Revolution!

What I have learned: A year in retrospect

It seems absolutely impossible that a year has gone by.  We arrived here one year ago today!  Thinking back on that day (and those first three months) Amanda and I are surprised at how well we did seem to cope.  When we landed, I had hardly slept in 48 hours and we had to stay up the whole day to combat jet lag.  I laid on the bed and cried - the combination of extreme exhaustion, shot nerves, intense heat - they did me in.  Amanda thought I was going to turn around and go home that same day (which was never an option!)  The first three months weren't easy by any means.  There are still those days where you think to yourself, "Why in the world am I here?"  But then there are those moments when you are reminded why you're here.  And it makes it worth it.    

So here is what I have learned (and re-learned) in this past year:

• God is faithful.  This is something I think we all are constantly learning.  I have such a slow burning heart and I'm quick to forget that He always has been and will continue to be faithful through the ups and downs.
• My moods/feelings change by the week/day/hour/minute/milli-second.  One minute I can love being here, love what I'm doing, love the people and the next thing that happens and I'm feeling the complete opposite.  You CANNOT depend on feelings.  Staying put is a daily choice.  This is a commitment. 
• Don't let my mind dwell on what I'm missing.  It only makes it worse.  [And then there are those times when I'm on the phone with my dad and he orders in the Krystal drive-thru...  really, dad!?? :)  ]
• People surprise you.  It is amazing to me how people I have never even met and/or barely know have been so encouraging and supportive - through emails, cards, etc.  The reverse is also true - a lot of people who you think you are somewhat close with - seem to disappear.
• Knowing beforehand that the disconnection from people you care about is coming doesn't make the pain any less real.  I thought (erroneously) that because I was well-informed of what would happen (culture shock, loss of relationships, loss of being able to do simple things), that I was immune to the emotions of it.  Wrong! 
• Then there are those that go above and beyond - those close family members and friends who are rock solid and are there to talk whenever.  I'm forever thankful for these people.
• Still learning the art of being vulnerable - this job lends itself to change and people moving in and out of your life frequently.  Being willing to open up, knowing full-well that one day the inevitable goodbyes are coming is always a struggle.
• Speaking of people - once I did let down my guard, I realized that God had placed an AMAZING group of people here.  I just had to give them a chance :)
• I could NOT have asked for a better teammate and partner than Amanda.  I am so thankful every day for her.  I would not have wanted to do this with anyone else.  Her calm, steady personality is complementary to my crazy side :)  I also love our weekly life chats!
• I could not have asked for a better team or supervisors.  We are truly blessed in this area and we know it.  I have heard many stories of teams having difficulties.  Each person on our team is so different and unique and we all bring out the best in each other.  
• Learning a language is HARD!
• Everything (and I mean everything) can be cooked from scratch.  And I actually enjoy cooking.
• I never thought I could come to the point where I actually liked a cold shower.  
• Driving a stick-shift is fun!  Driving in West Africa with no rules is even more fun!
• This is NOT a trip.  This is life.  This is my job.  And as such, there are many positives and negatives to that.
• Before this job, I never realized how much pride I used to take in being successful in a job.  As someone I love pointed out, you need to be careful of your definition of success.  All my other jobs had well defined parameters.  I've always excelled in school and every job I had previously I have been proficient in.  (And there is nothing wrong in doing things well!)  BUT - this is a whole new ball game.  The job is 24/7.  I feel like we wrestle with more failure than success.  And then one of the adversary's favorite tools comes into play:  guilt.  I have had to learn how to handle failure gracefully - Who to turn to and how to keep going.  I think this is probably one of the most valuable lessons I am learning.  There is no condemnation to those who are in JC.

Thank you to those who have offered your continued pryers, support, encouragement, Skype calls, regular phone calls, cards, packages with American goodies, and the many other ways you have shown your love!  This has been an incredible year of growth and I look forward to what is in store in this next year to come! :)

Sent off this time last year!!!

So to celebrate the one year marker of our sending celebration, I just wanted to take a look back at some of the highlights of F to the P to the O.

[Amanda and I were discussing how one year ago we were singing "Carry Your Name" together and then two weeks later we were singing "Carry Me Home"...  bahaha!  Just a wee bit of culture shock.]

Where do we even begin!???

Lindy:  I love memory lane.
Amanda:  You travel there quite frequently.  
Haha :)

Cam's bday dinner last year...  also, celebrated with the glow stick rave with DJ Lecrae in the hot smelly gym.

Cultural celebrations!   Notice the baby on the back - so true to life!

Many a DC trip.. notice the people behind us being reverent and we are acting dumb.  Typical.

This memory still disturbs me to this day.

Mindy & Lindy :) 

If a practical joke happened- you can bet that M.M and I were behind it!!

The pic that MM wanted for my card... sadly, I chose to go the normal route.

One of the many breaks between sessions!  They tolerated loved taking pictures!

Our first taste of a traditional African meal (it's soo much better here! :)

My boo!  But it's soo blurry :(

Look how fresh and girly and American we look...  that would change soon there after.

One of my favorite nights.. hands down.

This picture makes me laugh.  

And last but not least...  one of my all-time favorite videos from the time we were there.  For your viewing pleasure:

We were talking about the differences of "hot" vs "cold" cultures...  in this particular case, an individualistic culture versus a communal culture...

And just in case you need vocab help (because I did!)

pon.tif.i.cate

1.  To express opinions or judgements in a dogmatic way.

Things that go through my head...

I usually don't blog about anything other than random fun things that I think might be of interest/amuse other people.  There are only a couple of occasions that I can remember deviating from that platform.  So if my thoughts on the world at large are the equivalent of a hill of beans to you, then you should just skip this post completely and I promise to return to fun things later.

I just think about how my perspective has changed so much over three years.  I may sound critical of what I deem "the general American population" but trust me, I have been, for many years, the epitome of what I am frustrated by.  And I have no concrete answers for anything.  Thinking about everything does no more (unless somehow it moves to action in some small or large way) than the person who has no clue what's going on.  

So all of that just to say...  I have been keeping a close eye on the news.  Those living here with me have heard me talk about this so much lately. I have been following the story of the Ambassador that was killed since the story first broke. One article claiming that some men were trying to save him stood out.  I don't know the truth.  I wasn't there.  But my cynical heart tells me that maybe, oh maybe, that wasn't the case...   but who knows?

It is encouraging to see pictures of people holding signs showing solidarity in the situation.  It gives me a sliver of hope.  I then clicked on a video, an intro showing the Ambassador and just explaining a little of his background, his genuine care, the relationship he hoped to see, etc....  and it just hit me...  He loved these people.  And a few of them turned on him.  [As I type this, maybe this story hits me so much because it's what I believe happened 2000 years ago and still is happening today.  I don't know.]  And then I see pictures of him being pulled out of the building and for some reason unknown to me - this particular story has just left an impact on me.  And depresses me at the same time.

I find that most people in America don't even know what's going on and a lot of those who do just spew the nastiest comments about the situation as possible.  And I think that most people that hate "us" so much have no idea who we really are i.e. we are not all the same - the world at large still thinks we are "Christian America".  (Generalizations, I know!)  I just wish there was some massive scale people swap because it truly is when you get to know a people - the everyday normal people, who have families, who have hopes, dreams, who cook dinner every night - that you begin to care for the people as actual people and not as a "them."  So as for me, I hope the people here see in me the opposite of every preconceived (bad) notion they may have about an American or a Christian.  I don't always do the best job.  But I'm trying.  And I hope to, in the near future, get some dialogue going with the University students about this very topic.

Anyhow.  That is all.  I came across this article (it's dated March 2012) and it has stood out to me as well in a good way.  One of those rare times.  Read it if you have the time.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/envoy/israel-hearts-iran-peace-campaign-takes-off-facebook-160645131.html 

Tailgate party in Africa!

So Gary and I are huge football fans.. Pam is definitely a big fan.. and Amanda... well, we'll get to that later.

So we decide to make a day of it and cookout & watch two games in a row.  

Gary's new grill that he busted out for the first time since they've been back :)  

Gary makin' it happen!!!

In the mean time, the ladies had fun taking some "Game Day" pictures :)

 Arizona, FSU and Arkansas... not exactly all on the same page but that's ok!

Now get excited:

Amanda's looks soo...  not excited! haha

Speaking of Amanda's day, this is what she brought to do if she got bored:

How ironic!  The double meaning here is hilarious :)

So then we got to chow-down time!

And finally... watching the GAME!  I seriously felt like I was in America today :)

Gary's tomahawk chomping needs some work.. but I'm proud of his effort!  And I never got a chance to holler a "Woo Pigs Sooie" because they played terrible. 

Unfortunately, we didn't both have good games.  It was about as good as you can get for FSU and as bad as you can get for the Razorbacks...  So Gary's gonna cheer FSU on for the Nat'l Championship.... long shot, I know.. but hey - why not dream big!??

This is NOT legal in America.

We went to the zoo.  I think I'm gonna go once a week because I love feeding the chimps and other monkeys.  Here are some fun pics of our recent outing:

When I first walked in, I saw this little guy and thought he was an ugly cat.  He has only been there for three days...

Cute!

Clearly she wants some bananas.

This is my favorite Chimp in the park.  His name is Tally!!!  Isn't that crazy?  He's 26 years old and super sweet.  His favorite game is to go knuckle-to-knuckle in a strength war..  Guess who wins every time?

This little guy was terrified!

Yeah, in America- you couldn't get 20 feet from these guys :)

While this looks like fun and games (which it is!) - it's not all pleasant.  The reason I'm allowed to feed them is because the zoo doesn't make enough money to feed the animals and they only get fed once a day.  TIA.  Animals aren't priority and I get that.  (I have become quite desensitized!)  But I still love animals so I buy bananas.  The banana lady loves me because I buy a lot of her bananas right outside the zoo.  I have a blast feeding the chimps/monkeys and they get a little something extra on the day we come :)

Green Meat & Pimples of Love!

Heads up... This blog post is completely random!  I've been trying to do a better job of remembering the things in daily life that humor us - I have three different stories.  None of them have pictures associated but I have other fun pictures to throw in this blog post..  So yay! :)  Here goes.

Story Number One:

We are eating lunch with the guard at the office.  Every time we go to the office, he always tells us that we are too American and "don't have his time."  So this past Saturday, we decided to head up there for a couple hours and play ping-pong with him.  Well, he decided he would cook us lunch.  At first, Amanda and I were really impressed because here is a guy who cooks.... that is unheard of here.  Well, he gave us our bowls of rice, tomato, onions, carrots and meat.  Then, someone honked so he had to go open the gate.  Amanda and I look at our bowls... and pieces of the meat are GREEN!  Like the edges of the meat chunks are a lime green.  We stare in horror for a minute before I say to Amanda, "I can't eat this."  She says, "Do you have something in your bag that you can put it in?"  I say, "No, but that is a good idea.  I'm gonna put pieces in my bag and just clean it out later."  As I pick out the greenest pieces and walk to my bag, an idea of brilliance flashes through my mind.  We're on the third floor so I decide to chuck the pieces of meat off the side of the balcony into the neighbors yard.  Some animals are really gonna appreciate my generosity.  The guard is still downstairs and Amanda is telling me to hurry up.  I decide to get a few more green pieces and dispose of them and Amanda hands me some of hers.  Then I move the meat around on my bowl so it was not noticeable.  I was having flashbacks of being a kid and the food wars with my parents.  I was soo good at taking food and disposing of it - kitchen, bathroom, pockets.  Those days prepared me well for Africa :)

Story Number Two:

As you can see from some of the pictures below, the roads are absolutely terrible here after the rains.  It will just wipe out pieces of road and there will be huge craters.  You can be driving through a flooded area and have no idea how deep it is or if there is a hole you're about to drive through.  Well, last night, we drove our language teacher home and then were driving to the center because we were meeting a friend for dinner in that area.  It is pitch black and there are no street lights whatsoever.  I'm driving along - doing my best to not flood Ole Blue.  At one point, I'm driving along and there are several cars coming the other direction with their brights on.  This completely blinds me.  I tell Amanda, "I can't see a thing.  I can't see a thing."  At the end of me saying that, Amanda says, "We're going down."  At that exact moment, I hit an edge and we dropped like a foot of into a crater in the road.  I screamed because it scared me..  This doesn't seem as funny written out but it's one of those scenes that one day I'd like to replay in Heaven :)

Story Number Three:

So we're at the friends house mentioned above and we're talking about how the hot season doesn't let us be girly.  Now mind you, I don't consider myself uber girly but you definitely do miss dressing up and looking nice when you can't do it anymore because of the heat and humidity.  So then I mentioned to our friend that the combination of heat/dust/etc gave me pimples too.  So she then informed me that if you have a pimple - it means someone loves you!  That's certainly a different way of looking at it!  Lucky me- I have two! haha!  And Amanda had four!  Our friend only had one.  But now, we call these Pimples of Love! 

We decided to brave the mud and go Fabric shopping..  Trish was laughing because every time I held up the camera to snap a picture, someone walked in front of me!

We go a little insane buying fabric.  This lady gave us a good deal!  

Road near our house - it didn't flood bad where we live but it wipes out roads!

The neighborhood right across the street from us :(

Our friend's baby cousin.

Close-up of the amulet necklace she had on.

As we're walking outside, a guy let us hold his baby sheep!  They are the most precious things ever!

He insisted that Amanda hold and take a picture too even though she is so-so about animals.

Late night hangout :)  Lookin' good!