Friends, Work, Health, and the Future

Time has slipped by and I haven’t given an update on our recent happenings. I will try to summarize the past few weeks and get you caught up to speed.

FRIENDS
We are delighted that a new family has moved to the MEF campus to work with the UCZ Theological College. Wendy (UK) and Glen (Australia) have four charming kids that have become fast friends with Brendan and Jason. They are creative and kind-hearted and fair and our boys can’t get enough of them. Whenever the boys are gone, we know they have gone “down under.” We can see how these friends are a breath of fresh air for the boys, and we hope it will also help as they transition back to other relationships in the US. Jason had to write a poem for homework where he had to say something he didn’t like for every letter of the alphabet. When he got to “P” he wrote that he doesn’t like “the poor.” I can’t blame him because it is the poor kids around MEF that are the most difficult to play with for him. Not the lesson we wanted him to learn living in Africa, but it is something we all struggle with.

We had the pleasure of Stephanie Thiesen, a SALTer living in Choma, coming to spend a few days with us. She enjoyed eating Western food and I liked making it for her. We had plenty of stimulating conversations plus lots of time to relax and play. Last weekend, Maria Krause, another SALTer, joined us for a bit before attending a week of API. She is also wonderful and our talks were stimulating and encouraging.

Joan, MCC Rep from Swalesa, and Heather, an MCCer in Southern Sudan, are here for the month of API and it has been fun to interact with them regularly as they come to get potable water from us and do laundry. They hung out with Maria and I Sunday afternoon, drinking coffee and eating cookies and watermelon. Our power was out (20 hours this time) so we had an electricity free Sabbath. Chatting with these great women reminded me how much I miss hanging out with girlfriends. I soaked up the time with them and hope there will be more opportunities in the remaining weeks of API.

WORK
Immediately upon our return from South Africa, I facilitated a workshop at Amano Christian School, training the teachers in the curriculum on anger management. The headteacher had heard about the curriculum and since there had been a number of angry outbursts by students on campus, felt that it would be appropriate to address this in their school.

I also received a phone call from Tafa, the Zimbabwean who was in my trauma class at Meheba Refugee camp. He reported that they have formed a committee, consisting of a Zimbabwean, Sudanese, Somalian, Congolese, and others. Together, they are spearheading the effort to use the skills they were taught in our workshops. They conducted a training for the Somalian youth who are new to the camp and quite agitated. The Refugee Officer is referring cases to them for mediation, and it is possible they might even get office space where they can work. They are enthusiastic and excited and doing their best to use what they have learned for the benefit of others. We were greatly encouraged by this news.

Africa Peacebuilding Institute (API) has begun again, one of my favorite times of the year. I taught the first module on Trauma Awareness and Healing. My ten participants were well-educated, engaged, and eager to apply what they were learning to the contexts in which they serve. It was a very different experience than when doing this workshop in the field. Like when I taught trauma with the refugees, everything applied to them directly and they were deeply affected, to the point where they were experiencing traumatic symptoms during our sessions. But at API, I was training practitioners and so the focus was more on how to make these important concepts understandable to people who may be illiterate, as is the case in South Sudan. As always, the stories of successes and healing are challenging and encouraging. It was a good week together.

We continue to have participants in our home for dessert each week so that we can continue to get to know these wonderful people. There is a big push this API to help people start Peace Clubs in their countries and so I have been able to share the curriculum that I have been working on with many others. I hope that this sharing of ideas and resources will bear much fruit all over the continent.

HEALTH
Once again, we have had our challenges in this department. Brendan is not having a great year in terms of his health. The week that I was teaching, he complained of fever and tummy troubles. We knew he had the flu but this seemed worse so we took him to the doctor. No malaria this time, but once again, he has giardia. He also has a boil on his arm, like the one that Jason had in South Africa. So he was taking medicine for the staph infection (that causes the boil) and for the giardia. Thankfully, Peter found the time to take him to the doctor in the midst of administrating API, because I was teaching and couldn’t get away. I would check in on Brendan during my breaks and Peter would also pop in between his work. We were relieved when he felt well enough to go back to school!

I finally got in to see a dentist here in Kitwe after suffering from a toothache for a few weeks. At first the nice Indian dentist couldn't find anything but I insisted that it hurt so he did an x-ray and found a HUGE cavity. Last year, I complained to the dentist in Lusaka and they didn't find the cavity and so now it is enormous. As he was drilling away, the dentist kept commenting on how large the cavity was. In fact, he left a little of the decay because if he tried to scrape it off, it would go straight through to the root and that would be bad news. He put a dressing on it that will hopefully harden the area and stop the decay. Then a temporary filling was placed on top, just in case his plan doesn't work. If I have any pain in the next 3-4 days, I will need a root canal. Needless to say, I am praying that a root canal won't be necessary. If it there is no pain and a root canal is not needed, a permanent filling will go on next week. It has been two days now and so far so good. I would really rather not spend next week dealing with a root canal so please pray that all will be well.

THE FUTURE
Peter has been applying for work when we return to the US this summer and it hasn’t been easy to be patient. I’m a bit tired of waiting to know the next steps. I vacillate between trusting that God will provide and anxiety about what if nothing is provided. One job opportunity in particular seemed to be a good fit and Peter was in the interview process with them but then we heard nothing for a LONG time. The less we heard, the more I became fixated on that one job.

But then I was listening to a CD where Paula D’Arcy related a story about when she was fixated on a certain thing that she really wanted/needed but God gently reminded her that God desired for her to want God more than any other thing, even if that thing was good. The Lenten devotional I read another morning encouraged me to let go and to hold onto Jesus. Then I was reading Matthew’s gospel and one section jumped out at me: Seek first God’s kingdom and all these other things will be added to you. In our family worship time, we were looking at the passage in Philippians where Paul challenges us to “press on toward the goal,” the goal being knowing Jesus, loving Jesus, following Jesus. I can be a bit dim-witted so God loves to bombard me with the same message from many different angles so that I will be sure not to miss what it is that he is saying to me. I think I got the message.

Which is good news because shortly thereafter, we received word that the job for Peter I had been fixated on was no longer a possibility, the search being halted so that there could be more discernment on what direction the institution needed to head. However, they would be hiring for a modified position, one that Peter would still qualify for. Thanks to God’s early intervention, this change didn’t phase me. In fact, since my eyes were once again focused on God instead of the job, it was easier to see that God may have something even better in store for Peter. I could hold onto knowing that God wants the best for us and will know better than me what that might be, even though I often think I know best. If the news had come the week before, I would have been devastated, believing that only that particular job would meet all our needs. So we continue to wait and see what will emerge.

In the meantime, we made a decision that we will move to Fresno, California regardless of the outcome of this job search. We need a place to land and we have connections in Fresno that will hopefully lead to employment. Settling in California also means that I can practice marriage and family therapy, being licensed in that state. We are looking forward to being close to my side of the family again, and in the same time zone as Peter’s family. Thanks to my brother and his family, we have a great housing situation that will enable us to host many friends and family who want to come visit us (hint, hint). With our departure less than three months away, it feels good to have a plan in place. And we will keep trusting that God will provide good employment for one or both of us.