Final Blog: Top 3's!

So we finished up our Cpx program yesterday. It is definitely good to be done, but I'm also kinda sad having to leave so many close friends that I've made over the last couple months. All of these new friends really affirmed what I felt God speaking to me before the trip which was Matthew 19:29- "And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life." So as I wrap up the trip I figure I would give a few of my top 3's on some random favorites and non-favorites!

Top 3 things I got to see:
3. Victoria Falls in Zambia. This probably would have been higher up on the list if it had not been so cold. The waterfall made it so that there was a constant rain in the park which made it a little less fun.
2. Chobe Game Park in Botswana. One of my friends and I hitchhiked to Botswana during one of our weekends in Zambia to go get an African safari experience. We pretty much saw every African animal except a lion which was pretty cool.
1. Table Mountain in Cape Town. This is the main tourist attraction in Cape Town and I was worried that I wouldn't get to climb it because it is right in the middle of rainy season down here. Thankfully, God heard my prayers and gave us some really nice weather and I was able to climb it with three good friends. Another added bonus was that we got to see a really nice sunset!

Top 3 foods I've missed:
3. Dairy Queen ice cream. The ice cream is very different here so I'm pumped to go get a few Blizzards when I get back.
2. Panera Bread. They don't have bagels down here, so I've really been looking forward to going to Panera and beefing up my rewards card when I get home.
1. Brats. I have no clue why I miss brats so much since they probably aren't even in my top 10 favorite foods, but I've been craving them hardcore for the past three months so they earn the top spot.

Top 3 favorite things about Africa:
3. Slow pace of life. It's crazy how much slower everything is out here. It can be frustrating at times, but I've really come to appreciate it lately.
2. Seeing oceans and mountains everyday. We are surrounded by mountains and it's only a 3 mile run to both the Indian and Atlantic oceans. I'm definitely gonna miss this when I get back to MN.
1. Warm weather. It's in the middle of winter but it still gets up to 60 degrees everyday. I would not mind at all if I never saw snow again. I can kind of be a Scrooge when it comes to winter.

Top 3 things I won't miss about Africa:
3. Feeling weird for only knowing one language. EVERYONE here seems to know at least two languages, most people actually know three or four. It made me wish I woulda tried harder in my Spanish classes in college.
2. Not having heat or AC. No houses have heat or air-conditioning here, so in the summer it can be brutal to try and sleep in the heat. And in the winter I feel like I am constantly just a few degrees too cold and there is nowhere to go to warm up.
1. The wind. I will never think it is windy again when I get back to MN. It is extremely windy here nearly everyday. So windy that I honestly feel like I'm going to fall over at times on my runs. It is pretty ridiculous.

Top 3 things I have learned from CPx:
3. The importance of living in Christian community. I have very much enjoyed living with lots of people who are all trying to follow Christ wholeheartedly. It makes it a lot easier to stay motivated when you are surround by like-minded people.
2. The importance of 1-on-1 discipleship relationships. I've had two people discipling me while I've been out here and it has been great for my growth. They have done a great job of keeping me accountable on a weekly basis. I look forward to finding similar relationships back in the Twin Cities.
1. It is more about trust than clarity. So many people here seem to be uncertain about their future, yet they are so at peace about it that it blows my mind. From the people I've talked to, they've said that they don't have clarity for the future very often but they know God does so that keeps them at peace.  This is something I'm horrible at, but hopefully I'll keep getting better.

Top 3 things I learned about God's character:
3. God hates pride. This has probably taken me a lot longer to fully realize than most people, but I feel like God really spoke to me about a lot of pride issues in my life. Also I came to realize just how much humbling yourself before God is talked about in Scripture. This is something I'll need to work on as well.
2. God truly wants everything from us. Over this past year I have felt God picking out parts of my life one-by-one asking if I could give that up for Him. And every single time I think that this will be the last thing God will want from me. But it finally hit me in Zambia that God REALLY does want all of me. This was a depressing thought for me at first since I had this feeling that God was just leading me into a life of no fun. This probably would still be a depressing thought for me if my realization for the #1 thing hadn't grown on this trip
1. God's love. I have been so numb to this statement for years. Thankfully, I feel like God really started showing me how much He loves me. He doesn't want my life to suck, or for me to be depressed doing something I don't want to do for the rest of my life. But He truly wants the best for me! And that sometimes means it will include doing things I don't want to do, but ultimately, He wants me to live a life full of joy that brings glory to Him. I feel like I should have understood this long ago, but I guess it took God bringing me all the way out to Africa to teach me this.

So I guess that's it. It has definitely been a life-changing 5 months for me, but I'm super glad to get back and see everyone again. I will also be very happy to get new running shoes as my current pair will have 1,730 miles by the end of tomorrow. I will be getting back to the States later this week but probably won't make it down to the cities until the July 7-9 weekend. Thanks so much to everyone who has been praying for me and to everyone who actually reads this thing. I appreciate you all so much.

God bless!

Wiped out...

My energy level has been on empty for nearly the whole time I have been in Zambia. It takes me back to my H.S. wrestling days because I feel exactly like I did when I was cutting weight. Upon first glance, there is honestly no reason why I should be feeling this tired. I honestly just lay in my tent for all of our non-ministry time. And that is in addition to the 10 hours of sleep I get every night. So I'll usually spend over half the day laying down in my tent just wondering how on earth I could possibly feel this tired. The good thing is, this time will usually turn into prayers for strength and energy which really makes me rely on God throughout the whole day. Some initial reasons that I had for my tiredness were that I have had a very different diet while I've been out here- lots of rice, oats, and veggies instead of lots of meat, sugar, and cereal. Another reason was that maybe being out in the sun all day walking from village to village was really killing me. But after talking with some people I have come to the conclusion that my tiredness is stemming from spiritual warfare. Sounds kinda weird, but it's honestly true. With lots of ancestor worship and witchcraft going on out here, it really opens up the spirit world. And since we are spreading the Gospel, I guess we are an easy target for them to attack. On the weekends, when we come into town, my energy levels come back to normal when I don't even need them. But right when I get to the village I literally feel my energy drop and then feel like I need to take a nap. I was actually so tired that I took a complete week off from running last week, something I haven't done in years, and it still didn't seem to help at all. Thankfully, God's grace has been sufficient, but it has been really frustrating at times.

So I noticed that my left heel has really been hurting on my runs lately. Since I rarely get injured (thank the Lord), I figured it had to be my shoes that were causing the pain. They had been looking a little beat up and I hadn't switched shoes since I had been to Africa yet. After adding up my shoe mileage I realized that I have 1,482 miles on my current pair which is about 3x the amount that you are supposed to put on a pair. Oops. Hopefully I can limp through these last 23 days without having them fall apart.

For everyone who knows that animals and I don't get along very well, I'm sure you will appreciate this story. Our team of 7 people was visiting a pre-school in one of the villages this past week. When we were standing around outside just waiting around I noticed there was a bird flying towards me. It wasn't very close yet but I noticed how it seemed to be coming right at me. As I continued watching it just kept getting closer and closer. Finally, I realized that this bird was coming right for me! So at the last second I did the most awkward twist/scream/duck in hopes that the bird wouldn't hit me. Thankfully it didn't hit my face but it did hit my head. I couldn't believe why a bird would just fly into my head. Afterwards, my hip was sore for the next day because of the weird twist I had to pull to get out of the way. Maybe it's just my long hair?

We have one more week in the villages and then we will be getting back to Cape Town on June 12. Even though I'm super excited to get back to a bed and a shower, I will miss a lot of the people that I've met out here.