Adjustment #1: Climate/Weather.

 

Kids' Eye View.

Naomi's Perspective:  I think you can spot Naomi on the veranda, alongside the pencil crayons. 

Can you find Jacob and Maria?

We're keeping a written journal.  Hopefully the kids will be able to post here as well once things are more established, but for now I thought you might find the view from their perspectives interesting.  Below are selected snippets from each (including spelling errorrssss).  Lest you get a skewed perspective and think adjustment is all fun and games, we have often been reminded in this transition that 'feelings don't just tickle':  Each of us can go up and down, but we are doing well and, as the collective (corrective?) perspective of our brothers and sisters in church on Sunday reminded us, in unison, "God is good ... all the time!  All the time ... God is good!"

From Jacob:
January 8, 2012
...My Dad had to wake me up at 9:00 a.m.  I was very Tired.  Breakfast was quite goon (Normal).  We went to church a little bit late and that was good because it was extremely long...  We had lunch at some other peoples house.  When we came home some kids came and said Hello and I brauht out my football (soccer ball) and started To play.  There were four to start and at the end of playing There were at least 10 people...


From Maria:
January 9, 2012
...Today we had lots of fun!  We played with some African kids in the morning.  We did lots of things like soccer (football) and we coloured lots of pictures ... we went out for lunch at CHOICES.  The food was good but very spicy!  We all got pop well except for Zac. After that we went to the market.  It is cool!  We got 3 baskets, 2 tubs, oranges, wooden spoons, bananas, mouse traps, and SIM cards.  Thre are lots of things in the market.  They were even selling water bottles full of gas...

From Naomi:
(Scribed by Joel)
...Today we washed the clothes.  It was fun!  Well, kind of ... I guess the part where we were chucking water on each other was fun!  When we were done we washed the deck.  It was fun!  When Dad came home, he was riding a dirtbike!  It kinda scared me a little, I never knew Dad could ride those things.  Maybe I'll get a ride on one sometime.  There are mice in our house!  They are funny!  Mom named them "Marten" (grey one) and "Stephanie"  (black one).  We set traps (we used my cheese that fell on the ground and peanut butter)...

Travelling Mercies ...

We're safe and sound in Kabala, Sierra Leone!  I have some internet access now and I wanted to thank you for your concern and prayers for our safe arrival.  After a marathon of flights, delays, sleep-deprivation (everyone), heat-exhaustion sickness (Maria and Naomi), we arrived at our destination some 49 hours after our departure from Ladner, BC.  Currently, we are setting up our house (pics to come), adapting to our new surroundings,  We are excited to be here- but that has also been tempered by times of strong emotions of missing familiar people, places and food!  Much more to tell (from a 4-hour church service yesterday, to playing football with the neighbours and having an arts-and-crafts festival on the veranda, to greeting old friends and meeting new ones); hopefully we will have some access to the internet from home soon.  In the meantime, we "tell papa God thankee".

Sending ...

This past Sunday our church had a commissioning service.  We commissioned Rev. Norm Prenger for service as interim pastor in the Terrace CRC and the Ringmas for service with CRWM in Sierra Leone.  It was meaningful to us, to the Prengers and to our church family.  It is humbling to think of ourselves as 'sent' (in co-mission) with many others in BC.  And we aim to be in co-mission not only with the CRC in Sierra Leone, but with others there from Zambia, Nigeria and other parts of North America.  Of course, we are all sent, ultimately, by the sending God.  He who sent his one and only Son also sends us all in His name. 

 A recent photo of the Terrace CRC

(on the occasion of the beginning of her 60th year, December 18, 2011).



I reflected with Ella that it is a rare thing to be commissioned for service elsewhere by one's own calling church (knowing that we'll be returning to continue our calling to serve with the church in Terrace).  There were many moments in the service that warmed my heart (and I don't think I could've made it through preaching!):  Three elders did a wonderful job of leading various parts of the commissioning.  Various symbols of ministry were 'paraded' and described.  The parting blessing consisted of both Pastor Norm and I blessing the congregation (and each other) with the words of Psalm 121.  It was New Year's Eve, and congregants shared stories of God's faithfulness and/or longing for God's kingdom to come in the year ahead.  One of our suitcases was used as a prop and we were given 'homework' to photograph parallel photos in an already-started photo album (like: "Our house in Terrace ... Our house in Sierra Leone ..."). 

But I 'melted' when the service of commissioning culminated in many folks from the congregation coming forward to lay hands of blessing on us and the Prengers.  I couldn't help but notice my children, also with hands laid upon them, dwarfed by the tree-like cloud of witnesses around them.  One of our children later said to me, "Mrs. Voogd was wearing a watch.  We were up there praying for, like, 15 minutes!"  We laughed heartily.  And then I hoped that my child would remember that on the last day of 2011, with parties and fun and Olli Bolen waiting, our church deemed it important to spend 15 minutes in prayer.  I hope I remember that.

While we didn't sing the following song at the commissioning, I couldn't help but think about it this afternoon, as we prepare to fly out of Vancouver tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon:

Faith begins by letting go, giving up what had seemed sure,

Taking risks and pressing on, though the way feels less secure:

Pilgrimage both right and odd, trusting all our life to God.

Faith endures by holding on, keeping mem’ry’s roots alive

So that hope may bear its fruit; promise-fed, our souls will thrive,

Not through merit we possess but by God’s great faithfulness.

Faith matures by reaching out, stretching minds, enlarging hearts,

Sharing struggles, living prayer, binding up the broken parts;

Till we find the commonplace ripe with witness to God’s grace.

Copyright 1996 Hope Publishing Company

Written by Carl P. Daw and Charles F. Gounod

The Gifts of Christmas

A Christmas candle is a lovely thing; it makes no noise at all,
But softly gives itself away; while quite unselfish, it grows small.

- Eva K. Logue

Some people downplay giving gifts at Christmas, as if it were an "unspiritual" enterprise.  Others seem to relish gift giving (and receiving!) with inordinate gusto.  I wonder if, when gifts are given and received rightly, they aren't a shadow, an aftershock, of God's greatest gift of all to us: Himself, in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.

Recently, we have been overwhelmed by gifts.  Here are just a few that made an impact:

• A friend took some pictures (see right) of the house we'll be living in when in Kabala. He was thoughtful enough to anticipate the anxiety of my children so he made sure he included some pictures of the school and some potential playmates for Maria, Jacob and Naomi.
• At 11 PM Christmas Eve, I phoned my dad because of a sewer problem in my basement.  He listened, helped insofar as he was able, and was simply 'there'.  That, in itself, was a gift. 
• Then, on Christmas Day, after my Mickey Mouse repair job the night before (which I was, strangely, quite proud about), after church, my neighbour dropped what he was doing to help fix our clogged sewer.
• We hope to go skiing with our kids in the next few days. We don't own much of our own equipment but our friends have lent us everything we need, except for pontoon-sized boots for my size 13 feet.
• An unexpected gift from Air Canada: Due to my own misunderstanding of humanitarian flight rules and despite my travel agent's warnings that Air Canada would never budge from their policy, they actually gave special dispensation and waived their flight-change fees so we don't have to pay extra to stop over in Vancouver to spend time with family. 
• Staff from our denomination, both in North America and on the ground in Sierra Leone, have been consistently working behind the scenes 'preparing a place' for us.
• We have been overwhelmed by the financial gifts received by CRWM for our time in Sierra Leone.  Terrace CRC has been generous.  Other BC CRCs have been generous.  Significant gifts have been received from private and corporate donors.  Friends and family have proven consistently supportive.  Strangers have pledged money and prayer.  As recently as yesterday, we received a financial gift that warmed our hearts.  But maybe the gift that stirred my soul most was from a neighbour, not connected to any church that I am aware, who came by a few days before Christmas to see us off.  She gave us a card and and some cash and asked us to use it for a charity of our choice when we're in Sierra Leone:  God bless you, she wrote.  God bless you, I thought!

Softly giving themselves away.  Growing small so that others may be enlarged. 
These are gifts that reminds me of Someone.

What will you be doing?

I have had the conversation a lot lately and I appreciate it each time I do.  People are genuinely interested in our trip to Sierra Leone.  And so they ask if we're 'ready to go'.  They are curious about our flight plans.  Some are intrigued by our living arrangements.  Others make a point of marvelling how much things are about to change for us.  But most of the conversations get around to the question eventually, "So, ummm, like, what exactly will you be doing in Sierra Leone, anyways?"
It is a good question.  But I'm afraid I often give pretty poor, incomplete answers.  Here are some of the answers we have given:

• I (Joel) will be doing some work with Christian Reformed World Missions.  Primarily, it will be leadership training and development of local church leaders.  For more details, see the sidebar (right).  [Hover over the picture of the Ringmas and click.]  Also, you can take a look at the youtube video at the bottom of the blog, which also summarizes the work.
• Maria (11), Jacob (9) and Naomi (7) will be attending the CRC Primary School in Kabala. 
• Ella (I won't include her age) will not have a neat and tidy 'job' description, but will hopefully help us hold things together under new conditions (food, shelter, clothing, language, etc.). 

         We're accustomed to setting goals, like climbing mountains and checking off to-do lists.

But the question ("What will you be doing?") also prompts us to wonder:

• How much will we measure our time in Sierra Leone by 'doing' and how much will we measure it be relational 'being'? 
• Will our Calvinistic work ethic get in the way of what God is already doing?
• "What will YOU be doing?" Maybe the short answer is "not much", at least not until the bigger question of the primary agency of God is settled. 
• The engagement of CRWM with the local church in defining the what of what we will be doing has been very encouraging.  They are listening intently to the initiative of the local church in determining what they want and need.  Who will we look to when we wonder 'what' we should be doing?  (Within ourselves?  To the church in NA?  To the local church?)

So, with one question comes a few more.  I suspect there will be exponentially more questions than answers six months from now.

Getting Ready ...

We're getting ready.

Getting ready for Christmas, to be sure. As a pastor, there are a few ministry-related details to the season. As a family, there are some Christmas traditions that we are enjoying and anticipating. But we're also getting ready as a family to spend time in Kabala, Sierra Leone (much relief with the arrival of our visas in the mail earlier this week!). 

The Reverend Gates (the preacher's voice in Paul Simon's "Getting Ready") encourages his flock to get ready for Christmas Day with a longer and broader view than just the bustling season. As a family, we don't know fully what we're getting ready for with our trip to Sierra Leone. But we have hopes and longings about what God might do in our hearts and lives and in His world. So does the Reverend Gates. And so does Paul Simon: 
      Getting ready, oh ready, ready for Christmas Day
      Ready, getting ready
      For the power and the glory and the story of the
      Christmas Day