WHAT TYPE OF PERSON ARE YOU?

A little over a week ago I was challenged with this question, and it has stuck with me ever since.  Every year our students get the opportunity to step out of the school setting and participate in what we call Service Emphasis Week (SEW).  Every week through out the year we have an assembly on Monday mornings for the secondary school.  The two weeks before SEW we usually have assemblies that help to prepare and encourage the kids before going out to serve. 
  This year the assembly was lead by Steve Larmey.  He is a missionary here in Tanzania along with his wife and 4 kids, working with Young Life.  He talked about three types of people that are out in the World these days.  They are the I have to, I want to and I get to people. 
  It made me think about my attitude and how I function on a day to day basis.  To often I think about things in a "I have to" mentality.  I have to get out of bed in the morning when the alarm goes off.  I have to go to work.  I have to teach in the hot, humid weather.  The list can go on and on of the things that "I have" to do. 
  Steve challenged us though to think about things with the "I get" to mentality.  I get to go to school and teach every morning.  I get to teach kids to appreciate exercising, even in a place that is hot and humid.  I get to serve God in Tanzania and be apart of what He is doing in this part of the World.  As I served alongside the kids from Saturday to Tuesday the following week I found myself really thinking about the "I get to" mentality.  It was amazing how much it could change my attitude just by thinking about life in that way. 
  I challenge you to go throughout your day and think about things that you "get to do", because of where God has placed you.  It is easy to fall into the I have to or I want to thought pattern, but I have realized how much more joy I have throughout the day when I focus on the day through the perspective of "I GET TO".  I am thankful for this challenge that was presented to me before I GOT TO go out and serve for a few days with an amazing group of students....see the next blog for more on that.


WHAT DO YOU GET TO DO TODAY? 

KILIMANJARO HALF MARATHON WEEKEND

Last weekend I had the awesome opportunity to travel to the town of Moshi, Tanzania and check something off my bucket list.  For years now I have dreamed of running a half-marathon, but figured that after surgery on my legs it probably would not be the smartest thing to put on that many miles.  Then one of my friends told a group of us she was training to run the Kilimanjaro Marathon and she would love to get a group together to go for the weekend.  There was a little talk in those early months about possibly training for the half, but I soon gave that up thinking there was no way I could do it.  I figured I would settle for running the 5K fun run.  Long story short about 4 weeks before the race I decided I could do it.  I had been running 3 or 4 times a week, but really had not been doing long runs.  I decided to go out and see if I could do an 8 mile run and if I could do that I figured I would give the half-marathon a try.  I did that and the next week I did a 10 mile run, so I was ready to go  It was an amazing run.  The first 6.5 miles were uphill, for the most part it was a gradual uphill, until the end.  My goal was to run the whole thing, but as much as  I tell myself I was still running at mile 6 it probably looked like a walk as I struggled to finish the last part of the uphill before the turn around.  It was an extremely fun and beautiful run. One of the highlights was seeing all the amazingly fast Kenyan and Tanzanian runners.  It was a little crazy to have the fast marathon runners pass me as I was on the downhill part of the half-marathon.  It was incredible to run through small towns with adults and kids out cheering for us as we passed.  Also enjoyed just running through the beautiful countryside.  It was a little crazy to run up to a water station and have a person try to hand me some Coke to drink.  I probably gave them a bit of an odd look and proceeded to keep running.  They did also have some water, so I was thankful for that.  I can't say I wasn't warned about the Coke hand-outs, but I was still a little taken back by it. :)  Overall it was a fun weekend with great friends, amazing views, and cooler temperatures.  See some pictures from the weekend below....



Our view of Mount Kilimanjaro the first morning.

The town of Moshi

Pasta dinner the night before the race

On our way to register for the race on Saturday

Lauren was already off and running the marathon!
This is all of us before running the half. Ali (far left)
and I went into this weekend planning on running the half-marathon.
the other 4 were planning on doing the 5K, until
breakfast on Saturday morning the two girls on the
right decided "why not try the half-marathon for fun" :)
So they convinced the others and THEY DID IT ! 

The marathon runners who passed me out as I ran the
half-marathon. 



I FINISHED :)

The group of runners plus Ben who took all the
amazing pictures along the way.

The celebration meal...all you can eat meat!



A piece of humble pie

One thing I really enjoy doing here is running.  It gives me time to enjoy God's creation, exercise, pray, and think about all sorts of things.  I was out for one of my normal runs on last Thursday, listening to some good music, and thinking about life in general.  As I was running I stumbled and almost fell, but I caught myself and I kept running.  I looked around to see if anyone saw me stumble, and was relieved to see that it was just me.  I continued on my little run thinking good I saved myself from that fall, that could have really hurt.  I was feeling a bit tired, but decided it was time to push myself a bit and run up the bigger hill for the second time.  I got about 3/4 of the way up the hill and was just about to pass the masai guards that were walking up the hill to start their shift to guard our house and a few of our neighbors houses, and thats when it happened.  I totally didn't lift my feet high enough and I went splat on the ground.  I quickly jumped back up and ran on.  The guards asked if  I was ok and I quickly responded, and went running on my way.  Once I got pass them I could hear them having a good laught about the white person that literally just went splat on the ground.  I had a bloody finger and knee, and was scraped up, but most of all my pride was hurt.  I am pretty sure that I finished running up that hill faster than I have ever run up that hill before. 

Why share this story with the world!  I was completely served a piece of humble pie, but why share this story with everyone.  It's because I believe there is a lesson in it for me, and maybe for you.  The first time I stumbled I saved myself, right?  I stumbled, but I didn't fall down, and guess what no one saw it.  I didn't fall no harm done to myself, and I couldn't be "judged", because there wasn't anyone there to see me stumble.  How many times in life do I stumble, I make mistakes, I mess up, but I think I can save myself.  I will try harder next time.  There wasn't anyone around who saw that, so I am ok I can just move on under my own power. 

The next time I fell on my run, it was in the middle of people and I was injured.  I stumbled and I didn't catch myself this time.  This time it was noticed.  I messed up and others saw it.  What happens in life when this happens?  How often do we think we can pick ourselves up and brush ourselves off, until someone else notices and then what?  I feel there are so many lessons in this for me, but one is that God is there no matter what to pick us up and help us continue up the hill.  Even when we fall from our own mistakes and our own doings (not picking up my feet to get over the rock ), God will pick us up, clean us up, and help us heal if we allow him to.  We have to allow his love and grace to rain down on us, and keep running towards Him, even if there are others looking at us and laughing because we fell.    God loves us messy, broken, bloody, and beatup, we do not have to clean ourselves up for Him to love us, but we must surrender to Him to allow the purification process to begin to take place.

This brings me to the healing process.  As I got back to my room I assessed the damage ( I didn't stop long enough to know really how scraped up I was), I saw some small cuts.  One thing you really have to be careful about here is infection from any small cuts.  My finger cuts were the deepest, so I knew I was going to have scrub it to get the dirt out.  I also knew that was just going to make it sting more, but getting the dirt out was important so infection would not set in.  This goes right along with the healing process that God sometimes has to take us through. There are times that we stumble and fall in our lives.  We mess up and make a mess of our lives, but God is right there to pick us up, if we are willing to admit we have stumbled and allow Him to move in and help us.  The process isn't easy, it is hard and often times very painful, but in order for us to become purified this needs to happen.  God loves us through the process and walks with us, but it  can still hurt.  In the end though, God can completely heal us and makes us more like Him in the process.

Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring forth speedily, And your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.  Isaiah 58:8

CHRISTMAS VACATION

Although it has been a week since I returned, I figured my first post for the year should be about my Christmas vacation.  The first part of this school year was so jammed packed full and busy I was so excited for Christmas vacation for a break.  I was also very excited for Christmas vacation for time to spend with family and friends.  I am so thankful that I was able to travel back to the states this year for Christmas.  It was good to be with my family on Christmas day.  I believe that pictures always tell stories the best so the pictures below give a glimpse of what I was able to do over the break. 

One of the things I really was hoping for over the break was snow :)
It snowed three different times.  This was at my parents house.
The new house doesn't have the hill we use to have, but
it was just enough to provide some fun for us all.
On the sled in this picture is my sister, my 3 nieces, 1 nephew,
and myself.  My dad is holding us back before sending us down the hill.

We had a blast building snowmen in the front yard of my parents house!

Christmas Day.  The kids being the Little Rascals!

For my niece Brooke's birthday, which was in November,
I told her I would take her to Hershey Park Christmas Candylane.
We had a blast, but as you can see it was super cold out. 

My nephew Jude opening up the Christmas present I got him. 
One of my families traditions is to open gifts one at a time,
starting with the youngest.  It makes the gift opening last longer,
and we give them a little time to enjoy that one gift before giving them another one.

 

I am thankful for all I got to do over break and all the people that I got to do things with.  For some reason I really only have pictures of the things I did with the kids :) 

 

Some of my other highlights:

        *  seeing the Broadway show Annie in New York City on the day I arrived back

        *  seeing Jonah at Sight and Sound

        *  watching my brother-in-law star in a production at his church 

        * running on Christmas Eve with my sister-in-law Katie in the snow, although it was a bit cold it was refreshing...can you tell I love snow!

        * relaxing in front of the T.V. on Sunday afternoons watching the Steelers play football, although it was disappointing that they didn't make the playoffs.

        * going to Faith Church

        * making a gingerbread house with my niece Bekka at her school

        * participating in my niece Brooke's Polar Express party

        * hanging out with friends on New Years Eve and realizing we are getting old because we had no desire to stay up until mid-night

        * going out to eat at many different places and enjoying my mom's home cooked meals

        * going to a basketball practice and teaming up with a bunch of the kids I coached to play against the current team

        * visiting the school where I thought at before coming to Tanzania

        * seeing one of my formal basketball players play in a college game

 

and the many, many, many more things that I did that I am not remembering right now.  I am so thankful for the wonderful family and friend that I have back in the States and for the time that I got to spend with each one of you over the break.  Thank you all for the gifts that you showered upon me and for the time that you spent with me. 

 

Now it is back to work :) 



Sights and Sounds of the Last Few Weeks

These past few weeks have been a bit crazy. I always have a goal of doing a blog weekly, but it doesn't seem to happen that way.  So here is what I have been doing.

Every Thursday a bunch of football (soccer) teams come
to play at HOPAC.  It has been alot of work to organize this
every week, but worth it to see the fun that the kids have
each and every week.  It is especially fun to have the
sala sala kids club have a team this year. 

On Mondays after school I help with kids club.  The
last few weeks I have been teaching the girls some
basic basketball skills.  The hope is to some day have
organize some of the girls enough to have a team that
plays against other teams, like the boys started this year with
football.  We have a ways to go, but I am excited about the possibility.

This is my 7th grade P.E. class performing there mile run.
In class I try to test them on different aspects of physical fitness three times a year. 
They usually dread the mile, but I think it has been fun for them to see
how they have improved since last year. 

I go out running a few nights a week, and I usually find kids
that I know from kids club.  Some times they give me a high five,
run along with me, or encourage me in words.  This particular night they were
out collecting firewood, so they could cook their dinner.  I stopped and took
some fun pictures with them and they enjoyed seeing them on my phone.
I then spent some time collecting firewood with them. The rest of my
run I contemplated why it is that I have so much in this life and
they have so little.  One thing I have learned is that even though they
don't have much they still always have a smile across their face.

Safari with Steph the views were amazing.  It was so good to
be able to enjoy God's creation in Tanzania and have a few
days to just sit back and relax.

Enjoying some time with Steph Allen.  The electricity was
actually out during this time, so I think I blinded her with my flash.
We had fun playing games with my housemates on this night.
I love the game of blokus and have enjoyed seeing the competive side of
my housemate Sarah come out when we play. 

Love these kids.  I had fun teaching them about King David during
the story time of kids club on this day.  After the story the girls
had fun coloring and cutting out these crowns they are proudly displaying.
They are so much fun !

Yesterday we had a blast with our annual Fall Festival.
Always interesting to celebrate this in 90 degree weather,
but still lots of fun.  Just like last year we were without power
for most of the day also, but that didn't stop us from having a ton of
fun.  Here two of the kids are enjoying apple bobbing. 

Two of the youngest kids at our party had fun playing in
water after we were done bobbing for apples.  They also had fun
playing with bubbles. 

The last actvity of the day was pin the tail on the giraffe.
It was a fun day to hang out with some great friends.

This past week I had great fun introducing the game of
scooter hockey to the 7th and 8th graders.  I even joined in
with one class as the primary principal pushed me around on the scooter. 

To end this post here is one of my favorite songs right now :)

Traveling in Tanzania

 

A week ago I had mid-term break and my friend Steph Allen was here for the week visiting. We had the chance to do a safari to the Ngorongoro Crater and Lake Manyara. It was amazing ! I think pictures will show you much more than I can tell you about it. I will say one of my favorite parts was being cold enough to wear a sweatshirt and a jacket. I think it is the coldest I have been since traveling back to the States last December for a wedding. 

 

View of the crater

Sunrise picture from our hotel

 

Baboon with her baby

Ready to play :)



More pictures in my Facebook album

THEY SHALL RUN AND NOT BE WEARY....

WOW...I looked at this blog a few weeks ago and realized it has been a REALLY long time since I posted anything here.  So in the last few weeks I have revisted this, but would sit down and realize I have no idea where to start.  Life from this summer, happenings over the past months, or the here and now.  I have decided that going back and talking about everything was to big of a task so I am just going to pick up on the here and now.  Life here has been super busy, but in it all God has been working. 

Two weekends ago I had the chance to go with the 11th graders on a class bonding trip.  In 11th grade there seems to be a large number of new students coming into the class as other students leave to pursue studies elsewhere.  As a result you often times end up with half of the class being students who have been at HOPAC most of their lives and the other half brand new to HOPAC.  The school has found that taking the entire class on a weekend trip to focus on getting to know each other goes a long way in helping the class to bond together as one class. 

We left on a Friday afternoon to head to South Beach to a place called Bamba.  I wasn't sure I was up for going as I was extremely exhausted not only from work that week, but things that were happening outside of work.  It was just the trip I needed though.  As it is a weekend for the kids to bond with each other we didn't have a packed full schedule.  As leaders we played lots of team building games with them, but we also gave them a fair amount of free time to hang out and enjoy playing on the beach or in the ocean.  This also gave me time to just sit back and enjoy God's creation. 

On Saturday morning I woke up early, not really by choice as a rooster was being extremely loud outside my window, so I decided to go out onto the beach to spend some time alone with Jesus.  The weeks leading up to this trip were exhausting and I was just down right tired and needing some major refreshment.  As I sat there I was reflecting on the signficance of the place where I was sitting.  This was the exact place I sat with my friends from Faith Church in th summer of 2010.  On our first day in the country of Tanzania we traveled to Bamba for a cultural training day.  Before that though we had an amazing worship service, with a time of singing and communion.  One of our focus verses for that trip was Isaiah 40:28-31and I can clearly remember singing Everlasting God (Strength will Rise) on the beach that day.   As I sat on the beach during this trip, I opened up my Bible to start reading.  I have been doing a read through the Bible in a year plan, so I started out by reading my Old Testament portion.  I looked at my reading plan and opened up my Bible and started reading.  I didn't really think about it until I started reading and I got to the verses.  Yup, thats right on that exact day in my reading plan Isaiah 40:28-31 were the verses that were part of my reading.  I am sure if anyone was watching me they were a little confused.  As I sat there in awe and amazment, I smiled and almost laughed out loud.  God is good. 

As I walked away from that weekend and even through the last few weeks God really has been reminding me that He is my everything and I truly just need to learn to rest in Him.  My strength to live here can only come through Him and the more I lean into Him the more I will be able to run and not grow weary.  I came home from that weekend exhausted from the loss of sleep, but energized in knowing that God is in complete and utter control of EVERYTHING and He has me right where He wants me. 

Bamba Beach 2010 Worship Service

 

11th Grade Bonding Trip Bamba Beach 2012

 

 

 

 

Isaiah 40:28-31 (NIV)

²⁸ Do you not know?
    Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
²⁹ He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
³⁰ Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
³¹ but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

Cross references:

1. Isaiah 40:28 : S ver 21
2. Isaiah 40:28 : S Dt 33:27; S Ps 90:2
3. Isaiah 40:28 : S ver 26
4. Isaiah 40:28 : S Isa 37:16
5. Isaiah 40:28 : Isa 44:12
6. Isaiah 40:28 : S Ps 147:5; Ro 11:33
7. Isaiah 40:29 : S Ge 18:14; S Ps 68:35; S 119:28
8. Isaiah 40:29 : Isa 50:4; 57:19; Jer 31:25
9. Isaiah 40:30 : Isa 9:17; Jer 6:11; 9:21
10. Isaiah 40:30 : S Ps 20:8; Isa 5:27
11. Isaiah 40:31 : S Ps 37:9; 40:1; S Isa 30:18; Lk 18:1
12. Isaiah 40:31 : S 1Sa 2:4; S 2Ki 6:33; S 2Co 4:16
13. Isaiah 40:31 : S Ex 19:4
14. Isaiah 40:31 : 2Co 4:1; Heb 12:1-3