. Bloom where you're Planted

I'm a Mrs!!

2010-12-07T16:24:00.000-08:00

I got married!! I don't have many pictures to post of my own, since I was a little preoccupied with being a bride. However, Daphne (and her mom) took some lovely shots, which can be viewed on her blog. It was a great time.
Now we're back in Pasadena, finishing up finals and settling into our bungalow. I'll try to share some pictures of our home soon.

So, this is a quick hello from the newly named Mrs. Sara Hillegass

Parks and Recreation

2010-03-30T23:41:00.000-07:00

How did a whole month pass since my last post? I never even gave a report on Haiti. Life got a little crazy after returning since I had a week of classes to catch up on, and then it was time for finals. Finals were followed by a pretty intense work week - dean's office + grading papers, as I was a TA for a professor + new student orientation on Friday. And that was our spring break! Needless to say, it wasn't much of a break...however, I did manage to squeeze in a little time in the grand outdoors. Thursday I went with a group of friends from Fuller to Joshua Tree for the day. I honestly expected it to be a boring desert with a bunch of Joshua trees. But it was a lot more impressive than that! Plus, my dear ole pal, Naomi, came to visit from Seattle! And she's so hard core, she hiked in her bare feet! :)

This past weekend some friends and I went to the Grand Canyon. It was a pretty quick trip since we left Saturday morning, drove 7 hours to get there, then came back the next day. But it was so worth it! Our friends, Cristian and Bella, are expecting a baby in 3 months, and then they'll be heading back to their home in Romania. So this was a last opportunity to see the Grand Canyon before their life changes dramatically. Grand Canyon is beyond grand; we didn't even come close to seeing it all. Pictures could never capture it... But here are a few anyway.

And that guy standing in the snow with me...his name's Matt. And he's pretty great.

In Haiti

2010-02-25T13:59:00.000-08:00

Beth and I arrived this afternoon...into a hot, muggy, cracked and tarped land. All we've done thus far is get a ride from the airport to the compound where we're stationed. The electricity just shut off, but I was told that I have a 10 minute window after the electricity is off that emails and messages will still send. So we'll give it a shot...
Thanks for your prayers!

Haiti, cont'd

2010-02-23T17:41:00.000-08:00

Just over 3 weeks ago I wrote the last post...and now I'm about to leave for Haiti! Funny how God works, isn't it? I really cannot believe I am going. When ECHO asked if I'd be interested and willing to go on a consulting trip, I said I absolutely would be, but didn't see how it was possible given my school schedule. Spring break is coming up, but I felt like I really needed that week to recover and gear up for another quarter. Then, out of the blue, Stan (ECHO's CEO) sent me a proposed itinerary that listed his wife, Beth, and I leaving for Haiti on February 24th. I was both confused and amused, thinking that there is no possible way I could leave week 8 of a 10 week quarter. But out of curiosity, I checked my schedule to see what was going on that week. I was completely dumbfounded to find that I had a group presentation the day before (which took place today) and one the day after I was scheduled to return...and NOTHING else was on the calendar. Amazing!!

So I thought I'd pursue this a bit. I called Stan to find out what the plan was...I mean, who am I to go on a consulting trip?? When he informed me that the group who contracted ECHO (Relief Int'l) wanted ECHO to assist in setting up container gardens for orphanages, I felt pretty confident in that...at least, I had 2 years of experience in that field. Creole language ability is so-so...it's been a while, but I think a lot will come back to me. So then I approached my professors and the Dean. Their perspective meant a lot to me, so I was a bit nervous about how they would respond. Dr. Myers, who I have tremendous respect for, said that because we were invited to come and had a specific task assigned, he didn't see how we could do any more harm than good. And the Dean said that because I was going with a reputable organization and had some experience, he had peace about it. And he prayed with me. And so many of my friends and classmates have prayed with me and promised to pray throughout this week. I feel tremendously blessed and supported by this community!

So here I go. As many of you know, it's been a whirlwind week of emotions, with my grandmother, my last living grandparent, passing away last week. With that consuming my thoughts, I haven't had much time to try to mentally prepare for this. But how do you mentally prepare to go into a relief setting...into a country decimated by an earthquake? I don't know what resources we will have, how much interaction we'll be able to have with Haitians and how much hands-on work we'll be able to do. I pray that one thing I can contribute is to draw attention to the many Haitians ECHO is connected to through their vast network. There are many well-qualified Haitians who are very capable to take on greater leadership roles. While every NGO and their brother is in Haiti right now, there needs to be greater involvement and capacity building amongst the Haitians.

The few details I do know from emails I have received is that we'll primarily be working in and around Port au Prince. We'll be staying in tents on a UN compound; security is tight and our curfew is 6:30pm. We'll take bucket baths and may or may not have access to internet. They do have a generator. It is the start of the rainy season, so it sounds like it's pretty hot and humid, and the mosquitoes are pretty prolific.

So my prayer is that, as Dr. Myers told me, I can be myself and not feel like I have to prove myself; that I will have eyes to see where God is working and build on those areas; to listen first and the courage to speak when appropriate; to learn about relief work; and to continue the process of healing that I wrote about in my last post. I am still in awe of this opportunity God granted me. It will be a short trip, but I believe that it will be significant. It already has been up to this point.

Thanks for your prayers

Haiti

2010-02-01T22:07:00.000-08:00

News from Haiti is quickly disappearing out of the mainstream media, but Haiti's not fading out of my mind. The whole situation is beyond comprehension for any of us. Many of us knew Haiti...knew that it was the poorest country in the western hemisphere. For those who know nothing about Haiti, now they do. But for myself personally, it's brought to the forefront issues that I never resolved from my time spent there nearly 5 years ago. Those three months were some of the toughest of my entire life. It wasn't homesickness and was not necessarily culture shock...it was something much bigger that I had never before experienced. Only years later reflecting on the time can I recognize that I was experiencing spiritual warfare firsthand. This was a totally foreign concept. But looking back, there were multiple things that happened that I can only attribute to this... I struggled with language, my legs were covered in some sort of rash that none of the long-term missionaries there had ever seen before, I got very little rest at night, having nightmares and waking up with a back ache every morning. It was a really dark time for me, and caused me to question whether God was really calling me to be there or to do anything internationally.
All that to say, it tainted my view of Haiti. Not necessarily the people as a whole, because I met some of the most wonderful, sincere, humble, joyful people there. But as a nation, I think I did see it as cursed. Voo doo is real. We heard the drumming of worship services go all through the night. And there are many who identify themselves as Christians while holding value in witch doctors and believing that people could place curses on one another if they were wronged. It's difficult to overcome these superstitions that are so deeply embedded in the culture.
The news of the earthquake and subsequent responses of different people trying to answer the "why" question caused me to repent of this view I held of Haiti as a cursed nation that had become so dependent on foreign aid that they were enslaved in their own country. I still maintain that the level of aid in the country before the earthquake was so high and in the grand picture, there was little to show for it. However, in the Central Plateau, we got to build some relationships and see how people live. They didn't have much but they had everything. They had a tight-knit community that was an extension of their family, they had enough to eat, most had access to primary education, and many knew Christ. And the missionaries Daphne and I had the privilege of working with did a fantastic job of empowering the people in this small community to lead and dream and live fuller lives.
And so, watching the news reports of people worshiping in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake broke me. Hearing from a Haitian lady here at Fuller whose extended family is still there say that her people are strong and that things were improving before the earthquake...this broke me. Finding out that one of the boys Daphne and I knew during our time there - Fabneau, a bright young guy who played the accordian for the men's choir his father led, and who had gone to the capital for university - was killed when his house collapsed...broke me. And now hearing about acquaintances with medical training who are going/have been there to serve in any way they can share of what they are seeing/doing - lots of amputations, bandaging wounds, loving frightened children...it's still breaking me. And I pray that God will continue to break open my heart to increase my capacity to love...and not just for Haitians, but for anyone experiencing oppression, loss of physical needs, loss of loved ones, and loss of dignity.
I want to go back to Haiti...mostly to serve my brothers and sisters there in any way I can...but also partly to bring greater healing and resolution to this judgment I've harbored for the past several years. Whether or not I go, I am so grateful that God has made it known that He has not cursed this nation, that He is still present, and that He loves each precious child.
I do continue to pray that this rebuilding can be done in a way that will restore some dignity to the people of Haiti, that it will be on their terms and not determined by foreign influences. I pray for cooperation amongst all the NGOs to invest wisely and to be servants first. I pray for Thy will to be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

If you'd like to read more from Haiti, here's the blog of the organization I worked with: http://haffdetails.blogspot.com/

Notice of Filming

2010-01-26T23:11:00.000-08:00

We got a notice on our door this week alerting us to the fact that a film company was going to be filming a movie on our street. Included on this notice was a description of the scene:
"interior/exterior single shot 1/4 load gunfire and simulated bullet effects on body and things...atmospheric smoke and steam effects...weapons brandished...driving scenes...foot chase and fight scene on property and in streets...surveillance scene...glass breaking...talent falls into pool."
I haven't heard any of the gunshots or had any celebrity spottings. There are just a bunch of huge semis parked along the street and very bright lights shining on the house nearby.
The movie is called "Justified." Watch for previews coming to a theatre near you.
Welcome to LA.

New Years in Pasadena

2010-01-06T18:27:00.000-08:00

This has got to be the place to be on New Years. Colorado Blvd is one forever-long street party, where people set up camp on the sidewalks, playing cards, sleeping on air mattresses, spraying silly string and filling tortillas with shaving cream to launch on unsuspecting cars passing by. It's really a fun atmosphere.
My New Years didn't start out so fun. I willingly signed up to work the parade, and was told to report for duty at 2:30am. So I went out amongst all the drunkards to find out what my job was going to be. I figured we'd be doing some sort of crowd control or ushering people to their seats in the bleachers. I was mistaken. My job for the next 8 hours was to guard residential driveways from people parking in them. And I was about 5 blocks from the parade route. Not my idea of a fun time. Long story - short, I was never briefed by my supervisor, and after waiting 2 1/2 hours in the cold, with 2 coyotes running by within 10 yards of where I was standing, I decided I had had enough and proceeded to walk 4.5 miles home - virtually the entire parade route.
I was a glutton for punishment, and decided to give the company one last chance to redeem itself and I worked at the Rose Bowl football game. I mean, it's the Rose Bowl...how many times will I get to go to that game? So I was assigned to guard a tunnel of the stadium. After checking about 5,000 tickets, I was over the whole event staff job. I finished that shift, but have steadfastly determined that if I want to go to any other events bad enough I'll pay the money to see it rather than try to make a buck!

Anyways, all was not a loss (except for Oregon!). I got to see the end of the football game, and then Sunday my aunt and uncle and I toured the floats, so we got to see the amazing work of the designers and decorators, who work all year on those floats! They told us the base cost for a float is about $200,000 and it goes up from there! I love flowers so much and thought about how much my grandma would have loved to see the breathtaking display!

Christmas in So-Cal

2009-12-19T15:09:00.000-08:00

First off, this was the aftermath of finals week. My room seriously looked and smelled like a boy's dorm room. Dirty dishes, chips, unmade bed, clothes strewn all over the place. It was revolting.

But now the incredibly busy quarter is over and everyone is filled with renewed optimism that the next one can't be nearly as bad. I've already made lots of new years resolutions - to go to the gym, journal more regularly, spend quality time with people, spend quality time with God, start planning my overseas practicum (potentially for this summer), etc. etc. All it takes is a little discipline. All I need is a disciplinarian to reprimand me when I drop the ball. That's all.

For the time being, I don't feel guilty for doing some fun stuff during the week off in Pasadena. A friend and I went downtown this week to Grand Central Market, the Fashion District, Flower District, Central Library, Beverly Hills, then to Griffith Park to see the sunset and the city at night. Pretty spectacular view up there. However, LA can't hold a candle to New York or DC at Christmas. It's already hard enough to think Christmas when it's still so warm and the leaves are just turning. They have one semi-major lights display that people can walk through, and that's about it. Maybe I'm just missing the other sights that you have to be "in the know" for. Anyways, I'm disappointed Los Angeles...step up your game!

Last Book Review

2009-12-10T22:51:00.000-08:00

Beyond Christendom by Jehu Hanciles
This book's intention is to explore the interconnection of globalization, migration and religious expansion. While Western influence consume the contemporary world order, globalization creates powerful trends that influence the West and all the world in significant ways. Dr. Hanciles, an immigrant from Sierra Leone, writes from a non-western perspective.
Chapter 1: Globalization pp. 1-37
This chapter looked at the concept of globalization VERY indepth. The term globalization, Hanciles contends, has been "in vogue" for about 30 years, but really it was at work long before then. Globalization ultimately involves marginalization and exclusion. The world is a dynamic entity and globalization cannot be the tool of America or Europe alone. And globalization cannot be considered solely an economic movement.

Chapter 4: The Birth and Bankruptcy of Christendomp. 84-114
During the reign of Christendom, Christianity was not based on faith, but was rather determined by one's national identity. With the "conversion" of such massive amounts of people, the creation of a "Christian society was a fitful and arduous process." As a result, Christian mission became inextricably linked with territorial expansion and political rule rather than discipling new believers. The first to contradict this approach were the Anabaptists, who themselves were marginalized and persecuted because of their rejection of civil society's role in the church. A effect of missionary influence and education resulted in national and racial pride, in addition to religious protest. In African and Asia, a large proportion of the first generation of nationalist leaders were products of missionary education.

Chapter 12 Sacred Canopies276-302
"Religious congregations serve to facilitate the immigrants' assimilation into American life while simultaneously allowing them to nurture their ethnic ties even as they ease their adjustment into their new country" (p. 278). In this chapter, the author argues that immigrant churches have a specific missionary function because they are the most effective means to model the Gospel to other immigrants. The first wave of immigrants came from northwestern Europe, followed by another wave of immigrants who were enslaved Africans (1619-1850).
The establishment of black Christianity signified anti-Christendom. This particular movement by African Americans resulted in the civil rights movement. Because immigrants often experience marginalization and racial prejudice, the immigrant church is a place they can find acceptance and solace to be in a familiar cultural context.
"African Immigrant churches are among the fastest growing because they reproduce or exhibit the same vitality and dynamism that are present in the homelands of immigrant members and also because they draw on a widening base of immigrants hungrry for religious association and participation" (p. 302).
As a result of America's diminishing "Christian" condition, it is less a missionary-sending nation and more and more a mission field.

Chapter 13 On the Road with Ancestors 303-323
African immigration to the US grew exponentially from the 1960's to the present. This is largely a result of the Immigration Act that in part offers diversity visas in a lottery system to Africans. Approximately 60% of African immigration is driven by family ties here. The majority settle in New York.
Transnationalism is the incorporation and involvement in the society of settlement and one's native context. "Transnationalism facilitates selective adaptation within the first generation of immigrants and will arguably have some impact on the acculturation patterns of the second generation" (p. 318).
There is a firm distinction between Africans in America and African Americans. African immigrants are often shocked to discover that many African Americans hold the same negative stereotypes of Africans that white people often believe - that Africans are poor, uneducated, and primitive. Yet the author stresses that both groups have a tremendous opportunity to practice reconciliation based on our biblical mandate.

Chapter 14 Have Faith, Will Travel324-349
It is primarily the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements who stress the importance of missions. Hanciles describes four categories of African immigrant churches:
- Abrahamic - spontaneous movements started by one individual who came to North America or Europe for a specific job and ended up starting a church. Most churches in the US apply to this group.
- Macedonian - these churches exemplify planned, organized initiatives, that are created by another church or ministry that is African-based.
*this two groups are closely related because the Macedonian group owe their existence most likely to an Abrahamic movement.
- Jerusalem - African-inspired and led church that is closely tied to a mainline Western denomination. This group is often known as an "ethnic" church.
- Samuel-Eli - mainline denominations that attract a large amount of Africans who can inform the worship and add to the larger church's diversity.
This chapter goes on to portray three case studies of churches derived from African influence: one in Maryland, started by a Liberian; his mantra was: Don't be refugees; be missionaries. The second story involved a Nigerian immigrant who came and found great success in the commercial world with Verizon, but eventually left that high-level job to start a church in Los Angeles. The third case study is a Congolese man who started a church in Chicago.
These stories convey a drivenness amongst the men, and capability to manage. Along with their strong faith, they are able to start thriving churches. However, no mention is given to any formal theological training that any of these individuals may receive prior to taking over in a pastoral role.

Chapter 15 African Immigrant Churches in America350-373
The age demographic of a lot of AICs are young families; 80% are under the age of 50. In a survey on why African immigrants attend church, the 2 primary reasons were lively worship and solid preaching/teaching. Prayer is also central to the gatherings - vigorous, collective meaningful praying. The majority of people in the AICs believe that their churches should do more to reach non-Africans. One major deterrent to that is people's hesitancy and intimidation with the language abilities.
The author ends by reviewing how little research has been conducted on this relatively young demographic. Their long-term impact on church and mission is yet to be determined. The key certainty is that "this African missionary movement reveals, yet again, how migration movement is intimately linked with the long-term prospects of the Christian faith. Yet all too often, the most momentous episodes in the history of Christian missions have been launched by small, insignificant initiatives, such as the ordinary actions of those unnamed migrant-refugees in first-century Antioch" (p. 373).

Last Class Reflection

2009-12-07T22:28:00.000-08:00

Our last Church and Mission class for the quarter addressed Pentecostalism.American Pentecostalism started in Topeka, KS in 1901. During this time, the church was still racially segregated. A short time later, a worldwide Pentecostal movement was birthed on Azusa St.in downtown Los Angeles.
William Seymour was largely responsible for getting the ball rolling. He is now considered the “Luther” or “Calvin” of Pentecostalism.
Pentecostalism centers of the work and role of the Holy Spirit. The mission of the Holy Spirit is to lead us to truth. The more of the HS we have in our lives, the more we can get out of God’s word, which was inspired by the HS. Today Pentecostals comprise the largest denomination, or group, of Christians in the world outside of Catholics. There are believed to be 600,000,000 believers who can trace the route of their faith to the Azusa Street Revival.

This has been a great class. I think I've learned a lot about the history of Christian traditions and its given me a richer appreciation for the diversity within my faith tradition.
Now, on to the paper writing, to prove that I did indeed learn something!

Anabaptism

2009-12-02T12:21:00.000-08:00

Fitting for a lecture right after Thanksgiving, we learned about the Puritans. The Puritans were being persecuted by the Church of England, so they sought asylum in a new land, just as the Israelites did in their escape from Egypt. Because of this parallel situation, the Puritans saw themselves as God's new chosen people. They wanted to be completely isolated from England and its strong connection with the state. So in their newly created society in New England (the "promised land"), they said they were with God, but against the world. They established adult baptism, rather than the tradition of Luther and Calvin to be baptized as a baby once. Menno Simons, one of the early Anabaptist leaders, did not believe that the Eucharist truly embodied Christ's blood and body, but was instead a symbol of His unity.

Turkey Day

2009-11-29T19:09:00.000-08:00

When I was an intern at ECHO, a friend shared with us how she had a list of things she wanted to do before she was 30. And one of those things was to cook a turkey. I thought that was a swell idea, so I decided to set a similar goal. Another goal of mine is to do less procrastinating, so in order to kill 2 birds with one stone, I cooked a turkey for Thanksgiving, one FULL year before that big birthday milestone. This was a big deal to me since I 1)don't have a lot of confidence in my cooking abilities 2)H-A-T-E touching/cleaning/cooking/eating raw meat and 3)would be feeding a lot of people with this bird. So in order to try to avoid common pitfalls, I chatted with everyone who may have cooked a turkey in their life to learn from their experiences in the weeks leading up to the big day. Some of the common responses included:
* be sure to take the bag of guts out of the turkey before cooking it
* burning it may not look pretty, but will seal the moisture in
* you can never use too much butter

What people didn't tell me was how long it takes a frozen turkey to defrost...5 hours/pound, if you didn't know...that's a long time for a 17lb turkey! Also, the heavy wire that's wrapped around the legs doesn't need to come off before roasting it. And let me tell you, it won't come off short of heavy-duty wire cutters (which I couldn't find laying around anywhere). So I had planned to stuff some herbs, apples, onions and veggies in the cavity, but the cavity was a lot smaller than I imagined it to be. Nevertheless, I rammed as much colorful stuff in there as I could.
My roommates were there for moral support, and we all made multiple calls to our moms for instructions on anything from pie crusts to oven temperatures to how much stuffing it takes to feed 16 people.

The meal turned out gloriously, and we did feed 16 people.

Book Review #5

2009-11-29T18:45:00.000-08:00

Emerging Churches Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures
by Eddie Gibbs and Ryan K. Bolger

Chapter 1 A brief look at Culture
Churches in the west face a missional challenge...there is a great need to understand the relationship between the gospel and culture. In parts of the world where Christendom was once prevalent, this issue has not been addressed. In order to understand the mission of the church, Christianity in culture must be addressed. The western church is in rapid decline and movements that are growing are ones that deal with the role of culture in faith.

Chapter 2 What is the Emerging Church?
The Emerging church appeals to "Gen Xers" who have abandoned their parent's faith for something more authentic and relevant. But it's not just about one generation. It is vital for the emerging church to be solidly rooted in the larger historical church. Emerging church leaders prefer to not be labeled by a particular brand or age bracket. There is a strong effort to separate themselves from labels and get back to the basic premise of Christianity, to be a follower of Christ. Simon Hall from the UK says, "My main aim for the community is not to be 'post' anything but to be 'and' everything." The 3 core practices are 1)identifying with the life of Jesus; 2) transforming secular space; 3)living in community. And because of these 3 main practices, they practice hospitality, serve with generosity, create as created beings, lead as a body, and take part in spiritual activities (p. 44-45).

Chapter 3 Identifying with Jesus
This is about rethinking the meaning of church. Mark Scandrette of ReIMAGINE in San Francisco described the difference between megachurches and what they're about. He said, "We started out thinking about what form the church should take, as opposed to what the life of Jesus means in this time and place." This is about being Christ. "Jesus served and forgave others, and the early church was encouraged to do likewise." One understanding is that God is already working in the world, so our job is to find out where and move along with that. Andrew Jones from the UK put it simply, "We find what God is planting and we water it." To be a Christian is to be missional, seeking to embody the kingdom at all times.

Chapter 4 Transforming Secular Space
All life must be sacred in the emerging church mindset. Bridges are made between the secular/spiritual worlds in order to rid people's perceptions of the division. For instance, in some churches secular music is played during the service, and different forms of the arts and media are used. In that process, the secular becomes holy. "As many church people fight to keep the dying church modern, emerging churches abandon the modern church while bringing new life to the church (p. 72). The intention is to stay true to both their faith and their culture. This is not only to make the transition from the outside world to church feel less contrasting and uncomfortable, but also to allow us to take our worship from church to the outside world. This idea of culture embodied gospel is distinguished by its creative nature, as well being highly participatory and community-oriented.

Chapter 5 Living as Community
Because the secular space no longer exists, church becomes a 24/7 event, not just 90 minutes on Sunday. There is an understanding that the risen Christ now works by his Spirit, who operates through the community as well as beyond it, in the furtherance of his purposes in the wider world(p. 90). The church must first be the product of mission before it is an agent of mission (p. 91). Community must be present and healthy in order to exude a product of mission. There is a shift, as mentioned above, from the emphasis on church to emphasis on kingdom. As the body of believers become like a family, the institutional practices will change. Generally speaking, the church rises and falls based on relationships. It takes commitment and intentionality. Meeting together is an effort to serve the community and strengthen relationships. Because of this, the groups tend to stay small and intimate, with no great desire to grow large. The focus does not seem to be as much about deepening one's faith, though I imagine that is part of it. It does say that emerging churches believe the church should shape its corporate life in accordance with the practices of the kingdom of God (p. 115).

Chapter 6 Welcoming the Stranger
Emerging churches are inclusive, just as Christ was inclusive and welcomed the stranger. There is a tremendous value placed on hospitality to create a comfortable, safe place to worship. There is a belief that sharing the gospel should flow naturally as a reflection of one's life, and not some contrived proclamation. There is a stress on dialogue and being engaged with the contradictory opinions rather than an indifferent disregard for other people's backgrounds and influence. Christians are called to live their life publicly so that those on the outside can be attracted to the faith (p. 130). The following sentence is key for me in understanding Fuller's perspective on interfaith dialogue: "We deemphasize the idea that Christians have God and all others don't by attempting to engage in open two-way conversations. This does not mean we have lapsed into relativism, as we still believe in the uniqueness of our own tradition, but we believe that it teaches us to be open to all. We are also genuinely open to being wrong about parts and perhaps all our beliefs - while at the same time being fully committed to them" (p. 132).

Chapter 7 Serving with Generosity
Hospitality and generosity are both important to emerging churches, in effort to serve both those inside and outside their specific communities. In referencing our consumer culture, church can become a producer/consumer relationship and the church seeks to market their brand to consumers. If church becomes that, there can be no sustainability. If Jesus stops satisfying, they will move on to another spiritual expression and never truly be satisfied. "Consumerism both pacifies and disempowers people and robs them of their individuality and creative potential (p. 139). Instead, in the emerging church, consumers must become active participants. They believe that people must be rescued from their greed and wastefulness in order to live a life of service and generosity. And this service is not viewed as a social service; instead, it is a spiritual practice that is part of their holistic way of life. Generosity stems not just from material wealth, but also giving of one's time and self, such as through one's vocation. Generosity is never calculating. It is extravagant (p. 152).

Chapter 8 Participating as Producers
In order to be incarnational participants in God's kingdom, church must be viewed as the body rather than the place. People must be given the space to use their gifts, making each one feel a sense of ownership and belonging. And in order to make the worship meaningful, it must be indigenous to the locale and not prescripted.
Seeking to be open and authentic can allow room for individuals to really wreak havoc on a community. However, the rest of the community must be prepared to handle those situations. The ultimate goal is to create a genuine worship environment for all people to fully participate in.

Chapter 9 Creating as Created Beings
God is a creative God. And he created us with the ability to be creative. This is a major emphasis of the emerging church. However, our society tends to McDonaldize life, seeking efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control. Bad news! We are each unique human beings born with creativity (even though I don't feel like I received a whopping helping of it!). Yet, creativity gives worshipers the opportunity to embrace aspects of God's character they normally would not acknowledge (p. 178).

The Reformed Church

2009-11-29T13:04:00.000-08:00

Well, talking about the Reformed Church in class should be a review for this Presbyterian-raised girl, right? Not so much...
We learned a bit about Calvin's background - how he wrote the Institutes of reformation at the age of 27. He was a preacher, not a renowned theologian. His goal was to make the church more personal. He proclaimed the priesthood of all believers, not just the apostolic succession honored by the Catholic church. The main focus was on the word of God rightly preached and the sacraments of God rightly given. Before this time, sermons were delivered in Latin, so most church attenders (which was basically everyone during this time of Christendom) didn't understand the message. How preposterous that sounds to us now. I mean, I've attended church services in other countries where I don't understand anything, but it's more about being there out of respect for the people there. Why would I attend a church in my own cultural context where I didn't understand any of it? Yet, that was how it was back in the day. So this new idea of "go to church, listen to a message, live it out" idea was radical! Maybe today radical things would happen if all of us believers practiced those 3 parts.

Luther and Calvin

2009-11-24T16:22:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking a lot about the role of church and state. How should they interface...or should they at all?
Learning about Luther and Calvin gives some insight into the importance of both realms engaging with one another. Luther's teaching was a reaction against Catholicism, declaring the priesthood of ALL believers. This was one of the impetuses to foster individualism in church and society - which at the time, was viewed as a positive move, but today is very questionable.
There are benefits to recognizing our individual value and role in God's Kingdom, but we cannot lose sight of the importance of the church, which is the body of Christ...we are called to be in community with one another, and not to be an island. Our professor said something along the lines of: As long as we think of church as a time and place, we will have the sacred and spiritual compartmentalized in our lives.
We discussed the cultural passivity many demonstrate regarding paid leadership in the church. When someone gets paid, others view their work as their job and don't see a need to play a role. I believe this is the exception rather than the rule, but it does have an impact. We also talked about how church buildings can become distractions rather than assets to support the work of the church. I think this was true in my home church, where the emphasis became social activities more so than ministry opportunities; and upkeep on the building was a constant concern.
The measure of growth in a church cannot be simply number of attenders...while that can be some indicator, there should be different kinds of fruit produced - such as hospitality in opening your home to others, serving the poor, organizing Bible studies, etc.
The constant theme in this class has been to rethink what it means to be church. John Calvin said that the "Marks of a church are a sermon rightly preached and sacraments rightly given." It is not some all-inclusive box that contains pews, hymnals, a pulpit, projector, etc. Those things are not inherently bad. We just need to be open to let God be God...and what a creative God we serve!

New Monastacism

2009-11-22T08:09:00.000-08:00

Today we talked a bit about the New Monastacism movement, and watched an interview with Shane Claiborne online. I've heard a lot about this guy and the Simply Way intentional community that he and some friends started in the poorest neighborhood of Philadelphia. However, I had never heard him speak. I was impressed with how down-to-earth and humble he was. He didn't speak out in anger against the traditional church, but rather challenged people to think about what it truly means to follow Christ. He pointed out that's there's a huge different between believing in Jesus and following him. And he said that in his pursuit of Christ, he found him in unexpected places...not necessarily in the church, but rather in his poor communities with homeless moms and drug addicts.
Living in community is still a challenge for us in our very individualistic, compartmentalized lives. But I believe that's one of the biggest draws towards Africa for me...the interconnectedness of one another is their means of survival. Everyone is a brother, sister, cousin, aunt, uncle. And you take care of your family. I know there are a lot of churches here that are really good at taking care of their own, and even those in the community, or outside of country. But does it stop with material goods? What this New Monastacism group has done is plant themselves in a place...a place that from the outside appears to be very dark and hopeless...and be fully invested in that community, building relationships and supporting one another in a humble, self-sacrificing way. It's a beautiful model...but of course not everyone can or should move to the inner city and join this group. Yet, what would it look like to build a stronger community and serve your neighbors wherever you are? Opportunities abound when we start to look outward.

Class reflection

2009-11-18T12:27:00.000-08:00

In today's class, we addressed some of the questions and thoughts the stemmed from the Missiology lecture last week. On the topic of how diversity is fostered in these "Fresh Expression" church movements, we learned that the small gatherings that form out of similar interests (surfers, youth, pub churches) are still connected to the larger body of the Anglican church. And justice is at the heart of the church plants. So there may not appear to be diversity, but the entire larger network has great diversity.
Our lecture then dealt with the movement of Catholicism around the world. The Portuguese sent voyagers south into West Africa, where they established themselves and the church, taking the natives as slaves. The faith was always viewed as the white person's religion and was imposed on them. However, time has healed wounds, and Africa now accounts for 10-15% of the worldwide Catholic population. In Asia, several sincere leaders, such as Francis Xavier and Matteo Ricci, brought Catholicism to the people. And in Latin America, of course, is the largest population of Catholics. The Catholic church does not seem to be in decline in any part of the developing world, largely due to charismatic movements that are rising in these areas.

Book Review #4

2009-11-14T12:28:00.000-08:00

Global Pentecostalism by Donald E. Miller and Tetsunao Yamamori

"Religion is a rather earthy phenomenon that is mixed up with escapism, cultural baggage, and fraud. This observation is not new; it is what the prophets of the Hebrew scriptures and all of the great religious traditions have denounced. But there is another side to Pentecostalism that marches to a different drummer...."(p. 224).

This book is basically a global overview of the movements and social action taking place within Pentecostalism. The book questions whether Pentecostalism, in all its diverse forms, can make an impact on the major issues in our world, particularly in the developing world. The researchers also investigated the influence of church plants created by outside missionaries, as well as the impact of liberation theology on the current trends within the Pentecostal church.

Ch. 1 Global Pentecostalism
The major growth within the Pentecostal church is happening in the global south, and therefore Christianity is being reshaped by very contrasting cultures.
Three common misconceptions about Pentecostalism are dispelled:

Speaking in tongues, being slain in the Spirit, prophecying, etc. are not all demonstrated in every Pentecostal services
Pentecostals are not comprised of lower-class, marginalized, or uneducated people
Because Pentecostals are believed to be fixated on the afterlife, they give no consideration to redeeming this earth

There are legitimate arguments for where these stereotypes originated, but this movement has evolved and grown out of that narrow point of view.
A primary focus of Pentecostalism is worship, and the heart of it is through music.
The movement was in part a reaction to the Enlightenment, which said that through reason and science everything can be explained, squelching the role of the Holy Spirit. Pentecostalism focuses on the spiritual realm, and this resonates with many non-western societies whose traditions are rooted in animism.

Three means that the Pentecostal faith can potentially lead social transformation include:

Through encouragement and offering people hope in eternal life, free from poverty and oppression.
Through improving social welfare, largely due to their stance against alcohol, drinking, drugs, gambling and womanizing.
Through focusing on human rights. They practice equal leadership opportunities for all people to have a role and proclaim that we all have direct access to God.

Ch. 2 Progressive Pentecostals
This chapter describes some of the work being done around the world and the profound impact it's having. For example, in Ethiopia, a local doctor has opened a clinic, training "health evangelists" to do home visits with parents to encourage a more healthy and sanitary living environment. This has, in turn, helped the community serve one another by working together to collectively solve their problems. It moves beyond simply charity to create a community development program.
Pentecostals such as this doctor believe that it is impossible to separate their Christian faith and commitment from their community involvement. Florence, the Doctor, said, "It is through poor and disenfranchised people that we encounter Jesus" (p. 40).
One pastor commented that they feed the hungry in order to share the gospel with them. There is a belief that in order to escape poverty, one must have a strong faith in Christ (prosperity gospel). There is also a consciousness of not wanting to create dependency, but wanting to empower people through economic opportunities, all the while being sensitive to local needs and political structures.
The types of programs they encountered included: emergency relief, education, counseling, mercy ministries, medical assistance, economic development, the arts, and policy change. The researchers concluded that all these initiatives seemed to flow naturally out of their sincere commitment to carrying out an incarnational ministry. Their mission is to view human lives holistically, recognizing both the physical and spiritual needs.

Ch. 3 Building a New Generation
This chapter looks at the various programs focused on children and youth, such as children's homes in Uganda for orphans, camp programs, schools, vocational training, rescuing street children and trafficked children.
Children are encouraged and trained in the arts to hold dramas in churches and play music for worship, which builds their self-esteem.
Women are also served through some of these initiatives because they are given key roles in serving, thus empowering them as community builders.
While many of the programs reach out to individuals, the intention is that it will impact the larger community. The overarching belief is that children have rights and should be treated with dignity, and that the church has a responsibility to create a safe environment to allow them to flourish.

Ch. 4 Practicing the Faith
In order to further transform individuals and society into faithful followers of Christ, ministries such as drug rehabilitation centers are organized. Teen Challenge is one of the largest of its kind, with a strong charismatic influence. There are also prison ministies, mental health services, caring for people with HIV/AIDS, and ministering to sex workers.
The goal with all these programs is not charity, but rather to prepare individuals to be contributing members of society. They help with vocational training and microfinance assistance to encourage people to start businesses.
In addition, effort is made to encourage political involvement. While Pentecostal churches are generally known for seeing politics as corrupt and not having a lot of direct involvement, there are still some more progressive leaders who try to foster engagement and dedication to improving conditions for the poor through politics.
This book seeks to highlight the emergence of a new group of Pentecostals who still recognize the vital role of the Holy Spirit, but also seek to engage the world around them. They recognize the teachings and life of Christ as seeking justice for the poor, prostitutes and children.

Ch. 5 Encounters with the Holy
In looking at the worship traditions of Pentecostals, it is highly participative. People attending are fully involved and there is a particular emphasis on touch, as people lay hands on one another and share the kiss of peace. Music is integral. The worship experience is centered around corporal singing and music. The typical flow follows a general pattern: 1) upbeat, energetic songs, 2) contemplative songs, 3) pray, maybe some speaking in tongues, 4) offering of scripture, sermon, invitation for healing, and 5) celebratory praise. Dance is another common element of worship.
Prayer are more simplistic and personal than the traditional scripted prayers of Catholics and other Protestant denominations. However, it said that sometimes people will get lost in their prayer, gradually falling into a sermon with their eyes closed.
Gifts of the Spirit, such as speaking in tongues, healing, prophecy, and being slain in the Spirit are all common elements of Pentecostal worship. As mentioned before, these are all very cultural accepted practices for many non-western cultures. Western modern worldview often dismisses the presence of the spiritual realm - demons, spirits, etc.
Some churches have multiple services and the music worship style is altered for a certain demographic attending the service. (So this is not just a western phenomenon, or was it transported?)
It was addressed in this chapter that Pentecostalism should not be viewed as a reversion to primitivism, but instead it is "ironically postmodern rather than primitive. It encourages people to merge mind and body into a unified expression that honors emotional and physical expressions as integral elements of worship" (p. 142).
The building structure of Pentecostal churches comes in many shapes and sizes, from multi-million dollar facilities, to simple shacks.
"It is the divine-human encounter that empowers people to help their immediate neighbor, as well as engage in various community building activities (p. 132).
The large emphasis is made on displaying unconditional love to all people.

Ch. 6 Born in the Image of God
This chapter addresses the interaction of religion and economics.
The Pentecostal ethic aligns most closely with the Protestant ethic, fostering an honest, disciplined, transparent work ethic, viewing their vocationo as a calling by God that they must remain committed to. However, one step further, Pentecostals are strongly encouraged, as a new creature in Christ, to refrain from "pleasures of the flesh." Therefore, they have more money to invest in education, business, or other family/friends.
There is a strong belief in the blessings one receives from tithing. Several testimonies were shared from individuals from India and Kenya who were successful in business, which they attributed to tithing.
The Pentecostal tradition really emphasizes the dignity and worth of each individual, as a child of God. Their core value proclaims the priesthood of all. They were one of the first to give equal rights to women in ministry.
The church's vast services help members get a bit of an advantage in competing for business opportunities and jobs. The researchers recognized a correlation between Pentecostalism and capitalism, as many converts demonstrated upward social mobility.

Fresh Expressions, part 2

2009-11-13T12:38:00.000-08:00

Bishop Cray is probably on an eastbound plane heading back to the UK, but not before really leaving a mark on this community and giving us much to ponder and wrestle with. His talk really delved into what the essence of Christianity is and how we build a community of people who seek to embody that. It centers on the cross. We can't lose that focus in the midst of church hierarchy, rules, structure, traditions, etc.
People say that humans are born with an intrinsic desire to understand the meaning of life and to recognize a power beyond ourselves. However, this seems to be lost from a large population of the British, according to what we heard about the status of faith in British society. So many do not even know who Jesus is or what a church is for. The days of Christendom are long gone, though the Church of England is still in existence. It's still hard for me to fathom a place where church is an oddity.
The challenging part for me in hearing about these "organic" church initiatives is, where does the diversity come in? I think it's wonderful to work within existing networks to grow a church, but it becomes a very homogeneous community. If I hang out with a bunch of farmers forever, how will I ever learn to appreciate and relate to city folk? And we're instructed to respect and learn from our elders; so a community of youth have little guidance and wisdom to draw upon in their circle.

Big Bear

2009-11-11T22:37:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I've shared any pictures on here...it's also been a while since I wrote something other than school work. I apologize. The reason for no pictures is because I lost my battery charger, so I've had a dead camera battery for a couple months. The reason for no fun posts is because I've been too consumed with school and work to do anything fun, let alone write about it.
However, after an intense 2 weeks studying poverty and development under the renowned Bryant Myers (Walking with the Poor anyone?? I know my fellow CCSPers and ECHO folks are with me!), my brain was jello. It was a lot to take in 3 hours a day for 2 weeks straight, in addition to working and taking my other classes. So I needed a weekend without thinking! Thankfully, largely in honor of Daphne's birthday and the fact that they are moving to Cambodia in several weeks, Daphne's husband, Ryan, organized a weekend away for 10 of us in a cabin in Big Bear, a lovely town in the mountains 2 hours northeast of LA. People were actually skiing up there already, though the temperatures were still in the 60's!
It was such a wonderful weekend to relax, go hiking, journal, enjoy the hot tub, play dominoes, realize how bad I am at pool, breathe fresh air and just decompress!
I wish I had some pictures to show what a gorgeous setting it was, but I'm sure Daphne will post pictures eventually:
http://ryandaphne.typepad.com/

Fresh expressions

2009-11-11T22:28:00.000-08:00

The annual missiology lecture is happening this week at Fuller. This year the Right Reverend Bishop Graham Cray from England is coming to speak about the new church planting movement happening within the Church of England. As you probably know, the church in Europe has shrunk in the last several decades to less than 10% of the population calling themselves Christian. In England, the statistics say that 40% of the population have never attended church in their lives, 40% have attended at one time but no longer go, 10% attend sporatically and the last 10% are regular attenders.
The movement, called "Fresh Expressions," that Bishop Cray is part of seeks to bring church to the communities in their natural context. It's not about creating a "cookie cutter" church like the ones before, or even exporting successful models of church from the US or other parts of the world. The motivation is to see how God is moving in different communities and join those movements. These include cafe churches, pub churches, even surfing gatherings and an entirely youth led church.
If the church is dying, we have to breath life back into it. This has to be done with creativity and innovation, working within the cultural networks to draw people in. It's not about watering down the message. Christ is still central and the mission is to raise others and ourselves to become disciples, building one another up in community.

Book Review #3

2009-11-04T12:43:00.000-08:00

Disciples of All Nations - Pillars of World Christianity by Lamin Sanneh
This book looks at the movement and growth of Christianity in postcolonial world Christianity's role in "cultural innovation and historical change" is surveyed throughout Asia, Africa and Latin America and the faith's interaction with Islam, indigenous religions and political ideologies such as Marxism and nationalism.

Chapter 1 - Whither Christianity ~ a Study in Origin, Thought and Action
Peter and Paul both determined that Christianity had no set birthplace and therefore, no territory to defend. It was a faith for all of humanity for all seasons. Yet,persecution followed Christians since the beginning.
God is placed at the center of cultures, implying equality amongst all people groups and gives credibility to all languages. Christianity is a "translated" faith, which means it is an interpreted religion. Therefore, it cannot claim adherence to one singular cultural tradition. "Christianity spread through established cultural patterns - sometimes flowing with the tide, and sometimes grinding agaisnt the flow - but always making local appropriation of its claims a necessary prerequisite" (p. 29).
Islam grew in the Arab world as a result of Constantine declaring the Roman Empire a Christian nation. In order to inhibit Christianity from securing too great a force amongst the Arabs, Islamic influence increased.
Due to the battle over what language should serve as venacular of the Christian faith, Charlemagne became Christendom's "ill-willed architect." So, despite being earlier framed as a faith for all people, the impact of Christendom - blurring the lines of church and state - created a negative opinion amongst people.

Chapter 2 - The Christian Movement in Islamic Perspective
The organized structure of Christianity as we know it today was heavily influenced by the Roman Empire, and the western theology was formed by Greek ideas. "Dreams, visions and prophecy linked Christianity to the old religions, and through them lay and ordained alike had access to the divine" (p. 59). Monasticism was believed to be a force for social change, particularly in the Eastern world.
To the Arabs, Christianity was a Greek religion, while Islam remained unaffected by Greek influence. So this became divisive over political boundaries, and then "the Greek Christ ended up trumping the Jewish Jesus, a civilizational split that had irreversible consequences for all history" (p. 63). Christianity was presented by the Greeks as a faith for rational inquiry. Because it became so consumed with debating theological arguments, there was no unity and no consideration made for their neighbors in the Eastern church. Therefore, the Eastern church proved to be the barrier that prevented Arab Christians from making the faith their own.
Ethiopia has a role in this movement; as the Israelites split in their exile out of Egypt, a small group went south and settled in Ethiopia. Despite pressure from a world surrounded by Islamic influence, this group developed a unique religious tradition all their own. "The instinct of an Ethiopian connection to a primordial Christian faith was several things at once: a rejection of foreign imposition, a charter of orthodox unity and credibility, and a stake in indigenous leadreship" (p. 68).
Islam gained establishment all around the Mediterranean Sea, except for the lands north. They gained Spain in the early 8th century, and Baghdad, Iraq was the new "gravitational center."
It's fascinating to look at history and see how it parallels the present or gives insight into where we are today. In Europe, there was an accepted ignorance of Islam. Some complacently chose to not know details, while others felt threatened by their presence. European countries supported Muslim citizens primarily as trading partners. Muslim communities, conversely, viewed the insurgence of Christian missionaries as secular foreign intrusion to be resisted.

Chapter 3 - Old World Precedents and New World Directions
Missionary groups established free association outside of national sponsorship to spread Christianity overseas. However, this was counter-active towards the state's goal of colonial hegemony, and therefore setting up a situation that proved to be very damaging.
Coming to a stalemate with Islam, the remnants of Christendom chose to focus their attention on sea-routes created for trade. Europe sought to conquer the Muslim would by colonizing other parts of the world in pursuit of global economy power. Missionaries decided to join this conquest, moving into Africa and Latin America. However, most were not adequately prepared for such a venture and in the 18th century, interest in world mission waned and number of missionaries plummeted. Those in the field, without any support or supervision, became discouraged, took concubines or became slave owners. Slave trade became an enormous issue during this time in Africa. This was fueled by the growth of the foreign trade economy, and not necessarily as a result of spreading Christianity.
"As it was developed, the European impulse of colonization was driven as much by the strategic need to circumvent Islam as it was by economic interests, and any considerations of faithfulness to the church's teachings were scondary to calculations of political advantage and monopoly rights" (p. 106).
In the aftermath of the slave trade, Christianity was still well-received by Africans suffering from dislocation and resettlement,to help them readjust and be restored.

Chapter 4 - The Yogi and the Commissar ~ Missions and the Colonial Pillar
Missions were organized, funded and directed from the West and easily associated with their goal of colonization. Sometimes there was collaboration, but it is also important to recognize that some communities became faithful and sincere converts. Missions faced the challenge of melding the cultural influences with the principles of Christianity, such as adopting local idioms in Bible translation.
The overarching attitude seemed to be to go out and save Africa from its darkness. Many missionaries "bleached" the native culture of all it's natural elements (p. 138). So Africans saw this contradictory example of Christianity - from what they were taught of God's love and grace to these missionaries forcing their way of life, making them feel inferior.
The leader of present-day Kenya said in the early 1930s that "missionaries imposed their culture of individualism on the African and, by that process, wrought havoc on all African society!" (p. 158).
African saw religion as their ally in the cause of justice and freedom (p. 160).

Orthodoxy

2009-11-03T22:15:00.000-08:00

Today's lecture dealt with a topic I had some firsthand experience with - Eastern orthodoxy. We learned about the original movements of orthodoxy throughout the Middle East - Constantinope, Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria and Rome, and also the Ethiopian Orthodox church. While I was in Ethiopia, I was puzzled by the Orthodox church. When the subject of religion came up, which was quite often, and I responded that I was Christian, it was always accompanied with "Protestant or Orthodox?" Initially I wasn't sure how to respond. What was the difference? How would I be perceived based on my response? Generally, it didn't create any ill will, but when I would turn the question to them, if they were orthodox, they would basically infer "I'm Ethiopian, so I'm Orthodox." My general impression was that the Orthodox church was a cultural religion and not necessarily a true faith. However, that belief was discredited by people who held sincere faith convictions within their Orthodox traditions. I will say that this group was the minority, but still it was heartening to know that some took their faith seriously.
When the church becomes so intrinsically connected with the state as Orthodoxy often is, there is danger in confusing the identity and purpose of the church. While our faith beliefs can inform our stances with regard to politics and the state, I believe there are severe consequences that result in combing the two. During the Enlightenment, a separation was distinguished between church and state in the West. However, in the Orthodox tradition, the name alone identifies these churches with the state - Ethiopian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, etc. The church should not be our governing authority, but should inform our governance and desire to follow God's will.

The Jesus Prayer

2009-10-31T10:55:00.000-07:00

I've really enjoyed practicing different methods of "communicating with Jesus," if you will, at the beginning of lectures. Today we spent 5 minutes reciting the Jesus Prayer, which is various forms of "Lord Jesus, have mercy on me, a sinner." Repeating it over and over without letting my mind wander was a challenge. But during this exercise, I had a flashback to Ethiopia. One night the General had taken another girl and me to see some hyenas. There was a garbage dump where the hyenas would come after dusk for food. We sat in his vehicle in the dark in complete silence waiting to see the notorious and iniquitous hyena make its approach. After about 45 minutes, without any sign of life, we wondered if our trip was going to be in vain. Then I turned to look behind the vehicle and there was a lone hyena lurking along the road. Now this was bizarre because 1) hyenas usually roam in packs and 2) it wasn't going towards to garbage pile. So during this flashback, I felt like God was using that experience to remind me to be cautious of the devil. We might think we're focused and guarding ourselves against evil, but what's happening in the periphery?

~ ...so that we may not be taken advantage of by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his intentions. ~ 2 Corinthians 2:11

bishops

2009-10-26T20:15:00.003-07:00

Our lecture today got a bit stuck on the topic of bishops in the early church. These were the leaders of the house churches and their role gradually grew to oversee entire towns, or parishes, and then multiple parishes. It's quite similar to the structure some mainline denominations have today. However, in this time the bishop really held a lot of authority...too much, really. Church couldn't take place without a bishop present. They were ordained and were viewed to have the power to offer forgiveness for wrongdoing, serve communion and baptize.

The Early Church

2009-10-26T12:01:00.004-07:00

Discussion of the early church continued this week. We learned that the body of believers continued to meet in homes, and did not build church structures until around 200-250AD. During this transition, services became more formalized with structured, rather than spontaneous, prayer.
I got a lot of insight into the tradition of baptism through this lecture. We learned how serious and pivotal of an occasion baptism was for the early believers. There was often a 3 year initiation and preparation phase during which the individual was encouraged to fast, pray, and rid themselves of old sins. Their entire life was inspected with a fine-toothed comb to ensure that they weren't hiding any skeletons in the closet. This event grew to such an extreme magnitude that people began delaying their baptism because they thought you could not sin after it happened. Many would rather live as they chose and then make the commitment as late in their life as they felt comfortable.
Since these people placed so much emphasis on baptism and believed that salvation was tied to the act, parents began to have their children baptized at a younger and younger age to protect their souls. As a result, this thorough practice of instruction and preparation began to decline.
It's just interesting to see how the practice of baptism became skewed as a result of our human preferences and priorities. Jesus was quoted in Acts, "This is what you heard from Me, for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."

House church, continued

2009-10-21T12:15:00.002-07:00

We continued our discussion in Church and Mission talking about the Early Church and how it was organized. At the end of the 1st century, roles became more defined and titles were created, such as bishop, deacon, elder, etc. They continued to meet in homes, though, and the idea of family was centered around the entire faith community that met in the homes. I love this! House churches really emphasize community, and seek the well-being of the whole. They are becoming more popular now for multiple reasons: deepening community, being more financially efficient (!!!), and allowing greater participation amongst all members of the group. I think about the stage of life where I wanted to attend a mega church and be anonymous. While I enjoyed the worship, I was not contributing anything. We are called to be the BODY of Christ, and as such, must be active participants, exercising the gifts God has given each of us.

Book Review #2

2009-10-20T21:54:00.001-07:00

The Great Emergence by Phyllis Tickle

“Every five hundred years, the church cleans out its attic and has a giant rummage sale.”

Tickle writes from the perspective of an editor, understanding that much has been written about the history of Christianity, but not much of it is written for the average layperson who is seeking a new perspective on church and faith. The author begins to explain this major event, referred to as the Great Emergence, following the timeline of a drastic shift in the church roughly every fifth century since Christ’s birth and life on earth. Out of the major upheaval, she contends that 3 consistent results occur: 1) a more vital form of Christianity emerges, 2) the organized expression of Christianity is reconstituted into a purer, more organic form, and 3) because of #2, the faith spreads.
In the book, Tickle outlines the various elements of the Great Emergence, from information overload, to dependency on machines.

In chapter 1, she talks about the early church and how that since Christianity was the religion of the Roman Empire, many new “raiders-turned citizens” adopted it. It is noted that no form of organized Christianity has ever been destroyed during one of these 500 year eruptions. Monasticism was birthed during this age, representing true demonstrations of faith. This has made a new revival in today’s faith practice, as well as traditions of Orthodoxy. The Roman Catholic Church saw changes, losing dominance, but being freed to address some of the corruption and shortcomings they were experiencing. Tickle acknowledges that it is not only Christianity that experiences these 500 year cycles; both Jewish tradition as well as Islam can claim a similar pattern.

Chapter 2: Religion is a social construct. Tickly uses interesting imagery to describe how we as human beings need spirituality to give life meaning. She describes a cable, saying that the outer mesh layer represents common agreement about how the world works and should be understood. Then there are 3 strands inside the tube that are intertwined to strengthen the chord: spirituality – experiences and values that are internal to the individual, corporeality – evidence that religion exists, and morality – externalization and application of values and experiences of the individual who make up a society. These things bind the faith community together until that major occurrence, about once every 500 years when the outer layer and the inner chords suffer a blow at the same time.

Chapter 3: Scripture only and only Scripture. During the Reformation, focus was on the priesthood of all believers and solo scriptura. Assaults were organized against Islam. This was a time of great advances in the field of science and mathematical knowledge. Protestantism grew, as well as individualism and emphasis on the nuclear family. An entrepreneurial middle class formed. There was a shift from money to information as the building block of economic power. The printing press was invented and globalization began. The Catholic Reformation took place around the same time.
Half a millennium prior to the Great Reformation was the Great Schism, or the Crusades – a holy campaign to rescue Jerusalem and the Middle East from Islam (p 59).

Chapter 4:Here the influence of Darwin is discussed, as being the impetus for new cultural, social, political and theological thought. Also, Michael Faraday’s research on electromagnetic current. In response to scientific focus, a conference held in Niagara Falls outlined Christianity outlined 5 true beliefs: inerrancy of scripture, divinity of Jesus, historicity of Virgin birth, substitutionary nature of the Atonement, physical, corporeal return of Christ (65-66). Influence of philosophers – Campbell, Descartes… who has the authority? “Emerging Christians are the immediate products of the 20th century” (p 74).

Chapter 5: German theologian Reimarus, asked, “ What if Jesus of Nazareth and the Jesus of Western history and thought are not the same?” (p. 80). 1906 marked the advent of Pentecostalism – Azusa Street. Charles Parham is regarded as the creator of Pentecostalism. Participatory worship became the norm, and the Pentecostal church grew exponentially, becoming the 2nd largest Christian body in the world! This faith tradition asserts that ultimate authority is experiential rather than canonical (p. 85).

Chapter 6: The Great Emergence…Christianity has grown exponentially, not only in geographic base and numbers, but also in passion and call to brotherhood of all peoples (p. 121). This emergent movement is still new, so it’s difficult to define exactly what it is. Liturgy is brought back, social justice is emphasized, the “new monasticism” – incarnational ministry. This is a gathering center from all the distinctive former branches or denominations. However, there will still be more extreme pockets that stay on the outskirts.

Chapter 7: Orthopraxy (right practice) and orthodoxy (right doctrine) are still defining characteristics of Christians, but do not have any specifically articulated mantra like Luther’s “solo scriptura”. Closest phrase is “in scripture and in community.” Gatherings such as Vineyard Church and Mosaic are products of this movement.

Slow food

2009-10-18T18:55:00.004-07:00

The concept of house churches seems to be a newer phenomenon. In actuality, the church was birthed in homes in the 1st Century. They spread throughout the Roman Empire, where people practiced community and broke bread together. Fellowship surrounding meals and food was a big part of Jewish culture. As Christians gathered, they symbolically ate together in remembrance of the Last Supper. There was no distinction of bread and wine to signify Christ's body and blood. While there is value in distinguishing the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper from our everyday meals, I see significance in recognizing Christ's sacrifice and honoring Him during a regular meal shared together. The practice of sharing food can and should be an act of worship. I have a friend whose photos of people all involve food. It strikes me as funny and unique, but it's really beautiful because most of the time it's homemade. Time and effort go into creating something to be shared. And hopefully we can grow as the body of Christ in the process.

Annual Trip off the Farm

2009-10-18T14:28:00.005-07:00

Brother only gets about one trip off the farm a year (ok, that's not entirely true...just ask Derek!) But this is the 2nd year in a row that he's been able to visit me - last year Florida, this year California. And we conveniently time these trips around NASCAR events. However, I wanted to give him the real 'southern California experience' in the short 3 days that he had here, so I got tickets to the Jay Leno Show. Of course, we're not allowed to have cameras inside the studio, so let me paint a brief picture of that event. After waiting in lines for about 2 hours and being somewhere in the middle of the pack, we were escorted to our seats front and center! We're completely baffled at how that happened, but Andrew was prominantly seen multiple times on the taping. Previous to the commencement of the taping, he also had the distinct honor of shaking his booty in front of the entire audience to get a free t-shirt. I averted my eyes.
Then the races - plural. Thanks to a friend, we had pit passes for the Nationwide race. While standing on the side waiting for the pre-race festivities to begin, I looked to my right and saw a very recognizable face standing there. I nudged Andrew and said, "Shake and Bake to my right!" John C Reilly, the co-star of Talladega Nights, was standing next to us. Andrew asked for a picture with him, and here it is:

The race was good, but my guy didn't win. The Sprint Cup race wasn't as exciting after having a backstage pass the day before, but it was nice to experience it with our aunt and uncle who had never been to a race before. Also, thank you California for banning smoking at all public venues!! It was so great to not go home with a headache from second hand smoke!
Other activities packed into the 3 days - tour of Hollywood, survey of fire damage from the Station Fire, driving tour of Pasadena, a few games of Ladder golf, and saw the Hangover at the $3 theatre.

Jesus for President

2009-10-13T15:48:00.004-07:00

In today's lecture, we talked a little bit about the idea of Jesus for President, and the need to rethink politics. Our guide should be Christ. This message coincides with the topic of my summer course, Social Ethics. As followers of Christ, we shouldn't be caught up in the divisiveness of politics, but should seek to exemplify God's kingdom. We as the body of Christ in the church should seek creative ways to live out His teachings and not succumb to the expectations and "norms" of cultural influence.

I have given them Your word. the world hated them because they are not of the world, as I am not of the world. I am not praying that You take them out of the world but that You protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world as I am not of the world. ~ John 17:14-16

Principles of Christ

2009-10-12T09:34:00.004-07:00

Our lecture in Church and Mission continued on the topic of Christ's earthly ministry. It's really remarkable to think of the impact of a man who wrote nothing and spent the majority of his time with the poor and outcast. What a different time period - no multi-media technology - yet word spread because it was so counter-cultural. As mentioned before, Jesus challenged the status quo and advocated for life lived in community with one another as equals. He broke cultural rules and walls between socioeconomic levels, gender, and political divides. The enemy was no longer the neighboring nation; evil now had a name: Satan. The strongly patriarchal society was also challenged to elevate the role of women. Jesus proclaimed that our father was in Heaven, so the earthly father lost some power through that declaration.

The most impactful part of the lecture for me, though, was Dr. Bolger sharing a bit about how his family put these lessons from Christ to practice in their lives. About 3 years ago, I came to visit my friend, Daphne, who had just started the MACCS program. I sat in on a class with her, which happened to be Church and Mission, the class I'm currently taking. During that lecture, Dr. Bolger shared a story about how he and his family prayed for a different attribute of Christ daily to display in their lives. This really impressed and challenged me. I wrote them down and determined to do the same someday when I have children. Well, I misplaced the paper somewhere along the way and was disappointed to not have it anymore. Thankfully, this topic came up again in today's lecture, and Dr. Bolger shared the daily principles of prayer that he and his family prayed for. I hope that this can be a good challenge for all of you, as well. This is just a very brief outline, but if you want more detail, they are taken from Body Politics by John Howard Yoder.

Monday: Peacemaking
Tuesday: Banquet, Eucharistic practice…sharing
Wednesday: baptism…including the outcast, one who is different
Thursday: universal giftedness…recognize gifts in others
Friday: fullness of Christ – give a voice to the voiceless
Saturday: for a day of holy leisure
Sunday: worship

A book review

2009-10-06T23:48:00.006-07:00

Dear readers...part of our assignment is to write book reviews for each of the 6 books we've been assigned to read. Be forewarned that reading this will likely induce fatigue to the average reader. However, by posting it on my blog, I can avoid using a piece of paper or 2. Just trying to practice ecological stewardship - you know me! Every little bit helps. Thank you for your understanding.

An Introduction to Ecclesiology by Veli-Mati Karkkainen
A book review

The book begins by looking at the foundational theology of the Roman Catholic Church, by far the largest Christian body. The traditions of the Roman Catholic Church focus on sacraments – baptism, confirmation and the Eucharist. It is believed that these sacraments build communion amongst the body of believers within the church. Another defining feature is the predominance of the Pope.

Lutheran theology, under the guidance of Martin Luther, focused on the noninstitutional character of the church, in part in a reaction against the hierarchical system of the Catholic church. The core elements for Luther were the Word and the sacraments. He believed in the priesthood of ALL believers because Christ has interceded for us and made irrelevant the role of the priest. As such, we are to be Christ to our neighbor, sharing the pain and burdens of those people as Christ graciously does for each of us.

The Reformed Movement, under Calvin, aligned with Luther’s principles of teaching the Word and administering sacraments; however, he went on to emphasize behavior and doctrine; Zwingli, another theologian of that time, focused on personal faith. A distinction is drawn between the visible and invisible church: the visible church is the tangible, physical body of believers in the present here on earth; the invisible is the elect who will dwell with God after the final coming. Therefore, these are not 2 distinct churches, but rather 2 phases of the same. Karl Barth stressed the giftedness of all believers; not simply a select few.

“Free church movement” describes the Anabaptists, who birthed a new theology melding reliance on the Holy Spirit with scripture. This movement got rid of much of the formality of worship and sacraments, stressing the believer’s baptism rather than infant baptism, and allowing the Spirit to guide in an unregimented way. There is a focus on simplicity and staying unattached from worldly ideals. Following the priesthood of all believers, the free church practices ordination, though not as a sacrament, just as a public confirmation.

Pentecostal/Charismatic Ecclesiology was birthed in Kansas and then in this neighborhood, in LA in the early 20th century. This was more of a revival movement rather than a radical new theology. Highlighted in this era were the manifestations of the Spirit through prophecy, speaking in tongues, and healing. The emphasis here was on experiencing the presence of God. Charismatic churches tend to focus on community life more so than the Pentecostals.

Ecumenical Movement is all about bringing unity to the church, or all who believe in Christ. However, it is a great challenge to bring all people in accordance when there are very distinctive features that set each ecclesiology apart. Two major divides that came up were seeing the sacramental practices as essential (Orthodox, Catholic) and what defines unity…some said personal faith and others believed church and tradition unified all believers.

Famous Ecclesiologists:
Zizioulas: “God’s being coincides with God’s communal personhood…Church is instituted by Christ and constituted by the Holy Spirit.”
Hans Kung: charismatic; “changing times require changing forms.” Disagrees with distinction between visible and invisible church, saying they transcend time. Spirit of God is the principle of freedom.” It removes social barriers. Emphasis on service.
Pannenberg: universalist ecclesiology; the church is the bearer of the Spirit of God and God’s grace, so a faith commitment cannot be made outside of the church. However, church is not the sacrament of unity…”he believes the church is an anticipation and sign of unity of all people under one God.” It is the body of Christ and the fellowship of believers. There is universal relevance of God’s reconciliation in Christ, so the church serves as a missionary. He holds a corporal eschatology, emphasizing justice for all people; also he holds unique ecclesiology of the corporal concept of the elect.
Moltmann: holds a relational ecclesiology and stresses an ecological concern.
Volf: Corporal participation in God’s mission. He calls it “participatory ecclesiology.”
McClendon, Jr.: Baptist; leadership is a gift from Christ and does not require ordination.
Newbigin: church is dynamic, ecumenical and missionary, not a task given to the church. Church must be visible.

Contextual Ecclesiologies
Asia: Rejection of the institutional church in favor of personal faith acted out in obedience. Church must act as a prophet against social injustice.
Latin America: Christian love demands need for justice. Churches birthed in reaction to lack of community, spurred by the rigid nature of Roman Catholicism.
Feminist: Focus against masculine imagery of God the Father, Son. Against this imagery. Also, emphasis is made about caring for the earth, due to feminine association – Mother Earth?
Africa – independent, indigenous movements with focus on spoken communication, stories; emphasize communal living and the work of the Spirit.
Shepherding movement – in following the example of Christ, having a primary leader who guides the flock, reviving Biblical role of pastor. Initially, it sounded like the model of forming small groups with an individual leader within each group. This model is weak in accountability.

Jesus and the Church

2009-10-05T22:52:00.002-07:00

Today we talked about the fundamentals of Jesus' earthly ministry. His methods were not revolutionary for his time...prophets spoke in parables and talked about the Kingdom of God. However, Jesus' message was revolutionary...it was even scandalous. Christ spoke about the marginalized and poor, downplaying the role of the priest. No person in that day would dare challenge the role of the priest or king, who served as the cultural, religious, political and economic leader. Christ clearly declared God as King, something that was counter-intuitive to the Jews; Herod was their king. They believed in the Kingdom of God, but that was yet to come. Christ was declaring the Kingdom of God as happening in the present brought about by followers and disciples. Jesus' teaching shook to the core the foundations of people's faith. It's challenging for me to consider how I would have reacted to this man who made a priority of being around the sick and outcasts of society. There would be pressure from family to remain true to tradition and not break away from that to follow this man and his crazy counter-cultural ideas. Yet, today how grateful I am for this man coming to earth to demonstrate such powerful lessons through action as well as words.

What is church?

2009-10-04T22:00:00.002-07:00

Church gives us our identity as a people of God. It’s not about “going” to the structure, but rather living it.
And now for a little Seminary vocabulary lesson of words I'm learning in the current book I'm reading for the class, titled "Ecclesiology."
-Ecclesiology is simply the nature of the church. It’s why the church exists theologically.
Eschatology is the study of the end times
Pneumtology refers to the study of the Holy Spirit

Church in Mission

2009-09-30T14:17:00.003-07:00

New Quarter, new classes. I'm taking a course in church in mission and part of our assignment is to reflect on class lectures and write about it. Church is a very integral part of my life and so I wanted to share a bit of what I learn with anyone who has some interest in this topic or what I came across the country to study in seminary.

As many of you know, I've had an extremely diverse church experience since leaving home. From roots in a small, rural, traditional Presbyterian church to college floating amongst different evangelical churches and then primarily a United Methodist Church, followed by a BIG nondenominational Christian church in Florida, and then experiencing Pentecostalism in the Assembly of God church in Burkina Faso, returning to the States and attending a Mennonite church on Capitol Hill in DC, heading to Ethiopia and learning about the Orthodox church there and seeing firsthand what "slain in the Spirit" looks like, going back to Florida and participating in a Vineyard church with a tight-knit community, to the present in southern California and finally making a commitment it a Four Square Church to be my place of worship during my time here. Yes, long sentence! The bottom line is, I like to challenge myself to meet Christ in many different atmospheres of worship. We're called to see God in others since each of us are made in His image, so this shouldn't only be in a formal church setting. Where 2 or 3 are gathered in His name, there can be church. Church is changing a lot around the world. Most services don't look like they did in our parent's generation. In some parts of the world, the practice of attending church can mean social suicide. In other regions the church is growing rapidly. So I look forward to thinking through this idea of church and learning more about the history and evolution of it. Follow along if you like!

Santa Barbara

2009-09-20T15:10:00.006-07:00

Cruised up the coast to catch up with an old friend from CCSP New Zealand days. I hadn't seen Mike in nearly 5 years. We caught up in Santa Barbara where's he been hangin for the summer before going back to architecture school in Oregon.
Spent the day checking out a totally rad farmers market, followed by an epic visit to the Santa Barbara mission where the flowers were out of this world.
Closed the day out with a little surfing. I was pretty stoked to give this a go. The surf was not quite firing, but it was good for a beginner. Plus, I had the greatest instructor in the world. And I got up twice! Not bad, eh?

All in all, a super-fun day...except that Mike got some gnarly food poisoning so he was OOC (out of commission) most of the evening. Still, Mike's a legend and it was really great to see him. He was the first person I met from my study abroad group and I wasn't quite sure what to make of the surfer lingo...felt like I was going to need to go to language school for it at first. And now, look at me workin a few words in to the vocabulary!

Tour de Little People

2009-09-16T20:44:00.006-07:00

Quarter #2 of my graduate career is complete! It was a love/hate relationship with summer intensive courses. I enjoyed focusing on one subject at a time, but found the discipline and motivation to work on assignments at a steady pace to be a challenge.

Summer culminated with a visit back east. I refer to this trip as the "tour de little people." I saw 13 little tots under the age of 2 1/2! Plus, 6 pregnant friends and cousins! One of them just delivered this past week - congratulations on the arrival of Abigail Faith, Carrie!!

The theme of babies continued as twin calves were born the day before I left...both female, which is rare. So they will stay and hopefully have a long life on Hendershot Farm.

And can't forget the little puppy, Lacy...a bundle of energy and fun, except when her chew toy involves your finger.

So that was my visit home in a nutshell. It was really great to be back on the Cove to breathe fresh air and drive my truck. I even managed to squeeze in canning a batch of salsa with the tomatoes Mom grew in the flower beds. Wish I could have had a couple extra days, but home will always be there.

Mount Baldy

2009-08-09T17:15:00.004-07:00

Saturday I accomplished a feat that was never a personal goal I had set out to attain. I climbed a mountain over 10,000 feet...10,064 ft to be precise. My friend, Marcie, is headed to Ethiopia in a little over a week for a 2 year assignment to do similar work that I did there, but in a different region. So for a last harrah, she suggested that we hike Mt. Baldy. I had heard of Mt. Baldy, and knew that it was one of the tallest mountains in the area, but had NO idea what I was getting into.
Marcie, her cousin Reba, and I set out at 8:30am and began climbing a lovely trail that followed a small creek in the well-shaded ravine. Ah, serene beauty as we began our leisurely ascent. Then we moved out into the daylight, climbing steeper switchbacks through a burned area of the mountainside with mostly scrub vegetation. Not as lovely, and not as leisurely. This was beginning to get strenuous, but I thought it probably wouldn't last much longer. Hah. I was wrong. The next section was pretty much straight uphill through boulders and some pine trees. A much harsher climate, and we admired the conditions these determined trees and sparse vegetation survive to exist there. Right before the boulders, Reba informed us that the boulders were about halfway to the top! At this stage, my body is telling me it's had enough. But my head said, you've come this far...keep trudging. Past the boulders we tramped up through some trees and then enter a barren land that appeared like what I imagine the surface of the moon to look. Here we passed some hikers descending who encouraged us that it was only another 45 minutes. This was exactly the encouragement I needed to push onward. About that stage, the summit was in sight. And we made it!! Mount Baldy is like its name describes - a barren land, generally quite windy. But the view was spectacular!
To be honest, the greatest part was the sense of accomplishment of having reached the top! This was augmented by other hikers at the peak commending us for taking the longer trail. We had taken the longer trail?? Didn't know there were shorter routes. We were hard-core!! They asked if we were training for Whitney or some other big mountain. Pretty comical considering that morning I had no clue what I was getting myself into! But at the end of the day, I can report that we climbed 6,000 feet from base to summit, 12 miles round-trip! Not sure I'll be doing a hike like that again in the near future, but I learned a lot about the power of mind over matter. Mental fortitude (meaning repeating Philippians 4:13 over and over again) got me to the top.

Encountering the City

2009-07-22T11:15:00.002-07:00

I just took a one week intensive...yes, 1 week INTENSIVE!!...on urban ethnography called "Encountering the City." It certainly is convenient to have one of the largest metropolitan areas just a short metro ride away to study urban life.
Now we all know I'm pretty far-removed from city life. Sure, I've lived in Washington DC for a spell and enjoy an occasional cultural event or a night out in the big city. But overall, I get just pretty overwhelmed in urban areas. It was part of the reason I didn't want a vehicle out here. Still, I wanted to take a course in the subject to have a better idea of what ministry looks like and how to evaluate the conditions in an urban environment. Let me share some of what I learned:
* I learned that in the main financial or business districts, many cities require the large high-rises to incorporate a portion of their property for "public space" or "green space"...and sometimes that public space is comprised of their lobbies.
* I learned that in Skid Row, one of the poorest sections of LA, approximately 75% of the residents have mental disorders. Do they end up there due to the mental disorder, or does the mental disorder result from them ending up there? Probably a combination.
* One of the biggest challenges for ministry is not trying to bridge racial barriers, but rather bridging socio-economic divisions. An Hispanic will have much more in common with an Asian working on Bunker Hill, the financial district of LA, than they would with a fellow Hispanic from Skid Row.
* People on Skid Row don't need hand-outs...they need relationships!
* While many may view graffiti as an act of rebellion, we heard from a former graffiti artist that it's simply a means to be recognized. He was an immigrant, knew no one and felt like his life had no importance. "Tagging" walls and bridges allowed him to make his mark and leave some form of legacy.
* Lastly, Pastors and Deejays have a lot in common. A veteran Deejay came to our class and shared about his profession. He expressed how there were people who came into the profession simply for the notoriety and tried to commercialize it, thereby watering down the art. He shared how a good deejay needed to know the music inside-out in order to fit the pieces together in a way that speaks to the listener. He stressed the importance of authenticity...not trying to copy someone else, but being true to yourself and who you're made to be.

While cities still somewhat overwhelm me, I don't necessarily see them as the source of evil and deprivation that I once did. Yes, they can be very lonely places with no real sense of community. But God is present there. We visited a new church plant called New City Church that is really doing a lot to bridge the socio-economic divide. Wealthy loft-dwellers are worshiping with people from Skid Row. There's another ministry in Skid Row that hosts a weekly Homeless Karaoke where people come together and just have fun. They also have an after-school program for kids and a game room for youth. A lady who owns a tamale shop has turned her business into a non-profit to help people start their own businesses and train them in management. So a lot of good things are happening.

And one of my favorite memories from the class...we were on our field trip in LA and I took a picture of the skyline of buildings and sent it to my brother with the message "I'm in downtown LA." Five minutes later I received a picture text of our silo with the message "I'm in Pigeon Cove!" Love it, brother!!

Great quote...

2009-07-01T14:36:00.002-07:00

Mixing the church and state is like mixing ice cream and cow manure. It may not do much to the manure, but it sure messes up the ice cream.
~ Tony Campolo

California Central Coast

2009-06-20T12:13:00.003-07:00

First quarter at Fuller is in the books. Seven more to go... The quarter system really keeps things moving. I think I like it, though. We had a one week break this past week before summer intensive classes begin on Monday.

So on Friday, the last day of finals, I boarded a train headed north to Grover Beach. It was a 5 hour train ride along the stunning coastline and through long stretches of agricultural fields - acres and acres of strawberries, garlic, broccoli, lettuce, and beans.
The purpose of my trip was to spend a weekend getting my "life mapped" by a couple with hoards of experience in counseling, mentoring and church missiology. A grant was awarded to Fuller for new students to participate in this to help us have a stronger sense of our calling and vocational path. Who doesn't want greater clarity in their calling??
I spent two days with this couple talking about myself...yes, 2 days talking about me! Talked about my life experiences, turning points, family, friends, social life (or lack of!!) talents, and a bunch of other stuff. Then we set about making a timeline and outlining goals to achieve over the next 5 years in order to stay aligned and focused on a trajectory towards achieving vocational, personal and family goals. I won't go into all the details of what they are, but will say that the timeline spans over the next 5 years...2014...seems like a lifetime away! And then you think about 5 years ago...2004...seems like yesterday!

I also wanted to share some pictures of the Pismo Beach/Arroyo Grande area, which is near San Luis Obispo. Wow! Talk about straight out of a movie! This place is like Mayberry! Patriotic flags flying, flowers blooming perfectly in a row, people pushing baby strollers and smiling to their neighbor across the street. Honestly, places like that do exist! Here are some pictures to prove it!

Parrots, Magnolias, and the Pops

2009-06-07T22:00:00.005-07:00

So this past week I was awakened early in the morning by a horrific noise that sounded like a dying squirrel right outside my window. The squawking persisted for a good 15 minutes, so finally curiosity got the best of me and I got up to see what the raucous was about. Imagine my surprise to see a bright green parrot in the tree! For such a pretty bird, they make a really disturbing noise. Sources tell me that these birds have become naturalized (is that the correct term?)in Pasadena due to a pet emporium burning down in the late 1950's!

And then there were two...

In addition to beautiful birds, there are some beautiful trees in bloom right now. The Jacarandas produce a carpet of purple from the falling petals. This brings back memories of Ethiopia, as there are lots of jacaranda trees throughout the country. Also, the magnolias are blooming - and who doesn't love a magnolia?? Also reminds me of my favorite movie: Steel Magnolias.

Tonight there was a free concert given by the Pasadena Pops Symphony Orchestra outside of City Hall. It's so nice to have free cultural events so close-by. City Hall is such a lovely spot in the city. For those of you into the Hollywood side of things, Pasadena's City Hall is the backdrop to the show "Parks and Recreation." I actually walked through the building one day when they were filming. If you've seen the show, see if you recognize it from my pictures...

Friend Visits

2009-05-18T17:10:00.007-07:00

I've had a couple of fun weekends visiting friends and friends visiting me.
Two weeks ago I met up with my hilarious friend, Anteneh, from Ethiopia. He's spending 2 weeks in the US to see family and friends. We headed to Little Ethiopia in LA to eat "koors" together.

After that, I caught a bus to Santa Monica to meet Christie, my former (not old!) college roommate who's been at Pepperdine U in Malibu with her husband for the last 3 years while he went to Law School. He's graduating this weekend and they're heading back to Delaware. It was nice to have a friend nearby for a couple months, but too bad it wasn't longer.
We went on a hike way up into the mountains behind Pepperdine's campus. Incredible view on an almost clear day.

That evening we went on a bit of a scavenger hunt of sorts. There are these little fish called "grunion" and during certain parts of the year during the full moon, these fish come up on the beach to spawn. Christie and I wanted to check them out. They don't generally appear until after high tide, which was around 9:45pm. So we went out around 10:30 and checked out about 3 different beaches over the next 3 hours...nothing. Except...we were standing on a cliff looking into the water and I got a little over-eager and thought I saw something moving in the water. I told Christie I thought I saw one, so we both bolted down to the beach. Christie first recognized that it was trash. Imagine our disappointment! Then as we watched this trash bobble in the water, we realized it was an oar. So we kept it as a souvenir. Sure hope there isn't some kayaker stranded in the ocean without a paddle.

On Sunday we had lunch at the Rose Cafe near Venice Beach and walked around the Santa Monica Pier. Quite a fun weekend and I'll be missing my "Malibu friends"! I'm not sure how much they'll miss Malibu and the local paper with Pamela Anderson gracing the cover 2 out of every 3 weeks!

Then this past weekend, my friend Annie flew down to LA from Portland. Annie and I have done a lot of random stuff together - working for the Pennsylvania Dept of Agriculture, living in Dillsburg, study abroad in New Zealand, a crazy weekend in NYC, etc. etc. It was fun to get to show her around my new digs here, and go on a hike, and revisit the 80's, as you can see from this picture!

Dignity

2009-05-01T19:56:00.005-07:00

Love one another...a lesson we've been taught since we were big enough to knock over another child. But why?
Because God made us all, right? Have you really thought about it, though? I haven't thoroughly...until now. Why must we love someone who has wronged us? Why should we love murderers, thieves, adulterers? Well, the answer is, in a sense, because God made us all. But to go deeper, it's because we are made in His image. Every living human being bears the image of God, inextricably linking us all together regardless of race, gender, age or culture. Therefore, as image-bearers of God, we have dignity...this is not dignity that is earned from good works; it is only as a result of being a creation of God. Can we lose this dignity from sin? No...when sin first entered the world, the image of God was not destroyed, but tarnished. It is impossible to rid oneself of their inherent dignity as a child of God.
As our professor shared in his lecture, "When I respect the rights of another person who shares the image of God, I am respecting the image of God in myself at the same time. When I denigrate the another, I am consequently denigrating myself. But by honoring the image of God in others, we honor both God and ourselves."
So what's the point of all this "theological verbiage"? It's just helped me understand why I am called to "love my enemy." This is what we're discussing in my Children at Risk class, where we talk about the most vile offenses against children - trafficking, prostitution, abuse, forced labor, children forced to be soldiers. All defenseless, innocent children. But this lesson is not advocating to excuse the perpetrators who force such harm against children. They must face consequences of their actions...and too many never do pay any penalties - at least on this earth. However, we must find the grace to recognize even these polluted individuals as an image-bearer of God and worthy of the effort to restore them to reconciliation with their Redeemer.
So next time you get really angry with someone or are tempted to take advantage of another, think of this.

Romans 3:23...For all have sinned...

Marriage

2009-04-19T22:49:00.004-07:00

A lovely wedding ceremony took place in a lovely Grapevine Park on a lovely April day. My dear friend Daphne got married and I was privileged to be part of the wedding.

Carolyn and I offered our services with floral arranging

The ringbearer pillow I made

It was also a great occasion for an ECHO reunion! So many from the 2004 generation made the trip and we had such a great time catching up, reminiscing about old times. It's so great to be with a group of people that, no matter how much time has passed, you can pick up where you left off without effort.

These cheesecakes were just as scrumptious as they look!

Daphne and I were also re-united with a Burkinabe friend. Zenebou has been in the US for a while, living with family in Chicago. She flew out for the wedding and shared her vocal talents with a song to bless the newlyweds.

Ethiopia buds

2009-04-15T22:04:00.001-07:00

Had a great little reunion with my Ethiopia pals. Spent a couple days in San Diego with Naomi's bro, who had just returned from Iraq the day before! Went to Old Town San Diego, Balboa Park, and saw some seals being seals. Then came to LA and went to my favorite spots - Little Ethiopia and the Getty!

a bubble-gum birthday cookie in honor of the one-of-kind gum-flavored birthday cake in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia!

Old Town San Diego

What a face!

Yay injera!!

Where I live

2009-03-16T14:29:00.003-07:00

Here are a few pictures of my room. I'm on the 5th floor of the apartment building, and there is nothing to impede my view looking out to the west. I love having a big window with lots of sunlight, and a little balcony area to do some rooftop gardening! :)

Mom and I in the courtyard of Chang Apartments

The view from my window

I'm really liking Pasadena. Everything necessary for survival (and amusement) is within walking distance. There's a $2 movie theatre, 2 Trader Joe's nearby, a Target 3 blocks away, and nearly every ethnicity of people (and food, except Ethiopian :(
I got a job last week working at a new Mediterranean restaurant, so it's good to have a little income generating activity. Despite the $2 theatre, it is quite pricey to live in this area...especially considering the cost of living where I've been the last few years. But I've been so blessed with free furnishings, great roommates, having family nearby, and good friends out here, too! I'm eager to get started with classes, which is the real purpose for the move. Remind me that I said that in a few weeks. For the time being, I'm just enjoying my new digs!

The Getty

2009-03-06T12:21:00.003-08:00

I tend to do things in non-sequential order...both on my blog and in life. I am now in Pasadena and should write a bit about what life is like here and post pictures of my apartment and surroundings, but I'll get to that after bit.
Right now I'm posting some photos from my outing to the J Paul Getty Museum in downtown LA. It was a big venture for the country girl, requiring 3 different public buses to maneuver through the metropolis of Los Angeles. Yes, I've lived in Africa and have "traveled the world"...but I've been primarily in rural settings or with other people to guide me in larger metropolitan areas. But after spending several hours pouring over maps to figure out my route within the LA public transit system, I tried my best to look like a confident local. And I successfully got to where I wanted to go...
If any of you come to visit, the Getty will most likely be on my list of places to take you. What an impressive work of art to house works of art. To be honest the pieces inside the buildings did not impress me nearly as much as the outstanding architecture of the buildings, as well as the gardens and amazing views of Los Angeles. Here are some pictures of the landscapes:

In this photo, our garden tour docent told us that generally a child's perspective sees a maze, but adults will visualize the intertwining circles. I saw a maze. What do you see?

Home on the farm

2009-02-07T20:02:00.006-08:00

Several people have inquired about what I've been doing to occupy my time since I've returned from Florida. Sometimes I wonder, too. Well, having been away from television for well over a year, I now feel sufficiently caught up on pop culture.
But the real "chores" or "projects" that have occupied my time have been 1) feeding calves. We've had an unbalanced ratio of female:male calves, with the bulk being female (in farming world - replacement heifers - a good thing). They're so adorable. Sometimes I get tired of shoveling manure, but those fuzzy heads melt my heart. 2) helping mom keep my little cousin a couple days a week 3) occasionally helping in the kitchen (though not nearly enough as I should) 4) on nice weather days (ie. when the temperature gets above 50) fixing fence in the pasture. and 5) visiting friend and family. I've taken trips to Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, NYC, and Lancaster.
And now begins the countdown to West Coast life. I'm getting more and more excited...especially when I hear that the temperature out there is hovering around 80 degrees!
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Christmas photos

2008-12-30T15:26:00.001-08:00

Plans

2008-12-27T06:18:00.000-08:00

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas. It's great to be home...though I complain about the cold, it feels more like Christmas here as compared to 80 degrees and palm trees in Florida.
Well, I have plans! For the next 2 years of my life! I've recently been accepted to Fuller Seminary's MA program in cross-cultural studies. In a month or so, I'll be heading to the west coast. I have to admit that I'm a bit intimidated about reentering the world of academia, as well as adjusting to California life. I'm pretty sure I fit in better in Africa. However, there is a small Ethiopian community in LA, so I'll hopefully be frequenting that area to keep up my Amharic. An added blessing is that my dear friend, Daphne, with whom I have gallivanted all over the globe, is there. She's gettin hitched in April (they probably don't use such terminology in LA), so I'm looking forward to being in closer proximity to help her with wedding stuff.
Just to explain my decision to go with this program...I've been looking into various grad programs for some time. Initially I thought I wanted to do an agricultural development program. But after visiting UC Davis and reading about several other programs, I realized it was more science/research based than I was interested in. So my search shifted to international development programs with a mixture of anthropology, international policy, sociology, etc. It was soon after I started researching this type of program that I attended a conference hosted by Food for the Hungry. Bryant Myers, author of "Walking with the Poor" and a Fuller prof, was a plenary speaker. In his address, he stressed the importance of development workers being well-rounded in both theology and cultural understanding/sensitivity. I long to know the Bible better and believe that grad school will provide a challenging environment to understand the Kingdom of God through different cultural contexts. I then became set on Fuller because of their partnerships with other universities to receive business administration training. My ultimate goal is to gain skills in business to assist subsistence farmers in starting income generating activities.
So that's the path I'm on. Two years feels like long-term planning for me. I already want to start a countdown until I can get to Africa again! Still not sure exactly what part of the continent...it's a big place...and every experience so far has been amazing.

NASCAR

2008-11-25T19:32:00.000-08:00

Many people think that I’m an unlikely Nascar fan…people who don’t know my background. “How can you like Nascar? Didn’t you major in environmental science? Don’t you realize all the tires and fuel that are wasted? How can you find a bunch of cars driving in a circle a few hundred times entertaining? “ Well, my answer is this: I grew up with it. Sunday afternoons in my house were made for napping. And if the race was on a major network, they were made for napping with the race on in the background. I never took naps, so I eventually got hooked on racing. And when I was nearly finished with high school, we got a satellite primarily so that Dad could see the race every weekend, rather than just when it aired on network TV. Also, we have a “Miniature Nascar” track in our back field. We might live in the sticks, but there is weekend entertainment in our own backyard. Every Saturday night, a group of 100 or so come out to race go-carts for points. This is a serious competition, and many a lip have been busted over it.

So this racing gene is bred into me. I understand some of the strategy of it and can relate to the culture. So this past weekend, I was graciously offered pit passes to see the series finale for the Nationwide Series in Homestead, FL. And when I say “pit passes”, I mean we were right there in the pits. The car pulls in for fuel and tire changes, and we were right across the wall with the pit crew, but out of their way. Phoebe, a friend from ECHO, came with me. It was her first Nascar experience; she had never seen a race on TV or anything. Well, she got the most intimate introduction to it outside of driving one of the cars herself! At the conclusion of the race, we were directly in front of Victory Lane to watch my favorite driver, Carl Edwards, pull in to receive his trophy. It was all a dream to me, as you can see from the pictures!

Choices

2008-11-03T19:33:00.000-08:00

Long overdue, I know...just haven't searched for inspiration to post. But as the election draws to a close (don't worry, I'm not going to get political), I was pondering this whole concept of choices. We are given so many options, from clothing to transportation to entertainment to education and career. We're so overwhelmed with options that we get annoyed when we have too many. Some of us are just really indecisive people.
About 2 months ago, a girl from Haiti named Rose spent 6 weeks studying at ECHO. She was one of the privileged few who was able to complete high school and further her education at a university there. And beyond that, she was awarded a scholarship to be able to fly to the US to spend time as a student at ECHO. She was hesitant upon arrival to use her broken English, though I could tell that she understood nearly everything spoken to her. I tried to assuage her intimidation by attempting to speak to her in French. You could see the tension ease in her face when she could express herself in a more familiar tongue...just wish I could have understood everything she was saying to me!
About halfway through her stay, I accompanied her to the grocery store. She had already been once before with someone else, and someone in Haiti apparently made sure she was financially prepared to pay for food and other incidentals. I stayed with her in the store in case she had any questions. Now picture it: you're from the poorest nation in the western hemisphere. You may have seen movies of American affluence, but standing in the midst of it is another story. We walked up and down the aisles and I just subtly watched her facial expressions. Her eyes went up and down the shelves, but she had no idea what she was looking at. Even the simple task of reading a pricetag is pretty complicated when you're not accustomed to it. Is the price marked for what's below or above? This tag says "buy one, get one free" - does that mean any of them or just this one kind? She shopped at an outdoor market most of her life, where there are no price tags, or package labels, or packaging. I could tell that she was yearning for something familiar. So we found beans, and then we found rice. And then I discovered something else about my new friend - she had a sweet tooth. She stopped at the candy aisle and browsed for a while. I thought that would be an ok area to leave to her peruse the options. I went and flipped through a magazine. Came back a while later, and she was right where I left her.
So after about 45 minutes of grocery shopping, I was fairly confient that she had enough to keep her through at least the next week. I could tell that she was in sensory overload and ready to be done.
At the end of her time, we took her to the bus station to catch a Greyhound from Fort Myers to Miami. That's pretty intimidating...personally, I wouldn't know where to go or what to do in a bus station. My roommates and I took her to the station, helped her get her luggage tagged, and then walked her to her bus. We were a little late, so the gruff busdriver gave her a hard time and said that they throw the latecomers out for the alligators to eat. Poor Rose looked back at us with such distress and fear. Then the busdriver softened and asked where she was from. When she told him she was from Haiti, he said that he would take good care of her and see to it that she made her connection in Fort Lauderdale. She then relaxed, gave us each a kiss and boarded the bus.
If only I could be a fly on the wall to hear the stories she told to her friends and family about her adventure in the States!
Just something to ponder the next time you can't decide between crunchy or smooth peanut butter.

Andrea, I fulfilled my promise! :)

Fun in Portland

2008-08-21T19:37:00.000-07:00

Uncle Steven, Aunt Marilyn and me along the Columbia River

ECHO Buds...Daphne, Andrea and Carol

Multnomah Falls

Zipline in Andrea's backyard

Menus

2008-07-26T12:06:00.000-07:00

Here are a few shots of some interesting discriptions of food we found in some menus in Ethiopia. This is in honor of Andrea and her many funny signs from China - wanderlife.typepad.com
(the last one is my personal favorite!)

2008-06-30T19:02:00.001-07:00

I’ve been home 8 days now. It’s been a whirlwind week of visiting family and friends and new babies – 7 of them! Tomorrow I leave again…this time in the same time zone. I’m heading south to work at ECHO again in Fort Myers. I’ll be working in their seedbank to harvest, package and ship seeds to people all over the world.

There’s still much more of Ethiopia to process and share. I hope you’ll continue to check this and learn more about my experience in such a fascinating part of the world.

coming home

2008-06-20T23:16:00.001-07:00

Two hundred twenty fruit trees have been planted; Many farewells have been said. Lord willing, I'll be back in America Sunday morning. Thanks for your prayers...one would think the transitions would get easier after you've done so many...but they only get more difficult.

Weddings

2008-06-05T07:08:00.001-07:00

I've attended 2 weddings since coming to Ethiopia; both were Protestant ceremonies. Wedding traditions vary greatly between the 3 main religions in Ethiopia. I don't know much about the Muslim traditions. Orthodox weddings often last several days (depending on when the $$ runs out!). They involve lots of dancing and drinking "Tech", a honey wine made locally. Protestant weddings are somewhat similar to what we are accustomed to in the States, with a few twists:

· festivities begin at bride's home in the morning, with close friends and family gathering. The groom comes in with his groomsmen to see his bride for the first time, but the bridesmaids block his view of the bride until the awaited moment… then a short ceremony, followed by some food.

· A car caravan (sometimes a limo, sometimes white Mercedes, and sometimes just a couple Toyotas) parades through the city with video camera leading the procession, filming the ENTIRE TIME! (Really now, who wants to sit and watch a bunch of cars driving through town for 20-30 minutes??)

· Guests welcome the couple outside the church when they arrive, and sing them into the church.

· Joyful worship – very lively gospel choir

· Wedding party sits down during a rather lengthy sermon

· While the couple recites their vows, beat box music is playing in the background.

· Four witnesses, usually elders in the family or church, go forward during the ceremony to sign wedding certificate…then bride and groom display the certificate for the guests to see…and the beat box music is still playing…

· After church program is photo program (similar to American tradition – sit and wait for an hour or 2)

· At reception, difficult to keep out "crashers" who come for free food, so you're supposed to present your invitation card

· Another "sermonette" is delivered before they serve the food at the reception

· Couple feeds one another the cake, and then the bride and groom feed each member of their bridal party

· Cake disappears in 4.2 minutes as everyone rushes the cake server with their plates

· The crowd disperses after the food…no dancing or drinking at a protestant service.

Wildlife

2008-05-22T00:26:00.001-07:00

We've seen a lot of African wildlife in recent weeks. Over a week ago, a large herd of camels passed through Yetebon. They were with a nomadic group of people from about 50 kilometers east of us, moving west in search of water. It was so surreal to be standing amongst a herd of the enormous creatures.

Then a week later, my good friends from ECHO days, Tom and Betsy, came to visit for a week before heading to Kenya to do graduate research. We took a road trip to Awassa, 300 kilometers south of Addis Ababa, where we saw lots of birds, a monitor lizard, and monkeys stole our breakfast!

On our way home, we stopped at a lake to scout out some hippos. Only saw one or 2 shy ones in the water, but still a uniquely African experience, being out in a row boat on a lake only about 40 feet from a hippo!

Only a month left in Ethiopia!! And then the dreaded farewells…Still lots of work to be done, though.

Fasika

2008-05-03T05:10:00.001-07:00

Fasika is the Amharic word for Easter, and was just celebrated this past weekend. I had been told early in my stay that Easter was a bigger deal than Christmas here. That proved true…Christmas was recognized and celebrated, but not with the extravagance that we put into it in the west. Primarily for the Orthodox believers, Fasika is not only a huge deal because of the true meaning of the holiday – Christ's resurrection – but it also brings an end to their Lenten fast of no animal products. Therefore, the tradition is to buy an animal (the type depends on one's income level) and eat it on Easter. For the wealthier folks, several families may go together and buy a cow…average cost here is 4000 birr (app $400). The middle class will get a sheep, ranging from 600-800 birr; and the lower income bracket will at least get a chicken and make "doro wat." Chicken prices were inflated to 50 birr for the Fasika weekend…usually they're around 30 birr. Animals lined the streets of Addis Ababa…I am pretty sure the domestic animal population in the country drops by about 20% after Fasika! While I would certainly much rather have a chocolate Easter bunny, eating meat is a big deal here. For the majority of the population, it's reserved for only special occasions.

Our Easter consisted of church in the morning (about 3 hours long), lunch with the housekids (lamb stew, complete with pieces of tongue!), giving the kids candy that had been sent from friends in the US (thanks Mom and Kathy!), back to church for a drama performed by the youth (another 3 hours in church), and then to some teachers' house for doro wat and a coffee ceremony.

The last photo is of the "ferengis" currently living at Project Mercy: me, Dr. Roy and Nancy - couple from Indiana working on the dairy project; Dr. Roy is a retired veterinarian, and Scott - English teacher from Sanibel Island, FL.

Trip, Part 3

2008-04-25T01:47:00.001-07:00

Our last leg of the journey went through Gonder and the Simien Mountains. We spent one night camping in the mountains. In Ethiopian national parks, you're required to have a "guide" and "scout" accompany you during your entire stay in the park. The guide arranges the campsite and takes you on hikes, explaining the flora and fauna along the way. The scout is a schmugly (a PC Amharic term for an old man) who follows us around with an gun that looks like it's from WW1 slung over his shoulder. He also stood guard while we slept in our tents, though we think a little local boy came to help keep our poor schmugly scout awake through the night.

The scenery in the Simien mountains was breathtaking. We were at about 3,200 meters; the tallest moutain in Ethiopia, Ras Dashen is found in the park and reaches 4,543 meters. We also got up close and personal with some baboons. The Gelada baboons are indigenous to Ethiopia and heavily populate the Simien Mountains. They're very docile creatures, allowing us to get within 4 feet before fleeing in fear. Four feet was a little too close to comfort for me, too!

The last stop was Gonder, the former capital of Ethiopia. The city is often referred as "Africa's Camelot" due to the Royal Enclosure housing 17th century castles. It was fun to explore these ancient castles at our leisure, without ropes or barricades like we're accustomed to in the States.

The next morning we began the long drive back to Addis…left at 6:30am and arrived in Addis Ababa at 9pm, thankful for safe travels and the great experiences and eager for a hot shower!!

Trip, Part 2

2008-04-20T08:02:00.001-07:00

From Bahir Dar, we drove east on a terribly dusty, bumpy dirt road (currently being reconstructed by the Japanese) to Lalibela. Lalibela is a tiny town isolated in the mountains at about 8,600 feet in elevation, renowned for its rock-hewn churches carved out of red volcanic rock in the 12^th century.

The priests there today say that it took thousands of workmen about 40 years to chisel out the churches; and while they slept at night, angels would come to continue the work, digging three times the amount of the men.

There are 12 churches present there today, the largest 63 feet high, 45 feet wide and 24 feet deep. I was amazed at how well-preserved these churches have remained after 800 years. There's so much detail present in the carving, as you can see in the photos.

Each church possesses its own cross, uniquely designed with religious symbolism, along with other ancient paraphernalia such as Bibles made of animal skin and prayer sticks that King Lalibela and other priests used to prop themselves on as they prayed through the night.

Lalibela was my favorite stop on our trip. It really felt like going back to Biblical times, as we walked by donkey carts on the road and people carrying their market goods. It's a very picturesque location nestled in the highlands, the terrain reminiscent of the Badlands in South Dakota.

The Lalibela locals were also some of the friendliest people we encountered on our journey. Someone before me made the name "Sara" famous somehow because when we arrived at our hotel, people were calling my name before our vehicle even stopped (the hotel reservation was in my name). Even as we walked throughout the town, I'd randomly hear people say my name. So this was my day to feel famous. Lalibela also has the best macchiatos in Ethiopia…maybe the world…but I wasn't a coffee drinker before coming here, so I can't say for sure.

Trip North, part 1

2008-04-11T05:19:00.001-07:00

On March 12-19, 3 adventure-seeking ferengis set out on an expedition to explore the northern part of Ethiopia. We mapped out our route and rented a land cruiser (which came with a driver) to make our voyage by land. The 2 other ferengis were Lindsay, a girl who went to Messiah, but I didn't get to know until meeting her in Burkina 2 years ago; and Naomi, who moved to Addis with her parents at the beginning of this year.

Lindsay informed us that our land cruiser was coming at 5:30am, and we would hit the road by 6am. Many of you know that I'm a morning person…that was no big deal to me. However, for the other girls, this was a pretty tall order. However, lest we forget where we are…most people will tell you that nothing happens rigidly on time in Africa. And the way the trip got started really set the tone for the rest of the week. Lindsay and Naomi's dad went out to the main road to direct the driver to their house. They waited until about 5:45 before calling the travel agent. Oh, did you say 5:30?? We thought you said 10am!! Ok, we'll be there by 7am.

After 4 hours on the road, some steam began to appear from under the hood. Oh great…we pulled over and the driver opened the hood to find water spewing out of the radiator. No worries…we limped a little further up the road to where a water truck was settling the dust on the road. He hosed things down enough for us to get to the next town, about 20km down the road. The driver dropped us off at a restaurant and reassured us that after 1 hour, there would be "No problem." He had very limited English.

So after driving less than an hour, we realized that there was "problem." Our driver realized this too, as we became aware of what a devout Orthodox he was – he crossed himself a total of 72 times within the course of the first 7 hours of our trip! The temperature continued to hit the red zone due to a crack in the radiator. Every 10 minutes or so, we had to pull off the road, sending little children running to fetch us a jug of water. At this rate, it didn't look like we were going to make it to our first destination before sunrise the next day! In normal circumstances, this drive should take about 8 hours. 14 hours after setting out from Addis Ababa, and after demanding another vehicle be sent to pick us up, we arrived in Bahir Dar, dust-coated, exhausted and not eager to get back into another vehicle any time soon!

Bahir Dar, which means beach in Amharic, is situated next to Lake Tana, the largest lake in Ethiopia, where the Blue Nile River flows from.

It's a lovely town, very bicycle-friendly. We spent my birthday taking a boat tour of the many monasteries situated on islands and peninsulas throughout the lake.

The papyrus plant, used to make paper, grows along the shoreline of the lake…made me visualize what it might have been like to discover baby Moses hidden in a basket amongst the papyrus (see photo).

That evening, we enjoyed a nice dinner at an outdoor restaurant next to the lake. This was followed by a most memorable birthday celebration with a Rastafarian, the hotel/restaurant manager, a Chinese guy, a Nigerian comedian, and a bubble gum flavored birthday cake that said "Happy Birthday Syria". Yes, there's a story there, but I'll save it for another day…

Grafting

2008-04-04T06:46:00.001-07:00

The long-awaited day finally arrived! We've been eagerly anticipating the arrival of 600 pieces of avocado budwood from a nursery in California since the beginning of January. On March 7^th at 7am, 2 coolers arrived safe and sound after nearly a week of transport from California to Alexandria, VA, to Addis Ababa, and finally here to Yetebon.

Since many of you probably don't know a lot about grafting, let me give you a brief explanation. Many fruit trees are grafted because planting a seed, such as an apple, will not guarantee you the same exact fruit surrounding that seed. In order to ensure that you get the same quality of fruit, and to speed up the process of getting a young tree to produce, we take a branch (known as budwood) from a mature tree and affix it onto a seedling tree of the same species (known as rootstock).

I have been looking forward to this time because it's one of the primary reasons I'm here. I trained several of the farm workers in grafting techniques and we practiced many afternoons to ensure that they could make straight cuts on the budwood, thus allowing a firm bond between budwood and rootstock.

It's a tedious process; to graft one tree takes nearly 10 minutes. Grafting 600 took some time! With anywhere from 2-4 people grafting at one time, we worked from sun-up to sundown for 3 days. Our time was limited because the budwood needed to be fresh to stay viable – and it had already been in transit for a week! After the first day, I was grafting in my sleep and woke up alert and eager to get going at 5am – without an alarm. It was a lot of fun, and I'm thrilled to report that we grafted 697 avocado trees in 4 days! After 2 weeks, many had sprouted; now, nearly a month later the majority has sprouted and only 5 have not made it.

Please pray for these young trees, that they would continue to grow strong and healthy to produce bountifully for this community!

Fire Walk

2008-03-28T05:26:00.000-07:00

For the past 2 months, after the sun sets light still blazes from the mountainside – in the form of fires. These are not just small cooking fires at people's tookels; these are brush fires that are purposefully set. Now the beautiful mountain that I love to wake up to is covered with ugly black sores.

Why are they burning the mountainside? Because it is believed, and partially true, that burning any vegetation present will encourage a fresh growth of grass to sprout and feed their livestock. However, in the middle of the dry season a slight breeze will char huge sections, beyond their intended area. This scorched ground promotes drought as all moisture is depleted and no transpiration through photosynthesis takes place. In addition, wildlife lose their habitat, having no cover to protect themselves. The loss of vegetation also adds to the already horrendous erosion problem this country suffers. When the rains come, much of that exposed soil washes away.

One day several weeks ago classes were cancelled for grades 5-12 so the student body and teachers could go into the mountains and encourage farmers to stop burning. I was really excited that the school (teachers) cared enough to allow time from their schoolwork to spread this important message.

I tagged along with one of the 10 groups that was dispersed throughout the mountainside. As we walked, the students chanted their message in a call and response. As they passed farmers, several spokespeople would approach them and share their mission. Everyone seemed to listen respectfully, but I wondered what they were really thinking.

The hike wasn't easy; in some sections there was no established path and we would have to grab any vegetation available to pull ourselves up the steep slopes. I had no grounds to complain though - I wasn't wearing a skirt or tread-less plastic shoes, as most of the female students were.

After about 4 hours of hiking deep into the mountain ravine, we began the trek back to the school. As we got to a clearing directly across from where we started, we looked up to see smoke rising in the exact place where we had climbed just 3 hours earlier! Within minutes, the wind had fueled the fire to engulf a huge section of the hillside. You'll be able to see the progression in the photos…this occurred in about 3 minutes! We saw the red flames and could hear the brush crackling. It was surreal to realize that we had just been in that very place. I had been witnessing these fires on the mountain from the safety and security of Project Mercy for the past 2 months. Now it really hit home to truly experience the devastation of fire. Thankfully, there were no homes or lives in immediate danger, but I'm afraid it's only a matter of time.

Afterwards, I talked to some of the teachers about the responses they received from the local farmers. Most everyone understood and agreed that burning can instigate a drought and many felt that a drought was eminent. They believed that those who burned should be punished, but there is no enforcement. Apparently the regional supervisor himself was burning!

Most people in this community are not naïve to the consequences of what they're doing. However, their lives depend on those hillsides and they can't think about the long-term effects of their actions when they're hungry today. And if burning can give them immediate benefits, as they believe it does, that's what they'll do. God instructs us in Genesis 2:15 to take care of what He's made. As annoyed and frustrated as I may be at the devastation they're bringing to their land, I've never been in a situation where I wasn't sure if there would be food tomorrow. This is a mindset that will take a long time to change. However, it's extremely encouraging to see this generation of students take a stand. Many students were visiting their own families and probably didn't have the courage to speak up to their parents on their own. Pray that these people can learn to have hope in a future and adopt more sustainable farming practices.

Le Salam Lidet

2008-03-25T05:05:00.001-07:00

Baby Salam turned 2 earlier this month. "Lidet" means birthday in Amharic. Birthdays aren't generally a big deal here, largely because many people don't know their own date of birth. However, since Salam is the baby at Project Mercy, we had a little party to celebrate this milestone.

As you can see in the photos, she was pretty clueless about being the center of attention, but the party hat stayed on. And the cake was miraculously divided into 70 pieces, so everyone got a bite.

Salam and her four brothers.

In some respects I feel like her mother…I've walked her to sleep, punished her when she ate dirt, changed her soiled clothes, and taught her how to say "avocado". She comes to my room periodically to scavenge for any sweets she can find, and is often my shadow in the greenhouse while I'm working. It's pretty special to have this little girl run up to me when I first see her in the morning and throw her arms around my legs.

An Evening Jog

2008-03-09T08:27:00.001-07:00

For the first time in 5 months, I went running outside the compound. Before you jump to the conclusion that I'm extremely lazy or housebound all the time, I'll have you know that I am a sporadic jogger and the Project Mercy compound is 50 acres. It's not difficult to remain in the confines of the 4 walls for a week at a time, leaving only for church and trips to use the internet in Butajira.

About an hour before sunset on a Saturday evening, equipped with my I-pod, I ventured out of the gate. I was listening to some new music reminiscent of the Out of Africa soundtrack, for those of you familiar with that. I wish there was a camera built into my forehead to capture all the sights and sounds happening along the way. Since there isn't, I'll do my best to describe it…

The music I was listening to really set the mood to make me feel like I was in a movie, strolling through life in Africa. First, I passed by women and kids carrying their water jugs to the nearby well for tomorrow's supply of water. Then I reached the well, with a small crowd mingling around. Some smiled and greeted me; others just stared, bewildered at the site of a ferengi running. As I made my way around the first corner of the compound, a handful of kids ran up to shake my hand with huge smiles on their faces and clusters of flies gathered at their eyes and running noses. "Why don't flies bother me or other adults here?" I pondered. Because they know better; the kids are easy targets because they learned to be desensitized to the flies' annoying tickle when they were wrapped on their mothers' backs as infants, arms tucked in the nutella, or cloth, unable to swat them away.

As I journeyed on, I passed an adolescent boy who boldly demanded, "Where are you go?" Then past a poor ox chewing on some dried enset (false banana) leaves, looking up at me dejectedly as if to say "this tastes terrible, but it's all they got." A couple girls were sitting in front of their tookel braiding one another's hair. Men were turning over the soil with long-handled spears, chanting as they worked to keep a rhythm and prevent the work from becoming too laborious. I greeted everyone I passed by saying Asham, which is the Graginia (local tribal language) word for hello. Most would respond with Asham. Several older women laughed and said something like "the ferengi said Asham! She knows Graginia!"…when in fact, that is one of about 3 words I know in Graginia!

At one point two little boys, probably about 5-6 years old, began to follow my shadow. Initially, when I glanced back and realized they were following me, they timidly slacked back. Then I told them in Amharic to hurry and keep up. Bright white teeth appeared as they broke into smiles and continued on the path in their bare, dust-covered feet. A while later, they yelled to 4 girls chatting nearby. The girls came running to get a better view of the spectacle the boys had interrupted them about. The gawked for a second and then I challenged "Rootoo", meaning "run with us." Giggling, they joined the parade. They eyed my I-pod and declared "One camera!" "Photo!" I tried to explain that it was music, not a camera. As I rounded another corner, exiting their jurisdiction, they bid me "caio!" Then I was on the home stretch back to the compound gate, passing the same women and kids with filled water jugs, bearing the heavy loads on their backs, yet still smiling! I wished I could lessen the load for them.

Two of the housekids peered over the wall from the inside, calling my name and laughing at me being out in "the world." I'm comfortable and secure in the Project Mercy bubble, but felt so alive being in the midst of daily life in Yetebon. I can't wait to do it again!

Historical Sites

2008-02-29T03:38:00.001-08:00

This past weekend I got to see a few of the historic sites in the nearby southern region that make Ethiopia so distinctive and fascinating.

Our first stop was Adidi Maryam, a 900 year old rock-hewn church. The structure is carved entirely out of rock underground. It's humbling to consider the many generations who have passed through those ancient walls over the last 8 centuries. There are many, larger rock-hewn churches in the North for which Ethiopia is well-known. This particular structure is still in active use.

We also paid a visit to an ancient burial ground, with grave markers (known as stelae) found to be from the 13^th century. These stelae all had very visible carvings, all symbolic. The presence of a sword is believed to signify a valiant warrior, and the number of swords represent the number of people he killed. Some had a carving of a wooden headrest, a type of "rest in peace" memoriam; others had a rib bone carved to identify that a female was buried there. It's amazing that these carvings have remained so well preserved through the centuries.

Enjoy the pictures! Particularly the one of the straw-covered donkeys. I'd like to be present when they load the donkeys because I'm not sure how exactly they can get that much straw to stay on one animal.

Just your average busride…

2008-02-20T01:05:00.001-08:00

Last week for the first time, I took the public bus from Butajira to Yetebon, the 8 kilometer trip on a bumpy dirt road. The public buses only run on market day, every Friday. Generally, we're blessed to have dependable transportation at Project Mercy, making the weekly trip on the back of an Isuzu truck. All the teachers and hospital staff do their market shopping, while us "ferengis" (Scott and me) visit the internet café.

On this particular Friday, the Project Mercy transport was delayed and we were anxious to get back for a church program. Our options were a gari, which is a horse cart, or the public bus. I had observed these buses the past several months…usually a big mob of people loaded down with their market purchases, fighting for a space on the overcrowded minibuses. It's not exactly an appealing scene, but still I wanted to experience "real life" in Yetebon.

So Scott and I headed to the area where the buses line up, along with Bedru, a 12^th grade student from the school here. Bedru helped us identify a bus going on the direction of Project Mercy. We were fortunate to be the first people on the bus, therefore getting the "choice" seats in the front of the bus. The first thing to catch my eye were the gaudy decorations in the front windshield…flower garland, photos of icons signature of the Ethiopian Orthodox church, and a curtain to block out the sun for the driver and his front passenger.

It only took about 7 minutes for the bus to fill up. Most were men. The fee is 3 birr (about 35 cents), making it cost-prohibitive for the women, who must use the little money they have to pay for food and goods for their family. Men can be, and are, more superfluous with their money. The women are the ones who really need the ride, loaded with market purchases on their back. Rarely will you see an Ethiopian man carrying anything other than a walking stick and a bundle of chat, a narcotic plant that is a major cash crop in Ethiopia. The leaves are chewed to get a high.

I had seen these buses from the outside, and knew that they filled them well beyond capacity. But being a part of the spectacle from the inside gave a whole different perspective. Thankfully, the market purchases were stowed on the top of the bus. So, no chickens or goats boarded with us, though there were a few stalks of sugarcane that threatened to take someone's eye out. People kept packing in. I got a quick count of the seats before the bus filled…there were 24. I did not get a complete headcount, but in front of the first row of seats there were 10 people. My estimation was that there were at least 50 people on that bus. Once the aisle filled, the bus turned into a "double-decker" as at least one man perched himself on top of a seatback.

As if a ferengi doesn't stand out enough with their white skin…I looked around at a sea of neutral-colored clothes, while I was decked out in a red top and loud floral skirt. I'm not exactly sure what made me notice this. Then I pondered to myself why people here don't wear any color. Maybe their clothes had been colorful at one time, but the wear and dusty roads they traverse turn them all to shades of brown. Or maybe it's not worth having colorful clothes because it's only a matter of time before they become brown. Anyway, market day is not the ideal time to go out dressed in one's finest.

The bus driver was a gruff sort of character. Bedru told us he was high on chat, but not to worry…chat is a stimulant, but it doesn't impair one's vision.

The people sitting (or standing) near me were very friendly. They tried out their English on me, saying "Yes I can" and "thank you", then smiling proudly. They were high on chat, too.

This bus had a lot of character… and the horn spoke of the rough life it has led. The best way I can describe the sound is an old lady's cackle who had smoked all her life. I chuckled every time it let out a rough, shrill hoot. The donkeys along the way weren't really phased by it…but then again, what are they phased by?

It's remarkable that this generated so much to write about, considering it was only a 20 minute ride covering just 8 kilometers! I'm not eager to repeat the experience, but I survived and now appreciate life here a little more.

The rains

2008-02-08T23:49:00.001-08:00

The dry season is a tough time of year in Africa...the parched Ethiopian ground has not seen rain since October 7th. In some areas, the dust is measured as we measure snow in Pennsylvania. This past week, we had a nice rain shower that settled all of that dust and brought a refreshing scent to the atmosphere. This does not signal the beginning of the rainy season, but it is common to have an occasional shower from February to March. The real rainy season begins in June.
However, as I experienced in Burkina, while the rains are always most welcome and celebrated, they do have an unpleasant consequence...bugs! This time they aren't termites...in fact, I asked someone if there were any insects that they eat here, and they looked at me like I had 2 heads. Clearly, Ethiopians are not into eating 6-legged creatures. The critters that intrusively arrived after this rain resembled flying ants. They don't bite or sting, and they don't even fly around your eyes like gnats. They just swarm around your head and get caught in your hair...well, at least "ferengi" hair. So it's just an annoyance more than anything. And to be honest, it's worth that annoyance to have the earth refreshed with moisture.

Stop and Smell the Roses

2008-02-01T04:26:00.001-08:00

My friend, Lindsay, and I got to tour a rose greenhouse over the weekend.

Roses are becoming a huge industry in Ethiopia. Greenhouses are popping up all over the outskirts of Addis Ababa. Ethiopia has an ideal climate for growing them and decent infrastructure to be able to export them to Europe. It was incredible to walk through a sea of rosebushes…30 acres under plastic.

This particular greenhouse ships 4,000 stems / week to Holland.

They employ 500 local workers to cut, clean and package the roses for shipment. Most of the employees are women, which is intentional because the women carry the bulk of the responsibility to provide for their family. Sadly, all too often the men come and go and can't be relied on to supply finances.

Lindsay said it was the romantic in me coming out, but I couldn't help but think of the happiness each bundle of flowers would bring to its purchaser. I felt cheerful just to be surrounded by a plethora of perfect roses in a warehouse, with a little twinge of sadness for those that didn't make the cut, no pun intended. At the end of our visit, the owner gave each of us a bunch of roses. The particular variety I chose is called "Vampire" – a white rose with red tips – and I'm enjoying the brightness they bring to my room as I sit at my desk and write this.

I had to attach a photo of the tractor they use to haul the cut roses from greenhouse to packing house and cold storage for my dad and brother's benefit.

The Orthodox Church

2008-01-25T08:47:00.001-08:00

This past weekend, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church celebrated Epiphany. Inside every Orthodox church there are a set of tabots, which are replicas of the tablets found in the ark of the covenant. The Ark of the Covenant holds special meaning in Ethiopia because it is believed that the original ark rests in a small town in northern Ethiopia called Aksum, where it has been for 3,000 years! It is guarded by virgin monks who are forbidden from leaving the chapel grounds until they die once they've been anointed! This is a responsibility that is taken VERY seriously! No one other than these monks is permitted to see the original Ark.

The tabot replicas serve to consecrate the church building, and are kept in the holy of holies, where only senior priests are permitted. On the day of Epiphany, every January 19th, the replica tabots from each church are paraded through the streets.

This is the only day of the year that they leave the inner sanctum of the church. It's a very joyful march, which I witnessed from the Project Mercy compound this past weekend. Everyone was singing, with both men and women wrapped in white nutelas, or scarves. The priests are under the fancy, colorful umbrellas, adorned in very ornate robes and head coverings. The main priest carried the tabots in his hands as the crowd surrounded them in their pilgrimage about 5 kilometers from somewhere in a field to their church up in the mountain. In one of the pictures, you can see that they had quite a distance to go when they passed by the Project Mercy compound.

One of these days, I hope to visit northern Ethiopia and see more of the rich history that this land possesses.

More Trees

2008-01-17T22:13:00.001-08:00

We received another delivery of trees from ECHO this past weekend. This shipment contained 175 temperate fruit trees: apples, peaches, plums, figs, persimmons, etc. I owe a big THANK YOU to students from the Taylor University J-term class who are here teaching English and experiencing Ethiopian life for 2 weeks. They generously gave up their Sunday afternoon to help me get all these bare-rooted trees labeled and into soil. I think they had fun doing it, too. A verse was even added to their ongoing theme song in my honor!

The trees from our first shipment are really starting to take off now that the evenings are warming up and we're past the winter solstice. Today Mohammad, the farm manager, and I planted 2 passionfruit vines in the ground.

I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn't produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. Yes, I am the vine and you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.

~ John 15: 1-5

Ethiopian Christmas

2008-01-11T03:02:00.001-08:00

As you all were throwing out the tree and packing up the decorations, I was celebrating round 2 of the recognition of Christ's birth. This time around was more eventful, with everyone in a communal joyful spirit. Christmas still isn't a huge deal like it is in the western world, but we had a nice celebration here on Monday.

Much of Friday and Saturday was spent in the kitchen, baking 7 different recipes of cookies for the kids' Christmas party. Sunday I, along with 2 others, spent 6 hours preparing and wrapping 85 gifts for all of the housekids.

And Monday all the work was well worth it…the kids did have a special day. But the true meaning of the holiday remained central. We were reminded how there was no room for Christ when he came to this earth. Is there room for him today? Someone here received a card that read: "They say it's my birthday, but I'm not even invited." I appreciated celebrating the holiday in a place where Christ was invited.

The kindergarten had a special Christmas program that we were invited to attend. In fact, Scott and I were the only ones in the audience, so we felt like honored guests. Picture this: 230 5 and 6 year-olds holding lit candles for over 45 minutes! Yes, these kids accomplished that feat – with no burns or tears…just a lot of melted wax on the floor. The thought running through my mind was, could kids in the States handle such a task?

Science Experiment

2008-01-04T03:58:00.001-08:00

I'm working with the Grade 11 Biology teacher to conduct an agricultural experiment with her students. They are growing beriberi, a type of chili pepper very common in Ethiopian dishes, in 2 different soil media – one with local Ethiopian soil, and one with a bagged potting mix from the US.

Beriberi is a cash crop for this area. Three years ago, the dried red chilis cost 12 birr/kg. Today the price has jumped to over 30 birr/kg!

The students faithfully come daily and measure the plants. During their visits to the greenhouse, they check out what we're doing and often ask questions about the tree project. Hopefully we have a few arborists in the making! Either that, or they're trying to get out of the classroom a little longer. Yeah, I wasn't born yesterday, but let a girl dream!

More Christmas Pictures

2007-12-31T20:11:00.001-08:00

Christmas Dinner

Christmas Calves

Christmas In Yetabon

2007-12-31T19:57:00.001-08:00

I’d like to introduce you to some of my dear friends here.

Zoedeetu is a “house mother” to the 60+ kids who call Project Mercy home. She also works as an evangelist at the church during the day. Zoedeetu has been an incredible Christian mentor to me. She radiates love for Christ and shares that love with all she meets.

Mohammad is the farm manager here. He carries a lot of responsibility and always has “bizou sera” (a lot of work to do), but never fails to greet me with a big smile. He’s a very innovative and ambitious farmer. Several of his children are in the Project Mercy school.

Salam is the baby of the family, and being the baby amongst 65 kids equals a lot of attention! It’s fun to see the other kids, as well as many of the workers, dote on her and shower her with affection. She’s well-loved! When I first arrived, she wasn’t very comfortable with the white people. She’s since warmed up to us and now calls my name when she sees me.

These 2 little guys are also given a lot of attention. Tesfu, on the left, is Salam’s brother, and the 2^nd youngest house kid. My favorite memory with him occurred soon after I arrived. I was taking a jog in the field, and he wanted to come along. As we were “running,” he was jabbering away in Amharic, oblivious to the fact that I couldn't understand a word he was saying. Every once in a while, his voice would inflect in a question and he would look up at me, to which I would nod and smile.

Abenezer is a sweetheart, too. He was the first surgery patient in the hospital here. He had an intestinal blockage when he was only about 2 ½ years old. Today he’s a very hyper little kindergartner.

This is Whinishet with her son, Yididiah. Whinishet teaches English in the primary grades. She and her husband, Danny, who is also a teacher, are very active in the church. Whinishet has a gift of hospitality, often inviting us to her home for a “coffee ceremony,” an Ethiopian tradition where the coffee is roasted and prepared in front of you while everyone sits and chats. Yididiah will steal your heart when he says “What’s up?” in his cute little toddler accent.

These 3 ladies are very important to me and all the guests at Project Mercy. Allum, Workie, and Totiledge are the cooks, and what wonderful cooks they are! These ladies are in the kitchen by 6am and they don’t turn the lights off until after 9pm! I have so much admiration for the long days they put in 7 days a week! And they remain so gracious and loving. I didn’t think I would like Ethiopian food very much before I came, but they’ve got me hooked!

Malcom Ghena!

2007-12-28T04:09:00.001-08:00

That's "Merry Christmas" in Amharic. And it was a merry one. Scott, the other 'ferengi' long-termer, and I went to Addis for the weekend. If we were going to experience any sort of traditional celebration, it would have to be there. The western-style shopping centers were all decorated with Christmas trees and an occasional Santa statue (no live ones!), with Christmas music in the background. That helped to get me in the spirit. We went to 2 Christmas programs at English-speaking churches. One of them even had a French choir! They sang a song we had sung in the French choir in Burkina (for Daphne: "Cloches sonnets resolu. Pais salu! En Jesu!"). It made me a homesick for my friends there, but I was so filled with joy to reminisce about the wonderful time in Burkina. At that service, we sang most of the traditional carols, which was what I was craving to make the celebration more complete.

Of course, it wasn't complete without being home with family. However, God blessed us with an invitation to have Christmas dinner with some other missionaries in Addis, giving a family atmosphere. Gary and Peggy, who serve at a Korean hospital in the city, hosted us, along with their daughter, visiting from Illinois. After eating, we played speed scrabble and Dutch blitz. That really felt like Christmas…I couldn't have asked for anything more.

Well, maybe one other thing…I needed my cow fix! Marta and Deme (the founders of Project Mercy) invited us to stay at their home while we were in the city. They have a few animals in their compound, and I got some quality calf time Christmas morning! Take notice of the scarf I'm wearing that Mom knitted for me, which I received Christmas eve…thanks, Mom!

There's not exactly that letdown that we all have after Christmas is over in America since we have another Christmas to look forward to in 2 weeks! We'll be staying in Yetebon for that one to celebrate with the kids here.

Recent Photos from Thanksgiving

2007-12-06T05:28:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving Dinner

The View from My Window

The Corn Harvest

Bead Making

Itoggin Making Bead

Lessons learned…and learning

2007-11-30T04:37:00.001-08:00

Does one ever reach a point in life when you feel entirely capable and qualified to accomplish what you're called to do? I've struggled so much with feelings of inadequacy and incompetence here. Philippians 4:13 often comes to mind when I get down on myself, as well as 2 Corinthians 12:9 – My grace is sufficient for you because my power is made perfect in weakness. I know that anything productive that is accomplished by these hands is from above.

I tend to relate to Martha in the Bible – the one who seeks to be busy and finds her self-worth in doing something. Recently, I received a copy of an interview with Rick Warren in the mail where he talked about becoming too task-oriented. He said, "God did not put me on this earth to fulfill a to-do list. He's more concerned about what I am than what I do. That's why we're called human beings, not human doings." This concept has been freeing as I've struggled some days with finding enough work to keep me busy. When that happens, I feel like a failure and go back to the inadequate and incompetent section again. I pray daily for wisdom and guidance to see the needs around me, particularly with regards to the garden and fruit trees that I've been brought here to take care of. But I also don't want to neglect the importance of relationships with the people here and sharing Christ's love.

Ultimately, our worth comes from God and not man. I've heard this numerous times throughout my life, but I still strive for approval from man. Several weeks ago, I was blessed to encounter a couple visiting Project Mercy who share a special gift of praying for individuals and receiving special insight and revelation from God about the individual. They prayed for me and then shared what God revealed to them. Through that experience, it finally hit home to me that I am uniquely created by God and have a specific role to fill in His kingdom. There's no need to strive for acceptance from man because God has already accepted me. It's still nice to have confirmation from others for a job well-done, but my self-worth doesn't depend on that.

So to all you people-pleasers like me, remember our primary purpose in this life. Keep it all in perspective, and your load will be much lighter!

It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our

qualification comes from God. 2 Corinthians 3:5

Thanksgiving

2007-11-24T00:32:00.001-08:00

I enjoy spending Thanksgiving in another country. It really puts everything in perspective of all we have to be grateful for. This year we were blessed to have a chef visiting from Denver, Colorado, who prepared a lovely feast for us. Noel owns a restaurant in Denver called Strings, and after sampling some of his talents, I would highly recommend it to anyone who might be in the Denver area. Our Thanksgiving meal was traditional, with an Ethiopian flair - turkey, stuffing, roasted potatoes, gravy, cucumber and tomato salad, with injera and wat as well. The turkeys, which were smaller than the customary American turkey, were imported all the way from Brazil! Globalization at its best! I'm currently reading The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman, which comfirms the theory that technology and globalization are leveling the marketplace around the world.
In the afternoon I watched some of the kids at Project Mercy make glass beads. The group from Denver have taught some of the young people here how to melt glass and make beautiful, colorful beads. They create bracelets and heart pins, which are then sold in several venues around Denver. The bracelets are now available online to purchase at the Cunningham Foundation's website: www.cunninghamfoundation.org All of the proceeds go to Project Mercy. It's really fun to watch the kids develop this skill and allow their creativity to blossom.
My Thanksgiving day ended with a massage given by one of the team members who is a massage therapist in Denver. What a treat! And now you know how much I suffer in Africa!

How much things cost

2007-11-18T06:00:00.001-08:00

exchange rate: $1US = 9 birr

Mailing a letter to the States ------ 3 birr 45 cents

horse cart ride 10 kilometers ----- 5 birr

minibus ride 4-5 km in city ------- 1 birr 20 cents

an hour on the internet ------------ 20 birr

an hour on internet @ the Hilton - 109 birr (!!!)

doctor visit -------------------------- 5 birr

renting a VCD (like a dvd) ------- 2 birr

cup of coffee ------------------------ 1 birr 50 cents

a pound of coffee ------------------- 30 birr

steak dinner ------------------------- 30 birr

watering can ------------------------ 45 birr

cell phone --------------------------- 600 birr

packet of tissues (called 'softs') - 1 birr

bottle of Coke ---------------------- 3 birr

can of Diet Coke ------------------- 45 birr (!!!)

sunglasses --------------------------- 15 birr

School Kick-Off

2007-11-12T05:52:00.001-08:00

Kids Waiting

KG Kids

The Crowd of Kids

Class of 2007

Families Watching

Making Faces

2007-11-12T05:45:00.000-08:00

Me with Salam

Kitchen Ladies

J and R making faces

Armani and Salam

Riots

2007-11-10T04:11:00.001-08:00

How much is an education worth?

This week was the KG (kindergarten) registration. Children from who-knows-how-far-away lined up at the compound gate Tuesday morning after word spread that the registration would happen that day. Many kids even left their current school to vie for a spot at the Project Mercy school…why? Because here they are fed 2 meals a day, have class in a well-lit, concrete building (as opposed to a mud structure with small windows that allow scarce amounts of light), and are virtually guaranteed an education through grade 10.

By around noon the crowd outside the gate had grown to over 2,000. The children sat apprehensively in front of the gate as the parents hovered on the outskirts. They didn't have advance notice to fix their hair or wear clean clothes; they came just as they were. One boy was wearing his father's shoes, it appeared. Marta began the selection process, initially judging only by size; those who appeared to be around 5-6 years of age came through the gate. This process of selecting by size proved futile as parents would instruct their child to get back in the line-up and try again if they were turned away. So, the next plan was to bring all the children into the compound, leaving the parents outside. The children streamed in through a doorway, but somehow the large gate slipped open and floods of people poured in… Utter mayhem…children were separated from their siblings and parents, terrified and screaming; parents were yelling for their children to get in the right line; children were losing shoes, but the they couldn't retrieve them for fear of being trampled by the crowd. It was a horrifying scene. These poor young children really couldn't comprehend what was happening or why. Thankfully the guards were able to effectively get the crowd under control and send the parents back out of the compound. Then there was a "manageable" group of about 1,000 children to sift through for the 200 KG spots. The criteria really wasn't too demanding…the child needed to be between 5-6 years old, not registered in any other school, and live within a reasonable distance of the KG school. They were each individually interviewed to find these things out. By 5:30pm, a list of 160 names had been compiled; there was room for more names, but this was sufficient to start with. More children will still show up the first day of kindergarten, so a few open spots will come in handy.

The very same day, a medical team from the San Francisco area held a mobile clinic in a village nearby. The people were so desperate to see a doctor that the crowd became uncontrollable. Some of the nurses were shoved into walls by the overpowering crowd. The team was unable to see as many patients, as a result.

We just can't comprehend desperation. Reason goes out the window. It doesn't matter if your neighbor is bleeding or too weak to walk; your own needs take precedence. And those parents just want their children to have opportunities not afforded to them. We can be so quick to criticize these people as uncivilized, but until we've walked a mile in their shoes, or lack of shoes in most cases…

Ethiopian Safari

2007-11-02T23:56:00.001-07:00

Ethiopia is not renowned for its plentiful wildlife
the way that Kenya and Tanzania are. However, they do
have some, and this past week I got to see a lot of
it.
The first spotting was a jack rabbit the size of a
medium dog. Its ears alone were the size of a typical
bunny in the States!
There was a group of 4 people visiting for several
days, and the General (he's the administrator of
Project Mercy; a retired leader in the Ethiopian
military who spent 11 years in prison during the
Communist regime. He's got some stories to tell!)
offered to take us out one evening to look for hyenas.
You could call this the Ethiopian version of
spot-lighting. There's a specific spot where people
dump their garbage that the hyenas frequent most
evenings. So we went at dusk and parked beside the
trash pile. As you can imagine, not many people sit
around waiting to spot a hyena. They can be quite
dangerous, killing small animals and children. We sat
quietly for about 20 minutes and I began to strongly
doubt that we would see anything. Oh me of little
faith…out of the village one lone hyena stalked over
to the trash. It was much larger and scruffier than I
had imagined. We had the headlights on, and it just
stared back at us. Hyenas usually travel in packs, so
I believe God sent this one to satisfy our curiosity.
On the drive back to the compound, we chased a fox
along the road and saw another rabbit, but this one
wasn't as big.
The next day, the General (that is what everyone calls
him) asked if we wanted to see monkeys. Well, I wasn't
jumping at that suggestion given my bad experience in
India of being attacked by one. However, I still went
along for the ride. The General knew of an eye clinic
nearby that also had a miniature zoo…only in Africa!
We pull up and the gate is closed, meaning the eye
clinic and zoo are closed…minor setback. I mean, we
are with a retired General. He honks the horn a bit,
and when no one came, he got out and opened the gate
himself. I was mortified at the audacity, but when in
Africa…. We start roaming around the property until we
spot a small sign that says "zoo." It wasn't 10
seconds after reading that sign that an unexpected
guest appears out of nowhere – an uncaged monkey! The
General had brought 2 bananas to feed them and it took
no time for the loose monkey to spot them. He was all
over the General. It scared the wits out of me. The
General gave him 1 banana, but he still knew there was
another. There were 2 other monkeys, as well as 3
porcupine, 4 goats and 1 duck all in cages –
everything one would expect to see at an eye clinic
zoo. The General wanted to give the other banana to
the caged monkeys, but the loose one wasn't going to
allow that. He hissed and clawed at the General and
eventually had his way. The rest of us stood back
with clenched teeth and white knuckles while the
General authoritatively let that monkey know who's
boss.

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Why Have an Amharic Phrasebook?

2007-10-26T05:49:00.001-07:00

I just bought an Amharic phrasebook/dictionary…it's the only one currently available in the country in English, mind you. My first clue that this was the most ghetto book I have ever owned was when I realized that some of the pages needed to be cut apart!! So now any time I read it, I have scissors easily accessible.

Today was the first day that I seriously sat down to study since buying the book over the weekend. I had flipped through it before and saw that half of it was a dictionary, leaving about 150 pages for language acquisition tips. Well, guess what!! There are no verbs in that section! There are phrases that have verbs in them, but absolutely no instruction for how to conjugate verbs (which is fairly complicated, from what I've learned thus far – 4 different forms for "you"!) How are you supposed to learn a language without verbs, please tell me!

Ok, now for the part that made me laugh out loud…keep in mind that this book was printed in 2006.

First…in the introduction there is a page that is titled "Why have an Amharic Phrasebook?" And then it gives about 10 reasons…here are the best ones (verbatim):

If you believe Rastafarianism is your religion or philosophy then learning Amharic is just part of that way of life.
Learning the local language of the place you're traveling to, Amharic in our case, is amazingly fun and adventurous!

The book is then divided into topics useful to the traveler, such as going to a restaurant, shopping, etc. Before each topic is a little quote (in English) to introduce the next section. Here is a sampling of those:

Time is up the essence – introducing fractions of time
Best vitamin for a fruit-eater is B1!
What does it take to be Lance Armstrong? – for the sports section
Hair you are! – oh yes, they even have hair care in here!
I so don't need this right now! – can you guess what this would be a quote for? It's for telling your pain.
Pretty body going down the street… -- Body parts

Ok, for body parts, they list some interesting ones, such as urine, whitehair (I can't make this stuff up! –the word is sibat) and lower tip…what is the lower tip?? It's listed after tongue, but why in the world would you give a name to the tip of your tongue??

That's where I stopped. Hopefully you'll get as much enjoyment out of this as I have, but it would be better if you could read it for yourselves. It was certainly worth the 50 birr ($6) purely for the entertainment value. Not sure how far I'll get in learning Amharic with it, though.

The Photo to prove we met him

2007-10-19T06:18:00.000-07:00

Presidential Visit

2007-10-19T06:17:00.001-07:00

I don't believe I've ever met a foreign dignitary…until this week. Last Saturday Butajira, the town about 8 km away, hosted a millennium celebration. (Ethiopia doesn't just celebrate a new millennium one day – they're having a year-long party!) Unbeknownst to us, the President of Ethiopia was their guest of honor. Sometime late Thursday, 2 days before his visit to Butajira, word was spreading around Project Mercy that the President requested to stay here rather than a hotel in town. So you can imagine the frantic preparation that all the staff and some of the older kids had to do. Lasagna noodles were made from scratch; flowers were cut and put in the rooms; furniture was moved from various locations.

Just like in the States, the President doesn't travel alone. He had an entourage of about 20 secret service and army guys who accompanied him. An SUV full of them came on Friday and checked out the place. They came back again early Saturday morning and everything seemed to check out ok. The president arrived in the afternoon, and all the children were lined up clapping to welcome him. We didn't even catch a glimpse of him at that time as he was ushered into his room to rest before the festivities.

We weren't sure if we would have the opportunity to see how the local people celebrate a new millennium, but thankfully we got a ride there. Not only did we get a ride, we were ushered into the front row, about 10 feet down from the President! Oh yes, the token ferengis – myself, Scott, and 3 ladies from Washington state who had just arrived - 5 white people in a sea of Ethiopians. There had to be well over 25,000 people lining the streets and surrounding the field. And it was all captured on camera…about a dozen members of the press lined up with microphones and video cameras…so I'm pretty sure we were on TV somewhere in Ethiopia.

They first had an unveiling of a huge billboard promoting improved livelihoods and the end of poverty for Gurages (the local people group). Then several governmental officials gave some speeches, the President spoke, a marching band played, a group of ladies did a traditional dance, and a music group got the crowd hopping. It was a very exciting cultural experience.

The President spent the night at the compound, along with his people. The next morning, as we were getting ready for church, someone knocked on our tuckel door and said the President wanted to greet us. We all went in and Marta introduced us individually. She explained to him the fruit project and he asked me if these trees that we brought are proven to grow here, and which ones have the best potential. Talk about being put on the spot…I responded that these species had been grown in similar climates and had done well. I said that avocados great for their nutritional value, and mangoes and papayas are practical because they can be preserved. These are the 3 trees that they plan to distribute in the community, so I figured they should be highlighted. The President may be over 80 years old, but his mind is very sharp and his English is perfect.

Ethiopia has a Prime Minister, overseeing Parliament, and the President, who is more of a dignitary. He has served in this role since 2001.