks...and if it didn't it just wouldn't be fun.
I don’t know about the fun part, but things do take a lot longer. Going to the PO feels like a major accomplishment and doing the grocery shopping truly is!
...you find it completely natural to have burglar-bars outside your windows
Naturally. And a wall. And a guard.
...you can smell the rain before it comes
I’m not sure about smelling it, but you can certainly tell it’s going to rain. It gets dark all of a sudden and the wind picks up. The darker and the windier, the harder the rain will be. Oh, and you can hear the thunder in the distance.
...you can look up at the sky and see every star clearly
And here we see what? The moon and venus…
...the sunset is something to look forward to
In the village, yes! I always felt exhausted from the heat and cultural exertion and knew I could hide away in the dark. Going to bed at 8pm is quite easy there!
...you miss the sound of rain on your tin roof at night, the after-rain smell, and the spectacular lightning shows.
Ah yes, the lightening shows! Love it. I like the thunder too that makes me jump out of my skin.
...you always drink your drink straight away in front of the shop, and give them the bottle back.
Of course. Although the store on our street knows us well and we can take bottles cos they know we’ll bring them back.
...instead of being greeted with "good morning", you're greeted with "Are you awake?"
It’s always strange no matter how many times. The bad part is when they say it while you’re still trying to sleep!
...the rain back "home" feels cold.
I’m FREEZING right now as a matter of fact.
...you learn quickly that pedestrians DO NOT have the right-of-way
The thing that ticks me off is when they speed up and honk, scaring the pants off me, rather than slowing however slightly my crossing the street might have necessitated.
...you prefer music that's slightly out of tune
And distorted
...b.o. is a comforting smell
Strangely true. But there’s definitely a limit. Some b.o., yes; unwashed clothes, no.
...you reuse plastic throwaways
We re-use our zip-locks again and again…and then realize we’ve still got boxes of unused ones.
...$2 is too much for a t-shirt
My shopping mantra: “It’s not close enough to free to tempt me.”
...you get culture shock in a grocery store, when you see the shelves completely stocked with 15 different kinds of whatever!
Menus do it to me too
...When there's no electricity, you're in bed by dark and up at sunrise.
By dark? Not exactly, since on the equator it’s dark by 7pm. But when there’s no power there’s only so long you can read by lamplight.
...you dreaming of a red/orange/green Christmas instead of a white one
This year was my first Christmas home in 3 years. It was fun to be with family, but we got this out of character for Oregon snowstorm and had to delay the events. We won’t be dreaming of a white Christmas for quite some time!
You know you're from Africa when...
...you're appalled that American grocery stores only sell one or two different types of bananas.
Um, I’m not so bothered by the lack of variety so much as how big and too perfect they are. They look like they’re grown inside, not on trees. The taste leaves a little to be desired as well. One funny thing about bananas in Congo is they’re a little smaller than ours and you’re expected to eat more than one. I don’t know, bananas always seemed like a one per serving kind of fruit to me.
...your parents yell at you for forgetting to use silverware in public.
Well, that hasn’t happened yet, but I have caught myself using my hands a lot. I’ll pick my food up with a piece of bread rather than use a fork :o)
...you find all the non-white people on campus so you can be a minority again.There is indeed something unique about getting used to being the minority and I definitely zone in on the black people around.
...black outs are nothing new to you.
It’s funny when you get used to blackouts and suddenly you find yourself sitting in the dark and everyone just carries on with the conversation/choir rehearsal/whatever you happened to be doing. I was wondering where I was when we lost power a couple of times during the snowstorms at my sister’s house. Thought I’d left that in Congo!
...no running water for a day is just another ordinary thing
Unfortunately, yes. If it goes longer than a week it gets a little rough and we all lament the loss of the use of the washing machine.
...The smell of freshly rained on mud paths/tarmac is comforting.
This has always been true…I’m from Oregon.
...being an hour late equals being "on time"
Duh! 7 is 7 until 7:59!
...Cramming 7 passengers in a 4 passenger taxi is really not a big deal.
Certainly not.
...you know never to question what you're eating (even if it does taste good), cuz sometimes you just don't want to know.
My teammates always said this, but I’m not a believer. Hence, they both ended up with monkey on their plates before they knew what it was!!
...you invite people for a get together at 7 and they all come at 9.
I don’t know why this still catches me off guard. I mean, 30 minutes I can understand, but 2 hours late? Seriously? Sometimes it’s been very beneficial when the meal wasn’t quite ready yet!
...you keep converting the value of things in your home currency when u see the dollar value.
How else would I know if it’s a good deal or not? :o)
... you have another name in your home language.
Yep. Mikembi.
...someone is riding their bike down the road with corrugated iron strapped width wise across the back of the bike and its taking up more than half of the road.
And this would be Mike, our construction guy. He’s American but he loved pulling this kind of stunt.
...you've been proposed to while walking down the street
Just take it as a compliment
...You unwrap all your gifts carefully, so that you can reuse the wrapper.
I’ve always been like that, nothing new.
...Nobody in your family informs you that they are coming over for a visit.
If you love each other why should you need an invitation? It still usually annoys me. I have a lot to learn.
...You only make telephone calls at a cheaper rate at night
Is this why people call at midnight and 6am? It’s apparently not rude to wake someone up with a phone call (or by any other means), but that doesn’t really make me like it any better!
...you learn the native words for "white person" everywhere you go, because you hear it shouted everywhere you go.
Sure ‘nuf. I swear children learn to yell “mondele” as one of their first words.
...something that would normally take half an hour in the Western world takes a few days or weeks...and if it didn't it just wouldn't be fun.
I don’t know about the fun part, but things do take a lot longer. Going to the PO feels like a major accomplishment and doing the grocery shopping truly is!
...you find it completely natural to have burglar-bars outside your windows
Naturally. And a wall. And a guard.
...you can smell the rain before it comes
I’m not sure about smelling it, but you can certainly tell it’s going to rain. It gets dark all of a sudden and the wind picks up. The darker and the windier, the harder the rain will be. Oh, and you can hear the thunder in the distance.
...you can look up at the sky and see every star clearly
And here we see what? The moon and venus…
...the sunset is something to look forward to
In the village, yes! I always felt exhausted from the heat and cultural exertion and knew I could hide away in the dark. Going to bed at 8pm is quite easy there!
...you miss the sound of rain on your tin roof at night, the after-rain smell, and the spectacular lightning shows.
Ah yes, the lightening shows! Love it. I like the thunder too that makes me jump out of my skin.
...you always drink your drink straight away in front of the shop, and give them the bottle back.
Of course. Although the store on our street knows us well and we can take bottles cos they know we’ll bring them back.
...instead of being greeted with "good morning", you're greeted with "Are you awake?"
It’s always strange no matter how many times. The bad part is when they say it while you’re still trying to sleep!
...the rain back "home" feels cold.
I’m FREEZING right now as a matter of fact.
...you learn quickly that pedestrians DO NOT have the right-of-way
The thing that ticks me off is when they speed up and honk, scaring the pants off me, rather than slowing however slightly my crossing the street might have necessitated.
...you prefer music that's slightly out of tune
And distorted
...b.o. is a comforting smell
Strangely true. But there’s definitely a limit. Some b.o., yes; unwashed clothes, no.
...you reuse plastic throwaways
We re-use our zip-locks again and again…and then realize we’ve still got boxes of unused ones.
...$2 is too much for a t-shirt
My shopping mantra: “It’s not close enough to free to tempt me.”
...you get culture shock in a grocery store, when you see the shelves completely stocked with 15 different kinds of whatever!
Menus do it to me too
...When there's no electricity, you're in bed by dark and up at sunrise.
By dark? Not exactly, since on the equator it’s dark by 7pm. But when there’s no power there’s only so long you can read by lamplight.
...you dreaming of a red/orange/green Christmas instead of a white one
This year was my first Christmas home in 3 years. It was fun to be with family, but we got this out of character for Oregon snowstorm and had to delay the events. We won’t be dreaming of a white Christmas for quite some time!
Friday, January 23, 2009
The Crime of Living Cautiously
My friend recently quoted a Lucy Shaw book in her newsletter saying:
"The life we hoard, clutch, protect, safeguard out of fear or timidity ends up being of little use to us or anyone else, least of all to God and his Kingdom. The kind of life Jesus lived would appear to be foolishness to any uninformed onlooker..... The cliff edge of our anxiety about the future may indicate that God is calling us to a new and different level of faith. When we walk, praying for guidance, to the edge of all the light we have and breathlessly take that first step into the foggy mystery of the unknown, we must believe that one of two things will happen: either God will provide us with something rock-solid to stand on, or he will teach us how to fly."
I totally identified with this and agree that the kind of life Jesus plans for us is not one of timidity, fear, cautiousness, or reticence, but one of adventure, boldness, faith, and trust. I think I have some experience on that cliff edge between the known and unknown and I can testify that it rocks! I never regret steps of faith taken with trust in God.
(Another good book on this topic is Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper. I'm sure that book has changed many a life and I highly recommend it!)
"The life we hoard, clutch, protect, safeguard out of fear or timidity ends up being of little use to us or anyone else, least of all to God and his Kingdom. The kind of life Jesus lived would appear to be foolishness to any uninformed onlooker..... The cliff edge of our anxiety about the future may indicate that God is calling us to a new and different level of faith. When we walk, praying for guidance, to the edge of all the light we have and breathlessly take that first step into the foggy mystery of the unknown, we must believe that one of two things will happen: either God will provide us with something rock-solid to stand on, or he will teach us how to fly."I totally identified with this and agree that the kind of life Jesus plans for us is not one of timidity, fear, cautiousness, or reticence, but one of adventure, boldness, faith, and trust. I think I have some experience on that cliff edge between the known and unknown and I can testify that it rocks! I never regret steps of faith taken with trust in God.
(Another good book on this topic is Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper. I'm sure that book has changed many a life and I highly recommend it!)
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Dallas, TX
Howdy! Check out my new pics on Facebook! I'm in Dallas at the Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics this month. It's so fun seeing friends from all around the world and reuniting with colleagues from Congo!
Shout outs to Dana, Heather F, Angi, Elizabeth, Heather R, and the Harrisons from Congo! And to Margaret and Annelies from Fox! And to John and the Lewises and Sweetmans and Will and Ken and all the other great peeps I know! It's been so fun hanging out again!
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Urgent prayer needed
I just received this email and plan to participate in this Novena (9 days of prayer). Please join me! You can also check out Bound 4 Life, a national movement of prayer and repentance concerning abortion. I especially encourage you to check out the statistics and Abortion Techniques found under the link "The Truth." Subject: Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) Novena - Starting January 11
Dear friends,
Please join us in praying the 9 days of prayers in the hope that FOCA will not pass. If you are apposed to abortion then there is bad news on the horizon.
For those of you who do not know, the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) is set to be signed if Congress passes it on January 21-22 of 2009. The FOCA is the next sick chapter in the book of abortion. If made a law then all limitations on abortion will be lifted which will result in the following:
1) All hospitals, including Catholic hospitals will be required to perform abortions upon request. If this happens Bishops vow to close down all Catholic hospitals, more then 30% of all hospitals in the United States.
2) Partial birth abortions would be legal and have no limitations. (See: http://www.nrlc.org/ABORTION/pba/diagram.html )
3) All U.S. tax payers would be funding abortions.
4) Parental notification will no longer be required. (Hence minors at even 10 years of age can have an abortion without the parents' knowledge or approval)
5) The number of abortions will increase by a minimum of 100,000 annually.
Perhaps most importantly the government will now have control in the issue of abortion. This could result in a future amendment that would force women by law to have abortions in certain situations (rape, down syndrome babies, etc) and could even regulate how many children women are allowed to have.
Needless to say this information is disturbing, but sadly true. As Catholics, as Christians, as anyone who is against the needless killing of innocent children, we must stand as one. We must stop this horrific act before it becomes a law.
The Plan :
To say a novena ( 9 days of prayer ) along with fasting starting on January 11th. For Catholics, the prayer of choice will be the rosary with intentions to stop the FOCA. For non Catholics I encourage you to pray your strongest prayers with the same intentions, also for nine consecutive days. The hope is that this will branch and blossom as to become a global effort with maximum impact. We have very little time so we all must act fast. Just do three things:
1) Pass this letter to 5 or more people
2) Do it in three days or less
3) Start the novena on January 11th and pray for nine
consecutive days.
(please also fast for at least two days during the novena)
Remember that with God all things are possible and the power of prayer is undeniable. If you are against the senseless killing of defenseless children then the time is now to do something about it!
May God bless you all!!
Planned Parenthood is the number ONE abortion provider in our country and received over $300 million of our tax dollars to destroy 289,650 unborn children in 2006. They are probably "educating" your children in their school.
Thursday, January 08, 2009
As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God
Missionaries, not aid money, are the solution to Africa's biggest problem - the crushing passivity of the people's mindset
From The Times
December 27, 2008
Matthew Parris
Before Christmas I returned, after 45 years, to the country that as a boy I knew as Nyasaland. Today it's Malawi, and The Times Christmas Appeal includes a small British charity working there. Pump Aid helps rural communities to install a simple pump, letting people keep their village wells sealed and clean. I went to see this work.
It inspired me, renewing my flagging faith in development charities. But travelling in Malawi refreshed another belief, too: one I've been trying to banish all my life, but an observation I've been unable to avoid since my African childhood. It confounds my ideological beliefs, stubbornly refuses to fit my world view, and has embarrassed my growing belief that there is no God.
Now a confirmed atheist, I've become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa: sharply distinct from the work of secular NGOs, government projects and international aid efforts. These alone will not do. Education and training alone will not do. In Africa Christianity changes people's hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The change is good.
I used to avoid this truth by applauding - as you can - the practical work of mission churches in Africa. It's a pity, I would say, that salvation is part of the package, but Christians black and white, working in Africa, do heal the sick, do teach people to read and write; and only the severest kind of secularist could see a mission hospital or school and say the world would be better without it. I would allow that if faith was needed to motivate missionaries to help, then, fine: but what counted was the help, not the faith.
But this doesn't fit the facts. Faith does more than support the missionary; it is also transferred to his flock. This is the effect that matters so immensely, and which I cannot help observing.
First, then, the observation. We had friends who were missionaries, and as a child I stayed often with them; I also stayed, alone with my little brother, in a traditional rural African village. In the city we had working for us Africans who had converted and were strong believers. The Christians were always different. Far from having cowed or confined its converts, their faith appeared to have liberated and relaxed them. There was a liveliness, a curiosity, an engagement with the world - a directness in their dealings with others - that seemed to be missing in traditional African life. They stood tall.
At 24, travelling by land across the continent reinforced this impression. From Algiers to Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon and the Central African Republic, then right through the Congo to Rwanda, Tanzania and Kenya, four student friends and I drove our old Land Rover to Nairobi.
We slept under the stars, so it was important as we reached the more populated and lawless parts of the sub-Sahara that every day we find somewhere safe by nightfall. Often near a mission.
Whenever we entered a territory worked by missionaries, we had to acknowledge that something changed in the faces of the people we passed and spoke to: something in their eyes, the way they approached you direct, man-to-man, without looking down or away. They had not become more deferential towards strangers - in some ways less so - but more open.
This time in Malawi it was the same. I met no missionaries. You do not encounter missionaries in the lobbies of expensive hotels discussing development strategy documents, as you do with the big NGOs. But instead I noticed that a handful of the most impressive African members of the Pump Aid team (largely from Zimbabwe) were, privately, strong Christians. “Privately” because the charity is entirely secular and I never heard any of its team so much as mention religion while working in the villages. But I picked up the Christian references in our conversations. One, I saw, was studying a devotional textbook in the car. One, on Sunday, went off to church at dawn for a two-hour service.
It would suit me to believe that their honesty, diligence and optimism in their work was unconnected with personal faith. Their work was secular, but surely affected by what they were. What they were was, in turn, influenced by a conception of man's place in the Universe that Christianity had taught.
There's long been a fashion among Western academic sociologists for placing tribal value systems within a ring fence, beyond critiques founded in our own culture: “theirs” and therefore best for “them”; authentic and of intrinsically equal worth to ours.
I don't follow this. I observe that tribal belief is no more peaceable than ours; and that it suppresses individuality. People think collectively; first in terms of the community, extended family and tribe. This rural-traditional mindset feeds into the “big man” and gangster politics of the African city: the exaggerated respect for a swaggering leader, and the (literal) inability to understand the whole idea of loyal opposition.
Anxiety - fear of evil spirits, of ancestors, of nature and the wild, of a tribal hierarchy, of quite everyday things - strikes deep into the whole structure of rural African thought. Every man has his place and, call it fear or respect, a great weight grinds down the individual spirit, stunting curiosity. People won't take the initiative, won't take things into their own hands or on their own shoulders.
How can I, as someone with a foot in both camps, explain? When the philosophical tourist moves from one world view to another he finds - at the very moment of passing into the new - that he loses the language to describe the landscape to the old. But let me try an example: the answer given by Sir Edmund Hillary to the question: Why climb the mountain? “Because it's there,” he said.
To the rural African mind, this is an explanation of why one would not climb the mountain. It's... well, there. Just there. Why interfere? Nothing to be done about it, or with it. Hillary's further explanation - that nobody else had climbed it - would stand as a second reason for passivity.
Christianity, post-Reformation and post-Luther, with its teaching of a direct, personal, two-way link between the individual and God, unmediated by the collective, and unsubordinate to any other human being, smashes straight through the philosophical/spiritual framework I've just described. It offers something to hold on to to those anxious to cast off a crushing tribal groupthink. That is why and how it liberates.
Those who want Africa to walk tall amid 21st-century global competition must not kid themselves that providing the material means or even the knowhow that accompanies what we call development will make the change. A whole belief system must first be supplanted.
And I'm afraid it has to be supplanted by another. Removing Christian evangelism from the African equation may leave the continent at the mercy of a malign fusion of Nike, the witch doctor, the mobile phone and the machete.
From The Times
December 27, 2008
Matthew Parris
Before Christmas I returned, after 45 years, to the country that as a boy I knew as Nyasaland. Today it's Malawi, and The Times Christmas Appeal includes a small British charity working there. Pump Aid helps rural communities to install a simple pump, letting people keep their village wells sealed and clean. I went to see this work.
It inspired me, renewing my flagging faith in development charities. But travelling in Malawi refreshed another belief, too: one I've been trying to banish all my life, but an observation I've been unable to avoid since my African childhood. It confounds my ideological beliefs, stubbornly refuses to fit my world view, and has embarrassed my growing belief that there is no God.
Now a confirmed atheist, I've become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa: sharply distinct from the work of secular NGOs, government projects and international aid efforts. These alone will not do. Education and training alone will not do. In Africa Christianity changes people's hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The change is good.
I used to avoid this truth by applauding - as you can - the practical work of mission churches in Africa. It's a pity, I would say, that salvation is part of the package, but Christians black and white, working in Africa, do heal the sick, do teach people to read and write; and only the severest kind of secularist could see a mission hospital or school and say the world would be better without it. I would allow that if faith was needed to motivate missionaries to help, then, fine: but what counted was the help, not the faith.
But this doesn't fit the facts. Faith does more than support the missionary; it is also transferred to his flock. This is the effect that matters so immensely, and which I cannot help observing.
First, then, the observation. We had friends who were missionaries, and as a child I stayed often with them; I also stayed, alone with my little brother, in a traditional rural African village. In the city we had working for us Africans who had converted and were strong believers. The Christians were always different. Far from having cowed or confined its converts, their faith appeared to have liberated and relaxed them. There was a liveliness, a curiosity, an engagement with the world - a directness in their dealings with others - that seemed to be missing in traditional African life. They stood tall.
At 24, travelling by land across the continent reinforced this impression. From Algiers to Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon and the Central African Republic, then right through the Congo to Rwanda, Tanzania and Kenya, four student friends and I drove our old Land Rover to Nairobi.
We slept under the stars, so it was important as we reached the more populated and lawless parts of the sub-Sahara that every day we find somewhere safe by nightfall. Often near a mission.
Whenever we entered a territory worked by missionaries, we had to acknowledge that something changed in the faces of the people we passed and spoke to: something in their eyes, the way they approached you direct, man-to-man, without looking down or away. They had not become more deferential towards strangers - in some ways less so - but more open.
This time in Malawi it was the same. I met no missionaries. You do not encounter missionaries in the lobbies of expensive hotels discussing development strategy documents, as you do with the big NGOs. But instead I noticed that a handful of the most impressive African members of the Pump Aid team (largely from Zimbabwe) were, privately, strong Christians. “Privately” because the charity is entirely secular and I never heard any of its team so much as mention religion while working in the villages. But I picked up the Christian references in our conversations. One, I saw, was studying a devotional textbook in the car. One, on Sunday, went off to church at dawn for a two-hour service.
It would suit me to believe that their honesty, diligence and optimism in their work was unconnected with personal faith. Their work was secular, but surely affected by what they were. What they were was, in turn, influenced by a conception of man's place in the Universe that Christianity had taught.
There's long been a fashion among Western academic sociologists for placing tribal value systems within a ring fence, beyond critiques founded in our own culture: “theirs” and therefore best for “them”; authentic and of intrinsically equal worth to ours.
I don't follow this. I observe that tribal belief is no more peaceable than ours; and that it suppresses individuality. People think collectively; first in terms of the community, extended family and tribe. This rural-traditional mindset feeds into the “big man” and gangster politics of the African city: the exaggerated respect for a swaggering leader, and the (literal) inability to understand the whole idea of loyal opposition.
Anxiety - fear of evil spirits, of ancestors, of nature and the wild, of a tribal hierarchy, of quite everyday things - strikes deep into the whole structure of rural African thought. Every man has his place and, call it fear or respect, a great weight grinds down the individual spirit, stunting curiosity. People won't take the initiative, won't take things into their own hands or on their own shoulders.
How can I, as someone with a foot in both camps, explain? When the philosophical tourist moves from one world view to another he finds - at the very moment of passing into the new - that he loses the language to describe the landscape to the old. But let me try an example: the answer given by Sir Edmund Hillary to the question: Why climb the mountain? “Because it's there,” he said.
To the rural African mind, this is an explanation of why one would not climb the mountain. It's... well, there. Just there. Why interfere? Nothing to be done about it, or with it. Hillary's further explanation - that nobody else had climbed it - would stand as a second reason for passivity.
Christianity, post-Reformation and post-Luther, with its teaching of a direct, personal, two-way link between the individual and God, unmediated by the collective, and unsubordinate to any other human being, smashes straight through the philosophical/spiritual framework I've just described. It offers something to hold on to to those anxious to cast off a crushing tribal groupthink. That is why and how it liberates.
Those who want Africa to walk tall amid 21st-century global competition must not kid themselves that providing the material means or even the knowhow that accompanies what we call development will make the change. A whole belief system must first be supplanted.
And I'm afraid it has to be supplanted by another. Removing Christian evangelism from the African equation may leave the continent at the mercy of a malign fusion of Nike, the witch doctor, the mobile phone and the machete.
Saturday, January 03, 2009
Winter thaw saves Christmas
Of course we can celebrate the day of our Lord's birth without the bells and whistles, but I was happy to finally get to have the traditions and to see my family! We'll never dream of a White Christmas again! Here's pics of the belated Lebold Family Chistmas 2009 on Facebook. This was my first Christmas home in 3 years!
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Video of orphans singing
I've been showing friends this video I took at the orphanage I'm invovled with and people seem to LOVE it, so I thought I'd post it on the House of Hope blog.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Free Passport photos
Hey! Need an ID photo? Check out www.portraitbooth.com/. You can save digital passport photos to your computer and get them printed for the normal price of like 20 cents! Yay! Passport photos are normally so ugly and expensive! Or you can do wallets of your kids or whatever. Just upload a photo, choose the format you need, crop it how you want, and download it! It's great!!
Monday, December 22, 2008
Alternative Xmas and Year-End Giving
Hello from iced over Salem, OR! Are you too stuck inside unable to complete your Christmas shopping? Or looking for a way to give away more money and not pay so many taxes? Consider giving to the House of Hope in Brazzaville, Congo. We'd really love to make a sizeable down payment on a new house for the orphanage by the end of the month. For more information see the blog about the project.
Merci beaucoup to all the precious people who have already donated! May God bless you!!
Merci beaucoup to all the precious people who have already donated! May God bless you!!
Thursday, December 18, 2008
You Crazy Americans
Whenever I come home after an extended time in another country it's fun to do a little anthropology on my own culture. Here's a few quick observations I've made so far...
--Rushing, rushing, rushing! Sheesh people! No body's rushed me in over a year, so I'm a little befuddled by all this hurrying and scurrying and worrying about being 5 minutes late. In Congo you say you'll be somewhere at say 10. But 10 is 10 until 10:59, so you can be almost an hour late and not be late at all!
--I'm not used to the kind of interpersonal relations we get with servers here. My waitress tells me her name and asks how I am! Congolese waitresses, a la francaise, kind of look like you're bothering them when they have to come take your order. Americans are hyper friendly when it comes to customer service.
--America is fat. Sorry folks, them's the facts. I'm used to twiggy Congolese bodies. And it doesn't take a genius to figure out why...we eat JUNK!!! When was the last time you actually had several servings of fresh fruits and veggies in a day? The Congolese diet isn't healthy either (sometimes the fish is actually floating in palm oil, the veggies are cooked to death and also floating in oil, fruit although it's falling off the trees all around isn't eaten much). But in our little missionary community I think we eat exceptionnally well--cooking from scratch, using lots of fresh fruit and veg, avoiding expensive snack foods, eating a lot of well-rounded home cooked meals. There are perks to the missionary life!!
--You can get stuff done here. Going to the PO isn't a major event like it is in Congo. You can get a week's grocery shopping done in an hour at just one store. The indoor temperature is perfectly adjusted for optimal comfort and productivity. I can get just about anywhere I want to go in my town in 15 minutes in my very own car. Woowee!!
--Rushing, rushing, rushing! Sheesh people! No body's rushed me in over a year, so I'm a little befuddled by all this hurrying and scurrying and worrying about being 5 minutes late. In Congo you say you'll be somewhere at say 10. But 10 is 10 until 10:59, so you can be almost an hour late and not be late at all!
--I'm not used to the kind of interpersonal relations we get with servers here. My waitress tells me her name and asks how I am! Congolese waitresses, a la francaise, kind of look like you're bothering them when they have to come take your order. Americans are hyper friendly when it comes to customer service.
--America is fat. Sorry folks, them's the facts. I'm used to twiggy Congolese bodies. And it doesn't take a genius to figure out why...we eat JUNK!!! When was the last time you actually had several servings of fresh fruits and veggies in a day? The Congolese diet isn't healthy either (sometimes the fish is actually floating in palm oil, the veggies are cooked to death and also floating in oil, fruit although it's falling off the trees all around isn't eaten much). But in our little missionary community I think we eat exceptionnally well--cooking from scratch, using lots of fresh fruit and veg, avoiding expensive snack foods, eating a lot of well-rounded home cooked meals. There are perks to the missionary life!!
--You can get stuff done here. Going to the PO isn't a major event like it is in Congo. You can get a week's grocery shopping done in an hour at just one store. The indoor temperature is perfectly adjusted for optimal comfort and productivity. I can get just about anywhere I want to go in my town in 15 minutes in my very own car. Woowee!!
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!
Oregon doesn't usually get good snow. Just slush. But this week's been great! I decided to be snowed in with my sister and her family, so we're having fun!
I planned on staying one night and now it's been 4! One change of clothes...Fun times!
Monday, November 24, 2008
Saturday, November 22, 2008
The Mandolin...coming soon to Jessica's repertoire
So this is the funny story of why I will soon be playing the mandolin. A couple of months ago during a 40 day period I’d set aside to seek the Lord, I had the idea that a fun adventure when I come home on furlough would be to take up the mandolin. I confess I know virtually nothing about this instrument but the key factor was that I knew my brother had one. My mom had the inspiration to give him one for Christmas a few years back, but I’m not sure its strings have ever been plucked. I emailed my mom and she got Casey to locate his mandolin, and he went and pulled it out of the warehouse for me. 
I don’t know the first thing about mandolin-playing so I also asked my mom to find me a teacher. Where do you go to take mandolin lessons? My mom just happens to be in the middle of working on a music project with a young man, and she was like, “Hey, he plays a lot of instruments, I’ll ask him.” Sure enough, he teaches mandolin! What are the odds? So I don’t know where this experience is going to lead me, probably not to Carnegie Hall, but I think it will be fun and who knows, maybe I’ll find a new passion and a way to express myself! It would be cool if I could use it to lead worship or to play with my Congolese musician friends. Yeehaw!
How God Gave Me a Car
This is the amazing story of God giving me a car. Since He apparently wants me to have this car, I’m looking forward to seeing how He uses it in my life!I’m going on a 3 month furlough starting in December. When I return to Congo in March 2009 I will be transitioning to a new assignment helping people use Scriptures in a local language here. When I was talking with my future supervisor about this work she asked if I would be able to obtain a vehicle. I’ve never wanted to have a car here since public transport and walking are so convenient and having a car is expensive and troublesome, but for traveling around the region for my work next year, public transport probably won’t cut it. I said I figured I could ask my partners and raise the funds if a vehicle was really necessary.
The NEXT DAY, I was driving along with some friends and I realized that they would be leaving Congo soon for a different assignment. “Are you going to be taking your car with you?” I asked. “No, we’re going to sell it or give it to a mission.” “You could sell or give it to me!” I said.
I decided not to say anything else about the car but just prayed. Two days later I got an email from my friend saying they were getting lots of offers for their car but that they would like to sell it to me if I wanted it. After reading the email I went on some errands and was praying about the car and composing a letter in my mind to some prayer partners asking for their advice. Not finding what I was looking for, I decided to stop in a little shop before heading home and there in the shop was my friend! She gave me a ride home in what would be my new car and we chatted about how to work out the details. 
After prayer, counsel, and looking into the costs of maintaining a vehicle, I decided it was not only an offer too good to refuse, but that it was another open door from God for my work next year. It turned out to be less complicated if I just purchased the vehicle from them, rather than figuring out how to get it donated to me. But my friends decided to give me a donation for my ministry, which would give them the tax write-off they were looking for. When they wrote the check they made it out for much more than what I will pay for the car, so now I don’t even have to worry about the expenses of changing the papers or paying for insurance or maintenance or even a whole lot of fuel for the next year! 
I was really touched by my friends’ generosity. The only sad part is the reason they can sell me their car is because they won’t be here anymore when I return. I look forward to telling them the stories of how God uses the car in the next year! Watch for updates on the Pathfinder’s travels in Congo :o)PS: The photos of pushing the car were taken on our adventure with Carrie to see the gorillas. We found out after the trip that the 4-Wheel Drive wasn't actually working! We were very impressed with what the car did with just 2 wheels. Now that it's fixed they've been having even more fun driving all around!
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