More about Christmas

I can't seem to get off the Christmas theme. Let me include a couple of images from this past week. The photo on the left shows Beacham, proudly displaying his efforts. His mother, Katya, the Public Affairs Officer (PAO) had invited me over to make cookies with her, Beacham and his sister, Hannah. The recipes included Florentines, sugar cookies, the famous peanut butter balls, gingerbread men, and oatmeal raisin cookies.

The top photo is Juliet Weibe delivering a wheel chair to a 17 year-old boy, the grandson of the man who worked as a chef for her parents when they lived here back in the 50's and 60's. I'll talk more about Juliet later, but she was born and raised in Congo until the family had to leave in 1967. Her father started TASOK, the American school near my home, in 1961. Juliet knew about this young man who was born with hydroencephalitis and has never been able to move on his own power and determined to give him a little mobility with a first-rate set of wheels. Talk about a Christmas to remember!

The photo on the right is what greeted us at church last Sunday, following he French service, which precedes the English service. These kids were all singing Christmas songs with all the gusto they could muster.

As hard as it is to be away from friends and family during this special Season, I feel richly blessed to have been able to experience Christmas here. I feel at peace and am thankful for the people that continue to affirm me and my work of teaching English to people who are eager to learn it. As I look back over the past two years, I can see God's guiding hand on my life, from getting my master degree in ESL, going to the TESOL meeting in Seattle, where I heard about this program. Applying, being accepted, and sent here. Who would have guessed? Again, I thank all of you for your part in this bigger picture. I'm sure I would not be in this frame of mind without your support and prayers. I don't know what the new year will bring, but I am confident that he who began a good work in me, will be faithful to complete it.

May I use that as a benediction for you as well? That God will also do his mighty work in all of us--to move us, slowly, gently, toward himself. And in time, he will perfect the work that he has begun. Blessings to you all! I think this is probably the last of the official Christmas blogging, but unofficially, I hope to hang on to the spirit of Christmas, long after the last peanut butter ball disappears.

Abigail Martin

Photo: Abigail Martin and Lino (pronounced "Leno"), the sweet M & L Gas Station attendant, and one of many Congolese who have already proposed to Abigail.

Let me introduce you to Abigail Martin. I've mentioned her before, but need to give you a little more information about her and her mission here in Kinshasa. She represents "Giving Back to Africa" (GBA), an NGO dedicated to the long-term mission of educating young people in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Its goal is to empower GBA benefieciaries through service-centered education who will in turn become leaders who will make significant changes in their local communities and throughout the nation.

Before she left on Thursday to go back to her home near Bloomington, IN, Abbey wrote me a letter that represents the kind of person she is. She writes:
...I write like the little bits of conversation that come out during our morning coffee (we are after all Americans).
1) I will miss your friendship, advice, perspective and willingness to "wait" it out with me. As the French say, tu me manques...you are missing from me; I am lacking you.
2) Have faith in yourself! Your French is so improved, your first class in the medical school is going GREAT. You're driving, you're finding your way around this sprawling city and you've been able to meet expectations and set standards and consistently uphold them at home and at work.
3)You're part of a community here: church, Carole, CALI, the Embassy, UPC, Tasok, Kulungus, students, faculty...it continues to grow!
4) The news from back home affirms your life and work here...
5) Mosala malamu**. Work well.
6) Lala malamu**. Sleep well.
7) Do your hostess thing--you're great at it!
8) Ask and you shall receive Ask questions until you find the answers.
9) Remember to balance all that self-critique...don't give it up because it's one of the things I love most about you, how you're so open to that kind of personal reflection. But them zoom out, way out...!
10) Take pictures. (Not in front of police!)
11) Write! Say it! All of it!
12) Jane Eyre prayer from Thanksgiving Day when we both cried together, comforted by one another and yet lonely for our families and friends back home:
"Worn out with this torture of thought, I rose to my knees. Night was come, and her planets were risen: a safe, still night: too serene for the companionship of fear. We know that God is everywhere; but certainly we feel His presenve most when His works are on the grandest scale spread before us; and it is in the unclouded night-sky where His worlds wheel their silent course that we read clearest His infinitude, His omnipotence, His omnipresence. I had risen to my knees to pray for Mr. Rochester. Looking up, I, with tear-dimmed eyes, saw the mighty Milky Way. Remembering what it was--what countless systems there swept space like a soft trace of light-I felt the might and strength of God. Sure was I of His efficiency to save what He had made: convinced I grew that neither earth should perish nor one of the souls it treasured. I turned my prayer to thanksgiving: the Source of Life was also the Savior of spirits. Mr. Rochester was safe: he was God's and by God would he be guarded. I again nestled to the breast of the hill; and ere long in sleep forgot sorrow."
13) Malembe, malembe**. Slowly, slowly.
14) Merry Christmas, Jane, and Happy New Year. Just think of it! What a year to put away! And the one coming! I look forward to sharing it with you.
Sending you much love and many thanks for being you,
Abbey

And I say the same to you all: Sending you much love and many thanks for being you,
Jane
**Lingala, the local tribal language