Back Home

I'm back home now.

My flights from Lusaka -- Johannesburg -- London -- Los Angeles went really well. Jetlag management was decent; I tried to sleep as much as I could until London, then tried to stay awake from London to the West Coast. Having movies on the plane definitely helped!

When I got to L.A. at 2:30pm, the plane didn't really taxi in until 3:00. I had a flight to catch at 5:00 (from L.A. to Oakland), so that meant that I only had 120 minutes to get my checked baggage, make it through customs, switch terminals, check my bags again for domestic flight, and make it back through security. I made it with a full 10 minutes to spare!

So I made it in to Seattle at 10:30pm on Friday night, was in bed by 1:30am, and was up at 7:30 so I could meet my friend Sean Kelly in Seattle to pick up my tux for his wedding. Then a hair cut, wedding photos, and a super sweet wedding. The reception was great, too, with lots of good friends and fun dancing. When I went to the after party at Allison's parents house afterwards I was just about ready to crash, but I pushed myself for a few more hours... bed by midnight.

So congrats, Sean and Alli! It was quite a day, and I was glad I could make it back in time to celebrate with you. My prayer is that you would enjoy a long, happy marriage -- just know that you are loved and you will always have a community of friends to support you.

Work kicks back up on Wednesday, but I've got a lot of loose ends to tie up from my trip, so the next few days should keep me busy.

Salsa Adventures

A few days ago Steve and Stephanie asked me what foods I was starting to miss from back in the states. At the time I wasn't quite sure, but maybe thinking about it for a couple of days helped to clarify things. So today, as I was walking through the grocery store, I realized that I had a craving for corn chips and salsa. Which are delicious.

So I went to the chip aisle. The only corn chips they had were Doritos (in the super-sweet, non-U.S. flavors, of course), but that isn't really what I was looking for. Failure #1. Then I walked over to the aisle where there theoretically ought to be salsa. I wasn't expecting a grand selection or anything, but all they had was mango salsa. Delicious, but not what I was looking for... Failure #2.

On my way out of the store, however, I came across a pack of "chapaties," which looked strangely identical to tortillas, and an idea sparked into my head -- why not make chips and salsa?!? What could possibly be more delicious? What could possibly go wrong? How hard can it be? So I got a bunch of veggies and headed home.

Kamryn and I decided that we wanted to make our treat as a surprise for dinner, and Bradyn joined in a little bit later. Jennifer Rhoda hung out with us for a while taking pictures with my camera, talking on my phone, and wearing my backpack.



Anyways, the girls and I chopped up tons of tomatoes and onions and garlic and green/red peppers for the salsa, and we got the tortillas cut up into "chip" shapes. The recipe we found said that we needed to brush the chips with veggetable oil before baking them, so as I was working on chopping stuff, Bradyn and Kamryn found some oil in a cool little spray bottle, and we put it on the chips. I used three red peppers in the salsa, but made sure to take the seeds out first.

We finished up the first batch of chips, and the salsa, just as dinner was ready. But as we started to try out the goods, we quickly realized that some things were amiss:

1) First of all, the stuff that the girls sprayed on the chips is not what we thought it was. Somehow it made the chips really hot (as in spicy), so that as Kamryn tried her first chip, she started coughing and needed to drink a ton of water.

2) When I tasted my first chip, I realized that the salsa was VERY hot. I mean, hotter than Seattle weather right now. :) I was ok with it, but Bradyn could only have a little bit before needing a big glass of water. Soon the girls were actually crying because their mouths were burning so much. When we went back to the Allen's house Stephanie googled "chili pepper burns" and was able to soothe things a bit, but then at dinner Kamryn rubbed her eyes with some pepper juice on her hands. Ouch. That hurts like the dickens, so dinner was interrupted with some more crying.

So all that being said, an innocent chips and salsa surprise turned into a massive crisis with on-the-fly medical care administered via milk and yogurt and olive oil. Maybe next time I can try to avoid using the hottest peppers in the universe for a makeshift corn chip dip. Or maybe we can search for a "mild" recipe :)

Thoughts on Church

So far it has been interesting to visit the compound churches here in Zambia. I have been privileged to visit five congregations so far, each from a different suburb of Lusaka, ranging from 20 people in attendance to more than 300. Each experience has been different, but I have noticed some interesting common denominators that each church has shared so far.

(1) Church is between 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 hours long. One of the services I went to began at 9:00 and ended at around 1:00.

(2) When the leader of the congregation says, "Let us pray now for..." or "we are going to pray that...", what he/she means is that EVERYONE is going to pray out loud to God at the same time. So everyone audibly speaks their prayer to God together at the same time, the effect of which is a sort of a loud amalgam of voices.

(3) Visitors (or maybe just Muzungu's?) are given seats at the front of the congregation, sometimes with their own small table, and bottled water.

(4) When church is over, the pastor (or "man of God") exits first and stands at the front door of the church. Then the guests/muzungu's exit, shaking the pastor's hand, and form a line behind the pastor so that everyone in the congregation shakes everyone else's hand.

(5) Services are divided up into different chunks, and not everyone comes to everything. The first part is usually intercession -- church leaders meeting before the service to pray for the day, for the people as they make their way to church, and so on. Sometimes there is a Bible study after intersession, which is a time for the pastor or teacher/elder to lead the core of the church in a more personal "teaching" environment. There aren't a lot of kids or families at this if it happens. Then, as the women and children begin to arrive, there is a time of worship (sometimes led by a choir, if there is one), an offering, and a set of announcements (just like in the states) in no particular order. At around 11:30 there is a sermon... or two. The day's offering is usually announced at the end of the service.

(6) At one of the churches I went to there was a separate youth church, but it took place during the teaching time before worship. For the most part, the kids just hang out with the rest of the congregation for all three hours of church.

(7) Worship is usually in Nyanja and English. Sometimes the pastor will give the sermon in both languages at once -- speaking one sentence at a time in each language -- and sometimes the pastor will have an interpreter. Worship music may or may not have instrumentation apart from clapping.

(8) I have not yet had communion with a congregation here. Luke mentioned to me that there is often an afternoon service where the congregation will break bread together, but it is hard to tell if this happens in smaller, more impoverished congregations. If they do take communion, I have yet to determine the frequency -- is it once per month like in my congregation back in the States? Or only if/when they can afford bread and drink for an entire congregation? An issue like this is very interesting to think about in the context of poverty,

(9) There has not been as much "crazy stuff" as I expected, even in the pentecostal churches. No one has been slain in the spirit or anything like that -- the most common thing has been speaking in tongues. Women will occasionally holler during prayer times.

(10) There is no problem at all here with women pastors. It is very interesting to me how this happens everywhere in the world, when God's word is so clear on the issue. Just like in the States, I have seen far more women in the churches than men.

God is good... (echo: all the time!). All the time... (echo: God is good!).

Grasshopper

I took this video on my third or fourth day here, when I was in Makeni with Tyler.

4th of July

“Not all those who wander are lost.” - J. R. R. Tolkien

Today is the 4th of July. Of course that means just about nothing here in Zambia, except that it is Saturday, and on Saturday the malls are full of Westerners. So after spending the morning in the office reading (while a pastor and a couple of his employees put some windows into our classroom) I decided to just walk around the city. All day long.

So in the early afternoon I set out from the office on foot. When I got downtown I grabbed lunch at a cafe where they had an "Obama Special," which turned out to be fried chicken and french fries. Not a bad spread for $4, eh?

Then I just wandered up and down the streets of the city for the next three hours. I saw a couple of things that made me chuckle -- a minibus pulling another minibus with a plastic pipe and a string, a gal in a Huskies sweatshirt (I had a Huskies hat on, so we talked for a minute or so), and the Zambian equivalent of Kentucky Fried Chicken. I walked a ways down Cairo Road (the main North/South street) behind some ladies with stuff balanced on their heads. I feel like there are things that I see periodically that really remind me I'm in Africa.

Fun interaction of the day: at one point I took a picture of gas prices, and all of a sudden a guy ran up to me from across the street and asked me some sort of a question in ragged english. After a minute or two I figured out that he was asking if I had a permit to take photos (of course I didn't), and he wanted me to come with him to the police station. Since the guy was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt I decided I didn't believe him, so I asked to see his badge. "No, don't ask me that," he said. "Let's go, let's go." The guy was obviously full of it, so I took my camera out and showed him as I deleted the picture. I probably didn't even need to do that. Anyways, I told him I wouldn't take any more pictures and then just walked away.

Towards the end of the day I rested by the Freedom Statue (above, courtesy this guy), which was erected on the 10th anniversary of Zambia's independance. It struck me that I was there on my country's independance day, half way across the world... I'm not quite sure if that's significant at all, but it was cool nonetheless. I talked with some street kids and bus drivers there for a bit before heading over to the US embassy for the evening and eating burgers with Tracy and Karen. It was interesting to be around so many Americans in the evening after having been the only white person in sight all day long.

I'm going to try to go to a pentecostal church tomorrow that I hear has 3+ hour church services. Should be fun :)

So... I'm in Africa

Hey there!

Today marks the three week mark of my time in Zambia. It has been really good. Here's a brief synopsis:

(1) Week One - All my flights went as smooth as they possibly could have. I got into Lusaka and was greeted at the airport by the smiles of Steve and Tyler before being shuttled around town for a bit. I stayed the first night with Tyler at a house in Makeni, which is a suburb of Lusaka, and was able to get a full night's rest, which was great. My first real experience with JetLag wasn't too bad, and I was ok on day three.

The rest of the week was spent with Tyler and Steve and Megan, just learning the city and learning what Action Zambia is doing in its various ministries. Public transportation here is pretty interesting, and I've got some great stories that I'll have to post later. All the missionaries here have been very gracious and generous with me so far; I had dinner with all but one of the families my first week here.

(2) Week Two - A short-term team from Vacaville, CA, came into town a couple of weeks ago to do some work with a farm we have called Cianjano ("Fellowship" in Nyanja). I hung with them for the week just digging 5' x 16' x 9' pit latrines, planting trees, and hanging out with kids from the local villiages. I love that stuff: kids are the same everywhere, it doesn't matter what culture they grow up in or what language they speak. We also tore down an Insaka (an African gazebo), and watched as ladies came from the villiage to make brooms from the straw roof as we tore it down. They'll sell them in the market later for 1,000 to 2,000 kwacha (20 to 40 cents).

(3) Week Three - The team took a trip down to Livingstone to see

Victoria Falls and catch a safari, but I decided not to go with them... instead I moved into Steve and Stephanie's guest room last weekend, and have been spending time getting to know the projects that I'll be working on the rest of the way out. I'm excited for this next month, as I'll hopefully be diving into the lives of 15 local pastors, getting to know them and their congregations, and just helping out the Action office wherever I'm needed.

More to come!

Quantum Mechanics

Quantum Mechanics is an amazing thing. I've been house/dog/bird sitting for the past few days and I brought one of my college textbooks along, since I figured I would have time to burn. My biggest school is on spring break this week so I've been able to read up on some concepts that have been getting a bit rusty.

Here's is a pretty great video showing one of the most mind-boggling experiments we can do. Corny, I know, but pretty great! Enjoy...

Christians Never Say Goodbye

I haven't updated for some time, but thought I would do a special update in honor of a man who was a good friend, a mentor, and a teacher.

Chris Kimball passed away in his sleep this past Tuesday, March 10th, at the age of 56. I took guitar lessons from Chris from the age of 10 until the age of 15, and learned from him every tool needed to continue to grow and learn as a guitarist and a musician. Chris and his wife, Jay Lynne, were some of the first family friends that we made when we moved to Seattle from New Mexico in 1991, so I have known him since I was seven years old.

Before I ever even showed an interest in guitar, Chris had shown an interest in me. When he found out that I liked Star Trek and was interested in outer space, he invited me over to his house to watch the movie Space Camp, and he made me his "world famous" grilled-cheese sandwiches. At church campouts he would take me out on his boat with the other kids to go tubing, and he would always have a guitar waiting back at the campsite. A favorite song I'll always remember was his rendition of "Whale of A Tale". Chris was an absolutely amazing guitarist, and truly lived his life doing what he loved. At times in our lessions I can remember simply laughing in disbelief as he would make his guitar do incredible things.

Every hour I spent with Chris was much more than a guitar lession. Many, many times we would not even pick up our guitars, but would instead talk about things like confidence, or education, or girls, or whatever else might be beneficial for me to learn and ponder. If Chris had a sarcastic, rough exterior (and he did), then he had an equally sober and kind spirit which would light a twinkle in his eye whenever he spoke to me about the Lord or about the things he had learned over the course of his life. Chris was always extremely open about his past, about the things that he had seen and done and learned from, and he used our time together to impart wisdom just as much as music.

Chris and Jay Lynne moved to Wenatchee in 2001 and I stopped taking lessons. I only saw him once more -- at a Summer Safari in 2002 -- which is a fact that I now deeply regret. How hard would it have been to drive out to Wenatchee for one weekend? In hindsight there are many things that I want to tell Chris but I never did. How I would have enjoyed spending the day with him, years removed from my adolescence, able to discuss life and music and joy and girls! But that day now cannot come; at least not in this life.

This week has been a good time for me to reflect upon what the gospel of Jesus Christ offers you and I today. This life will end. And yet Jesus says a shocking, almost nonsensical thing to Martha in John 11, after her brother Lazarus has been dead for three days. He says, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?"

That's a good question, Jesus. Do you? Do I? Is it true that Chris is alive today even though he is dead? If this is not true then I ought to grieve the loss of an old friend and mentor, for there is no hope of ever being reunited. And yet I know that Chris is now merely asleep in Christ, as Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. One day he will awake.

I know this has been a bit of a long post, but I'll finish up by sharing a passage from a book called A Severe Mercy, by Sheldon Vanauken, in which the author recounts the last time he saw his friend C.S. Lewis. I have not read the book myself, I should admit, but ever since hearing about this passage in a sermon many years ago I have not been able to forget it, and so will share it here:

“On that last day I met C.S. Lewis at the Eastgate for lunch. We talked, I recall, about death or, rather, awakening after death... I said it would be a sort of coming home, and he agreed. Lewis said that he hoped Davy and I would be coming back to England soon, for we mustn’t get out of touch. ‘At all events,’ he said with a cheerful grin, “We’ll certainly meet again, here - or there.’ Then it was time to go...

"When we emerged onto the busy High with the traffic streaming past, we shook hands, and he said, ‘I shan’t say goodbye. We’ll meet again.’ Then he plunged into the traffic. I stood there watching him. When he reached the pavement on the other side, he turned round as though he knew somehow that I would still be there in front of the Eastgate. Then he raised his voice in a great roar that easily overcame the noise of the cars and buses. Heads turned and at least one car swerved. ‘Besides,’ he bellowed with a great grin, ‘Christians NEVER say goodbye!’"

Lazy Afternoon...

On Saturday afternoon I went to Starbucks after watching the Huskies grab first place in the PAC-10 from the clutches of the UCLA Bruins. It was a sweet game, but I missed a big chunk in the middle of the game because I had to meet a student for a tutoring session.

I went to the 'Bucks on the corner of Greenlake and Ravenna. It was totally packed as I went in to sit down, but I was able to find a spot in the corner in a pretty comfy chair. I went, in large part, to unwind -- to get out of my house and have time to people-watch and not be distracted by my computer or my roommates.

One of the things that I have been trying to do in the new year has been to listen to God for specific direction. I have a lot of big decisions coming up in my life, and I think there is a lot of anxiety in my heart right now about the future. What will I do next year? Should I continue to pursue a career in medicine? If so, how will I get there? Should I continue to serve at Crossroads or go with her church plant, The Downtown Church? Anyways, as a result of this line of thinking I found myself with a book about prayer on my lap and a fatty Bible on my armrest, my vanilla latte within arm's reach.

About two minutes after I sat down in the corner hoping to have some alone time, a fellow managed to sit down next to me and whip out his Bible and a pocket concordance, haha! So of course we struck up a converstation, and it turns out he is working for the Navigators doing something called Edgecorps. The really interesting part, though, is that several of my friends and roommates have been in a men's group for the past few years through the Navigators -- and, as the Lord would have it, the leader of the study is my new friend's boss, and the study happens to take place every Thursday night in my new friend's house. Small world: we turned out to have a solid set of 5 or 6 mutual friends right off the bat.

God has a funny way of using the time that we give to Him: we were each encouraged a great deal by our conversation, and as we compared what God has been teaching us I was keenly aware that God was using fellowship to speak to me instead of solitude. Which is interesting. Certainly there are times when we ought to be alone and be quiet before the Lord, listening to His still voice (which I need to do far more consistently in my life -- see "often" in Luke 5:16). Yet this weekend He used a conversation to speak to a specific circumstance in my life, when I had intended to hear from Him in solitude and "alone time."

John Owen

"John Owen’s treatises on Indwelling Sin in Believers and The Mortification of Sin are, in my opinion, the most helpful writings on personal holiness ever written."

-- Jerry Bridges

I just finished a book called Triumph Over Temptation which is a modern repackaging of three books by a guy with a cool name who lived in the mid-1600s. This was my second time through, and I think I will need to make it a commonly revisited friend. Every time I read it I am reminded of how SERIOUS sin is in our lives, and how diligently it needs to be guarded against with prayer and truth from God's Word. Does anyone talk like this anymore??

Some of the most piercing quotes, and most applicable to myself:

"Do not flatter yourself that you can hold out against temptation's power. Secret lusts lie lurking in your own heart that will never give up until they are either destroyed or satisfied."

"If sin entangles us in one area of our life, it will ensnare every area of our life."

"...both meditation and prayer particularly oppose indwelling sin. The are always designing the destruction of sin."

"When a man does not repent or deal with his sin, he cannot experience real peace in his soul."

"Satan blinds people to strive to serve God without having a real relationship to Him. To let sin alone in our lives is to permit sin to grow until it chokes and blinds the conscience. Not to conquer sin is to be conquered by sin."

"The excellency of a believer does not consist in how much he knows, but in what he assimilates and what becomes transformed within his soul."

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I know it has been a while, and that I should blog a bit more. Upon hearing that I was in danger of being removed from the "Blogs We Like" section of some close friends, I figured I can do better... :) I'll try to say a thing or two about my Christmas vacation if I get a chance!