What's Cooking?

Cook Christi (right) consults with her kitchen
helpers while they take a snack break

When the original cook Mr. Maloon had found for this mission trip had to bow out, he wasn't sure what we were going to do about that all important team member.  I remember him asking the staff at morning worship to pray, that we needed a cook and quick.  Not too long after that, he got a phone call asking for information about the school.  A woman was interested in Thunderbird for her niece.  One thing lead to another and by the end of the conversation, we had our cook for the mission trip!  Just one of many of the God-ordained events connected with this trip.

Ashley and Catherine make lunch for the day.

Christi Currier has had to put up with a lot, starting with being booked in a different hotel from the group in D.C.  She told me she wondered if God was trying to tell her something when things kept happening to discourage her from making the trip.  She stuck with it, though, and ended up becoming an integral part of everyone's day.

Kaazmein Lodge's kitchen

It's not been easy, though.  Start with the water, and having to boil and/or bleach everything before it could be used in the cooking.  Factor in the fact that every time she tried to use the oven it blew the electricity for the whole camp--more than once when people were in the showers (turning off the pump and leaving soapy people unable to rinse off).  Consider that ingredients that are commonly found and used at home were difficult or impossible to find.  Recipes had to be devised to use what food could be found.  Christi and her team had to go out two, three, and sometimes four times in a day--and to different stores--to find the groceries for the day. Add to all that yesterday when all the food was locked up and the Lodge staff didn't arrive until it was time to serve.  Or today when there was no gas to cook any of the hot food.  Go-with-the-flow Christi has had to make countless adjustments every day to keep this group of hungry workers fed.  It's not been ideal.  It's not what she had planned from the comfort of her home.  But as Pastor Jay said the other day, we have not been hungry.  We have been fed.

Eggs waiting for the bleach wash

Each day, Christi has a different group of helpers that she works with--usually three students and an adult.  The team gets up before anyone else, long before dark (if they are on time) to prepare the 6:30 breakfast and make the sack lunches everyone takes to the job site.  After everyone has gone off, the kitchen crew cleans up breakfast, plans out supper, and makes the grocery list for the day.  Then Christopher (taxi driver) takes Christi and one or two others out for the purchases.

Meanwhile the rest of the crew is working on what they can in the kitchen.  There is an hour or two break, then it's back to work, preparing supper and the post-VBS/Evangelism snack.  It's a long, long day.

Grant volunteers to help with breakfast every morning.  
"I like food, I like cooking, I have the time to help."

During the course of her time working in the hotel kitchen, Christi has had opportunity to witness to the hotel workers there.  They have been curious about all the bleach we use to clean the dishes and the food.  They have never seen anything like it.  After explaining about the need for cleanliness, they have been impressed to start better cleaning practices themselves.  When she was making brownies for one of the treats, they had no idea what she was doing--they had never seen or tasted brownies.  They filmed her making macaroni and cheese, and have asked her for her (vegetarian) recipes.

Dishes, fruit, vegetables, and eggs
are all cleaned with bleach and water.

One of the first meals at Kaazmein
Lodge.

A beautiful salad

God of the Small Things

One of the peaceful views at
Kaazmein Lodge

I must confess that I have, on occasion, judged a book by its cover.  More to the point, I have chosen a book based solely on its cover.  It could be the cover art that intrigues me, or the author’s name—one that I’ve read or one that I’ve read about, or—often—the title.  My students will tell you that I like titles.  Clever titles.  Thought-provoking titles.  Inviting titles.  Whenever they write, I want them to give their work a title.  And I don’t want that title to be anything remotely close to “Reflective Essay” or “Essay on Thomas More.”  I want them to think it over.  Consider the content of their essay.  And then find a way to express that content in a few succinct and inviting words. Here’s a secret:  If it’s a good title, chances are good it will be a good essay.  Not always, but quite often.  A writer who produces a good thoughtful title has likely produced a good thoughtful essay.

Children at VBS

So.  I like interesting, clever, intriguing titles.  Which is why I bought a book once based solely on its title:  God of the Small Things.  The intriguing thing was that it was in the fiction section, not the theology or inspirational section.  It was an imaginative book set in India about how the small things in life affect people's behavior and their lives.  To be honest, I don’t remember much else about it.  I remember I thought it was good.  It won the Booker Award after all.

I remember that it kept me reading and thinking.  But really, nothing else.  And I’m OK with that because the author gave me something far more important to remember and that is our God is a God of the small things.  He’s there for us in the big moments, but He’s also there in the smaller, more frequent, more ordinary moments of our lives.

Woman and baby at a village clinic

I’ve been thinking about that book title quite a bit on this trip.  We have seen our share of examples of this God of the small things throughout our trip.  Yes, we have had big answers to prayer:  our safe, if long, journey from Thunderbird to Kaazmein Lodge.  Chaplain Rob finding his room keys that he lost in town.  No one being dangerously hurt or ill (although there have been moments with nausea and other gastrointestinal discomforts).  But we have also had answers to smaller things—things that, in the great scheme of life, are pinpoints amidst boulders.  Things like getting once-in-a-lifetime photos and videos back days after a power surge took them out, finding lost cameras, being able to pull something out of a sink drain that would have cost hundreds of dollars to replace.  Big-but-small things when put in perspective, especially with the life we are observing here in Livingstone and its surroundings.

Using the GoPro in a bush village

Relaxing under the trees in the bush

The incident with the photos happened early in the trip.  Early enough so the footage was the first that had been shot of things that would not happen again (as opposed to job site footage that would have a few more days for a reshoot).  Disappointment was huge.  I could see it on the photographer’s face.  I prayed for a miracle.  “We need a miracle,” I told God.  I wanted that disappointed face to relax into a smile acknowledging that God was indeed God of the small things such as those photos, but also the of the big things such as the entire direction of his life.  For three days I prayed for this small-but-great thing.  And on the third day, the answer came and the photos were restored.

Dr. Daluyen (Mrs. Morada's sister) brings
comfort at the bush village clinic

I don’t know what the small things are in your life.  I am sure there are many as you go through any given day.  Individually, they might not be a big deal, but add them together, they become a great weight that is difficult for us to handle.  If you give them to God one at a time they never become a burden—to you or to Him.  Great or small, God can handle them all.  Yours.  Mine.  Ours.  I love that God is indeed God of the small things.  I love that we are discovering His amazing love in concrete and specific ways on this trip.  I pray that when the planes touch down in Phoenix Monday evening, we will continue to give Him our needs and concerns, but great and small.

African giant belted kingfisher who dove off
this bridge at the Lodge at least a dozen times,
fishing for his breakfast.

African bush butterfly

5 Days Until Take-Off!

from Pinterest

Hard to believe it's only 5 more days until take-off!  Kim Haas from Maranatha headquarters sent this kind note:

"Just a quick note to let you know all of us here at Maranatha Volunteers International are thinking about you as you prepare to leave on your mission trip to Livingstone, Zambia. 

May God keep you safe in your travels and during your time on the project. Your group will be in our prayers and I hope each and every member will receive a great blessing on this mission trip."

It's good to know that people all over the world, literally, are praying for us--from our preparation to our participation in this exciting project.