Loving Life in Africa
The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save, He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17
God, thank you for taking great delight in me and rejoicing over me. There is nothing that compares to your love.
I recently made an amazing discovery. It is called Zam-Buk.
Last month I burned my arm while taking something out of the oven . It was a pretty gross burn and to avoid scaring I decided I should stop by the pharmacy for burn cream. Unfortunately it was after 5 so the pharmacy was closed. But the grocery store was still open so I quickly look to see if they had anything for burns. Grocery stores here in South Africa are very limited in the medicine stock so I wasn’t too hopefully. I quickly found the one little shelf of medicine and yep they had nothing for burns.
As I was heading out of the store one of the mangers stopped me and said so what don’t we have for you tonight. I said oh I was just looking for burn cream since the pharmacy is closed. He told me all I needed was Zam-Buk. It’s a green antiseptic cream that smells strongly of herbs and is commonly used as chap stick here. I just gave him a funny look and he said no really I use it everything…all my bug bites, burns, even to help heal my tattoo and it’s cheap, you can’t go wrong. So I decided I would give it a try. Every time I applied it to my burn it made me laugh. But I figured it wouldn’t hurt anything and would hopefully help. My burn is looking so good and almost gone. I’m not sure if it was the Zam-Buk or vitamin E I bought a few days later or the combo but I’m happy to say there will be no scaring!
While Brooke was here, anything either of us had any type of skin irritation the response was always Zam-Buk with a grin.
Have you ever seen the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding? Well, I have decided that Zam-Buk is the African Windex. The cure all for anything and everything!
Ministry is relationships and people.
How many times have I heard this? More the I can count and I know this and believe it with all my heart. I have said that exact thing to dozens of people.
Yet a few weeks ago I was discouraged and getting impatient with my current season of life; waiting and seeking the Lord for direction and the right “ministry” to come along side of and minister with in South Africa. A friend gently reminded me that God didn’t create me to be a ministry machine but to reflect His glory as I go about my day to day life. This was water to my soul.
As I sat with God, He once again reminded me that ministry is people. So as I wait on the Lord I am not waiting to minister. I have the opportunity to reflect God’s glory and make an impact so many times throughout the day as I come in contact and live in community with people.
This wasn’t a new revelation but a reminder to refocus and see people through the eyes of Christ so I can love them with the love of Christ.
My favorite season in sports is quickly approaching. I love March Madness. The last four years I have gotten up at 2AM to watch some of the games live and convince a few people to get up and watch the championship game and have a little party in the middle of the night. I always bust out imported American goodies to bribe them. Somehow watching sport events live (even if it means the middle of the night and less sleep) makes me feel a little more American and closer to home.
This year I don’t have access to the international ESPN channel here in SA. So I was quite bummed and was trying not to think about the games and was hoping this March would just pass by and I could kind of ignore the Madness and games I was missing out on.
Today I discovered a website that plays the games for free. So hopefully I will have a good enough internet connection and will be able to watch the Madness. I’m so excited even just about the possibility of getting to watch some games.
Go Blue Devils!
God loves you just the way you are, but He refuses to leave you that way. He wants you to be just like Jesus. Max Lucado
Thank you God for loving me just as I am but not just leaving me this way, I want to look and act more like Jesus today.
This last week the kids at the orphanage discovered that I can pop my gum. On Wednesday when I arrived one of the little guys noticed I had chappies (gum here in SA) so all five of the little ones crowded around, pointing to the gum and fingers starting crawling towards my mouth and getting to close for comfort so I popped my gum and they loved it. All of them screamed with surprise and excitement…then came “again, again, again Auntie Becca”. So the gum entertainment lasted until I had a sore jaw.
On Friday Gugu (which means treasure/blessing in Zulu) asked for more clicks with the chappies. Even after several pops; her eyes would widen big with excitement and she would cover her mouth with one hand, so cute! And then I would laugh because of the look on her face. So throughout the whole afternoon Gugu would come find me, sit on my lap for a few minutes and ask again Auntie Becca? And I would oblige and pop my gum. After several times of popping my gum the joy of it wore off for me. Late in the afternoon Gugu sat in my lap, asked for another gum pop and then with a big smile looked at me and said ok now laugh. All I could do was smile and laugh at such a cute kid and request…I hadn’t even noticed that I was laughing after popping my gum for them in the beginning and that I had stopped. The little things in life really do bring laughter.
One of my favorite songs is Show Me Your Glory by Third Day. This phrase has always struck a deep cord in my heart.
“When I climb down the mountain and get back to my life I won’t settle for ordinary things.”
The first time this song really spoke to my heart was when I was coming home from my first mission trip to South Africa in 2002. I didn’t want to settle for ordinary things, I determined in my heart not to settle for ordinary things. I didn’t just want my mission trip to be a spiritual mountain experience and settled back into normal life. I wanted to be forever changed.
Wither I’m climbing down a mountain or out of a valley my heart won’t settle for ordinary things. I know God has extraordinary things for me and I want them and won’t settle for less.
Last week my sister Brooke had to come South Africa to register for her PhD program. It was inconvenient that she had to travel so far just to register for her distant learning program but it was an awesome surprise for us. We got one last unexpected sister time before the baby comes. It is weird to think that next time I see her she will be a mom and our lives/sister time will never be the same. But at the same time I can’t wait for this little blessing to arrive and be part of the family.
We spent a few days on holiday in Durban area. It was so wonderful and refreshing to do nothing and just enjoying each other’s company and relaxing together. Here are some pictures for our vacation.
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