On Something Different

Zambia is a small country in the southern middle region of a very large continent named Africa.  Zambia is one of the few democracies in Africa.  They are a third world country, but one of the most stable countries in Africa.  Zambia is a horseshoe shaped country that is broken up into the northern province, eastern province, western province, an southern province.

The eastern province is at the center of the horseshoe.  In the eastern province is the capital city of Zambia:  Lusaka.  This is also the largest city in Zambia.  With a population of about one point five million, it is much smaller than our home city of Phoenix.  Lusaka is a financially stable city with a lot of the new world's technology and mind set.  Lusaka is not known for tourism, but Zambia does have one of the world's most amazing wonders of the world.


About a six hour drive down to the southern province is a small city named Livingstone.  The city of Livingstone is named after the world famous traveler and explore David Livingstone.  David Livingstone is the most famous explorer in Africa.  From England, Livingstone was charting out new ground for his country.  He walked from the eastern coast and the Indian Ocean all through Africa to the west coast and the Atlantic Ocean.  On this journey, David Livingstone founded the city of Livingstone and discovered one of the world's most astonishing marvels.

On one of his explorations, David Livingstone discovered the beautifully powerful Victoria Falls.  He named them after Queen Victoria who was Queen of England at that time in history.  In the native language of Tonga, they refer to the falls as Mosi-oa-Tunya which means the smoke that thunders.  Before you can even visibly see the falls, you can see a cloud of mist that seems to just rise from the ground.  

Mosi-oa-Tunya rises over 300 feet from the bottom river (the Zambezi) and stretches over a mile and a half wide.  After the initial sight of the falls from an ariel view, you can see the river winding in and out like a snake.  For miles it winds around and has level six rapids which are the highest level and most dangerous rapids in the world.  This all makes Mosi-oa-Tunya one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

Zambia, a third world African nation that is covered in poverty much like every other African country, is dirty like everywhere else, and is even smelly like every other country.  But Zambia is different, Lusaka is different, Livingstone is different, and Mosi-oa-Tunya is like no other.  This, this place, is my home and there will always be a piece of me still here.  Mosi-oa-Tunya, Livingstone, southern province, Zambia, Africa, Southern Hemisphere, Earth, the Milkyway galaxy, the Universe, the Mind of God.

~ Jaden Jenkins, class of 2013


[Photos c/o Eric McArthur]

Bittersweet Thoughts about a Sweet Experience

Friday Night Worship--March 29, 2013

After a long day of excitement at Victoria Falls, the Mission Team members were pretty tired.  Chaplain Rob's worship focused on the emotions they were experiencing as the trip was coming to a close.  "Trips like this come to an end inevitably," he said.  "You must miss your families.  It's kind of different for us.  I don't know that we feel quite like that about Zambia.  But we will miss what we've done here and who we've done it with.  It's been just about two weeks that hopefully are the beginning of something different in your life.  Ellen White talks about it . . . how the disciples reviewed different stories after Jesus died and then left them.  It's kind of bitter sweet.

"I want to add some sweetness to that.  The Bible tells us, 'Lo I am with you always even unto the ends of the earth.' Maybe this is the end of our mission trip in a few hours, but this should be the beginning of a lifetime of service.  A life worth living.  A life that's fun and enjoyable and peaceful.  Some of the most peaceful moments were just being here working with you guys.  A life with Jesus can be peaceful and enjoyable.  Think about it as a turning point to a new beginning in your life.  The people here need what you have here.  Jesus died and rose from the grave and it was the beginning.  Changed the world."

Cool Experiences

Alejandra/Narce--bungee jumping

Alex--someone in town asked me if I was SDA.  Said he had seen me hanging around with kids at the Maramba Church

Jaden--I was desperately trying to find soccer jersies and couldn't find them.  Then I came to a third place and there were a bunch of them.

Mrs. Maloon--last night during worship I had a long heart-to-heart talk with one of the girls who works here.  We had a great opportunity to share.  We prayed together.

Jacob--I got my wallet back.  It was an answer to prayer.  I'm really happy about that.

Chaplain Rob--We saw an awesome force of nature.  We got here at at prime time for the force of water to show itself

Ms. Aastrup--I'm really proud of our kids.  They have been so good--haven't complained much, have done what they needed and what they were asked to do.  It's been a blessing to spend this time with them.

Mrs. Pearson--I loved all the cool rainbows...especially the full circle one

Johann--I got to talk with some of the Zambian soldiers (Ms. Aastrup did too)

Jaden--I enjoyed the safari yesterday.   Had the best jeep people

Grant--the baboons were really funny

Eric--it's kind of sad because we've met so many nice new people on this trip.  We created this mission trip family and I'm sad it's ending

Cook Christi--this morning when we were doing all the money changing...you are only allowed to change $1000 and he let me change $2000 and wrote a receipt for $1000 and said "You'd do the same for me in your country."

Chaplain Rob--there's a lot of that in this country.  It's all about community.

Dr. Muncy--on the combo event today with the lions, we actually got to walk the lionesses down these trails with no leashes.  We could hold on to their tails and follow them wherever they would go.  It reminded me of what heaven will be like.

Flexibility Awards

Jaden--Christi--because she did a lot to make it happen for me to get my jersies; Mr. Maloon because I could only go because of him; Robbie because he didn't let it bother him

Eric--got bitten by a lion cub

Narce--Chaplain Rob, Mr. Maloon, Ms. Aastrup and everyone who did something to help me go bungee jumping

Jacob--Mr. Maloon and Ms. Aastrup the way they helped my sister and me out

Mr. Maloon--Cook Christi

Alex--Pastor Ralph

Nightly Reading:  Matthew 5:13-16

[Photos c/o Eric McArthur from his helicopter ride over the Zambezi River and Victoria Falls.  He went with Keaton, the Warrens, and the Maloons.]

Walls of Protection

Friday Morning worship--March 29, 2013

Pastor Jay opened the Friday worship with a question:  "How many of you were at the construction site and saw the Morada family making that wall?  The whole family was working at the one spot, each one doing their part."  He went on with a Bible story:

"There's a similar story in Nehemiah where Nebuchadnezzer had blasted down the walls and they were going home to rebuild.  Chapter 3 there's a whole list of people who were working on the walls.  There was a man and all of his daughters working.  That was different enough to list the fact that his daughters were working.  The city walls had been pushed over and each family took a section of the wall to rebuild.  It's kind of interesting because when you go in the OT and look at why the wall was broken down in the first place, you see that it was because of the breakdown of the family in the first place.  When society is going south, it's because families are going south.  When the family broke down that's when the enemies could break down the wall.  But the families worked together and were able to rebuild the walls.

"When you have a strong Christian Jesus-loving family, then you are a building block in the walls of society.  Some walls are good.  But there are also bad walls--like the wall of separation that Jesus broke down.  In Jerusalem there was a wall in the sanctuary and a foreigner could not cross it for fear of your life.  Archeologists have found the plaque that warned people not to cross the walls.  That's why in Galatians Pauls says good news:  God has broken own the wall of separation.

"In the next several years when you get married, you are going to need to build a wall around your family.  You will have gates, and choices about what you will allow to affect your family.  Keep out bad and let in good.  Here we are...a little family.  We have built some walls.  Those are good walls.  Those are walls that will keep people in a relationship with Jesus for years to come and surround us as a family of God.

"There are bad walls that make us feel like we're better than anyone else, then there's the good kind of wall that keeps the devil out and will keep us safe and strong.  Be building those walls in your own life so that when you are married and have children you can build the good walls and tear down the bad ones.

Let's work together in rebuilding the walls--the walls of protection."

We then sang the "Maranatha Song" before going on our way to work for the day:

"Good Morning, it's God's morning whether it's sunny or gray

Good Morning, it's God's morning, I hope you have a wonderful day."

 

God Encounters in Africa

Maranatha's director of the Southern/Central Africa projects, David Woods, visited with the TAA Mission team on Wednesday evening.  He and his family met with us at the construction site earlier in the day and then came to Kaazmein Lodge in the evening for worship.  [In a strange side-note for me, it turns out that he and I were in elementary school together a number of years (decades?!) ago.  My dad was our principal and his dad was my 5th grade teacher.  We have not seen each other since.]  After the usual announcements, Mr. Woods shared some information and a few stories of God's blessings in Africa:

"The "Volunteer" component of our name--you are at the heart of that.  We are excited to have volunteers like you in our territory (Malaui and Mozambique).  I wanted to give you the big picture of what we're up to here:  we are trying to finish the gospel here.  This is the largest union in the SDA church in terms of membership.  839,000 members in the Zambia Union.  3 million SDAs in Zambia and only 13 million in the country.  The Church is growing fast here.  We're not doing anything special, but this is a Christian nation. And everybody is an evangelist.

"There are 3500 churches to be built here.  There are only a handful of schools right now.  We are to build more.  The work is more than we can manage and we have no money, but we move forward anyway by God's grace.  There are 27,000 Adventists in this town with no secondary school right now.  The project that you are working on now is going to be a great blessing.

"Two years ago some friends of ours who are water specialists in northern California were invited to spend the night with us. . ."  Mr. Woods then told the story about some thieves who broke into their house...The didn't know what else to do, so they said, "Let's pray."  Out loud they called on Jesus.  Immediately the guys turned and ran.  They all just fled.  Disappeared.  We couldn't believe they had gone instantly.  Just like that.  Whatever they saw, it scared them.  There were eight of them all told.  No one was hurt, no one got the family."

Another time they had a student missionary come over.  "He was doing videography.  His car didn't start so I drove to where he was.  The car was dead.  So I started towing the car.  We entered a roundabout.  I saw a car coming down a hill and it goes right between the car and the towed car.  Two things--the car went right over the tow rope.  That's a miracle.  The fact that the missionary could tow behind me for 8 kilometers with his steering wheel locked.  It was pretty cool that the Lord made that happen."

A kid came to live with them.  "He laid his sleeping bag under a one-day church and slept all night.  He woke up and saw a cobra curled up beside him.  God protected him all night long.

"God is doing cool things with you.  You can't come to Africa just once.  You're going to have to come back."

Cool Stories

Chaplain Rob--saw my friend Joseph every day at the meeting since I invited him

Brooke--Narce and I were sitting around at the job site, taking a break.  This guy Hillary came up and I was asking about his family.  He was telling me how he had become a Maranatha worker.  He's been working for four years.  He was laid off from work and his friend called and said M. was coming into the area.  He wasn't an Adventist and didn't know anything about M. but he came to work and got interested and has decided to get baptized.  Just by him being able to work with M. people he got closer to God.

Jaden--I felt honored to be the one to put the paper in the wall.

Chaplain Rob--The leadership team was trying to figure out a way to be a permanent part of something.

Alex--we haven't given much thought about our Lusaka-Livingstone trip--how we got through that trip.  We should have given thanks to God for the safe trip.

Miss Christi--seeing that school this afternoon--so awesome about the project.  Talked with two guys who said "I'm going to teach there one day."  The other said "I'm going to school there some day."  We've been making dreams this week.  We have changed futures for generations just for the time that we've been here.

Chaplain Rob--the drivers are so thankful for schools that are built.  It means the world to them.  Thank you for building our community.

Miss Christi--Christopher said "You are the hands of God to Zambia."  He cannot express his thanks enough.  This is God's work.  He loves Adventism.

Mrs. Maloon--I was trying out my Tonga with some of the kitchen guys.  Talked with the cook.  He had been an Adventist but had left the church for Pentacostal but was going to come back.  ASked for a Bible.  Pastor Jay is going to get one for him.  He's so grateful for that.

Mr. Maloon--community is big for them and so are people.  We think "they are so happy with so little."  But that's not really it.  It's a different paradigm.  They aren't happy with little, they just have different priorities.  They love us.  "I missed you."

Pastor Ralph--I shared the solar powered box that has the whole Bible on it.  I brought two with me.

Chaplain Rob--Bibles are coveted.  I gave my Bible away last night.  I asked the guy what he read:  Revelation 13.

Eric--at the beginning of this week at the construction site I was talking with a kid.  He was wanting to know more about God.  Wanted the Great Controversy or something like that.  Two days later I went back.  I didn't have any of the books, but I prayed about it and Mario gave me two and I gave them to him and he was so happy.  He has a big family and he will share it with them.

Mr. Maloon--The Simonga Village visit--gave 4 Bibles away.  Gave one to a girl who knew Bible verses, was going to share it with her family.

Pastor Ralph--4 little boys wanted a Bible.  Lots of people  want Bibles.  They are memorizing verses, but they don't have their own Bibles.

Chaplain Rob--helped Eugene find Ellen White writings on his phone.  Now he can download her

books for free!

Jaden--it was kind of cool.  Kevvy at the work site.  All week long we've been talking about the evangelism meetings and he was there tonight.

Jaanai--a little girl came up today and asked me if I wanted to be her best friend.  She gave me a note and told me she loved me.  She was an orphan.  I wanted to cry.

Flexibility Award

Miss Christi--whole entire kitchen crew today was excellent.  Lots of kudos

Alex--Mrs. Maloon--organizing the worship team for the evangelism

Mrs. Pearson--Eric...helped lifting buckets at the work site.  And he didn't complain all day and he had a smile on his face.

Rebeca--for Leah and Macy--always helping out so cheerfully

Mr. Maloon--Dorcas Award has to go to Marilyn for giving her shoes away today.

What's Good?

"What's good, Austin?"  It was just a casual throwaway greeting, but it struck a chord when I heard it earlier this week.  What a game-changer that question was!  I don't know what it did for Austin (one of our bus drivers), but I started thinking of all the things that were good in our life right now.  I thought of  the opportunity of a lifetime we all were experiencing on this trip.  I thought of the lives that are being changed--Thunderbird as well as Livingstone people.  I thought of the lessons being learned about God, about culture, about friendship.  I thought about the beauty we have been surrounded with, day and night.  I thought of how each team member is being stretched beyond their comfort point, a little more each day.  I thought of the way God has led, both in our coming to Zambia, and in our experiencing it, hour by hour.

What's good?  Such an excellent question!  I wondered what Austin would have said if he had answered the question literally instead of casually.  Would he have said that the TAA Mission Team was something good in his life?  Would he have seen and understood what it meant for us to be there in his country, his town?

I think it behooves us as Christians to consider the good in our lives consistently.  I think our lives would be much better, much happier if we were focused on the good rather than what's not.  So...what's good this day (Thursday)?  The Chobe National Park safari, that's what.  God, that's Who.  Put the two together and you have a pretty amazing day.

It began early, with a trip to the border of Zambia and Botswana via bus and boat.  We crossed the Zambezi/Chobe Rivers at a point where they meet, bringing four countries together (Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Namibia)--the only place in the world like that.  From there, we went by open jeep-like vehicles to a beautiful resort where we boarded a river boat and moved slowly down the river, getting up-close views of elephants, hippos, and a wide variety of shore birds.

We made our way back to the resort for a delicious lunch and then took the safari jeeps out through the park to observe the land animals and various birds.  We saw dozens of elephants (there are 80-120,000 in the park), impala, kudus, a leopard, a giraffe, and more.  It was an amazing day.  I posted before that there was an incident with an elephant.  Here is the story in the words of Ward Pearson, one of the passengers in the jeep:

"What an awesome day we had today!  We saw the splendor of our God and what neat things He's made.  Seeing it all was a new reminder of what He's created for us to enjoy but also as a reminder that man maybe shouldn't get too close.

"At the very end of our safari, we were almost out of the park.  We encountered a bull elephant that was not pleased to see us.  Another elephant passed across the road and he turned and huffed at another jeep that was coming the other direction and then crossed in front of us into the bush.  Our guide took us a little bit closer to him and then he kind of came back at us so we backed off a little, but in the next 10-15 seconds it became very clear that he was not happy and he started coming through the brush at us.  We all heard it.  His ears came out and he trumpeted and snorted at us.  

At that point I knew this was not the place to be then.  Just as was getting serious, our land cruiser wouldn't start.  We were on an incline and our jeep wouldn't start so we coasted back a bit and the elephant kept coming on steady at us.  It was at that point, at least for me, we knew it was not a good situation.  We were in a vehicle that would not cooperate.  With an elephant that did not want us near him.  When the jeep finally started, it was flooded and blowing back smoke.  Everyone on the elephant sie took off their seat belts, getting ready to run out the other side.  It was about 30 feet from us.  At that point, we were frightened.  There were a lot of prayers going up.  I believe with all my heart that there were angels there keeping that elephant where it was.  If he had charged us, he could have flipped our land rover just like that.  As he was becoming more and more aggressive, he snapped a tree like it was a tooth pick.

Our angels were protecting us and kept a scary situation from being a tragic situation.  We have no idea, but one day, we will be able to ask our guardian angel in heaven to tell us all about it.  So I am here to praise God today.  We had a wonderful day.  We were in a park, but a wild park.  That was their domain, not ours.  We were helpless.  We couldn't go back, and when we finally did, it wasn't very fast.  We finally got back about a quarter of a mile and he finally quit pursuing us.  We were going to try to sneak by him and go forward.  And he came towards us, so we had to keep backing up until we came to a "Y" in the road and took a side road to get way from him, and then that elephant came over the rise and saw us and came running after us.  had he come running at us like that when we were closer, we would have been in serious trouble.  I firmly believe the angels were holding him there and giving us a story to tell and giving us a new respect for creatures in nature.

Nightly Bible Reading--Isaiah 6

Also--read Psalm 91 from The Message Bible.  You will see a direct correlation between that chapter and our experience today . . .

Song of Africa

[Good Morning!  We are back in Arizona, safe and sound . . . and completely different people from the ones who left here 2 weeks ago yesterday.  I've not been able to post much in the past few days, but I promise I will catch you up over this week, so keep checking back.  I wrote this piece on Sabbath evening but the internet would not let me post it.  Out of habit, I am posting first thing after breakfast, but will have to update with pictures later this evening.]

“If I know a song of Africa, of the giraffe and the African new moon lying on her back, of the plows in the fields and the sweaty faces of the coffee pickers, does Africa know a song of me? Will the air over the plain quiver with a color that I have had on, or the children invent a game in which my name is, or the full moon throw a shadow over the gravel of the drive that was like me, or will the eagles of the Ngong Hills look out for me?”

I love this quote from Isak Dinesen’s Out of Africa.  I read the book years ago and fell in love with Africa from this description.  I wanted to know a song of Africa, of the giraffe and the African moon.  Of the plows in the fields and the sweaty faces.  I wanted the air over the plain to quiver with a color that I had on and for the children to invent a game with my name in it.  I wanted to see the full moon throw a shadow over the path that was like me, and for the eagles to look out for me.  I wanted to make a difference in such a way that even the land would know me and what I believed . . . or more to the point, in Whom I believed.

Tonight, I can say I know a song of Africa.  I have seen the giraffe and the plows in the fields and the sweaty faces of the brick layers and corn pickers and path sweepers.  I have seen and felt the effects of the air blowing over the plain and the Falls and heard the children’s inventive games with someone’s name in them, if not mine.  The full moon has thrown a shadow over the dirt path that was like me, and I hope the eagles of Zambia and Botswana are looking out for me.  I know a song of Africa.

But if I know a song of Africa, of the elephants and the zebras, of the children singing about Jesus, of the villages and churches, of the taxi drivers and bus drivers, does Africa know a song of me?  That is the real question.  What have I done to make Africa remember me the way I will remember Africa?  Who did I talk with, listen to, share with in such a way that they will miss me when I’m gone?  And who will know more about Jesus because our paths crossed one week in March 2013 under the hot African sun?

After church this afternoon, a woman came up to me and said she had not seen me at the church before.  “I’ve missed you,” she said.  I told her my role on this trip, to step back and observe, to listen to what others are saying and doing and to write their stories so others will know what we did here this week.  She said she would look for me at the afternoon meeting and I said I’d do the same.  As chance would have it (or maybe not), we did see each other again, after the last meeting.  She came and found me on the bus.  I told her I loved her music (she had sung in one of the choirs that performed in the afternoon) and she said “I will miss you.”  We said we would pray for each other and would see each other in heaven some day.

“I will miss you.”  That’s a concept I am unfamiliar with coming from a stranger, and yet one that has touched my heart here.  This woman, a stranger to me until today, told me that she had missed seeing me earlier.  At first I puzzled over what she meant, but after considering it a few moments, I realized that it was true.  We had missed an opportunity to get to know each other.  And yet I know I won’t forget her.  I have missed her.  But we will see each other again, most likely not on this earth but in a better place where there will be no missing each other.  I know a song of Africa.  Does Africa know a song of me?

A Christlike Attitude

Continuing his series of worship talks based in Philippians, Pastor Jay focused on Philippians 2:5 for his Wednesday morning meditation.  The King James Version reads, “Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus.  The New Century Version says, ^5 “In your lives you must think and act like Christ Jesus.”  In Spanish it says “let your attitude be like Christ's.”

“What does this mean? Pastor Jay asked.  “It basically means you need to think in the way that Christ thinks. What does a Christian look like?  Should you be able to see a Christian?  When it says “let this mind be in you,” Paul is trying to help us understand what a Christian looks like, what he does, how he acts.  In your lives you must think and act like Jesus--

So, how does Jesus think and act?  Don't be interested in your own life, look out for the good of others.  A Christian is someone who looks out for the good of others—one who serves others not just themselves.

“When you get back to the states, it's going to be a shock.  You're going to walk in and the music and the media and the materialism is going to be shocking.  We've lived kind of simply here.  We have enough.  We've not gone hungry.   We’ve had a little more PBJ than we'd like, but we are eating.  In the US it's all about serving ourselves.  But a Chrisian is thinking and acting like Christ, and that is all about serving others.  In His very nature, He was equal with God, but He did not think that was something to use for His own benefit.  He gave that all up to serve man.

“Selfishness takes, love gives.

“What does a disciple of Christ look like?  A disciple of Christ gives.  You are giving.  You could be surfing the ocean for your spring break, but you're laying brick in the hot African sun.  You're doing VBS and playing with kids.  You're giving medical care.  These are all acts of service, doing for others.

“Jesus said whatsoever you've done to the least of these, you've done it unto me.  Whatever we do for somebody, the lowest of the low, the smallest, sickest, grossest person who has yet to understand what we're doing for them...they are the “least.”  We are serving them for now and for eternity.  

“A Christian does things with an unselfish motive.  That's what a Christian looks like.  That's what I hope we'll look like when we return to Thunderbird.  Choose to serve today.”