Ebenezer Totem

1 Samuel 7:12 "Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and called its name Ebenezer [meaning 'stone of help'], for he said, "Till now the LORD has helped us."

One very fortunate advantage of living this crazy between-two-worlds missionary life is the frequent book-ends that mark and divide my time. Quarterly goal reviews with team leaders; yearly team vision retreats; the welcome trek back home to Philadelphia and Canada once a year; and the regular cadence of birthing projects and reporting back as the different seasons unroll themselves like ticker tape.

And what emerges but a long and beautiful line of flickering flames that prove Aslan has been on the move. It's easy enough (though puzzling, I admit) - in the disturbances, setbacks, or drudgery of today - to lose sight of the glory of yesterday, and shrink down the bursting possibility of tomorrow.

But pile up all the glories, helps, and rescues of yesterday, and suddenly things take on a different hue.  The promise of today has new meaning when we look at the miracles of yesterday and the day before and the day before that. A pattern is drawn, the stuff that sure hope is made of. Every victory won - a commemoration stone set on the mantel. Every journey traversed - a memory stone erected. Every lesson learned - a stone of remembrance planted. Every sorrow borne and healed - a stone allocated to pay homage. Every new creation and feat - a stone lovingly perched to hearken back to the beauty and newness. Something new experienced - a pebble to mark the novelty. 

Here lies my odd and colorful assortment of stones for 2012, give or take a few months.  What are yours?

-Explored the fascinating world of fermentation: I learned how to make kefir, kimchee, mango chutney, and sauerkraut, and about all the fantastic benefits of fermented foods!

-Canned mango butter . . . and dehydrated mango slices for fruit leather. (Delicious!!)

-Learned how to employ workers and manage building / work projects.

-Conducted prayers to take a baby out (they stay indoors for three or four days after birth, depending on if you're a boy or girl, and then have prayers - kind of like a dedication / blessing, after which the baby is allowed out of the house.)

-Started a new practical agricultural project / demonstration garden with my students at the Bible College.

-Made fizzing bath salt drops for my teammates when they soak and scrub their feet. (You'd be impressed how grotty our feet can get with all the mud and dust here. It's pretty epic.)

-Painted two paintings.

-Successfully grew butternut squash, radishes, parsley, sage, cilantro, basil, catnip, jalapenos, cranberry hibiscus, cucumbers, sweet dumpling pumpkins, green beans, dill, yellow squash, hibiscus tea, cowpeas, red russian kale . . . and much more.

-Planted my first banana trees. (Don't worry, they've survived and look much better now - some even have babies :)

-Lived with two different Moru families for three months.

-Ran my first 10k - in Juba!

-Taught Acacia how to oil paint (just the basics - but how fun to pass on the love to someone else who seems to love it just as much!)

-Made perogies with my team for our Christmas Eve white dinner, using my grandmother's recipe. D. LISH. OUS.

-Made my first successful, succulent, dill pickles.

-Participated in trauma healing counseling training.

-Participated in creating and conducting a survey to study the role of gender among youth in Mundri.

-Said goodbye to my very first roommate in South Sudan, the lovely (and brilliant) Christine.  (pictured here in the blue skirt)

-Started praying whole prayers in Moru.

-Hosted several outdoor movie nights for the Mundri community - showing Human Planet, and the Nativity Story.

-Visited Zanzibar in Tanzania...

...where I met giant tortoises...

...and fell in love with Stonetown, its narrow alleys, ornate doorways, and beautiful old walls.

-Planted turmeric that I brought from Zanzibar - never planted a member of the ginger family before.

-Learned how to thatch a grass roof.

-Mudded the walls of my very own huts (one for an agricultural store, the other for ducks that I hope to get.)

-Planted corn for the first time (epic fail in the end.)

-Planted Faidherbia, Mahogany, and Teak trees.

-Went kayaking and swimming in the Mori river for the first time (took me a while to get over the idea of bilharzia . . . which, don't worry, I've taken medicine for so I won't get it.)

-Went to the funerals of three children under four years old . . . and learned a lot about grieving, comforting, and trusting the Lord.

-Joined a CSA for the first time. (Which happened while I was back in the States, clearly :)

-Ate fennel for the first time - yum!
-Started drinking raw milk.

-Made my own sour cream (also a first - and so worth it!)

-Mulched all of my gardens. Another first. (Which is the way to go, people - it's AWESOME).
-Got heat rash for the first time in my life. (Three years into my time here, isn't THAT odd.)

-Carried firewood and water on my head for the first time in my life - don't I wish I'd had photos to commemorate those events!

-Planted passion fruit and sponge plants. Also a first. (It's much bigger now - and this summer I expect fruit - woo hoo!)
-Expanded my craftiness by making a birthday picture frame out of metal scraps (involving welding) and mahogany flowers with Caleb's assistance (for Heidi's birthday), and bamboo and river shell wind chimes (for Karen's birthday).

-Got my first gourd shaker from Mama Viviana, learned how to use it, and play regularly with the choir at church.  I LOVE IT!!!

-Learned how to play two of the Moru drums and got to play them at several functions!

-Sold over 500 packets of seeds to the Mundri community. (An at-cost effort to repopulate the area with good home-grown vegetables.)

-Participated in my first South Sudanese Independence Day celebration.

-Got a new roommate, Heidi.

-Ate pizza and mongolian BBQ on the Nile River in Juba for the first time (and could have cried about all the fresh vegetables I could choose from!!!)

-Shared (for the first time) cuttings from garden for others to take and plant at their homes - purple leafy stuff, flowers, mulberries, and what we call the 'good morning flower.'

-Ate my very own home-grown mulberries.

-Started my own tree nursery.

-Gave someone a mullet. (In the absence of decent hair-dressing options, I get to expand my repertoire! HA!)

-Lost my final grandparent. And the whole rich, faith-filled, simple Ukrainian immigrant world that went with him.

-Visited Acacia and the Myhre's in Kijabe, Kenya (the Rift Valley). . .

and got this amazing view of Mt. Longonot . . .

and spent time with this EXCEPTIONAL young lady.

-Bought and wore (with pride) a mumu for the first time in my life. And I'm here to say I LOVE IT.

-Got our first, real live cypress tree for Christmas from the Sharlands in Uganda.

-Graduated my first round of Bible College students right here in Mundri.

-Celebrated my first Christmas as the only one in my house.

-Witnessed two close friends having their first babies.

-Missed the weddings of three sets of good friends. (that's when the weight of the sacrifice of being here smarts . . .)

-Made my first drip-tape garden with Caleb's rock wielding assistance.

-Read my first books to children in Moru.

-Helped kill and prepare my first chicken (from running around the yard to the dinner plate.

-Harvested gnuts (like peanuts) for the first time.

-Learned how to grind gnuts and sesame by hand on a grindstone.

-Made my first quilt (which would not have been possible without the help of my mother and the amazing Karen S.)

-Learned how to cut and harvest sesame seeds.

-Ate raw papaya for the first time, and loved it (which is a WHOLE lot more than I can say about ripe . . . bleghhh!)

-Got my first kindle.  And my how that has revolutionized reading in the sticks of South Sudan (where there happens to be no library or bookstore that would have anything Western in it - not to mention the BLISS of traveling without ten bricks of books in my backpack.)

-Made my own natural toothpaste for the first time - and LOVE IT!!!

-Still using my very first cell phone (going on four years now).

-Started my first five-year work term.

-Got my first page extension for my passport (48 extra pages - the MAX!)

-Witnessed my one and only wonderful brother get married.

-Missed yet another annual family reunion on my mom's side of the family.

-Never felt more lonesome for my family, home, grandparents, and a familiar / 

stable way of life and community.

-Started consistently measuring and recording rainfall in South Sudan . . . 

until my rain gauge broke . . . sigh.

-Visited my workers at their homes for Christmas, reading the Christmas story and praying for them in Moru.

-Road tripped through Pennsylvania, upstate NY, Niagara Falls, and Ontario Canada during Autumn . . . quite possibly one of my favorite things ever.

-Got to see the amazing Elhardts, Kochers, Erica, Sarah T, Uncle & Aunt Thompson, and baby cousin Allie along the way.

Piles of stones attest to the footprints of the Lion and the glory of the Kingdom. The wisdom, the creativity, the help, the shocking power, the productivity, the sufficiency, the variety, the ingenuity, the diversity, the startling beauty, the compassion, the healing, the sweetness, the delight, the excitement, the depths, the sacrifice, the dire necessity, the sorrows that stretch the heart, the patience, the faith, the struggles that refine, the comforts, the good work, the generosity and abundance.  Like colored strips of yarn woven into a tapestry, each one looked back on, paints its special part of the glorious picture.  Some are silly, some are sombre, some simple, and some grand . . . all gathered to attest to the giver of life, and the never-ending thanks I owe Him.

It's a blessed life. 

Thus far, you Lord, only you, have helped me. 

And done far more than was necessary. 

Extravagantly more so. 

Thank you.

And thank you to all of you who support me, pray for me, 

and fill my life with love and beauty.