Blood

I haven't spent nearly the time on this poem that I should've before posting, but it's fitting for Good Friday. Check out Leviticus 17:10-14 and Hebrews 9:22 for the inspiration.

Perfect

and

pure

Blood

Endowed with all humanness to live and all

divinity to save, most living blood in history

Depleted in one instance, Confiscated to a cross

Spreading

out across

wooden

knots

Staining

Roman

spears

Atonement

for my

polluted

blood

We own a goat!

A few people have been asking when I'm going to blog about Africa. The truth is I'm still processing, so you'll have to be patient with me. There were just so many impressions to take in: heat, poverty, work, water, food, dance, drums, dust. There was never lack of a child's hand to hold or a smile to photograph. Here are a few of the church we roofed in the village of Debe and some kids we played with.

One of the impressions I have already worked through a bit was the gratefulness I experienced, not on behalf of the team but on behalf of the Bush villagers. Twice, they randomly pulled out the drums and began singing while the women formed a semi-circle around them to dance. I got to hold babies both times, which made my day each time, but it was fascinating to watch their uninhibited expression of thankfulness as they watched the roof go up. Our team felt so fake in some ways since we got to swoop in with a bunch of corrugated aluminum, swing some hammers, and get all this "credit." And they showered their thanks upon us, not just with the dances and the kisses on cheeks, but as we were getting ready to leave, they even brought out a goat and four chickens! Some of our girls wailed, "They need them more than we do," but leaving them behind would've been incredibly rude. So, we loaded that goat and those chickens up on top of the Jeep (quite the process) and drove with it the 5 1/2 hours all the way back to Ouagadougou, listening to it bleat the entire way. At one point, mid-way through the trip, one of the students turned to the rest of us and said, "Guys. We own a goat!"

It's made me think about my own level of generosity and expression of gratefulness, not just in response to gifts people give me or deeds they do for me, but as a way of life. It's got to be the oldest axiom in the book: that joy is not found in the accumulation of things, and the people of Debe proved that. So, how do I show my thankfulness to God. If I ever owed anyone pure joy, my total heart, it's him. Do I dance and sing for him? Do I bring him gifts gladly? Do I grip his face between my hands, kiss his cheeks, and whisper over and over "Barrika" (Thank you)? 2 days of roofing, and the people of Debe were pouring themselves out. What a challenge to live that way!

How DO you say Ouagadougou?

Last fall, I was keeping score at a basketball game next to the Chaplain who was announcing plays, and he leaned over during halftime, his eyes glinting as if he were up to something, and he said, "Have you ever thought about Africa?" Odd to ask a geography teacher. "Of course, I have." "How would you feel about co-leading the Spring Break missions trip to Burkina Faso?"

I didn't admit that I had to even figure out where it was on a map first (sad geography teacher), but after more prayer and exchange of information about what the trip would entail, I decided to say "yes." (Good thing, or this post would be pretty pointless.)

Months of planning and praying and getting yellow fever shots are coming together, and now we stand 36 hours before departure. Our team consists of 4 guys, 7 girls, and 2 leaders, and our job will be to roof a church in a small bush community, the 5th one BFA will now do this for. The students are thrilled - the guys to play with tools and the girls to play with kids - and I'm just praying none of them break anything or even bleed since I was asked to play nurse for the week.

Another cool moment we've gotten to experience as a team was when a church in the states collected used skirts for us, 2 per girl, and sent them in a huge box along with some encouraging notes. What a blessing, and what fun it was to unpack it with these girls.

We covet your prayers as we travel, work, and seek to be Christ's hands and feet from April 9-17, both for the people we hope to serve and for our own hearts.

P.S. Waa-gaa-doo-goo

Clever Kid

In German class, which takes place in the Main Building (not the Janz Building), we've been recently learning the use of prepositions. For a fun review game on Thursday, I told students they could make a sentence about another student who would then have to act it out, so of course it kept getting bigger and better. (Mind you, this was all in German. And I did mention we were in the Main Building, right?)

Me: Where is LA?

SW: She is next to the window.

Me: Where is DC?

LA: He is standing on the desk.

Me: DC, where is JZ?

DC: She is under the chair.

Me: Where is LS?

JZ: He is out in the hallway.

Me: LS, where is Miss Custer?

LS (from the hall): Miss Custer is in the Janz Building. Take your time!

The Middle School Play

a.k.a. that which has sucked up most of my March in terms of time and sleep and yet given me deepened relationships and lots of giggles in return. When I first agreed to help "look for props" back in February, I thought it meant locating a chair or two and making some bows and arrows. As you can guess, it was a bit more involved than that, and by the time the curtains went up last weekend, I was the full-fledged Props Manager backstage with my own crew of 6 and a headset no less (my favorite part). On the Monday before the play, it was Crazy Costume day to advertise to the rest of the school to buy tickets. I picked out the Queen's hat, so the two princesses (HH and EC) became my daughters for the day. They hammed it up. IC and BD in their suspenders were my second favorite (I just find suspenders classy).
The prep work was lots of fun, too. I got to draw purple on three girls' feet to make it look like they had trampled on grapes. We tried beets, kool-aid, and food coloring before settling on old-fashioned markers. The wrinkles to make students look older really freaked out a bunch of them, though TP was thrilled to be given a mustache. It was too funny!
Backstage, I spent a large part of my time either shushing students (sorry, students) or yanking the desk around the stage in the dark. We didn't lose any fingers, and one window hung crooked was the only mistake in two shows. Praise God!When we were done, someone said "See you next year." I'll have to think about that. I'm really enjoying my sleep right now.

Duh, Miss Custer...

One particular 6th grade student has just shot up in height since Christmas break. We're talking about a growth spurt here of at least 6 inches. The other day, he stood up in front of me, and the two of us were eye-level.

Me: Whoa, MC! What happened that you've gotten so tall!?

MC (completely nonchalant): Puberty.

Detention Duty

Student begins to whistle as he sweeps: Miss Custer. I'm whistling so that I have a good attitude while I'm being punished.

Me: Okay, good for you.

Student: Is it Paul or Peter who talks about suffering?

Me: Both?

Student: Which one says to be happy while you suffer?

Me: Well, I know Peter does. But I can also think of James right now who said, "Consider it pure joy when you face trials of many kinds."

Student (very seriously): Did James plagiarize?