The Heart of the Matter

There’s a first time for everything - this is my (Jane) first time posting about something that is bothering me, but just felt the need to. I have been grappling with what’s been happening in America for the last 4 years. Living in Africa for the last year and a half has kept me at a distance. Where I am right now, the politics of America are rarely talked about. To be honest, there’s more important things here to discuss. But I read the news and I wrestle. In December, when I was in the US, a couple of conversations regarding the last presidential election really surprised me. I was taken aback at the intensity of “If you are a Christian, you should have voted for Donald Trump” and “If you didn’t, you will have to account to God for it”. Wow. Those statements were quite shocking to me. Voting for or against President Trump, I believe, was/is a very complex issue. I question the fact that some people seem to have dealt with the complexities so easily and seem to have discerned all the answers. It concerns me that some Christians have aligned themselves so closely with President Trump, that they have alienated those who haven’t. And vice versa. I have not changed my core beliefs, I still consider myself a conservative Christian. Some of the things President Trump has done while in office I applaud, some I abhor. And I wrestle with that.  

Today, worshipping in an African Church, God helped me with my struggle. It was a reminder really. A Kenyan preacher talked about divisions among Christians. Believe it or not, he referenced what is happening in America between the Republicans and the Democrats. That got my attention! I was challenged with what he said that we, as Christians, must listen to each other and respect each other. We must strive for unity as Christ wishes and, above all, love. There must be room for discussion and a realization that not every Christian is going to view things in the same way. Amen! I believe there are core beliefs that are not debatable, i.e. Christ is the only way to salvation. But there are also views on other topics that lead to discussions. Bible interpretation, traditions, background and culture play a part in those views and discussions. The issues surrounding President Trump, his actions and his policies, are complex. We (Christians) have differing views regarding those actions and policies. There’s room for lots of discussion. How we treat each other during those discussions and how we view others with differing opinions should be affected by the Biblical principles of humility, unity and love. 

On our walk today after the rain, we discovered the heart shaped puddle that is pictured.  What a wonderful reminder! I know I will continue to struggle with what is happening in American politics. I know I will continue to question motives and decisions made. I know I will continue to seek God’s discernment. I pray I will be respectful of others opinions and views and, above all, that I will LOVE.

September

This month we were awed again by the sacrifices those around us are willing to embrace. Over two decades ago one of our dorm girl's father gave up a $500,000/year heart surgeon position to raise their own support and work at a mission hospital in East Africa. The motivation comes from where God needs them. As their daughter related the story, it centered around how much they have here and how little those around them have. When we asked where her parents would be in 10 years after she, the last of their 5 children, have graduated RVA, she replied, "Oh they will still be in Africa.  America doesn't need more doctors, Africa does. My parents are filling such a need."

One of our other girls matter of factly stated, "Where we live in Africa, we haven't had an oven in 10 years." As we asked follow up questions, we learned they have no refrigeration either and make all their food on a two-burner camp stove and once in a while a dutch oven over the fire. This is a family of six with a father who had a very successful IT career and are parents that have the same desire to nurture and spend time with their kids that we have. This underscores the importance of telling the story of Christ and his revolutionary love.

Most of the 300+ boarding students at RVA are asked to make rather hefty sacrifices as their parents work all over the continent to do work they know in their heart is vital. The real wonder here is, how does the action and words of a teacher that lived about 2000 years ago inspire such selfless living?

On the other hand our cat, Moshi, hasn't given up much at all.

August

We had a great trip back to the States to visit family and friends the last week of July and most of August. This past week, back in Africa, we have been getting over jet-lag, attending inservice and getting the dorm ready. We have the same girls we had last year with one addition. The girls arrived on Saturday. It was good to see them again. Less tears this year. The girls did better too!

School starts tomorrow, Labor Day. Funny how they don't celebrate American holidays in Kenya. Having the kids back on campus brings everything back to life and we are mostly ready. Along with the main role of dorm parent, Jane is working in the Main Office.The nature of RVA finds her being the only one with any prior experience. Pray that she would remember all the things she was taught back in May and June. Jeff is also teaching 7th grade math along with the 8th grade he taught last year. Basketball tryouts for Jeff's JV girls team starts tomorrow as well. Pray for wisdom and discernment as cuts will be on Wednesday,

Thanks for your prayers!

I'm Not Gonna Lie

One year almost in and "I'm not gonna lie" it's been great and not so great.

One year in and "great" - we LOVE our dorm girls!  They are a kooky, crazy bunch of deep thinking spiritual young ladies.

One year in and "not so great" - we MISS our own kids and grandkids.  Sometimes our hearts physically ache.

One year in and "great" - we have met so many new people and have made many new friends.

One year in and "not so great" - we miss our old ones.

One year in and "great" - love worshipping with the RVA family.

One year in and "not so great" - we miss worshipping with our Watermark family.

One year in and "great" - Jeff is enjoying teaching 8th grade, Jane is enjoying tutoring and working in the main office.

One year in and "not so great" - Jeff misses LMS and Track, Jane misses her daycare kiddos.

One year in and "great" - we both feel this is right where God wants us to be.

One year in and "not so great" - refer back to the "not so greats" mentioned above.

It has truly been a blessed, stressed, happy, sad, easy, hard year that, "I'm not gonna lie", we wouldn't have ever wanted to miss!!


P.S.

One year in and "great" - we have a cat.

One year in and "not so great" - we have a cat.

Begging Aunt Jane for a pet.  It only took a year.

Coaxing Moshi to come out and play.

Moshi

What Did I Just See

We woke up Saturday morning to a beautiful rain. It has been very dry and the rainy season was several weeks late. People here are desperate for rain. So thankful for the answered prayer. We pray it continues. Apparently, when you get a good rain, you have a termite hatch. Think mayfly but less elegant, think maple seed but more squishy. There were millions everywhere. The birds were eating them, the monkeys were eating them, the Davis boys were catching them. We assumed for their pet chameleon, but possibly to eat (that's a thing here). Only one was swallowed accidentally on our walk. Yeech!

After a bit of dorm preparation, we went off to the airport with a driver to collect several students from Ethiopia and Tanzania as they are returning for the final term of this school year. This a migration that happens on different scales, depending on the length of the break, 12 times each school year when you count the coming and going. On this particular trip we saw: A duck herder and a turkey herder. It seemed herding turkeys was by far the more difficult job. Baby lamb. Full size couch on the back of a motorcycle. Really, it took up the entire lane. Nice couch, blue with brown inlays, claw feet. A *matatu going the wrong way on a divided highway leading about 50 other rouge drivers as Sammy, our driver, exclaimed, "Oh, what mayhem!" Donkey carts on the on-ramp. A small flock of ostriches. A few impalas. Three zebras. One giraffe. That was just on the way to the airport.

The cyclones in Mozambique and the Comoros Islands are much more than just a headline to many of the students at RVA. In our dorm, we have three girls who parents serve in Mozambique. One girl's parents were directly in the path of the strongest winds and rain from cyclone #1. It was six days after the cyclone hit when she finally heard from them and that they were safe. Another girl, whose parents serve on the Island was actually there during school break when cyclone #2 hit. They are all safe, their house was spared, but they have friends who lost everything.

We are always in awe of the lengths missionary families go to to carry out what they have been called to do; goodbyes and separation, droughts, flooding, etc. Very little of what they do is easy. It gives us a great deal of motivation to the relatively easy job we are doing.  We are 2/3 of the way through the school year which finishes up in mid July.  We vacillate between being totally engaged and missing our people in the states. Thankful for Skype.

During the break we went to France and England. Just amazing! Bucket list kinds of things; Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame (10 days before the fire), catacombs, chocolate eclairs (we told our girls there's definitely more of us to love), St. Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey,  Buckingham Palace, London Bridge,  Oxford, Bath, Stone Henge, Jurassic Coast, English countryside (it looks just like in the BBC tv shows!), Windsor Castle. We were there 2 weeks and walked 182 miles. Such a great trip.

The old adage is pretty accurate for us. When we are working we work hard and when we are playing we play hard. That's all for now! Have a great Spring!

Matatu- noun, a minibus or similar vehicle used as a taxi; adj., lethal!

TYPICAL TUESDAY

Most of our blogs have dealt with our emotions and what we are learning about ourselves and those/life around us while in Africa.  We thought a peek into what we actually "do" here would be fun.  Here's a Typical Tuesday...

4:15 am jeff gets up because he's old and has to...5:20 jeff lifts weights with the neighbor which makes him want to take a nap at 6:20 when they are done...6:30 jane's alarm goes off (68 minutes later in retirement, woohoo!)...6:35 breakfast and caffeine; coffee for jane, coke zero for jeff...7:05 jane starts room checks w/coffee, robe and slippers...7:15 meds dispersed...7:30 shower jeff, hair jane...8:15 dorm parent meeting...9:00 jane heads to main office to work...9:25 jeff teaches period 3 grade 8 math...10:20 jane goes to titchie (elementary school) to tutor...10:30 jeff takes a walk outside the fence, enjoys andy stanley or golic and wingo podcast..11:00 jeff prepares lesson for the night's dorm meeting...11:40 jane heads home, does Bible study, prepares snack for dorm meeting, jeff monitors 5th period study hall...12:15 jane has something healthy for lunch, jeff has something good...12:50 jane heads to Bible study...1:20 jeff has a homeroom class...1:45 jeff teaches period 6 grade 8 math...2:40 jeff meets with guys for prayer...3:30 jane greets girls from school, jeff offers math help in library...4:00 jane forms mouth guard for rugby player, gets bandaid for matea, gives hugs to a girl with friendship troubles, etc. (you get the picture), jeff heads to basketball practice...5:10 we monitor supper in cafeteria, jane eats a tiny salad she calls supper... 6:00 we go for a walk...7:00 jane monitors dorm jobs...7:20 a couple students come to apartment for math help from jeff...7:45 jane finishes preparing snacks for dorm meeting...8:30 dorm meeting, devotions, prayer...10:00 lights out, a few girls ask for late lights to finish homework until 11:00...10:00 jeff goes to bed, jane stays up for late lights..11:00 jane to bed. This is retirement?

Long days but good days! Most of the things we get to do give energy instead of drain it. We see each other off and on all day long. Loads of connections, lots of hard working kids. Easy to take pride in being part of RVA.

Today!

Jeff has been coaching basketball since the beginning of the school year, first for girls and then for boys. It has been a great outlet for him and it fills a part of the day when he can be really annoying if he doesn't have something to do. There are some really cool things about sports at RVA. The school has one covered court and 2 outside courts. You can get a really good tan coaching basketball in Kenya. Take that Coach K. The kids here are not defined by the sports they play. It is hard to find someone strutting around because they think they are the best at their sport. If you are lucky, the Superintendent will drive your team to the away games in the school van.

The first road game for the girls was early on a Saturday morning. The Super loaded us up at somewhere around way too early and the team headed into Nairobi. On the trip down the mountain, each of the girls shared their story and where their family was ministering. It was really fascinating. It is not a stretch to say the families represented on the bus are changing the face of the entire continent of Africa. As a pregame speech, it was horrible. That game was easily the worst of the season. Maybe they should have shared on the way home?

RVA in Red, Eastleigh in Black 

Last month the boys team hosted a friendly game with a team from a tough part of Nairobi. Most of the boys on the Eastleigh team were refugees and don't think or worship the way the kids at RVA do. It was a wonderful morning, a decent game, a shared meal, and a time to relate and get to know each other. You wonder how seeds that may have been planted that day will grow. 


The boys season ended last Saturday. They played great, won the tournament, and were crowned KAISSO champions. They played their best of the season. A good day! All season long when the team would break the huddle they would say the word, "today"! At the team dinner, the Thursday before the tournament, Jeff shared that when they said "today" he wanted them to think of Luke 9:23. This is where Jesus asks his disciples to deny themselves and pick up their cross daily and follow Him. Jeff shared that, as old as he was, he should be better at this than he is. Selfishness creeps in and diverts him from his highest priority.

It is amazing and dismaying that the struggles we have in living for Jesus are exactly the same in Africa as they were in Michigan. The redemptive part is that each day we have a chance to break the cycle and live a life honoring of our Savior. Today is what we have to invest. We are looking for long term dividends.