Book Review

I read this awesome "story" last weekend, while weaving down and around the bumpy Ugandan roads, and sitting by the shores of Lake Bunyonyi. It was recommended to me by my roommate Kelly, and now I am recommending it to you!

In "A New Kind of Christian," McLaren composes a fictional faith story from many conversations and dialogue between a pastor and his daughter's highschool soccer coach. In writing about these two men's journeys of faith, McLaren raises some great questions for the Church, and all believers today. In this fable, faith becomes a way of life for this pastor, not just a system of beliefs. Conversations become much more important than conversions.

Truth becomes more than just factual accuracy. Truth is contextual. Truth means being in sync with God. Knowing Jesus and loving Him. Not just knowing all the facts. He stresses that reading the Bible should be like a romance...we should allow the Bible to speak to us..it is Living and sharper than a double-edged sword! We should not read it the same each and every time.

I love this quote..."If Christians would take all the energy we put into proving that we're right and others are wrong, and invested that energy in pursuing and doing good, somehow I think that more people would believe we are right."

He makes a point of saying that spreading the gospel "should not be likened to a conquest, or a coercive rational argument, or an emotionally intimidating sales pitch, or an agressive debating contest where we hope to "win", or an imposing crusade..." Amen!

It should be more like a dance! In a dance, no one wins or loses. If both parties agree to dance with one another....you are both listening to the music, and trying to move with it. Asking the other person to dance to "God's dance" can be fun!

Instead of looking at the world with our "Christian goggles" on and saying, Hey, we're right, and you're wrong, so follow us." McLaren offers a better approach: "Here's what I've found. Here's what I've discovered. Here's what I've experienced. Here's what makes sense to me. I'll be glad to share it with you, if you're interested."

Throughout this fable, McLaren also asks some important questions of the Church and our role in missions.

"The church doesn't exist to satisfy the consumer demands of believers; the church exists to equip and mobilize men and women for God's mission in the world."

And what is His mission? I believe it is to go and make disciples of all nations. To love the Lord. To love one another as he has loved us. To be poured out as a living sacrifice. To go and be. To serve and do. To use our hands, our eyes, our feet for Him. To go everywhere and preach the gospel, and if necessary, use words. (St. Francis)

I give this book a grade of an A!

Birthday box

I ate Wheat Thins and orange slices today, thanks to Cindy!...and a whole box of Rasinets, thanks to Mom! My body was SHAKING with all the unwelcome sugar that I fed it, but it tasted great! Packages from home are fun, no matter how old you get. My sweet momma said this was my birthday box, and even included a birthday card. She wrote a sweet note saying that since last year, one box took up to 3 months to arrive, she wanted to be sure that this box arrived before my birthday. So I "celebrated" my birthday with Rasinets today, even though my real birthday is still 2 months away! :) Thanks Mom and Cindy! The treats came at just the right time, when I needed a pick-me-up. Love you!

Lake Bunyonyi

Lake Bunyonyi, in Uganda, has become my favorite "escape to" place in Africa. It's just across the border near Kabale, and less than 3 hours from Kigali. This is my second trip there, (I discovered the place in January), and it will certainly not be my last! If it weren't for the Ugandan visa and the hassle in crossing the border, I'd probably be there once a month. Lake Bunyonyi means "the place of many little birds," and it's surrounded by 29 islands, all unique in their own way. I've stayed on two islands, Itambira and Bushara, and the only way there is by dugout canoe. There's no running water or electricity and everything is solar generated. I love it! We had a short "fall break," (I guess I can call it that even though there's no fall season here!) We had Friday and Monday off school, so I decided to get out of the city. Every now and then I need to be surrounded by creation; and see things that God has carved out with His hands, and man hasn't intervened in them yet. I spent a great weekend swimming in the hippo-free, croc-free, blizharia-free lake! (a rarity here!) The lake is 900 meteres deep, making it the second largest in Africa. It has a HUGE otter population. The food was amazing, cheap, I slept in a tent and geodome, had time to journal, pray and write, and just THINK! My spirit feels refreshed for sure. I'm thankful for a place like this where I can experience peace in nature. It's my Merriewoode of Africa, and I love it!

This is the only pic from January's trip. All the rest are from this weekend. I realized that I didn't post a pic of "Punishment Island." This island, with only one tiny tree, is where the Bakiga people used to leave unmarried pregnant girls. They would paddle them out to this tiny place and leave them to die of hunger or die while trying to swim to the mainland (swimming skills were rare). This practice was to educate the rest of the girls, to show them not to do the same. The only way the woman could escape the island is if a poor man without enough cows to pay the bridewealth went and picked her up to become his wife. Can you believe it!?! This practice got abandoned around 1950, but there are still women living on other islands who were picked from Punishment Island. We met one in January! 

The only mode of transportation. I loved seeing the colorful Kayevu Market where everyone arrived in canoes!

We stayed in this awesome geodome at Byoona Amagara Saturday and Sunday night. It was open so we could lie in bed at have an incredible view of the lake. Byoona Amagara is a not-for-profit place that is dedicated to supporting education and sustainable community development at Lake Bunyonyi. 100% of their proceeds support local programs in sustainable agriculture, indigenous forestry, education and literacy, cross-cultural exchange, and even the development of a new "library" on the island. In January we stayed in a tiny log cabin that I loved as well, but I think I prefer the view in the geodomes. Even though the lizards, frogs, and other critters can enter in, the view is totally worth it!  

I woke up to this!

We rented these dugout canoes for $1 a day, and paddled all over the place.

Enjoying one of the simple things in life....:-)

Our "bathroom"

If you wanted a shower, you ordered it ahead of time, and a man would boil some water over coals for you, and carry it to your tent in a container on his head, and then climb the ladder and pour it in the bucket for you. I just swam in the lake everyday and counted that as my shower. (just like camp days!)

One afternoon we attempted to swim to this far island, called "Sharp's Island." After realizing a storm was brewing, we swam back to the dock. This island is better known as "Leper's Island," because until the 1980's it was a colony of people who suffered from leprosy. In 1931, a missionary named Dr. Sharp established the colony. The rationale behind the "voluntary segregation" was to create a happy community for leprosy sufferers to live in, so more would be attracted to the island, thus removing them from communities where they could infect others. Now, the old hospital is now a boarding school from kids who live on the islands.

We stayed in this tent on Bushara Island Friday night, and then paddled over to Byoona Amagara on Saturday. Bushara Camp is another place that devotes 100% of their profits to local communities, such as orphan-care projects, secondary schools, and agro-foresty. They make some amazing pizza and crayfish avocado here!

"tasty" termites

I'm "trapped" in my classroom right now with about 50 termites who have flown in through window cracks and the big gap under my door! It's rainy season, and today the really hard, long rains have come! Unfortunately, in Africa, this means the termites have arrived as well! The weather can be so odd here during rainy season. At noon today, it was sunny and in the 90's! At 4pm, it was rainy, windy, and in the 50's! The coldest day yet since I've been back! I've actually got a coat on, and my bony little fingers are having a hard time staying warm! But I like it! It reminds me of October weather at home right now (which I really miss). It actually feels like a fall-day here! Makes me happy! And to top it off, my housegirl bought some pumpkins at the market today for us. They aren't near as beautiful or tasty as the pumpkins back home, but they are orange and they at least resemble a pumpkin! Fall is my favorite season...I miss seeing the leaves change colors. Right now, I'll have to make-do with the fake fall bouquet from Ben Franklin that Keith sent to me last year when I was missing the autumn leaves. Now, if only I had some candy corn, and Momma's homemade vegetable soup, this would be a perfect night! And a fire would be nice too! But I'm stuck in my classroom until the rains stop (I may be here a while), fighting these little monsters. I've already killed 36, and their wings are all over the place. It's a pretty hilarious sight right now. I just wish they would stop making that buzzing noise when they fly past my face. Oh! One just landed on my computer. You know the kids in the village here eat termites! They just grab them from the air and gobble them up...tasty protein! In Kenya, they were a delicacy...the kids LOVED rainy season because of the free termite treats! I never ate one "raw," but I did eat a cooked one! It wasn't half-bad either. A little crunchy though. But right now, I don't wanna eat them...just wanna kill them! I'm determined to not let these critters ruin my African autumn night. I'm gonna go look at my Ben Franklin fall bouquet and dream of candy-corns while I grade papers. Goodnight!

Let's dance!

This past week has been one of the best weeks I've had since being back. My students were awesome this week, and we had A LOT to be jubilant about. We have been fervently praying for the 33 miners in Chile by name since the very first day of school, so as you can imagine, to hear that all 33 had been safely rescued, was music to our ears and our hearts. We started following the news on my computer on Wednesday, and each time a miner was pulled up to the surface, my kids just rejoiced and praised and danced like they were having a party. Then, one of my students, Monia, suggested that we sing "Rejoice in the Lord," each time one was rescued. What a wonderful idea! So on Wednesday, each time there was news of another miner rescued, we stopped what we were doing and broke out into spontaneous singing and dancing! Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice! Rejoice, Rejoice, and again I say rejoice! We celebrated each rescue that day, and we calculated when all the miners would be out, based on the fact that they were rescuing one miner every hour. We estimated that all would be free by Thursday at 2pm, but we have learned that God doesn't work in a human timeframe; He is much bigger and greater than that! What humans say is impossibe, God makes possible. I think this has been the biggest lesson my kids and I have learned throughout this incident.

So when we all arrived at school Thursday morning, to find that all 33 miners had already been safely pulled to the surface, we were ELATED! Many parents said that their kids had stayed up during the night and prayed for them, or woke up super early to find out how many were still left underground so they could pray for them by name. Their response to this event was such a testimony to me. When we first started praying, the news media estimated the miners wouldn't be out until Christmas. But my kids were adamant that we continue praying, and be specific about our prayers, and ask God that they be rescued sooner. Back in August, instead of being freed at Christmas, my students prayed to God that they would be freed before November! At first, I thought to myself that they were asking a WHOLE LOT of God, to pray each day that they be freed 2 months earlier than estimated! It sounded impossible, and totally contradictory to what the media was reporting. But sure enough, our prayers were answered. Each time there was a story reporting that the miners could be released earlier, my kids danced and rejoiced! They would say, "You see, Miss Griggs, God hears our prayers! We have faith and He is listening to us!" What began as a rescue date of near-Christmas, turned into sometime in November, then October! And mid-October at that! What a mighty God we serve!

"You of little faith," He said, "why did you doubt?" Good question! Why do we as humans doubt when we pray?? When we obviously know how great God is and mighty, and how He can move mountains and perform miracles! Why doubt? I have to admit that I am guilty of doubting. I teach to others about having faith, and then when I pray, often times, I pray, not really believeing that God can answer my prayers. Sometimes, I think my prayers are almost laughable! Do you ever feel this way? I'll pray for a person continuously, but not really BELIEVE in my heart that God can move in this person's life. Anyway, this week's events with the miners, and seeing my children's response to this event was a wonderful lesson for me about faith. He wants us to ask and come believing! "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you." ~Luke 17:6. "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." ~Hebrews 11:1.

Back to dancing! Watching my kids rejoice and praise God each time a miner was rescued was AWESOME! Sofia, from Bolivia, made a huge Chilean flag that we had posted on our wall for the last 2 months, and she made a minature flag for each student. Sofia prayed for the lone Bolivian miner every day by name. It was so fun waving the flag back and forth and dancing and shouting praises when they were rescued. A wonderful day that I will never forget!

While I was watching them dance and sing praises so unashamedly, and not care who was watching them, but just having a big ol' time....I thought of David as he was writing the Psalms. David was just a simple shepherd boy, but he poured out his heart to God in a mighty way, singing and dancing to the skies, in the darkness of the night. No one was watching but God. I can just picture David with a wild, crazy, happy gleam in his eye as he looked up to the stars and just danced for his Lord. David danced all his life. Later on, he would take off his royal robes and shamelessly dance for joy. Michal despises David at one point and mocks him for being a buffoon. (2 Samuel 6:16-20), but David kept right on dancing. He was a simple, unashamed worshipper who delighted in God's presence more than anything in the whole wide world. That's the kind of crazy, unabandoned spirit I saw in my kids this week. They were dancing and didn't care a lick who saw them, or what they looked like. Being in God's presence is the BEST place to be...you don't care about anything else!

Psalm 34:8 says, "Taste and see that the Lord is good!" We are created to worship Him. Soak Him up each and every day! Not care who is watching. I know that at the center of heaven, there is a God who delights in glorious dancing, and someday we will join Him, circle around Him, and dance with dizzying delight and laughter. But until then...may we dance for Him here on earth! Like David, and my precious 4th graders, may we all dance with abandon and be filled with an overwhelming joy for our Savior!

"Dance then, wherever you may be,


I am the Lord of the dance," said he,

"And I'll lead you all wherever you may be,

And I'll lead you all in the dance," said he.

Inzozi Nziza

Inzozi Nziza translates to "Sweet Dreams", and is Rwanda’s first ever local ice cream shop located in Butare (Huye). Try saying that three times fast! Inzozi Nziza, Inzozi Nziza, Inzozi zzzzzzz....! :-) We stopped here on the way back from the King's palace and museum. This one-of-a-kind icecream shop is a first for Rwanda, and there's a really great story behind it that I want to share with you. You all know how I love icecream, and it's also something near and dear to my family's heart (and stomachs!) Even though it's not Dairy Queen, it was pretty darn delicious! 

Blue Marble Dreams is an icecream shop in Brooklyn, New York, that has used the power of icecream and entrepreneurship to bring happiness and prosperity to people all around the world. 

Can ice cream really do all that?

It all started when Blue Marble’s founders, Jennie and Alexis, met a Rwandan, Odile Gakire Katese (better known as Kiki), at the Sundance Institute. Hearing about their work, Kiki approached Jennie and Alexis with an idea. She explained that while conventional development initiatives are vital to Rwanda’s physical wellbeing, there remains a need for efforts that boost the spirit of its people. Just as much as they need nutritious food and clean water, Kiki asserted, Rwandans need fun, joy, pleasure and laughter, as these are the ingredients of a life truly lived. And what better way to meet this need than through the sweet, symbolic magic of ice cream?

In her own words, this is why Kiki believes in Blue Marble:

“Because we struggle most of the time, we also find ourselves aggressive against happiness, love, joy, life. When we have children, we teach them that happiness doesn’t exist, that there is no pure love and, as legacy, we give them our despair, our debts, our doubts, our tears, our failures. Rwandan women … want to reshape life in its simple and sweetest form. We want to share moments that are not embossed by despair and death… We want to create a space where poverty, disease, illiteracy… are not obstacles to happiness and barriers between human beings… We have to, for the sake of the health of our soul. The ice cream will have the power to reconcile people with life by providing privileged moments when life reminds them that it is also sweet.”

That was Kiki, Jennie and Alexis's dream, and now it’s a reality! Inzozi Nziza, a non-profit venture, opened in June of this year, and is an amazing little place! All the women workers are part shareholders of the shop, and they are also the only all-women drumming corp in Rwanda. I wish we could have seen them perform....maybe another time. Inozi Nziza also supports other women in the community by training them in English, hospitality, and computing. The menu is diverse and affordable. You can enjoy passion, mango, strawberry and coffee icecream, and chocolate on most days. They also offer freshly baked bagels, sambusas, cookies, granola, and even fruit salad. They use fresh milk delivered straight from the local farmers to make their icecream. And they roast Rwandan coffee at their shop as well. Check out their menu below. And a couple other pictures from their website...

Great menu!

Delicious coffee icecream with granola on top

Teta, a happy worker!



Leontine's famous sambusas

To learn more about this venture, and Blue Marble in general, you can visit:

http://www.bluemarbledreams.org/

http://www.bluemarbleicecream.com/

Fit for a king

Last weekend, some teachers from KICS took a daytrip to see the king's palaces in Butare...the small cultural town in Rwanda, and home to the National University. We woke up early, and took a bus the 2.5 hours to Nyanza, to see the original and post-colonial homes of the late Rwandan kings. King Mutara III was the last king of Rwanda, and he lived a straw/grass hut like what you see below in the last picture. (Sorry, the pictures are kind of out of order. It took me almost 2 days to upload them because of sparse Internet, and when they finally uploaded, they were all out of order, sorry!) The huts were very roomy inside, and even had a fireplace. The white outer rim that you see at the entrance of the hut was used as a special threshold that only the royals could use to enter the king's hut. All other individuals had to walk to the left of the hut and enter through a small, side entrance.

There were also two huts in the background; one for milk, and the other one for beer. The milk jugs are pictured below. I found it interesting that only a virgin lady could live in the milk hut. She was specially selected by the king for the important job of tending to the milk, and she was never allowed to be married. She kept this position until death. She had to be a virgin because if she was married, the king could never trust the husband with the milk, and would always be afraid that he would conspire to have it poisoned. The beer hut was next door, and this was tended to by a single male, who could also never be married. The beer hut was the only hut that did NOT have one of those white arches at the entrance. We learned that it was because the beer guy routinely tasted the beer and was frequently drunk, and therefore, they knew that he would trip over the entrance archway and spill all the beer. So it was the only hut without a special front entrance. Makes perfect sense! I don't know about everyone else, but I certainly wondered if the milk lady and the beer guy ever got together. Ha! :-) They did live right next door to each other. The second picture below is the king's bed...it was HUGE! Definitely fit for a king, and a lot larger than a king-size bed today!

The red, white and blue house was the first post-colonialism palace that King Mutara III moved into in 1959. There's also a picture of one of the hallways. I found it to be so strange, and disconcerting that the king transitioned from the straw hut directly to this very-modern, westernized palace with running water, toilets, windows, everything. One year, the king was living in the hut, the next year, in this palace....and then when he traveled to Belgium in 1959, he saw that the Belgians lived in even more lavish homes, so he had a larger mansion constructed that we also toured. But unfortunately, the king did not live long enough to move into this bigger mansion. Anyway, it's just bizarre to think about all the effects of colonialism, and to think about these strange, "mzungus" coming into this country and introducing all their strange ways to the Africans, and in doing so, allowing the Africans to think that many of their ways are wrong, just because they are so different. It was sad to see that in one year, the traditional king's home was transformed into a Belgian home. It's like one generation of Rwandans (and other Africans), were introduced to these foreigners' ways, and it was the "new, cool thing" at the time. These foreigners were bringing their new styles, new schools, new clothes, new religion, new ways of doing things into their land...and they also came with gifts and money! It must have sounded so promising for them at the time. How could they have known the terrible effects that colonialism would have on their country in the years to follow? It's sad to think about. We toured the bigger palace, which is now the only art museum in Rwanda. Each year, there's a contest, and one piece of local artwork is selected to be on display in the museum. Then we toured the National Museum, tasted some delicious icecream at Inzozi Nziza, and ate some chewy roadside goat brochettes on the bus before heading back home. I had a great day learning more about Rwanda's cultural heritage!


Inside the milk hut

The king's bed...it took up almost the entire hut!



our flag

A hallway in King Mutera's new house after the colonists arrived. The contrast between the hut and this house was unbelieveable!

I loved this artwork!

The outside of the "new" palace

The King's house, pre-colonialism