Poli Sana - So Sorry

Psalm 121
I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;
From where shall my help come?
My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.
He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, He who keeps Israel Will neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord is your keeper; The Lord is your shade on your right hand.
The sun will not smite you by day, Nor the moon by night.
The Lord will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul.
The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in From this time forth and forever.

2 Chron. 20:12 “….For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on You.”

If TFC were giving out a prize for most unique student teaching experience, I think I would be in the running! I have been in Africa just over a week now, and already things have changed so drastically…. I was planning on student teaching with Mr. Taylor and working with the band at Rift Valley Academy. That much is still true, at least. However, RVA has a lot of holes this year because of how much transition is going on here – new titchie principal, new high school principal, LOTS of new staff, etc etc. (Titchie Swot – pronounced "tih-chee swa" – is an old British term for “little learner.” It’s the elementary school here.) One of the holes is titchie music teacher. For obvious reasons, they asked me if I would be interested. I thought about it and got soooo excited! I even started dreaming about titchie music and all the kids singing and clapping in my class. Luckily, another woman and I are going to share it. She’s gonna take care of titchie choir, which is grades 4-6, and I’ll have K-3.

ALSO! My housemate, Ashley – who I’ve known now for all of 4 days – graduated from RVA and was asked to be a temporary dorm mom because the regular dorm parents for Suswa dorm had to extend their furlough. She agreed to do it on the condition that I could come with her and help. She knows how things work here, but she’s relying on my cooking skills. So I am now co-dorm-mom of Suswa, which houses 15 eleventh-grade girls.

I think the hardest thing, though, is the feeling of not being settled. I think I was beginning to feel a little bit settled before we moved into the dorm, but that’s all gone now. Haha! But everything here is new. Even doing familiar things – like eating, having coffee, talking – are different here. There are different rules and different smells. They don’t tell you this, but fire smells different in Africa. It’s just 100% new, all the time, and it can be exhausting. I’ve been praying a lot for peace, and God is faithful. The people here are kind and wonderful, it’s just that I can’t make myself feel settled. But I have never been so needy. I have never relied so heavily on God. I have never sung so honestly or worshipped so truly in church. So it’s good. I’m feeling quite stretched, and sometimes overwhelmed, but it’s good. :)

I’m also seeing how some of the skills God has taught me through different people are vitally important to me here. Sam, for example, taught me that it’s ok to grieve. I’ve lost comfort, familiarity, the nearness of everyone I know and love, and it’s ok to grieve those things. Rach, Sam, Mere, n’ Jess all taught me that if I need people around me I should go find them. I’ve been knocking on all kinds of doors here! In fact, that’s how I met Erica, the Thomases, and John Hayes (the titchie principal) – I knocked on the wrong doors! Haha! :) And, of course, my parents, from whom I learned to love people and be aware of what I need so that I can take care of myself. :) But anyway, God has been with me through all of it -- good, bad, overwhelming, smelly, beautiful, breath-taking, and even some sickness -- and I’m seeing how He’s prepared me for this time of stretching and growing in Him.