For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven... a time to weep, and a time to laugh.

I love to be silly, smile, tell jokes and laugh until it hurts... but sometimes, as seen in the Bible verse from Ecclesiastes 3, some times are times to weep. The following are things that made me sad this past summer and things that have brought or continue to bring tears to my eyes and make my heart break into pieces... 

To quote a book Pastor Sara loaned me to read during my trip: Someone's Heart is Burning - this photo was taken at Muyambo Park

Below is a picture of Baby "Obama."(My hand is in the photo just to show you how small he was... he arrived at Jamaa Letu when he was one week old. In this photo he was napping in the crib in my room.)

The day he arrived I went into the Mama's room to see him- she had just changed him and gave him to me to hold and left the room. Here I sat by myself in a room lit only by candle light holding this precious new arrival from God. He was at a nice orphanage and would have a future and so we sat together and I just loved him and prayed over him. Then across the table right in front of me, just visible by the little bit of light the candle was putting off, a big 'ol cockroach ran by (on the same table where the bottles were sitting.) I don't think I cried at that moment but the first few thoughts to run threw my head were: How can I get this sweet baby away from here and to Alexandria with me?... the next thought was: How can I ensure that all these beautiful and deserving children of God have a future free from cockroaches and mice and live in loving homes where every need is met and hugs are abundant? I haven't brought this up in any of my presentations but I know the time is coming when God will have me do so-- I feel that someone who supported me in any way during my trip has a place in her or his heart for a new member of the family, I don't know who you are or what exactly has been placed on your heart, but there is a child in this world who is meant to be yours and is waiting for your love- you probably love this child already and don't know it! I have had a heart for adoptions for a long time but my thoughts about adoption changed this summer... I used to feel that adoption was something a person or couple did when they wanted to bring a child into their family to love and to love them back... While I believe that is still a great and beautiful reason for adoption I have additional thoughts now-- I won't get into details about what I believe- but please know that welcoming a child into your home is a beautiful way to tell the world and the child: I will do my part, I will secure the future of this one child, I will support and love this child no matter what her or she is going through and I know situations could become very challenging but I will take one child and secure his/her future :)

Some of the younger crew :)

My sweet, sweet Israel

What a silly group! :)

Well- this post started out being about a few different things that made me cry and/or pulled at my heart strings this summer but I feel compelled to stop here and click "publish post."

May God's Love and Peace surround you today and forever,

Rachel

If you are the person who was meant to read this or know someone who needs to read it because you feel that God has a child waiting somewhere in this world for her/him please share this with that person and please share with me when you feel ready so that I can pray for you or that person/couple.

Chores, chores, chores!

Housework in Congo?!? For sure! 

Chores are a bit different though than they are here in the States... let's take a look friends :-)

The first chores in the morning were sweeping and mopping. Here's a photo of one of the girls mopping the patio outside- something that was also done again in the afternoon...

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Laundry- There's no throwing in the detergent and pressing "wash" in Congo! That's right, it's ALL done by hand... I eventually had to start wearing gloves because I was scrubbing until my knuckles bled. The girls were great, the always helped me - while teasing me of course ;-)

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Preparing the food- Yes- the girls got many laughs this summer and watching me try to grind food was just another reason to laugh. Let me just say that this is a GREAT upper body workout and also a great way to get out frustrations! (Thinking of ex-boyfriends while doing this really gets the job done!) Here's the before and after of what we were doing:  

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Nothing like making dinner over a campfire, right?!? Try every meal, every day, cooked outside on coal. While I was there the director did purchase a microwave... I tried to explain to the Mamas and girls how to use it- wonder how they did after I left... They did enjoy watching me use it!! 

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After cooking and eating there are many, many, many dishes to wash!! Here we find the girls having fun in the lean-to where the dishes were washed. Dishes are washed like clothing in some regards- start in one bucket with soap and keep rubbing, scrubbing and putting the items into the next bucket of clean water until everything is clean! Yes- I was usually a mess after helping with dishes and yes, often dropped clean dishes in the dirt and had to start over... 

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But wait- where does the water come from for cleaning, cooking and doing dishes if there isn't running water? Well... yup, that's where it comes from, the well! There's also a cistern and in the photo about you can see girls and some neighbors gathered at the cistern to get water. But wait- I know you're wondering- Rachel, what do you when the cistern is dry and the pump to the well breaks?!? Check out the photos below...

There were a few days in a row when the pump on our well broke so we walked to a local school and had to wait our turn to have our containers filled... It was so cold that day!!

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Now what was missing in these photos... oh yeah, babies!! Babies have to be taken care of while all the chores are being done- but "how?" you ask...

 

That's right! You strap those kiddos on your back and get to work!!

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Guess I should get a few things done around my place... I could vacuum after I toss my clothing in the washer and while my dinner warms in the microwave...

Love & Peace 

Drum Roll Please ----->

I'm going to Honduras with a team for two weeks at the end of February!!!!! YEAH! I can't wait :-D The group we're going with is Mercy Ships. I'm still waiting to hear the details but after talking to the coordinator today it looks like this will be our program (subject to change...):

"Children, children and more children … 95 plus and still counting! That is what you’ll find at the World Wide Heart to Heart Children’s Home in rural northwest Honduras. Since 2004, Mercy Ships has partnered with this ministry by bringing Work and Witness teams to the home and Medical Teams to the surrounding villages. Our teams also offer support and encouragement for the directors as they reach out to the community in evangelism and discipleship efforts. Heart to Heart directors, Oscar and Amy Serrano, provide a safe home, education, and health care for these beautiful children in a godly, loving environment. Facilities include a boys’ dorm, girls’ dorm, nursery, and vocational school. The school’s purpose is to prepare the children with practical life skills so they can support themselves when they grow up and leave the home. The Children’s Home offers many unique service opportunities in woodworking, building projects, cabinetry, assisting with homework, cleaning, cooking, laundry, maintenance, plumbing, or electrical work. But you or your team can provide so much more than physical labor! The smiles and laughter, the hands held, and the hugs given will last in your hearts and theirs for a lifetime." (Info is straight from Mercy Teams 2011 short term mission sheet)

I'm still here!!

Hi All,

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for all your support, love and prayers this summer!! I've been back almost a month now and still have to finish unpacking, lol! :) I wanted to let you know that I do plan to start putting up some photos on here and stories to go with them... here's the first photo.

It was taken the morning I left... the story to go with it: I showed my parents this photo on my camera and my mom said "that looks like a white girl"- my reply "Mom, that's me!"

 

I miss every single person in that photo so very much!! Please pray for them!!

Love & Peace,

Rachel

 

ps- You know me, I can't sit around w/o making future plans so keep checking back b/c I plan to have an announcement soon!! (And fyi- NO, I'm not adopting, although if I could afford it, I would in a heartbeat!)

I'd like to thank the academy... :P

Less than one week left on this amazing adventure… although, once I get back to NoVA I think God will have another great adventure for me at home or abroad, plus I’m sure that just because I come home, doesn’t mean this adventure is ending! I must say that there are things I’m going to miss from Lubumbashi once I get home… but no running water and not having water at all (when the pump to the well breaks) won’t be one of those things!! :) I also won’t miss the constant power-outages… I’m sitting in the dark right now, was just lucky to have my laptop charged so I could get a few things done…

I’d like to thank the following companies for their assistance in getting me through the summer:

The Coca-Cola Company- for Dasani, Coke, Sprite and Fanta (yes- I have been drinking pop this summer- that’ll have to stop once I get back to the US)

REI- thank you to all the folks who purchased items from my registry to prepare for this trip! All items have been used and have been very helpful!!

Laughing Cow- for providing pre-packaged cheese that I could treat myself with (Julie- I’ve had very little cheese this summer, you can only guess how much I’ve missed it!!!)

OMO- This is the soap used for hand-washing clothing… I’ve gone through at least a handful of packages!

the makers of Pepto-Bismol, Tums, Cipro and Malerone- won’t get into an explanation on this one- but if you’ve traveled abroad you know that these products are your friends!

Cadbury- this seems to be the main chocolate here- again, another treat I would purchase when I made it to a store in town

VodaCom & Zain- for connecting me to new friends in Lubumbashi and family and friends back home

DEET- for keeping those nasty mosquitoes away (although- I did still get bit many times, but usually only when I forgot to put on the bug cream or bug spray)

USPS- for getting most of the packages that were mailed to Zambia where they were picked up and brought up to DRC – some more packages will probably arrive after I leave

Polyset- a company that makes many plastic products… I worked my upper body daily by carrying their buckets full of water to my room and used them a few times a week for washing my clothes

BBC- for keeping me up to date on world news

Many companies who make antibacterial hand gel, foam or wipes- for killing germs!

I’m sure I’ve probably forgotten some companies, my apologies! I thank you all for your support this summer and, to those of you who I supported b/c I purchased your product- You’ve very welcome!

Also- to share a quick story- you might think of this as a God thing or you might think it’s just a coincidence, that’s up to you, but here it is: I, very unintelligently, brought only one pair of cheapish flip-flops with me, the other shoes I brought were tennis shoes and a few nice pairs of sandals. As you can probably imagine, I wore the flip flops often, mainly around the center, because of the dirt, etc. The other day, those flip flops broke… I thought “well, I’m leaving in less than two weeks, I’ll survive.” Later that day I picked up a load of boxes that had been sent to me from the US… I was going through them and got to the box from my sister… in it was a pair of flip-flops (with a design from a TV show I like none-the-less!) How cool! I was close to tears. I called and left her a message to let her know how much those flip flops meant to me :) So that’s my DRC flip flop story!

Have a blessed day!
Peace & Love from DRC!
R