A view from here...

As I type this blog I am sitting out in the yard under the trees with the warm sunshine on my back.  It is hard not to love this place when I can look across at the beautiful hills that surround our little village here in Mukinge.  Life is very simple but good.  

I have been learning a lot in my few weeks here living in Africa.  I find it difficult to put into words all that we're learning and experiencing here, but I will do my best.  I have been learning about what it means to be content and how often I find myself being selfish.  For the first few weeks I found myself struggling with the simple things, like having a thick layer of dust on the floor, power outages, the lack of internet access, the little rodents that scare me in the kitchen, and missing the ability to race to McDonald's for an easy dinner on a busy day.  All these things are fleshy issues of mine and are a clear reminder of how down right ridiculous I can be at times.  

On Thursday I attended a Bible study that is run for the nursing students here in Mukinge.  Dave was unexpectedly called to the hospital and had to take the boys into the wards.  This was my first visit to the hospital in a mad dash to relieve Dave of the boys while he attended to a critically ill patient.  Setting foot in the hospital grounds was like putting a magnifiying glass on my petty issues and was a massive slap to my selfishness.  I discovered how much I have and should be grateful for.  Here am I concerned about my own comfort when there are people only a 4 minute walk from my home who are struggling for life and are in desperate need of help.  

The following morning as I was doing the dishes (the old school way - although I kind of enjoy it) I was listening to a song by Tree 63 that I'd never really noticed before.  It reminded me that as a follower of Jesus the journey is a daily, committing myself to trust in the Lord and to walk in His ways.  This is regardless of which country we're living in and what circumstances we may find ourselves in.  My days have their challenges and joys (as I'm sure everyone experiences), but to know that God is our ever present companion and is sufficient for all we are to go through, is a great thing to know.  So today I'm thankful that I can start again and commit myself to trusting and following God's plan for my life - a daily process.  - m

Over and Over Again - Tree 63

Whatever I hear You say I'll do
Whatever You want I want it too
Whatever You say
Whatever You want
I live for You

Wherever I run I run to You
Wherever You lead I'm going too
Wherever I go
Wherever You are
I live for You

And I give myself away
Every single day
Over and over again
You're the only thing true
And I give myself to You
Over and over again

There are so many ways to say
The one thing I feel today
All I want is all You want
I live for You

And I give myself away
Every single day
Over and over again
You're the only thing that's true
And I give myself to You
Over and over again 

All I want
Is all You want
To live for You

Mutende mwane from Mukinge!

Much has happened since our last post a couple of weeks ago. Our final days in Lusaka were fairly busy, as we made our final preparations for the journey to Mukinge.

Monday, May 28 - Mary spent a jam-packed afternoon with a misso with over 39 years experience here in Zambia, doing the shopping for the next couple of months. Although it seems strange to spend “millions” of kwacha on the shopping – we do have a good supply of food at the moment.

Tuesday, May 29 - I had to go to the medical school in town to sit my medical registration exams. Praise the Lord these also went well, and we’re now in the process of waiting for my final registration paperwork to come through.

Wednesday, May 30 – What a day! We had an early start as our flight to Mukinge was to be at 7am. We had been informed that we were going to be flying in a small plane, but it wasn’t until we got onto the tarmac with our pilot that we got a real sense of what “small” actually means (our plane is the one on the right of the yellow plane!) 

Earlier in the week Zeke had been asking what the flight attendants were going to be serving him on this flight. Unfortunately for him the only flight attendant for him was Mum, and the only thing she was serving was phenergan (which worked rather well!)

The flight itself was really spectacular, and helped us to get a real sense of just how far into the bush we are here. The flight took about 1.5hrs in total and much of that was over complete bush – no houses, roads or signs of habitation.

We arrived uneventfully on the dirt airstrip at the back of the hospital, and were greeted by a number of our fellow missionaries, which was a great encouragement. A few of them then showed us to our new house (“the Pool House”), which Mary has been doing a great job of making our home.

Since then we’ve been settling into life here quite well. We’ve been getting to know the other missionaries who are based here, and have been warmly welcomed by the Mukinge community. Mary has been getting the household organised, and has really enjoyed getting to know a few locals who come and help us around the house with various jobs. The boys have been enjoying getting dirty (it’s dry season here, so the dust goes literally everywhere). And I’ve been getting into the swing of things at the hospital.

Life here is not without it’s challenges at times - we regularly have power outages for hours at a time, the internet can be rather intermittent (it seems that from now on these blog posts will be sent via e-mail to Australia and then uploaded – thanks Beno!), and we’re adjusting to having all manner of small insects and rodents in the house (fortunately no snakes as yet!). 

However, we are really enjoying getting to know our fellow missionaries and some of the locals. It is a privilege to be working at the hospital and to be experiencing life in the Zambian bush.  Yesterday we had monkeys playing in our backyard and on our roof. God has been faithful in bringing us this far, and we look forward to the days ahead. D