While cleaning off my "desktop"...

Now is the time of the year when I condense all of the random files that I have stored on lots of different computers over the course of teaching, rushing, printing, and grading of one school year. While in the process of waiting for files to move to the "Recycle Bin," I ran across a collection of poems from last year's English teacher. I thought this one was a good one...


He Passed the Test

Long before
most of the world's
recorded happenings happened,
Abraham
underwent
his Ordeal by Hope.

He believed God
to be faithful who promised
a seed (concept not viable)
a son (less
than knife-edge survival potential)
a land (one burial lot -
a life-time's total investment)
and descendants in such profusion
that
their number would rival
the stars!

Mixed up, yet
fiercely battling
circumstantial contradiction
awesomely, Abram/Abraham
became the friend of God.

His trusting, tortured endurance,
his strong argumentative prowess,
and finely-honed obedience
crashed through ancient harsh blood-ties
staking all on God keeping his word.

His never-swerving conviction:
THE ALMIGHTY IS, AND HE ANSWERS
prefigured to men's understanding
the God
who raises
the dead.

Abraham's faith has earned him
A posthumous decoration
'Reckoned by God as righteous.'

With inheritance rights for the children.

-Grace Westerduin

Miss Connell, are you staying at HOPAC?

...a question I have received a number of times the past few weeks. As Term 3 closes with Final Exams, Graduation Plans and House Sports Competitions, our students here are beginning to wonder which of their teachers they have to say, "Good-bye" to, and which they can simply say, "See you next year." After many discussions with AIM and the principals here at HOPAC, I have been able to say to my students, "See you next year."

Last "Fall" (aka: the Hot Season here in Dar), God very strongly impressed upon my heart that I needed to stay in East Africa... specifically, here in Dar es Salaam. But I knew that in order to stay on the field with AIM, I needed to take some Bible classes. (A problem faced by all of us AIMers who didn't go to Bible college.) So I started looking into online and distance learning courses. One of the other teachers here, who is also with AIM, directed my to Gordon-Conwell's Dimensions of Faith series. This looks like a great program, and I have already started Survey of the Old Testament 1! However, this takes time.... time... and more time... An issue I have struggled with here at HOPAC.

As a full-time Chemistry teacher, and part-time Swim Coach - Lifeskillz Teacher - Worship Leader, my free time has been limited and scarce. A problem when I need to listen to at least 3 Bible lectures a week next year. Also, HOPAC has been unable to find a Physics Teacher for next year. With a minor in Physics, and 5 years of experience teaching it stateside, it was a conversation I knew would be coming... "Kate, would you be able to teach Physics next year?" At first, I refused knowing there would be no way to teach Chemistry and Physics AND still carry all of my extra-curriculars. After a number of discussions, and prayer from many different people, it has been decided that I will teach both Chemistry and Physics, part-time, next year and drop all of my extra-curriculars until I have finished with my Bible Classes. An arrangement I balked at at first, thinking, "Then why am I here? I could do that in the States!" until God gently reminded me that He didn't call me to stay in the States... He called me to teach here.

So when this school year ends, in three more weeks, I will spend some time in the States with my family, then head back to Tanzania for a few more years of work here at HOPAC. God has been so faithful these last two years... let's see what He has planned next!!

Copy Room Conversations

It's true what they say.... you don't really learn something until you have to apply it. Even with language school last summer, conversing in Kiswahili is still a challenge for me. I live with English speakers, I teach English speaking students, and, even though my pastor speaks 5 languages and uses every accent known to man, I go to an English speaking church. I don't get a chance to USE Kiswahili. So, my language is still very limited. One day, one of our administrative secretaries scolded me because I have lived in Tanzania for two years and still can't hold a descent conversation. She then told me to come in every day for a 5 minute conversation. Now, I have two walimu (teachers) in the main office who refuse to speak to me in English for at least 5 minutes after I enter their space. If they say something I don't understand, (Samehani, sematena pole pole.) (Excuse me, say it again slowly.) They laugh. When I respond in my halting accent, they laugh. If they speak really quickly and then ask me a question and I respond "Sijoui" (I don't know), they laugh.

I get laughed at a lot.

But I am now actually applying what I learned last summer. It's much easier for me to understand what I hear, but recalling the vocabulary is still an ongoing challenge. (At least, I'm not recalling all of my French first like last summer. "Habari yako?" "Comme ci comme ca... oh, je suis desolee... oh, man.")

Oh well... pole pole ndio mwendo. (the slow way is the best way)

The Way Things Work...

Today I have been bombarded with images of the way things work here in Dar. (or don't work here in Dar.) It all began this morning as I walked to the top of our school grounds to run and pray around our soccer field. (Our pitch is elevated at the top of our campus... not sure why... it usually only has the affect of allowing the soccer balls to roll a LONG way before we can retrieve them.) I stepped onto the pitch, and SQUISH!... mud everywhere. Did it rain last night? I'm sure I would have heard it... No, now I remember... there were firetrucks at school last night, emptying the water from our swimming pool!

Why did the swimming pool have to be emptied? Because the water was green.

Why was the water green? Because we had extra people in it.

Why do extra people make water go green? Because the Chlorine isn't working.

Why isn't the Chlorine working? We have no idea....

or had no idea...

After getting fed up with the pool, our coordinator took two bottles of water, put the on the desk of our building and grounds supervisor, and said, "Order water tests." His response? "We have already done this." He handed her a document two years old that said our water on campus was NOT SUITABLE FOR USE IN A SWIMMING POOL. In fact, it was "Not suitable for domestic use" at all. So why did we empty the pool? Because somebody filled it with the wrong water.

and where did the water go? Onto the soccer field... leading to a quickly scrawled email from our Secondary Principal... "The soccer field is closed until further notice."

My journey continued in the Teacher's Lounge this afternoon. Our Lounge is in our new Admin building here on campus... the one where the air conditioning has been broken for three weeks because the company installed a central a/c system and nobody in all of Tanzania knows how to service it. I noticed a hole in one of the walls in the bathroom this afternoon... a random hole in the middle of a tile with strange wires sticking out of it. What is the purpose of this hole? I don't know. Why is it there? I have no idea. What are the wires for? Who knows. And why doesn't this hole-wire setup go anywhere or do anything? Your guess is as good as mine.

Finally, on my way back to my office after homeroom this afternoon, I noticed some "maintenance work" going on outside one of the classrooms. (and by classroom I mean the old building that has severe termite damage... huge sections of it fall off daily. Not kidding. Pieces of the wall actually fall down daily.) What was the maintenance work you ask? Termite treatment? no.
Roof supports? Nope.
Replacement of broken glass in windows to make the room secure? Not even close.
It was patch work. Using a saw, one of our workers was widening a hole so he could repair it. Repair a hole in a building that is literally crumbling away because of the termites.

At least I can rest assured that our students here will be safe from "domestic use" water, overexerting themselves on a soccer field, wires that carry power and small holes in the walls of their classrooms.

The Return of the Teacher and Girl Gab aint all Bad!

One of my housemates from last year has returned to sub for the Bible Teachers who are on Home Assignment with their Children until Easter Break. It is so great to have Lisa back in town! The first day back at school, I was walking to the office and I heard a loud voice calling, "MISS CONNELL!!" I turned around and saw Lisa running towards me. So I responded, with equal enthusiasm, "MISS HENDERSON!" We hugged, jumped up and down, and squealed as only two extroverted, uninhibited women could do while surrounded by astounded students. (Just the ones who were new this year... everyone else understood what was going on.)

It's nice having Lisa around again... and since we have already been through the "You're driving me crazy, rinse your dishes!" and "Well, you ate all the peanut butter!" it is much easier to just hang out and talk. Like old friends... picking up right where we left off.

Last week, we went out for coffee to chat, hang out and talk about our vision for the Youth Group here at HOPAC. (Since the Bible Teachers were also my co-leaders, Lisa has stepped in to help with the Large Group Teaching on Friday nights.) It has been great to watch God at work... at first, Lisa and I had very different ideas about what God wanted us to do. But, after much girl gab about various feelings, emotions and desires for the future, God gave me a topic for the next theme: Heart Surgery. Lisa had also been wanting to do something to encourage our students to give away their WHOLE hearts to God... not just part of it, or to just connect intellectually with Him, but their WHOLE Hearts. And of course, our current theme will end the week of Valentine's Day... so starting a new theme with the word HEART in it is just cheesy enough to work for Youth Group!

maybe we should decorate in red and pink that first night...

...maybe not.

Youth Group and Science Fiction

The fact that I am a SciFi Fan should not come as a shock or surprise to anyone who has met me, seen me or even heard of me from friends. The fact that I spent most of my late nights in college watching The X-Files in syndincation with my roommate should also not cause any heads to be scratched. So the fact that our youth group messages for Term I are based on a SciFi movie should not cause any real alarm, but might, instead, trigger a sigh and a shake of the head in response.

The movie The 5th Element (starring Bruce Willis) is a SciFi movie about aliens, the end of the world and good versus evil. (what else would you expect?) In order to fight the "ultimate evil," Bruce Willis must gather the 4 elements (Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water) and place them around a perfect, supreme being (the 5th element). [Yes, the spiritual overtones ARE subtle and hard to decipher.] In Youth Group each Friday, we have spent two weeks talking about each of these 4 elements and places where they show up in the Bible.

Wind:
1. Jesus walks on water and Peter did, too, until he was distracted by the "wind noise." What is the wind noise in our lives that distracts us from keeping our eyes on Jesus?

2. Based on the song "Mind's Eye" by DC Talk. It has a quote from Billy Graham... "Can you see God? I can't see the wind, but I can see the effects of the wind." What happens when the wind slows? Does that mean there is no more air? No. Take a breath in a still room. The air is still there. What happens when you can't see the "effects" of God? (i.e. No blessings in your life.) Does that mean God isn't there? No. Take a breath and remember that God is ALWAYS there.

Water:
3. Fear versus Afraid. If you aren't afraid of the water, do you treat it too casually, forgetting it can kill you? (I asked a kid to let me hold her head in a bucket full of water... then challenged her that she said she wasn't afraid of it.) If you're not AFRAID of God, do you still FEAR Him?

4. Amos 5:24 (in context)[Thanks, Bret for the idea!] God wants justice and righteousness in our lives. He saved us to make us Holy so that He can be in relationship with us. The youth were challenged to "be Holy as I am Holy." I asked what does God want? And they all said, for us to love each other, to be forgiving, to be in relationship with Him. No one said for us to be Holy. So we talked about how sometimes it is easy to sin because we know we are forgiven. Here, God says be just. Be righteousness. (Be holy!) It was an interesting night. (We also discussed burnt offerings and sacrifices and what it meant to the Israelites when God said I will no longer accept these... v. 22/23. The Precepts Study I am doing on Leviticus came in handy that night.)

Earth:
5. Gil used the illustration of rocks, pebbles and sand in a jar. Everything fits only if you put the BIG rocks in first... which represents our relationship with God and making Him a priority. The students had trouble descerning what was a Big Rock and what was sand. (Xbox is NOT a big rock by the way...)

6. Gen 2:7, Ps. 103:13-14. We are dirt. God made us that way. God is compassionate because He remembers that we are dirt. When you forget to be Holy, when you sin, go back to God. He knows you're dirt. When other people sin against you, remember they are dirt... just like you. So treat people like dirt! (it works on a teenage level... trust me.)


We have two weeks left before our Christmas party (that's the 5th Element part) and we get to talk about Fire. I may even break out my Bunsen Burner for these!

(Yes, my choice of topics and my excitement for them did inspire the first Nifty Nerd Night. Someday these guys will realize how cool the Kingdom of Nerds really is!) (Did I just end that sentence with a preposition? :)

Fear

(One more about Service Emphasis Week...)

I learned a great lesson during SEW... I felt like I got one step closer to a conundrum that has plagued me for ages... a question that has caused sleepless nights and paced corridors in homes, college dormrooms and monasteries for weeks, years, centuries... What is the difference, really, between having fear and being afraid? If the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, as Proverbs states, how is it that we are supposed to love, worship and draw close to that which we fear?

Swimming lessons and SCUBA diving has helped me get one small step closer to an answer.

During swimming lessons with the women of our support staff, we started with 10 women, most of whom were deathly afraid of the water. We had them get into the shallow end, and walk in a large square so they could find the boundaries in which they felt secure. Most of them gripped the wall of the pool so tightly that I praised God for the adhesive holding the back of the tiles in place. Amy and Laura were doing a great job with the women. They started with all the basic strokes and some of the women started venturing out farther and farther from the wall. One young woman decided she wanted to try kicking on her own, without the protection and security of the wall. So with two fun noodles tucked securely, one under each arm, she pushed off from the wall. She kicked with all her might and succeded, not in moving forward, but in flipping herself over. She immediatley panicked and started screaming for help! Laura looked up at me, "She's in 3 ft of water, she can stand up!" I replied, "She doesn't know that. You need to help her up." Laura rescued her and calmly led her back to the wall where she could grasp the slippery tiles and regain her balance. Afterwards, she realized she could stand up, and was in no real danger, so she laughed at herself good naturedly. By the end of the week, she was doing the elementary backstroke and the freestyle kick.

I had my own "afraid" experience that same day. We have a large problem with black algae growing on the bottom of the pool. The only way to clean it is to scrape it... with some sort of blunt tipped instrument. But, you can only hold your breath for so long and the constant dive-resurface motion only accomplishes a large headache and ringing ears. So, we rented SCUBA equipment to scrub the bottom of the pool. Two of the lifeguards are certified divers and my roommates sister, who is also dive trained, was visiting that week and offered to help.

Laura and Jo prepping the equipment.

Learning to SCUBA is on my list of things to do before I die so I was VERY EXCITED. Learning to SCUBA is on my list of things to do before I die because I never wanted to do it because I am afraid of it. (Being an asthmatic, I tend to panic with anything that restricts my airflow.) I was VERY SCARED. Jo (my roomies sister) suited me up, taught me how to breathe and jumped in the pool with me. I got my head underwater, then panicked. I resurfaced immediately. There I was, in a 9 foot pool, surrounded by my students who I had trained as Lifeguards, taught them how to control their fears, encouraged them to do more, be more, train more... and I was panicking because I couldn't breathe normally. Jo talked me through it. Mind over matter. I was afraid but I had nothing really to be afraid of. Yes, I did make it down to the bottom of the pool. I did "conquer" that fear.

All 4 students working hard on the bottom of the pool.

Afterwards, as my lifeguards went back down to finish scraping the bottom of the pool, I had some time to think about the difference between fear and afraid.

I was afraid because of past panics... past experiences... past pain. These women were afraid because they didn't know what to do. Now that we had learned what to do, how to conquer our fear, were we really better off?

I wonder now if we have really down a good thing. We have taught the basics in swimming. But, have we taught the proper respect for the water? Now that these men and women are no longer afraid of the water, have we put them in greater danger?

I'm a trained Lifeguard. I have pulled numerous people out of dangerous situations. I can swim for an hour straight, cover a distance of 2 km and still get out and take a cycling class. But I never swim alone and I never swim in the dark. Why? Because I have a healthy respect for something that can kill me. If I ever take a casual attitude towards a body of water, that's when trouble starts and accidents happen. I'm not afraid of it, but I have a healthy fear of it. I respect what it is capable of, but I take every opportunity I have to enjoy it.

That's what I learned about be afraid of God and having a "fear of the Lord." I cannot take Him too casually or lose my respect for what He is capable of doing, accomplishing, creating. But, I also need to take every opportunity I have to enjoy Him.

Suited up and ready to go!