The Final Post

How was it?

Did you like it?

Would you go back?

These are the questions I keep receiving after returning from Africa just one week ago.  Mel hit the nail on the head when she said, “Did we just wake up from a dream?”  It wasn’t a dream but in fact an experience God blessed us with that changed our lives.  If it is in God’s will I would love to go back some day!  I was so blessed to spend my first week back home enjoying time with family and friends, receiving excited hugs and endless smiles. 

“What did you learn?” is a question that gets me.  I am speechless when this question surfaces as I can’t reflect enough on everything that happened.  The people I worked with have changed my life and taught me more than I could ever teach them. 

The list is endless of different things I am reminded to be thankful for and to not take for granted.  Drinking water straight from the tap, having working electricity ALL THE TIME, biking on a paved road, jumping in a car and driving places, etcetera etcetera. The most important thing is consistent in both places though; God’s love is endless.  The God who we worship, thank, and praise here in America is the same God we worshiped, thanked, and praised in Africa.  I am so thankful for my brothers and sister in Christ here and there.  Praise God for the work he is doing all over the world!

I thought that telling people about Africa would grow old quickly but I have to be honest.  Every time someone asks I can’t help but smile and I am instantly brought back to the amazing experience.  This experience is something I pray everyone who has the opportunity, takes it.  Sorry this post is brief but all I can say is praise God.  He has done and continues to do marvelous things!  Amen!

Sending hugs from Two Rivers,

Kelsi

Home Sweet Home

We're back! Kelsi and I arrived late Tuesday night, feeling like we woke up from a dream. We had to ask each other, "Did that really happen?"

Here is a quick summary of our trip to London:

Our first day in London, we walked everywhere. We felt pretty good after our overnight flight, but I needed a steady flow of caffeine running through my veins. Thankfully, London has more than enough Starbucks to keep the most avid coffee drinker happy!

We started off in Trafalgar Square, and from there we walked to Buckingham Palace (and fought for a view of the changing of the guards), St. James Park, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, the Eye, Shakespeare's Globe, Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, and St. Paul's Cathedral. We topped it off with a delicious dinner and a bit of shopping at an outdoor market. We had a wonderful day walking and sightseeing, and we fell asleep as soon as our heads hit our pillows.

Our next days were spent visiting museums, walking through parks, and going to the theater. Seeing the Phantom of the Opera and looking at paintings by Monet, Leonardo da Vinci, and Van Gogh were huge highlights! It was amazing to see the famous landmarks on our first days in London, but in my opinion, it was equally fun to walk through the parks and visit the less famous sights. London is so beautiful, and I am so grateful we had an opportunity to explore for a few days.

London and Lusaka are pretty much opposites. Any sense of culture shock we have had in America has been diminished greatly by our stopover journey. We were both amazed at the clean, extravagant city with more white people than we had seen in months. We felt different in other ways, too. Although we have both hardly cared about our appearance the past few months (ask us about our permantly dirt-stained feet), we found ourselves feeling self-conscious around the fashionable men, women, and even children.

Speaking of the children, we couldn't help but compare our kids in Africa to the ones in London. Our kids explore the streets alone; some of the children in London were attached to leashes. Our kids wear the same stained, ripped shirt for days; the children in London looked straight out of a magazine.

London and Lusaka represent two opposite ends of the spectrum, and occasionally harsh thoughts popped into my head: "You don't even know what how good you have it! Don't you realize how they live in Africa??" However, I must admit that throughout my life, I have been much closer to the London end of the spectrum myself.

Why do some have so much and others have so little? This is a question that continues to be posed throughout history. It doesn't seem fair that some live in plenty and others in want. However, one of the most important lessons that I learned during our time in Africa is that money truly doesn't bring happiness. Just watch our kids play at the seminary, and you will agree! True contentment does not increase with the amount of things that we possess. Take it from Paul, a man who lived in both situations: "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want."

So if we don't need "stuff," what do we really need? Just God. That is the only thing that will bring everlasting happiness and joy. "Do not store up for yourselves treasure on earth, where moth and rust destroy, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal" (Matt. 6:19). Another verse that I will continue to remind myself of is Hebrews 13:5 - "Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, 'Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.'"

We have been blessed in America with material blessings. These are from God, and we should thank and praise him for what he's given us. However, I know that I personally struggle with getting distracted by "stuff" instead of living for eternity. My hope and prayer for the days, weeks, and years ahead is that even as I live in one of the richest countries in the world, I rely on God, storing up treasures in heaven instead of storing up treasures on earth.

We cannot even express how unbelievably grateful we are for the life-changing experience we had in Africa. We both pray that we can return someday and visit our friends there. Please continue to keep the Lutheran Church of Central Africa and the missionaries in your prayers that they may continue to spread the gospel throughout Zambia and Malawi.

Kelsi will post one more blog, and then we will be signing off. Thank you all for reading and following us on this adventure. We have appreciated your thoughts and prayers so much throughout the past few months!

God's blessings!

Final Full Day

It was a bitter-sweet day as we wrapped up our final classes and tutoring here in Lusaka.  Friday fun-day developed a whole new meaning with it being our last day.  We planned a day full of fun where we could just enjoy spending the last few moments with the people who have grown to be our family for the past 3.5 months.

At our morning tutoring session, Owen read everyone the Lion King from a coloring book Mel brought along.  He read it all the way from beginning to end!  When he first started I kept thinking, “There is no way these kids are going to sit listen to him read this entire coloring book.”  But they all did and they loved it!  They sat and giggled at the pictures and listened so intently.  It was such a sweet moment.  Once Owen finished the book we ripped out some pages for them to color and we also had some crossword puzzles they could do.  Definitely fun-Friday at its finest.

Between tutoring and our last session with the ladies, we spent quite a few hours making sure our house is squeaky clean for the next guests in just a few short days. 

We planned a special day to celebrate all of the hard work the ladies put in these last few months and little did we know, the women planned a little something special for us.  When we did a session on food, we realized most of the women had never had pizza or cookies!  We ordered some Debonair’s Pizza and made some amazing chocolate chip cookies (if I do say so myself).  We women really enjoyed both - it was quite funny to watch them eat their pizza in interesting ways.  Ripping little chunks off at a time while the pizza is held in their hand face down was a normal sight.  I guess we never taught them so whatever works!!   The women also all wrote down the cookie recipe and our email addresses after we wrote them up on the board. 

After we all enjoyed pizza and cookies, Christabel came and wrapped Mel and I in our green chitenges which we received as a gift from Charity the preschool teacher on campus.  We really felt like one of the ladies - that was the first time we felt like the chitanges were actually going to stay up!  As we remembered Clara and Christabel say from the previous day, “First we will dance, then we will cry!”  And that is exactly what happened…

From there, the ladies started to sing and do-si-do.  First they showed us, then they made us join.  It was so fun to see everyone dancing, clapping, singing and having a good time!   Some songs were in English and others were not but we caught on to the dance movies and clapping pretty quickly. 

            One of our favorites:

Jesus loves me, and he loves you too

            Come and see how much he cares for you

            You will never find a friend so true

            Jesus loves me, and he loves you too

The speeches and sad good-byes concluded with tears and hugs.  Those ladies are so phenomenal and something about hearing them say, “I love you!” as they came up to us made see-you-laters so heart-warming.  We will miss them all so dearly but we pray to see them again someday… This side of heaven or when we meet at Jesus feet.

Next, we ventured to say our goodbyes to Mrs. Nyrenda, Anna and Charity.  We shared some pictures and cards with them and expressed our gratitude.  They were so extremely welcoming from the minute we arrived and it made our stay so amazing and unforgettable.  Mrs. Nyrenda said she was going to enjoy having our picture up with all of the other pictures she had received from girls who have come. 

Onward to the children!  We had planned some play time with the children before saying our last goodbyes.  As usually, we enjoyed playing volleyball, frisbee and jump ropes.  Mel stayed strong with playing volleyball for a good hour while I went and sat by a couple of kids who were sitting out.  We moved by the small creek that runs through campus to watch the dads play soccer on the other side.  The kids enjoyed playing with my hair for so long!  Mel and I took several pictures with the kids and then announced that we NEEDED hugs before we left.  Some of the middle school boys immediately fell to the ground - we just had to laugh.  We gave each kiddo a giant hug and told them we would miss them so incredibly much.  We had such a great turnout for that last session and it was such a blessing to spend some quality time with them before we left.

There were a couple of kids out working in the gardens, sick, or at school so we made our way to around to give out some last few hugs.  It was sad saying goodbye to such amazingly sweet kids but Mel and I know they will grow up to be such great contributors and leaders in whatever capacity God places them.

We closed our day with a perfect celebration with all of the missionaries and pastors from campus.  We enjoyed a delicious meal at Rhapsody’s, exchanged gifts and many thanks.  After supper we went to the top of the Protea Hotel where we could see the city of Lusaka at night time.  It was so beautiful and a wonderful time to pause and reflect on all of our experiences we have had here. 

As I write this, Mel and I are just putting the finishing touches on packing and getting ready to head out for our flight in a couple of hours.  We can’t believe how quickly time has come and gone.  It was plenty of time to become extremely attached to everyone here and goodbyes came way to quickly…  Our cup overflows with blessings from this trip and as we told everyone yesterday, we will never forget this experience.  We will be spending two nights in London on our way back but we can’t wait to see everyone when we get come.  We will both take a turn posting when we return from London!  God’s blessings to you this Memorial Day weekend.

Hugs from Africa,

Kelsi and Melanie   

All Kinds of Emotions

Our final week....unreal! People keep asking us how we feel, and Kelsi and I agree that at any given moment, a new emotion bubbles to the surface.


Sadness

Our number one emotion! We cannot believe that our home in Lusaka will be only a distant memory in a couple of weeks. We are both praying that God blesses us with the opportunity to return to Zambia someday and reunite with the amazing people here, but for now, we are sad to think of saying good bye.


Excitement

As sad as we are to leave our new friends, we are excited to see our old friends and family. (That's you!) Although emails and Facebook have helped us keep in touch, it's obviously not the same!

Kelsi and I are excited for several little things, as well. We are eager to drive again (hopefully we won't forget which side of the road to drive on), find a wider selection at the grocery store (I think by now we've adequately described the unfortunate lack of Mexican food here), and (Melanie can't wait to) buy some bold Starbucks coffee.


Happiness

As bittersweet as this week has been, it has been full of many happy moments so far. Our fast-approaching departure has encouraged us to soak up as much play time as possible with our children. After our afternoon sessions, we've been playing Frisbee, volleyball, and soccer. We gave them bubbles, too - basically a guarantee of a good time. We played volleyball for an hour today, and the whole time, the kids were laughing hysterically. Amazingly, they never fight. Kelsi and I agree that we rarely see children who play as well as these kids do.


Thankfulness

Above all else, Kelsi and I are increasingly thankful this week. Sometimes in life, we need tearful good-byes and joyous reunions to remind us of God's great blessings. At the end of the day, being able to drive, grocery shop, and even drink Starbucks coffee is not that important. One of the most important blessings that God gives us in this life is our relationships with the people around us. These past three months have allowed us to connect with people from an entirely different culture and race. Even though we don't have much in common on the surface, we have been able to bond and create meaningful relationships. Best of all, we know that if we don't get to see them again in this life, we will see them in the next.

So how are we feeling? Good question! I wish I knew the answer. What I do know is that we have been so incredibly blessed. Today I am thankful for the sadness, because it means we have loved our time here. I'm thankful for the excitement, because it means we have loved ones back home. And I'm thankful for the happiness, because it means we have created memories to last a lifetime. God's blessings on your week!



P.S. In other news, a group of 25 nursing students/professors from WLC arrived in Lusaka this Monday. At first, it seemed so strange to see people from Wisconsin on the campus grounds. However, we have really enjoyed catching up with some of our old classmates and watching the whole group interact with the wives and their children. The kids love the extra attention! :)

South Luangwa - Lions and Leopards and Hippos, oh my!

We have returned!  After a total of over eighteen hours on the road over the past four days, we have completed our last long journey before we had home next week.  We both have to say we will not miss the eight hour cruiser rides to Chipata but we are so thankful to have had a ride there-that we didn’t need to find a bus from Lusaka to Chipata. 

We left early Wednesday morning and didn’t stop (other than restroom breaks) until we got to Marula Lodge.  This lodge was so beautiful - located right outside of the South Luangwa National Park and our tent was pitched right along the Luangwa River.  Fun fact: the Luangwa River has the densest population of crocodile and hippo per kilometer than any other river in the world!  And… we were camping along the banks.  There was a small cliff dividing our tent from the actual river bank.  Here is some pictures of where we stayed!

While we were there we had the opportunity to enjoy delicious meals, relax by the pool and go on game drives.  We saw a lot more animals than we saw when we went camping in Kafue, which is what we had been told.  That has been confirmed! 

Highlights of the game drives:

·        A pride of lions was sleeping right by the road during our morning drive.  There was a mother, a young male and several cubs sleeping, not even phased by our vehicle.  We felt like we could have walked up to them and started petting them because they were so still.  The driver assured us that if we took even two steps out of the vehicle they would be awake in no time. 

·        That same pride of lions was just waking up when we came back during our night drive.  There were more than five other game drive vehicles parked to watch them as they one-by-one started to move about.  Our tour guide Abram taught us all about how lions hunt, the different formations they make, and the perfect time to hunt.  We, and many others, were hoping to see a kill happen but I think there was too much commotion going on.  The scariest part was being in the pitch black night, lions weaving in between the different vehicles and not being able to see them all at once.  You never know when a lion is just going to jump out of no were onto a vehicle - highly unlikely but the thought gave us a rush!

·        Abram received a call during our morning drive saying that another group spotted a leopard.  We quickly drove over and saw the female leopard only for a brief moment off in the tall grass.  As one vehicle started up and drove around, the rest followed.  We searched and searched for the leopard but no one could find it.  Just as everyone decided to give up hope and leave, Abram suggested we stay just a little longer.  Not but five minutes later, here comes the leopard out of the tall grass walking right in front of our vehicle.  Many have said we were very lucky to see leopards out and about during the day time. 

·        As we had our afternoon teatime out in wild, we heard from others that there was something interesting in a tree that we should go and check out.  We had been told it was a leopard with a kill.  As we approached we saw the impala drooped over a branch, so lifeless - it was quite sad, at least for me.  Everyone else was highly intrigued!  We drove right underneath the hanging impala to find the leopard hanging out in a different tree.  He was panting like crazy, probably after all of that work dragging the impala up a tree.  It was so stomach turning but we were reminded - it’s a part of the circle of life. 

·        During our night drive, we stopped to enjoy some coke and popcorn as we watched the sunset.  We pulled up next to small body of water where we could see hippos in the water and baby crocs along the edge.  It was so beautiful to be out in the wild watching the sun go down.  Pictures couldn’t capture the beauty so you will have to take our word for it! 

Overall our trip to South Luangwa was very enjoyable.  We have had so many wonderful opportunities while here in Zambia and all possible because of the missionaries.  Pastor Sargent has trucked us many miles to help us experience these amazing places.  We are so thankful for all of them and we will miss them all dearly!  Prayers that you are enjoying a wonderful Saturday!  Enjoy the rest of your weekend. 

Hugs,

Kelsi and Melanie 

Games with the Ladies

We had some hilarious moments with the ladies the past few days. Yesterday Kelsi taught a lesson on the face/senses, and her activity to practice was probably the ladies' favorite activity to date. We gave each woman a sheet of paper with a blank face, and on Kelsi's command, they drew a part of the face before passing their paper. For example, Kelsi's first instruction was to draw an eye; after about 10 seconds, she had them pass their papers so they were drawing on a new face for the next command. By the time Kelsi gave all of the instructions, there were eighteen completely ridiculous faces. I have never seen some of the ladies laugh so hard, and Kelsi and I were wiping tears from our eyes at one point. When our Internet cooperates, I will upload a couple of the masterpieces they created. I'm proud to say that the ladies' skills in English are better than their art!

We learned about the parts of the body today, and to practice, we played another fun game. (All of the credit goes to Kelsi on this one - she had great ideas this week!) I said a body part, and they had to find their partner and touch those parts together. For example, if I said "hand," they had to touch their hands together. The last pair to match up was eliminated. The women were excited to try it out after I explained the game, and when I demonstrated with Kelsi, one of the women yelled, "Hip!" to make us bump hips together. The women thought that was hilarious, so we decided to give them a taste of their own medicine. When there were only two pairs left, I called out, "Lips!" One woman started leaning into her partner before she realized what she was doing, while everyone else started laughing. I quickly interjected: "Just a joke!" before things got too awkward....

On Sunday, we said our good byes to Susan, Pastor Birner's wife. She is leaving very late tonight to fly to America for her daughter's high school graduation. She will return to Zambia just as we return to America, so we won't get to see her anytime soon. Sue is so funny and full of life, and we have been blessed to get to know her.

Lisa took us out to lunch after church on Sunday, and that was probably our last opportunity to spend quality time with her. She is very busy preparing for the nurses from WLC and her family to come visit in the next couple of weeks. Like all of the missionaries and their wives, Lisa has been so helpful and kind to us. God has richly blessed us with so many wonderful people here!

Things are really starting to wrap up here. Kelsi and I are beginning to get serious about organizing our supplies and our home in preparation for leaving next Saturday. We can't even process the fact that we are leaving so soon. Truly unbelievable how fast our time here has gone!

Tomorrow morning we leave for South Luangwa National Park. (It's taken me the entire three months we've been here to learn how to spell that correctly.) South Luangwa is highly acclaimed as one of the best game parks around, so we are very excited! Dan is driving to Chipata (his old home - a town near the Zambia/Malawi border), so he offered to swing us down to the park tomorrow afternoon. The park is over an hour away from Chipata, so it is really very kind that he offered! We are relieved to avoid the unreliable public transportation.

God's blessings! God willing, we will have a plethora of giraffe, elephant, and lion close-ups to share on Saturday!

Feel Bad for Uuuuuuss!

       My mind is racing today as I sit down to write because of all of the things I am thankful for.  Mel and I are continually thanking God so much as we reflect on all of the amazing opportunities we have had here.  Looking back on everything, we can see how he was piecing the puzzle together for us before we even left America. 

God has placed so many amazing people in our lives, both the relationships we have with people in America and the relationships that we have formed with people here.  Countless times people have reached out to us via social media, email, text messages, phone calls, etc. sharing with us their thoughts and prayers and supporting us in this journey.  We are thankful for your continued supper and encouragement!

   We also are so thankful for each and every person we have met during our time here.  We have already said “Til we meet again” to the Hartmann’s and last night, our dear friend Molly.  On Tuesday we will be saying “See you later!” to Mrs. Birner…and shortly after that we will be giving many hugs and praying God’s blessings to the amazing women and children we have been so blessed to work with.  Here are a few of our “last minutes” we are squeezing in before we leave!

1.              On our last day of class we are hosting a food party!  Pizza and cookies are not very common and most of the women and children have not had either.  Mel and I are excited to share with them a little taste of some of our favorites from back home.  (As we have stated earlier in our blog chocolate chips are not sold here so we will be making “broken candy bar cookies” rather than “chocolate chip cookies”!)

2.      Next Wednesday we are taking our final excursion and heading to South Luangwa.  We are told that the game viewing there is amazing and we can’t wait to see so many more beautiful animals.  This time if there is a hippo outside our tent during the middle of the night we will be sure to take some pictures/videos! *fingers crossed*

3.      Chisamo and Vicki want to go on one last outing together.  We think we are going to be able to experience an African movie theater!  We are excited to see how similar the inside is compared to ones we have been to in America.  We are even more excited to compare movie theater popcorn… :D

4.      On the Friday before we leave we are planning a giant game of kickball to enjoy each other’s company.  Any and all are invited so we are hoping for a great turnout with some amazing people!

The thankfulness continues…

            We also have now realized how much God has allowed our minds (and bodies) to adapt to living here.  We both would agree we were extremely uncomfortable when we first got here -- there are literally people everywhere and 99.9% of the people we see on a daily basis are not Caucasian.  They also do not hesitate to stare, smile, and greet us.  We have adapted to being ok with everyone staring although we will not miss that when we go back home.  The children and wives have become much more comfortable with us as well and that’s what is going to make goodbyes all the more harder.  As Mel wrote about earlier, a lot of the toddlers would run in extreme fear of us when we first got here.  The sounds that came out of some of those children were excruciating and we just wanted them to let us love them and hold them!  Well we have made leaps and bounds with most of them.  Mel talked about Chisomo in the last post - he was definitely the worst “scared for my life” screamer of them all but now he is all smiles when he sees us (well most of the time).  Here are a few more adorable cuties…

Benj: Benj always comes to tutoring with his older sister Faith.  This little boy is a pistol and he is not afraid to tell people what he wants - even if it means giving them a big old slap on the back.  Mel and I have had many opportunity to “teach him to treat one another with love” even if he has no idea what we are saying we still try.  He has become one of our best little buddies.  He often walks up to us and lays his little head on our thigh as we are standing.  Even when he is distraught for some reason or another he comes by us and wipes his teary-eyed, snotty-nosed face on our shoulders.  Those big brown eyes though!

Beatrice: Beatrice is in the preschool here but she likes to come and hang out every now and then at the school children’s tutoring.  Mel and I have to chuckle when we see her waddling over before tutoring, looking like she just rolled out of bed.  She comes and slowly gives us the biggest hugs if only to rest her head for a little while longer, we think it is adorable.  She loves to just silently watch all that is going on at tutoring even if she is not participating.  Beatrice is such a smiley kiddo and very helpful.  She is so sweet…

Elisha: Elisha hangs out with mom at class every day and frankly he likes to walk around wherever and whenever.  This little boy is quite loud and Mel and I often look at each other because we feel like we are in a yelling competition when we are teaching.. a yelling competition that we are never going to win.  He is a very kind and helpful little boy and he is highly entertained when he is able to crawl through our legs while we are teaching.  We can’t help but giggle and the women get a good chuckle as well.  He also thinks it is a fun game to through things at us like shoes, oranges, pens, you name it!  Thankful to say his aim hasn’t developed to the fullest and we’ve only been knocked a couple of times. 

I have to give a shout out to Mel for helping make this experience one that will never be forgotten.  More and more times we are realizing that we are starting to share some of the same crazy thoughts.  Example:  Last night walking home from the Birner’s we both were expressing how the weather has been so extremely beautiful the entire time we have been here.  We agreed that the cool weather at night made for great sleeping.  As we walked across campus, we shivered and realized it was even cool enough to see our breath!  We chuckled and realized that people back home would most likely be laughing at us for being so cold.  We proceeded in a synchronized, whiny but joking fashion and we both stated, “Feel bad for uuuuussss…”  (Referring to all of you back home reading this from a place not as warm as here J)  We both burst into laughter and concluded with, “We’ve been living together too long…”  Couldn’t imagine doing this without her!

God is great!  Shout out to all the mothers out there that will read this post!  You are much appreciated!!

Hugs,

Kelsi and Melanie