From Inland to Coastland and Back Again

Tanzi is currently serving as an SM in Kenya.

The last week of Christmas break was wonderful and probably one of the most adventure packed weeks of my life. Not to mention that I felt like I truly was in paradise.
Here’s a little bit about my explorations:
We (Katie, Keith, Jacqui, Emily, and myself) started out the journey to Mombasa stuck in traffic with only minutes to spare before missing our train. So we jumped out of the van and trekked on foot the remaining two blocks to the station, making it just in time to buy our tickets and find our cabin.

The five of us ended up sharing a four person compartment on the train, thus leaving me to try and get comfortable snuggling with Jacqui and later Emily on the sticky, humid, overnight train to our destination.

We made it to our hostel, which was very hostelish and got to see and swim in the INDIAN OCEAN that first day. Not to mention the fact that the sunscreen I put on was actually water-resistant and not water-proof. This led to my bright red shoulders that for two whole days felt like they were being pricked with needles if anything grazed them. That night, I don’t think I’ve ever slept in a hotter place, but in the morning I don’t think I’ve ever had a better omelette.

The next day, Katie, Keith, and Jacqui took a taxi to where we were meeting a few other Maxwell families to a place called Hillpark Hotel. Emily and I decided to go on an adventure on our way to this place. Setting out for Fort Jesus as our first destination. This involved a guided tour through the fort, into Old Town Mombasa, and into a spice market. It was awesome.


We, also, pretty much took every public form of Kenyan transportation available that day. We started with a Matatu, then a tuk-tuk, a ferry, and lastly a piki-piki. For those that don’t know what these are, matatu=van like bus/taxi, tuk-tuk=three wheeled and three person type car/motorcycle, and a piki-piki=motorcycle. Oh! I also am pretty bomb at making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in a bumpy tuk-tuk with my sanitized sunglasses!

The next three days weren’t as photographed, because I was mostly swimming all day, but it was amazing. The house the SMs stayed in was right on the beach with an ocean breeze as a cherry on top. Monkey’s broke into our house a few times and stole bread, but that just added to the experience. I snorkeled, SCUBA DIVED for the first time, held sea animals, saw even more amazing sea animals, and enjoyed like to my hearts content. God is so good!


After Hillpark Hotel, we migrated up the coast a ways to meet up with the rest of the Maxwell Community for our staff retreat. This retreat was at Voyager which is an all-inclusive resort that acts as a cruise ship. This pretty much means. I ate great food whenever I wanted, swam in the multiple swimming pools, and relaxed. I also got to snorkel more here, see giant tortoises, and ride a camel!!!



The day we left was a great day even though I got to sit on a bus for 8 hours. I was able to read, listen to music, and have a few good conversations with Emily; we even saw wild camels. When the bus ride was done, it was nice to be back at home. God has really blessed me.

Some Blood. Mostly Sweat and Tears.

Amber is a missionary in Pnom Penh, Cambodia.  

 

Sometimes all you need is someone to truthfully look you right in the eyes, straight down to your soul, and say that they believe in you.

We are currently learning the books of the Bible in class. Each week I have assigned the students ten new books to memorize along with their weekly memory verse. In order to mildly shake up our somewhat monotonous routine, this week I wrote the new ten books onto the whiteboard in cursive. Every so often I have brought out handwriting worksheets to let the kids practice and they usually want to kill me for doing so; they think writing anything in English is already hard enough. However, I typically choose to counteract their complaints by explaining to them that learning new things may be challenging, but inevitably good for them.

One of my 4^th grade boys was almost in tears today as he looked up at my cursive handwriting on the whiteboard. “Cha, it is easy for you and very difficult for me!” he yelled out in desperation, hoping that I would change my mind over this assignment. The poor boy looked so hopelessly hopeless. I could not help but chuckle inside over his seemingly unnecessary tears, not to be condescending, but only because I know that he has some of the most beautiful handwriting in the class.

I knew he would continue to complain if I just ignored his appeals. So, I then got down to his level, kneeling down in front of his desk. I looked right into his teary, brown eyes and said, “You can do this, I know you can.” He quickly pleaded, “No Cha, I cannot at all!” I made a face of disbelief at him, and I think he understood that I was not going to change the assignment for him. I asked again, still kneeling down in front of him, to please try. I stayed there for a few minutes at his desk until he finally put his pencil to the paper and slowly wrote out….E….s….t…h….e….r. In between each letter he would look up at me; I am still really not sure as to why he did this other than to feel my support. He finished the last loop on the “r” and I gave him the biggest smile I could and said one word: perfect. He all of a sudden lit up with confidence; his previous tears now made his eyes sparkle.  “See, I knew you could do it,” I said.

I walked away from Serey Reach’s desk and watched him from mine as he quickly finished his assignment close to perfection. This was such a simple moment, and yet it burned so deep into my heart. I could not help but see myself in my student. So many times throughout the past five months I have found myself in tears, screaming and pleading for an easier assignment. I picture God up there, chuckling inside over MY seemingly unnecessary tears, not to be condescending, but because He knows I can do it. Just like my student, I am constantly in search and search and search for affirmation from every direction…and maybe that is selfish of me…but maybe it is also just human.

It is hard being here, I struggle…but today someone truthfully looked right into MY teary, brown eyes, straight into my soul, and said that they believed in me…and I felt like that was enough to let me know that God is not leaving me out to dry here in stifling Cambodia. He’s working away; He’s working through Alex’s and my own literal blood, sweat, and tears and in the end I’m thankful for my assignment because after all, learning and experiencing new things may be challenging but it is inevitably good for me.

For those of you who actually read this, I just want to say thank you. Thank you for your prayers and support because those things are what keep us going.

Much love from Cambodia.

-Amber

Pohnpei Musings

WWU's school newspaper, the Collegian, is running a feature next week on Student Missions.  We asked students to answer some FAQs about being an SM.  This response is from Tracy, who is currently teaching in Pohnpei.  

The Pohnpei missionaries: Tracy is in the purple shirt second from right.

 

1.  What has surprised you most about being a student missionary?
 

What I learn about my own cultured, while learning about theirs.

2. What is challenging about being a student missionary?

Everything! Grading, teaching, living!

3. What has helped you overcome these challenges?

I know we hear it all the time, but praying and reading my bible. But it is also absolutely necessary to talk to people more experienced then you as well!
 

4. Where have you seen God working in your experience there?
 

In my students, island family, the principle's family, the church and the other SMs!
 

5. Why did you want to be a student missionary?
 

Many reasons: mostly because I felt God had lead me to the point I was at, showing me that yes he did want me to go.
 

6. What do you miss the most about home?
 

Food, people and spending those quiet moments with my family.
 

7. What is the purpose of a student missionary, to you?
 

To share your experience of being with God.
 

8. Do you feel you have made a difference in the lives of those around you in your mission post? (For returned 

SMs, where do you see you made the greatest difference?)
 

Yes though some days it is hard to see how. Somehow God uses me though even through my imperfections.
 

9. Does the world still need student missionaries? If so, why?
 

Of Course! It is good to have younger people serving.

Shame On Me

Sarah Wart served as a Student Missionary in Comayagua, Honduras fall of 2011 to summer of 2012.

  

Yes, it is true. I have been very bad about posting these last few weeks. I guess not much has happened that is different from before. I returned back to Honduras after a week home with renewed hope for the second half of my 10 month stay. Honestly, I was glad to be back. I really do like Honduras...it's just teaching that sometimes makes me second guess my choice.

Naomi (my second grader) won first place at the 'festival de cancion"

School started back in full swing three weeks ago and we all plunged right back into the thick of it. The start of school brought with it stress, worry, and frustration, but also something new...confidence and even enjoyment mixed with a little humor. I can already tell that these last 5 months (almost 4 now) are going to go by so fast. We have already had another set of parent teacher meetings and a singing concert for the students.
I'm growing as a teacher. New ideas are always entering my mind. I try to find fun and easy ways in which to teach my students all about gravity, motion, the story of Noah and the Ark, and life skills like sharing, listening, and respecting people. I am starting to feel that these life skills are much more important than the topics at hand. I don't just want to leave my students with a little bit of knowledge to help them with their next year of school. No, I want to leave them with a new character, a better character, one that will improve their lives and, inadvertently, the lives of others.
I am trying to build deeper relationships with my students in 11th and 8th grade, as well as my 2nd graders, before my time here comes to an end. Having relationships with the students here helps me feel like I'm actually a part of something. Some days I lose sight of my purpose and have to really think and pray in order to get back on track. God is amazing though. He always brings little things to my attention that speak to me and remind me that I'm not only here for me; I'm here for them and for God. I hope to keep you better posted as the weeks become fewer in number. Sadly, my camera is acting up so I am relying on others for photos. Blessings.

Reposted from Sarah's blog,   http://wartster-in-honduras.blogspot.com/

It Just Doesn't Feel Right...

 

Tanzi is currently serving as a Student Missionary in Nairobi, Africa.  

It’s Christmas time and it doesn’t feel right. It doesn’t even seem like we should be near December at all. I wear short sleeves and flip flops, my watch tan is increasingly vibrant, and my family isn’t anywhere near. This summer seems to never end (this isn’t really a bad thing) and when I hear Christmas music my heart seems “two sizes too small”; I just can’t seem to muster up the festivity. When I see our homemade snowflakes in the windows they seem like they are leftover decorations from months ago that no one bothered to take down. Even the anticipation for Christmas break feels more like the cravings just before summer break starts.

Some have said that the holidays are one of the hardest times of the year for SMs. My stubborn side of me testifies that this is not true. I have an amazing support system back in the States and everyone here is exceptional. I have everything I really need and my life here is nearly like walking through the “wardrobe in the spar-ooom”. I know I’m not homesick, but I do miss some things. That’s allowed, right? I miss the freezing cold, breath-seeing nights when wearing scarves and gloves are a must, I miss the Christmas lights hung up everywhere and all the holiday decorations, I miss the crisp clean mornings and all the holiday festivities (tree-lightings, cookie bakings, Victorian Christmases, and even the sweaters), but most of all I miss venturing to see my family. Today when I went into town I heard Christmas music for the first time that I hadn’t actually turned on and I realized for a split second that it is actually Christmas time here in Kenya. The feeling was so uncomfortable and I quickly left Nakumatt. It didn’t seem right.

Maybe break will make things more right for me; I’m a little drained, especially since I’ve been teaching for four straight months. However, I love my kids so much and I know that in two days I will miss them dearly, but I’m ready for a break. Along with mentally being able to refresh over the holiday, there is the freedom that will come too. Freedom to make my own food, freedom to just walk into town and get up when I want, freedom to not spend my nights in the computer lab, and freedom to just do “something exciting I guess.” I need this break, but I hope that somehow it will start feeling more like Christmas. I know it won’t be the same by far, but I do have things to look forward to and I’m still having a blast soaking up Kenya.

Post Reprinted from Tanzi's blog,  http://tanzinkenya.tumblr.com/

Daniel

Katie is currently serving as an SM at Maxwell Adventist Academy in Nairobi, Kenya.

Meet Daniel, my second grade African Soul twin.

Alright, so I know we shouldn’t have favorites and I really do love all of my children, but I can’t lie, there is a special place in my heart for this kid.

Daniel is crazy, energetic, unfocused, talkative and a whole lot like what I imagine myself to have been at his age. I remember standing in my parent’s bathroom as a child practicing contorting my faces into all sorts of strange looks, thinking that if I didn’t do this my face would be stuck in one position forever. Not a day goes by where Daniel does not bust out one of his adorably ridiculous faces. Daniel is not in my homeroom, I only teach him Social Studies and math but those eighty minutes of joy a day are some of my favorites.

Last night, at the Christmas concert as the 2^nd-8^th graders got up to perform two songs, I made my way to the front row to take pictures. As I sat down, Daniel gave me a look that signaled a mix of terror and embarrassment as if he was thinking “NO! Put the camera down! Don’t do it!” as his eyes bugged out of his head. I lost it; I started laughing and did not stop until their two songs were over. Every time I looked at him during that performance it started all over again, he was trying so hard to hold it together and doing a much better job at it than me. I found him after the program and told him he did a good job and that he made me laugh and I couldn't stop, “I know” he said “I was afraid to laugh with you.”

This is the child who always somehow gets hit in the head at recess by a passing swing or trampled two seconds into running laps in PE, the one who cheers for pictures of bugs in his book and pretends to be snoring during Social Studies.

About a week ago, Daniel got detention two days in a row (sometimes he has a hard time focusing), for detention in the elementary they have to do all the after school chores, a very effective punishment. Well, on his second day I came in and saw him once again filing everyone’s papers and said “Daniel, why are you always in detention?”

 “I don’t know” he replied.

 “You don’t know? Well, are your parents happy about this?”

“I don’t tell them! They like to be happy.”

One of the classes I teach Daniel is math. When everyone else is busy at work on their homework, Daniel is still only half way through the subtraction problem on number one. I know he knows how to do the work but he is too busy singing and talking to himself that he just can’t get anywhere. Sometimes I have him come up to my desk and make him do a few so I can watch his steps…

“Alright Daniel what is the next step?”
“I add the ones, the 9 and the 7.”

“ok, and what does that equal?”

“6..”

I give him a knowing look and he makes a face.

“teen” he adds a few seconds later, grinning ear to ear knowing for a second I thought he got it wrong.

Anyone who knows Daniel would know that there is just something wonderful about him. His happiness is contagious. There have been days where I just wanted to do anything but explain to the second graders what the constitution is or force our way through another story problem. But then Daniel tells me that Mother Nature is George Washington’s wife, and all is right with the world.

As this year continues I have to remind myself to take a moment to smile, relax and enjoy these children and this job. I want to maintain or find some of Daniels joy and spunk, his uninhibited love for life.

 I always wondered if there would be kids who would just steal my heart, ones that I seriously considered putting in my suitcase to take home with me kinda kids. Turns out his name is Daniel and he has stolen my heart.   

Through Foggy Walls Into Sunshine

by Karalee Rhuman
Costa Rica

Where do I begin?

This week has been phenomenal, and I am SO grateful for such a blessed week.

There was only one time this week, that wasn’t so good, but because of that moment, my day and week was ultimately better. It was Thursday morning, I woke up and walked into our kitchen, hungry and in search of breakfast, but before I reached the door, I saw the evidence of another break in on the ground. Wrappers, banana peels, were in a heap in front of the half cracked open door. I walked inside and found all of our contents once nicely arranged on the small counter, in a disheveled mess on the floor. The lid to the sugar container had been opened, and the remaining contents spilled all over the ground. Our oatmeal, salt, pepper, cocoa, pumpkins, spices, plantains, were all on the floor bitten open and ruined. To say I was furious would be an understatement. Unsure of where to begin, I walked past the pile of food and began doing the dishes in the sink. Immediately after, Rachel showed up, followed by Bianca. The kids that arrive at the school half an hour early everyday decided to join us, in our 4 ft kitchen space. Their loud, annoying voices are not appreciated that early in the morning… especially on top of a morning like THAT. That is one horrible reason for living at the school, you can never just "get away" and have your own space. Kids follow you home.

We went to our teacher meeting at 7:45. Yet again (like every morning), we were interrupted by one of the kids, wanting to ask a not-important-could-definitely-wait- ten-minutes-question. But of course, no one here sees the same way I do, and an interruption routinely everyday in the middle of a conversation is not even given a second thought. I on the other hand, am completely sick of the disrespect shown by the students. It’s not that they’re intentionally trying to be disrespectful, it’s just that they are allowed to do the things they do, and it’s come to be all that they know. They just need a few more rules and boundaries to show the teachers the respect they deserve.

After our meeting, we began Bible. I just can’t do it. I can’t tolerate the wild chaos in the classroom like Rachel and Bianca can. They don’t threaten the kids, they don’t punish them, they just repeatedly ask the kids to get up off the floor, sit correctly in their seat, stop talking, keep their hands to themselves, etc. I can’t do that. That’s how the entire class period goes… everyday! I do not have the patience to tolerate that. I just can’t do it. Thankfully, my kindergarteners know I won’t put up with any of that. I put an end to that on the third day of teaching. My kindergarteners sit quietly in their seats like good children. I guess this observation has made me be thankful for where I got placed at the school. I am so glad I am teaching kindergarten, as much as I never thought I’d say that. The kindergarteners are my favorite. I have trained them to listen; to know that I don’t mess around.

To top off the bad morning, we hadn’t had our laundry done in 3 weeks, and I was wearing the same clothes over and over again. I was frustrated that we had been forgotten.

I let the kids play longer than usual because I just didn’t want to handle anything. Rachel came and knocked on our door and asked if I wanted tea. It was chilly outside, and tea sounded great, so she brought it to me moments later. I guess the warm liquid running down my throat not only warmed by hands and my body, but my spirits too, because shortly after a few sips, life started to look up and the sun outside began to shine.

Our craft for the day required that we go outside and collect branches from off the trees. So we set out to find some good ones. Next we went to the café to pop some popcorn. We played a few games with the popcorn, decorated our tree branches with popcorn, and then watched a movie and ate the remaining leftovers. Just watching the kiddos sit there inside the bottom shelf against the wall, so happy and carefree, melted my heart. I’m really starting to love these kids. I bet it was a sight to see, when their teacher climbed down to sit in the tiny shelf next to them and enjoy a good movie with some popcorn.

After the movie, the kids practiced writing the letter J, and we turned our focus to the word of the day, “jump”. We went outside and I tried to teach the kids jump rope. Nicole picked it up right away but Esteban had a hard time swinging the rope with the correct timing. “Jump, jump, jump…” I would repeat at the correct time. Apparently while we were practicing, my face had made a pretty interesting  look (maybe a face filled with intense concentration, and a little bit of fear from the fact that the rope could get yanked from Esteban’s hand at any minute), and Esteban immediately began giggling away. Pretty soon, Nicole began laughing as well, and before I knew it we were all giggling hysterically--Esteban and Nicole going as far as rolling on the ground, unable to control their laughter. The fact that they could not contain it made my laugh instinctive, and my heart just about tripled with joy and weight loss.

After lunch it was just Nicole and I (Esteban goes home for lunch, and sometimes he doesn’t come back). I like when it’s just us. I feel like its then that I can actually tell that she really likes me. She tries to speak to me about her life and she teaches me so many new words. She’s a good teacher. She’s more patient than the boys, and she’s good at speaking slowly and finding a way to explain. We crawled inside our makeshift fort constructed with a blanket covering the bottom shelf against the wall, and we watched our video. It was like one of those sweet moments, that you hope you never forget. Afterwards we played “Go Fish” and she practiced using her English, “Do you have…” and she’d name all the animals in English. I loved the fact that I’d taught her almost all that she knows. She knows SO much. I quizzed her with flashcards on English words afterwards, and she knew about half the stack! I still can’t even believe it! She’s getting so good. I’m so thankful for all that this opportunity is sharing with me.

Basically, this week is good, SO good. Life is better now than it has been in a REALLY long time. Or maybe I’m just more appreciative now than before.

I’m learning a lot, and one of the things I’ve learned is that everyone is running a race in life. Some people run it to win, some to race to the finish line with a decent time, some on a leisure walk, some so exhausted they can barely take another step in front of them, some completely at a stand still and some walking backwards. No matter where they are in the race, everyone’s bound to hit a wall. Maybe even multiple. I think I’m in a phase, a really long phase of wall hitting. It’s like it’s really just one long foggy wall, but I keep hitting smaller walls as well. I hit multiple walls last year, this summer at camp, trying to get here to Costa Rica, and so many little walls since I’ve been here. Even this week I hit a wall in that early morning on Thursday. Everyone hits walls occasionally. I know it’s not uncommon, although we’d really like to believe that to be a false statement. But more than anything, I hope this experience as a whole pulls me out of the biggest, foggy, wall, so I just have a few here and there. What I REALLY want more than anything, is to learn how to go back to being that carefree, joyful, smiling-without-a-single-reason-why- type of kid, that the kids I see everyday remind me of so much. I hope, more than anything that I can take THAT away from this experience. That at least if I don’t get through this foggy wall in the time that I want, I’ll be able to take away good reminders, and lessons, and habits, that will help me get through them when they hit. I hope I grow to become more and more like these kids… they are teaching me so much, in more ways than one. How will I ever be able to show them what they are beginning to mean to me?

Re-posted from Karalee's blog,  http://karaleeincostarica.blogspot.com/2012/11/through-foggy-walls-into-sunshine.html