Vision Trip

When we started working with World Relief eight years ago in the area of microenterprise development (MED), we were pretty well aware that we were doing something that almost no one else in WR was doing. When we focused our efforts on the chicken project and then agriculture, the people within microfinance were not sure at all about working with us.  Thus began the story that has an exciting new beginning today. 

 After reasonable and moderate success in Mozambique, I was asked to oversee an agricultural program in Western Province, Zambia, now called ZambiaWorks.  Since 2007, we have been trying (and at times erring) to find innovative ways for small farmers to use what they know plus new ways of doing things, to earn income, where before their hard work only fed the family part of the time.  Today, that  organization works with more than 1,000 farmers and 4,000 borrowers, with plans for expansion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Treadle pump. One pumps and another waters.

 

 

 

 

 

One group of farmers is giving back to the community by constructing this school.

 

As some of my work load reduced in Mozambique, I was asked to start working with other WR countries in Africa.  After two years of visiting potential program sites, sitting on microfinance boards, and telling people about Zambia, five of the countries were ready to move from where they were to something new.  But still when I only told them about a new way of doing things, I got a lot of questions or puzzled looks.  Time for a vision trip.

 Going through the process of getting a trip like this approved, we identified 20 people or more people who might attend.  Potentially overwhelming.  In the end we had 12, plus myself and that nearly did in the restaurants and hotels we frequented.  More than once, it took in excess of two hours to prepare a meal for this crowd.  And what a lively crowd it was.

 We looked at more than 12 different projects in three days, drove more than 1,500 kilometers, with some individuals spending two overnights on an airplane.  In the end, we sat and talked first as small groups, then as a whole on what we had learned and how we might apply it in the various countries represented. 

Now for the first dividends.  One of my first E. Africa assignments was to visit an agriculture project that had loaned $30,000 in a pilot for agriculture.  More than 1/3 was eventually written off and much more expense was incurred managing the process.  Needless to say, there were a lot of  “lessons learned.”

 After the vision trip, I sat down with three of the trip participants, plus one more and asked the country director, “since we want to try and do an agriculture loan pilot again, what did you learn on the trip and let’s see how that can help us build a successful agriculture loan product.”  The result was amazing. 

 Suddenly I began to hear what I had been trying to communicate for two years coming out of the mouths of others.  In 2.5 hours of discussion, we had a guideline, a schedule of activities, a timeline of events and retroactive resolution from the board to run a pilot agriculture project as soon as possible.  One participant, who had never seen an ag loan product he liked, (to be fair, none of the group had), was nearly running circles around me with practical ideas as to how this could be done.  What a difference a trip and a team make.  There was a clear feeling in the room that this should work, what are we waiting for?

 It is not that the work will be without challenges.  After all, this is Africa.  But being Africa, there are also millions of small farmers who need the opportunity to do more than barely survive doing the only thing they know, agriculture.  They need a chance to feed their families, their communities. the continent and make a profit.  What a vision and what a blessing to be a part of it!

 

               Teaching WR Rwanda volunteers how to do a kitchen garden with the Farming God's Way method.

Kenya February 2013

Our WR agriculture program in Kenya is like a toddler taking its first steps on real earth.  Certainly not the first steps on manicured lawn or a sandy beach, but real, hot, windswept, rocky soil. 

We started in an area stricken by drought and famine, in September of 2012 after the long rains failed to come to Turkana in April and May.  People were truly desperate and malnutrition in children was double the normal rates.  Our goal was to keep people alive until we could begin teaching them to raise food for themselves.  We knew this would prove to be quite a challenge as these peoples have survived off the land as pastoralists, not farmers, for as long as anyone can remember.

When flying from Nairobi to Turkana, the all encompassing fertile fields of the Kenya highlands shift from continuous fields, to green mountains, to brown mountains to grey desert sands with little to no color variation, except for the green tree-lined traces of dry stream beds.  Evidence of people is hard to find except along the one river in the region.  Welcome to Turkana, we are here to do agriculture. 

This trip came about as part of a conservation agriculture conference in Arusha, Tanzania, put on by ECHO, out of Ft. Myers Florida.  They are a great organization, founded to help educate people like me on different options for helping people grow nutritious food in the places where they live.  That part was educational with great networking and new friendships established. 

On arrival back to Nairobi, I spent a day with our director J.P., driving out to Molo-Kurisol, where much of the violence and death occurred following the disputed presidential election in 2007.  WR is planning an agricultural and youth intervention to address the idleness and discontent among young men working on their parent’s farms.  My sense is that they are great young men, but frustrated by a lack of purpose and progress in their lives.  This land is rich and productive where minor improvements can make a big impact.

By the time I got home that night, my stomach was roaring and kept me up half the night, emptying itself with great energy.  No fun indeed and the thought of food was banished for 36 hours.  What a way to lose those extra Christmas pounds.  To top it off, after a series of miscues, I missed my flight to Turkana and was “forced” to rest for the entire 24 hours before catching the next one by the skin of my teeth.  I was literally the last person permitted on the plane.  (Actually, it was pure mercy that I was able to rest.)

Upon arriving in Turkana, we took off on a 5-hour, grueling trip through uncountable riverbeds, up the mountain and over paths that have never once in their existence seen anything you could call a road grader.  After 2.5 hours I called for a stretch break.  The mechanical stress points on my backside were burning, neck and shoulder aching and it felt like my head was on a swivel.   We arrived at 10:30 p.m. after meeting no cars after dark, ate supper and fell into a hot, restless sleep.  When the sun came up, I was not ready to get out of bed!  However, this being the third meal in 2.5 days, I needed to get something in my system for energy.

We spent the day visiting agricultural project locations.  Most were pretty sad and stressed by the lack of water, high heat, high wind and no mulch.  Caretaking of crops is difficult.  There is little natural ground cover, (except for the stones) and most of the greenery is thorn trees with tiny little leaves.  There were a few bright spots.  One was Pastor Peter whom I had met the year before.  He greeted me by first name like a long lost friend and enthusiastically showed me his “kitchen” garden.  The tomatoes were doing so well, they were selling more than $12 of produce per picking and were the talk of the town. 
 

He said, “I remember what you told me last year, that it was possible to grow vegetables here and look, we are doing it.”  (I was glad he reminded me because I didn’t remember saying it myself.)  He went on to say that he was using the money to send a young promising, but vulnerable young man to high school.  This boy was helping to carry water to the garden and helping to earn the money that would send him to school.  Joseph says he wants to become a doctor.  I encouraged him to study his sciences well and he would have many options to use what he will learn. 

In several areas we have put in deep wells or boreholes to provide the communities with water for the household, livestock and gardening.  They are just getting started and do not understand many things.  For example, they wanted another big water tank so the pump would produce more water.  It was a pleasure to meet with them and find them drinking clean water that was no longer available in the deep holes they used to dig in the river bed, due to the lack of the short season rains.  Without this water resource, they would be forced to move out of their community in search of enough water to survive until the next rains come. 

It is a long way to Turkana from anywhere and Turkana has a long way to go, but we have a foothold and intend to use it for the good of its unique people.  Pray for our small team as they work to bring great change and new things to an old culture.  May the ancient paths of agriculture be reestablished in this region. 

Chokwe Visits

WR chaplain John Gichinga, his wife, Noel and an Anglican minister, Elizabeth Kamau, visited WR Mozambique this week. We traveled to Chokwe last Thursday and yesterday. It was good to go see what is happening and also hard to see the conditions that many people still live with.

John Gichinga, Carol Nel of VAB, Elizabeth Kamau, Noel Gichinga, Sybil

The first day we stopped at Volta a Biblia and heard about the Bible school and what it has been like to have many people move onto their grounds for several weeks. Carol Nel told us that 105 people returned home yesterday and they have 40-45 people left. Their staff has done a wonderful job of cooking extra food and serving others. Sybil Baloyi is still there for a few days as she waits for the mud to dry in her house so she can clean it out. She hopes to open her preschool at the beginning of March.

From there we went to visit the WR driver, Sr. Calanga’s brother Eusebio and his family. Calanga had not had any news about them for a long time  and did not know where they were or if they had survived the floods. But he recently got news that they were back home. He purchased some supplies and we visited and shared with them. They ran from the floods in the middle of the night to a small hill not too far from their house. Then they waited at least one week until the waters receded enough to return home. I asked what they ate and Eusebio said they didn’t have regular meals but ate enough to survive. It was good to see someone who is almost back to normal. Their mud house wasn’t damaged too much although some things inside were ruined. They lost some crops and animals and are busy replanting and trying to survive on their small farm.
 

 

Along the road we saw these people trying to scrounge some edible food from bags that had been dumped by the stores because they had been in the flood water. This was very disturbing.
 

 

 

 

We also traveled closer to one of the dams where the roads were impassable and looked like this:



 

The asphalt looked it had been picked up and moved over to the side and the road foundation crumbled. There were some strong currents going through here!

 

Monday we visited the WR staff on their first day back to work. They were busy cleaning the training center and the kitchen. The rest of the office will be cleaned this week.


    John surveying the damage and mess in the office.

 

           

 

 

                      You can see how muddy the first water is!

The WR staff were subdued and discouraged as they have had so many losses. It was good to meet with the Spiritual Transformation leaders. Their prayer requests include to pray for their children and failies who have gone through a very rough time, to pray for the people in their groups so that they do not lose tehir faith, that God will give them the strength and means to return to their villages to begin a new year with their groups and that new people will also join.
 

Still smiling in spite of it all.

 

We had an excellent time of sharing with the larger WR Chokwe staff and prayed for each other. After a good meal for all we distributed some clothing and shoes that the WR Maputo staff and others donated. 

 

On the way home we went past the large accommodation camp that still has around 50,000 people. Some of them do not have homes to go back to, some go back to clean during the day but still spend nights here. Water, food and shelter is still a challenge.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support. There is a long way to go before life gets back to normal for these folks but God is faithful and He is helping them one step at a time. World Relief has given 10,000 water purification bottles for the camp and would now like to provide seeds for farmers to replant while the soil is still wet. Even though it is the rainy season, the rain can be very sporadic and planting now is their best hope. We don't normally ask for funds on this blog, but if you would like to help, see the link in the previous entry or go the www.worldrelief.org and Mozambique floods.  Thank you.

 

Wow

Wow, what a week it has been!  It feels like we have lived a month since Monday and the worst of what is happening, is not even happening to us personally.  However, the flood events in Chokwe and Gaza are greatly impacting our friends and WR family there. 

If Dr. Pieter, our Gaza director feels like Job, he has good reason.  On Monday, the farmer’s association fields where he has cultivated relationships and the agricultural project for over 10 years were destroyed by the flooding.  On Tuesday, he spent the day moving equipment and fertilizer to a safer location and began prepping the office for evacuation.  On Wednesday, the waters overwhelmed Chokwe, flooding first the office and then his home.  As the water came so quickly, the guards he was planning to leave at the office panicked, so he took them with him to high ground.  On Thursday, when he was able to get back to the office, he found everything had been stripped by looters.  Desks, tables, chairs, cabinets, safely stored electronics, kitchen equipment, freezer and fridge were all gone, with only a few pieces of paper remaining on the floor.  How many losses can one person endure?

Perhaps they took the stuff in  boats like this. That's all we can figure out as the water was still too deep to drive a truck in.

Dr. Pieter shared he was so discouraged.  Yes, he knew in his heart it was only stuff, but how devastating to lose everything and face the task of rebuilding.  The good news is that all our staff are safe and well.  Loss of life during the flood event was minimal.  More people have died since the flood waters have started receding.  Some of them are looters, falling through roofs or getting so drunk they have tripped in the street and drowned.  (How would you explain that to St. Peter, if indeed we have to do so?)

This is the first time we have personally been involved in formulating and coordinating an emergency response of this nature.  The most difficult thing is communication with the field.  Cell phone towers are out in Chokwe so if we need to talk to Pieter, it is only early or late when he’s not there.  How do you plan a realistic response without knowing numbers, places, exact needs or have a location to operate out of with staff on the ground?   The disaster response manager left five years ago and things have changed.  As you can imagine, it has been a steep learning curve for all of us. 

About six of the senior staff have banded together as a working group to try and address both ends of the situation.  Rachel is leading communications with the WR home office and the Church Partners.  (Check out her WR Mozambique facebook page creation.)  Jamene is looking at the finance side and signing the checks.  Margarida is attending the government disaster response meetings and bringing back (sometimes two day old) information (not her fault).  Steve is advising and suggesting options, still trying to support Nia, the country director, and the agriculture programs while helping Rachel where he can.  So, by Friday night we went home exhausted, a bit stressed out, waking up still tired on Saturday.  But we have so much to be thankful for – a clean, dry house with stuff we use and wear still in it and food in the cupboards. There are thousands of people in Gaza Province who cannot say that today whose houses look like this or who lived in a mud hut that has washed away.

WR is initially partnering with another Christian NGO to provide small bottles of chlorine to people in the camps and who are returning to Chokwe. This NGO has a system for distribution already in place and clean drinking water has been identified as a pressing need. As time moves on we will help people as they return to their homes and then we will need to rehabilitate the office. We will provide seeds for the villagers who lost their crops and also their food security. If you are interested in helping financially with this relief effort you can click here for more information.

River in the background, former tomato field in the front - Chinhangane village.


We have really appreciated the people who are praying and encouraging us and others here. It is at times like this that support like this makes such a difference. Thank you.

Flooding in Gaza Province

It is really a hopeless feeling, sitting at our office in Maputo and knowing that water has again quickly filled the town of Chokwe and people are sitting on rooftops waiting to be rescued. 

Tuesday of last week there was a large low pressure system that went through southern Mozambique into South Africa and even Zimbabwe.  Here in Maputo, we received 6 inches of rain in less than 5 hours that flooded streets and neighborhoods damaging houses and roads.  The news coverage was all about the local damage and not a whole lot more.  This picture is of a road by our office that has been under construction for the last 9 months. When the rains came it washed large sections away. One of our friends lives at the bottom of the hill and unfortunately a lot of this dirt/mud ended up in her house as well as her neighbors' houses. 

Four days later, the authorities who control the flood gates at Massingir dam, announced they would open three gates to reduce high water levels in the reservoir.  Last year when this happened, it wiped out two tomato fields of WR farmers, caused more than $45,000 in losses and delayed planting in other WR project areas.  If total agricultural losses were ever calculated, I don’t know that they were, but due to the sudden, unannounced opening of the dam, more than 90 irrigation pumps ended up under water, and this represents only the irrigated fields along the river. 

Because the announcement this week indicated only half the flood gates would be opened, there was hope the fields would not flood.  However, all the gates were opened and they resulted in fully flooded fields.

 

Based on news that more water was coming from the main river, Dr. Pieter, a WR director in Chokwe, spent the day yesterday getting supplies and pumps to high ground in and around Chokwe.  He then moved some equipment to higher elevations at the office and was standing guard to see what would happen.  Two of our drivers were assigned to drive to Chokwe and assist with evacuation of equipment, vehicles and people.  Before they could even get out of town, Pieter called to say the water had come in from the back side of the town, not even the river side, and had already reached window level at the office.  That was at 10 AM and the last communication we have heard from the team since. 

Rachel heard the TV news at noon reporting the road was already impassable at the town where the high water mark reached in 2000 and people are already on roof tops waiting for rescue.  Even if you have a vehicle, it will be extremely difficult to drive out to a dry place some 35 km distant as the road is elevated in spots above the flood plain, but now underwater.  One false move and you are underwater and who knows where the road might be undercut or washed away. 

Please pray for all those affected. I can only imagine what is left of a mud hut after a flood. Many people will be left with nothing, and the promise of income from their crops is also gone. Pray for WR as we respond to this crisis. Pray that people will stand firm in their faith in God even in adversity. Thank you.

Return to Maputo

As many of you know, we have returned to Maputo after eight months of scheduled R and R in Indiana on a “working” sabbatical.  We were able to spend a good amount of time with family, friends, local church and new acquaintances revitalizing ourselves and hopefully others for the months and years to come. 

We want to offer a special thank you to our sending church, Harvest Community of Goshen, Indiana for hosting and continuing to support us, to our families for giving so generously of their love, time, garden produce and internet access, to World Relief for allowing us to take the time away and to many other groups like Family Foundations International, Le Rucher and Women of the Harvest who also ministered to us along the way.

As we left Indiana, we were carrying more luggage than we have every carried.  This was partly because we had brought more to the U.S. because we were going to be spending both warm and cold months there and also because of things given to us for others and things we wanted to take back. 

We started praying over our luggage situation at least a week before we arrived at the South Bend airport, asking God to help us get all the bags through without any hassle, loss or theft.  We even shrink-wrapped the soft bags with zippers to help deter opening them while in the Jo’burg airport overnight.  Our first experience of grace was with Delta, whose website said they allowed three free bags per Medallion member and their traveling companion.  This is how we packed, but on arrival were informed that for flights to Southern Africa, only two free bags per person were allowed.  What to do, since the extra bags were to be charged at $200 each and the value of the items was not that amount.  After I turned to discuss with Rachel, the desk agent said, “it is OK, we will allow it this time.  Thus, our bags went all the way through to Maputo without extra charges.

While we were looking for the bags in Maputo, I noted from a distance, that most of our bags were no longer wrapped.  However, all the locks were still on them and upon opening, nothing was taken. 

Our other concern was clearing immigration without our actual residency cards.  We had left Mozambique before they were printed and only had a letter permitting us to be outside of the country for more than 90 days and a receipt.  The immigration guy processing our passports did not know what to make of the letter, but he asked his neighbor who was also busy processing passports and he just said, “It’s OK.”  When the first passport was stamped, I knew the other was through too.

Our last point of grace was with the inspecting officials as we left the Maputo baggage area.  They wanted us to open 3-4 bags for inspection.  Our biggest concern was “hungry” officials, looking for additional cash and with the amount of bags, they certainly could suspect that we were not going to use all of the OTC meds that had been given for the orphanage for ourselves.  Their main interest was to find out about the pressure cooker, whole grains (to assist with Steve’s wheat allergy) and the broken glass from a picture frame (our only real loss).

Our friend and part-time housekeeper, Maria, was at the house to open the gates and give us hugs and squeals of joy and laughter like only she can do.  Another friend had left a basket full of goodies so that we didn't have to go out and buy food immediately. It was a great welcome back.

We spent the afternoon and evening unpacking bags, the storage closet and kitchen so we could at least eat on Sunday.  It will probably take us a week to get back to where the house seems put back together and we are sleeping normally through the night. It's good to be back!

Happy New Year!

The last eight months have flown by and it is almost time to return to Mozambique.  Some people have asked us if we feel safe there.  I recently read a quote by Mozambican author Paulo Coelho who wrote, “A boat is safe in the harbor. But this is not the purpose of a boat.” Someone else said “The safest place to be is in the center of God’s will.”  Living in the U.S. during the Sandy Hook school shootings and the Colorado theater shooting among others makes us realize that the U.S. isn’t the safest place in the world either. But we will not let fear paralyze us or keep us from obeying God’s leading.  He is our strong tower and He will always be faithful.

When people ask if I am ready to return, my answer has been that I was looking forward to Christmas with the family and then we could go. We have had a wonderful time together and the first Christmas with a grandchild. Today we have had a beautiful snowfall. But as the temperatures lower, we are getting readier to return from the freezer to the frying pan! I heard from a friend in Moz that it was in the 90’s and 95% humidity while she was doing her Christmas baking. I have a feeling I won’t be using the oven for quite awhile.

Here’s another quote that challenges and encourages me from Nancy Frey who serves in West Africa:  “Living in West Africa requires losing our sense that we are entitled to efficiency. It means accepting that a certain level of physical discomfort is normal. Both of those are good things. I feel blessed to live and work in Burkina Faso. I believe that God has chosen me for this work not because I am noble, but because God loves me and wishes to bless me. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve.”

We will end with a quote by Bonnie L. Mohr on a plaque given to us: “Life if not a race – but indeed a journey. Be honest. Work hard. Be choosy. Say ‘thank you,’ ‘I love you,’ and ‘great job’ to someone each day. Go to church, take time for prayer. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh.  Let your handshake mean more than pen and paper. Love your life and what you’ve been given, it is not accidental – search for your purpose and do it as best you can. Dreaming does matter. It allows you to become that which you aspire to be. Laugh often. Appreciate the little things in life and enjoy them. Some of the best things really are free. Do not worry, less wrinkles are more becoming. Forgive, it frees the soul. Take time for yourself – plan for longevity. Recognize the special people you’ve been blessed to know. Live for today, enjoy the moment.”

God bless you in 2013, a year that will have challenges and joys and many opportunities to serve God wherever you are.

 

 

 

 

New Granddaughter!

Some exciting things have happened since we last posted. Steve traveled to Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo, Zambia for 3 1/2 weeks in September. Some of the highlights were stopping in Nairobi to review the grain amaranth pilot project in Turkana which has been successful, good microfinance board meetings, and seeing the growing program in Zambia along with the growing pains. It was interesting that Steve felt very comfortable in Africa and that he was back where he belongs.

The other big news is the arrival of our first grandchild! Sophia Elizabeth was born the 18th of October. She is small and beautiful. I had the privilege of being with her and her family for a few days. And of course every grandparent has to show pictures, so here are a few:

Where are Steve and Rachel?

Where are the Good's and what are they doing? Well, we are in Indiana most of the time, but have just returned from a trip to Colorado. And we are focusing more on "being" these days than "doing." It has been a good rest interspersed with helping to plan for the church teams that are still going to Mozambique and other occasional WR work.

In June we had a very good trip to Ohio to connect with folks from The Chapel as well as friends and family. After reading many books about Malabar Farms, it was a highlight to be there and see the farm. It is in central Ohio, a beautiful area!

Steve enjoyed connecting with an organic farmer on the way to Colorado as well as an amaranth grower. Amaranth is an ancient grain that is highly nutritious and it has been an interest to Steve since 2004 when our daughter's friend's grandpa introduced us to it. Steve was recently instrumental in getting it planted in Turkana, a drought-stricken area in Kenya. We just got a report from them that it is growing well and has been a successful project.

I attended a Women of the Harvest retreat which was an excellent time of being refreshed and taught from the Word, getting to know the people in my small group and being pampered. They did a good job of that and we could sign up for a pedicure, massage, haircut, color analysis, and they even gave us a choice of free clothes and books.

Here is the pedicure room. It felt more like foot-washing as the volunteers prayed for each person at the end. We were very blessed.



These are some pictures of our travels in Colorado. We went to Estes Park, a family reunion, the Royal Gorge and around Pueblo. God's creation is amazing!








Joanna had the idea of making giant Dutch Blitz cards to play at reunion. It took us more than a day to make them, but it was worth it and was a lot of fun! We played in a gym. We had teams that took turn running to the middle or turning the cards over.

Debrief Learnings

While we were on our debrief we were first asked to create a timeline and we could choose the length of it to be debriefed on. We were asked to identify the following areas: change, concerns, criticisms, conflicts and crises. When they are on a timeline one can identify if there has been too much of one or if they have been too intense or too frequent. We needed to process what the effect of these has been.

Then we were to identify the losses connected to these areas. There are primary losses that are physical or material. There are also secondary losses that have a deeper impact. You can have your computer stolen which is a primary loss, but the secondary loss may be a loss of security and trust, the loss of all your documents, etc. Satan’s schemes are to rob us physically, emotionally and spiritually, but Jesus comes to give us life abundant.

Erik Spruyt, the director at Le Rucher, shared his concept of loss:
• Every loss creates its own set of needs.
• Recovery is complete when all loss specific needs have been met again.
• Traumatic loss may carry damage, may be irreversible, may be overwhelming – loss of control
• Loss creates a break in life: a before and after
• All loss is associated with grief
• Loss adjustment is similar to a grieving process
• Biblical view on loss, death and dying; How does Jesus handle the situation around the death of Lazarus?

Pain that we experience needs to be healed, not forgiven. Can we trust Jesus with our pain? He wants to be our pain-bearer. When there is pain in our hearts there is no room for us to forgive ourselves or others. We must allow Jesus to take the pain so we have the freedom to forgive. Is. 53:4 He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. By His stripes we are healed. v. 6 Many times we don’t know how to release our pain and use coping mechanisms to deal with it such as alcohol, TV, illicit sex, shopping, overeating, manipulation, etc. Jesus is honored when we release our pain to him and receive His healing. He will give us beauty instead of ashes, joy instead of mourning and praise instead of despair. Those who have grieved and mourned will be strong oaks for His own glory. (Lk. 18:31-33)

The story was told of a Rwandan man whose home was burned and his sons killed by his neighbors during the genocide. He was angry and bitter for years and had severe physical side effects. Finally he allowed Jesus to take his pain. He has healed inside and out and able to forgive his neighbors and be reconciled to them. Now they work together in a reconciliation ministry.

The next day we looked at the stages of grief:
I. Shock, numbness, denial, emotional outbursts
II. Anger, fear, searchings, disorganization, panic
III. Shame, loneliness, guilt, isolation, depression, “re-entry” troubles
IV. Celebrant, helping others, affirmation, hope, new patterns and habits, new strengths, new relationships

These were positioned around a big U with I and II on one side and III and IV on the other. The verse in the middle is Ps 23:4 – “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me…” If we try to jump over the top of the U and not go through the grieving process it is like burying something that is still alive. When we do that, it will always pop up in some way.

We looked at the story of the road to Emmaus. Jesus walked and talked with the men but they were kept from recognizing him. Sometimes God hides from us but later he opens our eyes. He always has a purpose for this even though we may not understand when we are going through it. As they arrived in the village Jesus acted as if he were going farther. They urged him strongly to stay and He did. Jesus always waits to be invited. He will not force his healing or himself on us. He wants us to ask.

I hope some of these things are helpful to you as they were to us. It was a wonderful gift to be able to express ourselves to our debriefers and be listened to for four days. The setting was beautiful and restful and just what we needed at the beginning of our leave.

We've Been on the Move

I can see that a lot has happened since we last wrote.

In early May I trained someone from Ohio who came with her husband to take over my church partner responsibilities. They really have servant hearts and were not afraid to tackle home jobs and work in the kitchen. They were a blessing!

Steve worked hard at getting his responsibilities handed off - especially with the coconut oil business. He had so much going through his head that he would wake up at 4 and not be able to sleep, so he'd get up.

A friend is renting our house while we are gone. This meant that what didn't go in a suitcase was packed away in a large closet so that she would have empty drawers and closets. It was almost like packing to move!

At work they gave us a farewell with a nice meal on the roof patio, speeches and all. It was very touching. One co-worker said that we are like mom and dad to them.



Our first stop was Geneva where we spent the day with our daughter's friend. We walked around the city a bit and enjoyed the beauty and the company. Then we were off to Le Rucher for a debrief retreat just across the border in France. The scenery was breathtaking and the peaceful rural setting was just what our tired bodies needed.


Mt Blanc was 50 miles from the front door.





















We had a good time as a group and our debriefers were great. Sarah Lanier, author of "Foreign to Familiar" was one of the debriefers. It was great to meet her after enjoying her book and recommending it to many.


There was beauty all around us. I was even impressed with the birdsong! It was just what we needed.


Our next stop was Washington DC for our son-in-law's graduation from Georgetown. Here he is with his PhD diploma in economics and it's in Latin! Thankfully they gave him a translation.


We went out on the town to the new Martin Luther King memorial, then walked through the FDR Memorial and went to the Jefferson Memorial as well. Who knows when we'll be back in DC. It's been a fun place to visit.














We even got in a baseball game in the evening. The Nationals have become Janelle's favorite team and she will miss them when they move. I was impressed with the fun atmosphere and intermingling of fans. It was nothing like the soccer game in Brazil with a police force between the fans and German Shepherds lining the edges of the field!

We had a couple of intense days at WR in Baltimore. But we also had fun in the evenings and even got to see Ellen, a friend who was in our small group in Mozambique. She took us to a delightful Afghani restaurant.


And now we are home and enjoying every minute of reconnecting with friends and family and just resting for awhile. We will have more activity in the middle of the month but for now it's great to just be.