Meet the Guardians

Thursday morning we went to the school in Burayu to meet the guardians! We were an hour late because of a miscommunication with our driver (yes, we have a driver.  And a maid and a nanny and a guard.  It’s weird being in a country to serve the people and hiring people to serve you at the same time, but it’s just a part of the culture that I haven’t gotten comfortable with yet.  The other day I was carrying in grocery bags, and EACH person tried to take the bags from me.  I wanted to be like “Homies, my sister and I used to have competitions to see who could fit the most grocery bags on her arms.  It’s okay”.  But that’s Level 4 of Amheric, and I’m still on Level 0).

ANYWHO. We pulled up to the school, and the kids in the school were in 4 lines singing a welcome song.  At the front of each line was a kid holding a sign that said “Welcome (insert name here)” and a rose for the 4 of us! I think it was the warmest welcome I’ve ever gotten.  We got out of the van, and kids just stretched out their hands trying to touch us.  I wanted to explain that I didn’t have any healing power, but again, that’s Level 4 Amheric. 

To be honest, Thursday was hard.  It probably had to do with the whole “sticking out like a sore thumb” thing, but I also was expecting to be able to communicate with the kids and guardians a little more than I was able to.  Part of me kind of feels like I’m intruding on Katie and Rudy’s ministry – they’ve done so much to establish relationships with these women and the staff, and sometimes I feel like I’m even an outsider on our team.  I know that’ll change and they’ve done a really good job at bringing us in, but it’s still tough.  I also like “learning the lay of the land” before I jump in and take leadership/give my opinions, but I feel pressed for time because we’re only here for 2 months.  By the time I get a complete understanding of what’s going on, it’s gonna be time to leave.  Thursday afternoon B and I had a neat conversation that centered around how neither of us knew why we were here, but it’s cool because both of us are confident that this is where God has put us and we just need to go with His flow instead of our own.

FRIDAY, on the other hand, was a lot better at the site.  It was probably because I had a better idea of what to expect, and the team was kind of discouraged from Thursday (Katie and Rudy had expected to see more progress, and B was still thinking about her purpose here) – I feel like sometimes my joy comes out when others don’t have it, because that’s when it’s most needed.  We got to the site and all of the Compassion kids were in Ambo for the day (the Compassion kids make up half the school), so school had been cancelled for the day and it was only guardians.  There were a lot more guardians, but I also got more of a chance to interact with them after we had been introduced and Katie had given her intro message.  One lady said she wanted to learn how to speak English, so I walked over to her after and told her (with lots of hand gestures) that I would teach her English if she would teach me Amheric.  I then learned all of the days of the week – it was so FUN being able to laugh with the women at my mispronunciation, and I feel like I established some kind of trust relationship with them where I showed them that I wanted to learn from them and get to know them.  I’m hoping this will help them receive me better when I have the chance to teach them.

Our team stayed up for a long time on Thursday night talking in circles about what we wanted the guardians to get out of the program, what was important to emphasize, and what our purpose here was.  It was hard because there are NO right answers and really good things come with bad things and vice versa.  Bottom line is, we can’t save the world, nor can we take away all the conflict or hurt that exists in it.  It’s also kind of freeing because it’s forcing us to seek the Lord and figure out what HIS vision for the program is.  I’m past the point of trying to figure out what I can do – my prayer this morning was that I would walk with Him and be more transformed to be like Christ, and let fruit come out of that.  Kind of cool. 

Biggest Frustration: The Internet.  I would much rather just not have internet for 2 months than for it to tease me with pseudo working and then crashing right as I get excited about using it.

Cool things: Seeing God answer my prayers for patience with the family. And becoming more vulnerable with each other as we get to know each other better.

Things I’m realizing: I would hate being famous.  You wouldn’t be able to walk ANYWHERE.

Prayer requests: That I would figure out how to encourage Rudy and Katie.  It’s been cool being on a team with older believers, but I’ve never been put in a place where I had to spiritually encourage older people.  My comfort zone = my age +/- 4 years and younger.  Greater than 5 years = intimidation.