So for those that are eagerly awaiting posts on this site, know that you won’t find them! This was the ZAMBIAN blog, but now I have one since being in America. You can view both, but only one is CURRENT and will host NEW POSTS!

NEW BLOG address is:click on the link bellow

http://www.keishasuzanne.blogspot.com/

CHECK IT OUT!!!

http://keishasuzanne.blogspot.com/

Take note that all achieved Zambia posts will still be available to view and read on this Blog site.

Keisha

Tranquility in Zambia… oh, don’t I miss it!

Day after day I walked this very path through the bush to and fro work, with my mind full of day dreams, my eyes set on lush landscape, my heart over flowing with compassion, and my feet running over for joy!

Those were the days… and they are greatly MISSED!

Zambia, sweet Zambia… you are hold my heart in your hands!

]]> http://garber81.wordpress.com/2008/05/23/tranquility-those-were-the-days/feed/ 0 garber81 Tranquility in Zambia http://garber81.wordpress.com/2008/05/14/the-revelation-of-why-i%e2%80%99m-back/ http://garber81.wordpress.com/2008/05/14/the-revelation-of-why-i%e2%80%99m-back/#comments Wed, 14 May 2008 08:48:07 +0000 garber81 http://garber81.wordpress.com/?p=83 ]]> I continued to scratch my head from time to time, and kneel a bit more in prayer in hope of finding out why I’m back in the states, and how long I’ll be here… Than, out of the blue I was shopping for groceries and it hit me, like a ton of bricks.

I was in the produce department and my eyes fixed themselves upon MANGO’s FRESH GROWN MANGO’s and all for the buying and eating. I’m not sure if others around me heard the angles singing or saw the lights a flashing… but I DID. And I knew just then and there why I’m here… to indulge myself in some mouth watering, plump and ripe Mangos.

God is full of surprises and has many ‘tricks’ up his sleeves, and this was one of them and I’m willing to stay as long as Mango season will last.

So look out Kroger’s, you’d better start placing your order and know that I’m a coming and coming to eat you out of Mangos one 5 Gallon bucket full at a time!

I’ll try to re-cap on the past month and give insight into the ‘possible’ future.

First: Yes, I WAS sick, buuuuut… now I’m not!  I never got to the bottom of “what” it was, but ‘we’ tried in all our might.  And rest assured, I’ll get some medical help here state side, if and when I’m knocked down by the pain again. Trust me, I’d have no choice but to go running to the nearest medical facility, if the pain showed its face again.

Second: I started negotiations with an organization in Florida, which required a visit to the states and further screening, and training state side.  Some of you questioned why… and I must say that there are a multitude of ‘ministries over seas and even more ideas on how to assist those ministries.  Sooooo~ those ( of us) that represent the organization need to be of ‘like mind’ in more than one area , which should go with out saying.  Long story short, we weren’t as like minded as we intentionally thought we were, and for now I’m praying about other options, but support the work and teams of HOB in ALL they do.

Third: My work permit expired May 2, 08 in Zambia, so I was forced to leave the country or find a church or new NGO (Non Governmental Organization) to apply for a ‘long term’ work permit, which I didn’t want to accept or apply to just any NGO or church that came down the pike. In the mean time, I thought I’d come home and make the most of a little Rest and Relaxation, along with some down on the farm, quality family time, and time to sort out the best future for me and those I left in Africa. I was ‘blessed’ to leave all but the clothes I brought here in storage with another American missionary family, in hopes of returning.

Fourth: Your financial donations, I choose to leave behind the remaining sum of money donated by each of you; to assist in the salaries for those employed by the Sarah Rose orphanage, provide rent and salary for former street boys, purchase uniforms for Beautiful Gate students, along with other small odds and ends along the way. I know you gave towards the Needs in Zambia and I won’t to make sure the money is used accordingly whether I’m here or not

Fifth:, My heart is home sick, for Zambia that is, but I’m taking some time this month to just pray and see what the Lords will is for the months and years to come.  I must accept the fact that God may have sent me millions of miles away just to break me from being such a ‘know it all’.  After all you can’t know it all, or ‘any thing’ for that matter in a foreign land where you know absolutely nothing.  Or he may have prepared me years ago to go and not only live among the African’s, but to also become ‘one with them’ for years to come.  My free spirit does seek and enjoy adventure, but living in the conditions and culture I was submerged into was beyond my idea of adventure and leaned more on the side of ‘craziness’.  However through Christ and Christ along I experienced true Joy, Peace and Contentment among all the trials and tribulations, and I trust that he’ll continue to saturate me in the same peace if I stay or if I go back.

Sixth: Another determining factor for the future months and years to come is a man by the name of Hankalinge Mac Donald Mayaba-Nyanga.  He is my dear Zambian friend,  that I’ve become very found of during the last eight months.  He was previously involved (daily) with BG (the former NGO I volunteered for).  So we met and spent ample time together from the beginning of my arrival.  I was always told that ‘love’ would strike me when I least expected it, and that it has!  We’re taking some time to (refrain from communication) in hopes of hearing the voice of God and His will for our lives, instead of being distracted by each other, and I ask for your prayers as neither of us want anything less than Gods best for our life and future.  I know this is news to most of you, but not to all of you.  My family is very eager to meet him (after all this time), and we’re all hoping for the chance later this summer, if all goes well between now and than.

Seventh: I’m here (state side) for up to four, or six months, unless things change).

I opted for financial reasons to skip the (respected and beneficial) cultural training (MTI) in Colorado (for now), but would love the chance to attend before ‘going back to Africa’.

Eighth: I plan to do massage (for those friends and family interested) and any other side work I can drum up while being home with hopes of making some spending money while I’m here and for when i return.  Let me know if you need any lawn mowing, leaf racking, snack baking duties done… I’ll be eager to jump on my bike (only mode of transport) and head your way, if possible!

Ninth: I plan to complete a Power Point by the end of this month, which will show a bit more detail of my ‘life in Africa and the Ministry I was blessed with there.  I’ll be able to share this with any of you, your churches, or other groups that are interested in viewing it. I plan to make a trip to Cali before heading back to Zambia, but no dates are yet set. I’ll keep each of you posted as plans un fold.

So there you have it, all the updates and clarifications that I can think of up till now. I updated my blog this week, so you can go there to view a few more photos and more will be on the way.  I didn’t have enough hours in the day to complete the changes this week.

I’ll be heading to the Annual German Baptist Meeting tomorrow (Fri May 8) for those of you who know what I’m speaking of, and plan to return next week.

PRAYER:

1.         Safe travels to and from Kansas this week for the Annual Meeting

2.       Clear direction from the Lord for Hankalinge and I’s future…!!!

3.       Quality time with family and (friends) during my ‘visit’ state side

4.       Guidance to the proper organization and or church in ZA to go back and volunteer or partner with

5.       A possible US based church to back and or support me spiritually, mentally, emotionally once I return to Africa

6.       Massages or other odds and ends job to make a little spending money and support for future ministries or living expenses.

7.       Quick Sales of the ‘Modern African material hand bags’ that were made as a fund raiser to support the ministries that I left behind

8.       Pray I’m healed once and fore all of the ailment that had me down and out this past month

9.       I’ll be able to sell my hardly used snowboard and snow gear, along with my Nano 4GB hot pink ipod, new Trek mountain bike, and other odds and ends

10.    My parents will be able to sell their house by this fall/winter and find a smaller house closer to my brother or sister that requires less care and up keep’.  I’ll be sad to see it ‘my only home’ go, but would rather be here to assist with the buying  ,selling, and moving process and know they’ll be closer to Family, just where they belong!

Here it is the video of the place I call home, if only in my dreams, as I have moved on, but hope to return…

Some how over the course of time, I evolved from an over active Type A personality into a slow pace, easy going, take it as it comes individual.

Now that I’m back on American soil, I’ve watched the lives of those around me and I see a ‘Know it all personality’ which is always an annoying trait in some one.  However I have to chuckle to myself and remind myself, that I once was (and maybe still am) the same way.  Yikes!  As my mom always quoted “Pride goes before the fall” or even a former boyfriend would remind me, “even a fool looks wise if he keeps his mouth shut.” So for those of you who ask why I believe that God called me to Africa, I’ll say this.  God removed me from my comfort zone, and placed me with in a new culture, climate and society maybe for nothing more than to show me that ‘I didn’t know ‘One’ thing’ and I couldn’t even pretend to ‘know it all’. It not only stripped me of my prideful perceptions, and leadership traits (as I couldn’t lead some thing I knew nothing about), but also humbled me more and more, and allowed me the chance to be a servant and not so self centered maid, catering to my own wants and needs.

I’m not sure what this time ‘state side’ is for or what lessons I’ll learn, but I know that God has me back ‘here’ for a time and ‘season’ and I know that the God I serve is never early, and never late, but always on time.  So I trust that He’ll reveal to me the purpose of this time (state side) when He chooses and He’ll guide me step by step, as I seek His will for my future.

I believe that He’s allowed me to embrace, enjoy, and evolve into ‘a Zambian’ for more than one reason.  And I can’t imagine that he’ll allow me to be gone from my ‘African home’ too long, but rather he may be using this time state side to ‘re-fuel and prepare me for what is to come’ as I head back to Zambia sooner than later… yet only He knows and only the spirit will lead me back to the comfort of my mud hut now… or never.

My family has heard the comments time and time again.  “God uses ‘circumstances’ to get our attention”. And most of you believe that God allowed all those ‘close calls’ recently to get my attention only so I’d come back to American soil (where you think I’ll be safe, yeah right!).

Yet I would beg to differ on the reason so many ‘outlandish’ things happened time and time again. I can’t help but think back and to and reflect on Hebrew 11, the FAITH chapter. That speaks time and time again of individual after individual that by FAITH they moved ‘mountains’ during the circumstances the Lord led them through.  Look at Noah, Job, David, Rahab, Moses and the list goes on and on… MANY people who were faced with trials and tribulations yet they stood their ground and allowed their faith ‘roots’ to go deeper and deeper as the heat increased.  Sometimes God allows us to be tested JUST to show others that Faith in HIM will deliver ‘you’ in the end.

Greetings from Zambia, one last time…
Ready or not USA… HERE I come! Once again.
I’ll depart Zambia Monday April 28, fly to JoBerg South Africa (for a
38 hour lay over…Ugh!), the direct from JoBerg to Atlanta and
finally back to Dayton Ohio on Wed… Three days of travel, but i’ll
just cuddle with a good book or my bible, doze, and dream of all the
good food that awaits me!
I’ll be in touch once I’m on dry land once again!

April 20th

Some of you know (as word travels fast) that I was in the hospital this week for severe abdominal pain that continued to build through out the week, but by Sunday I was beyond the point of return, or so it felt.

I was fortunate to have a Dr. from the states here (on a short term mission team) that was able to give me an exam, which she suggested immediate hospital care. She feared a burst ovarian cyst, burst appendix, or even gull stones… as the pain was every where and quickly increasing as the minutes passed us by.

We have one main community hospital (which is a sight for soar eyes, to say the least), and each Copper Mine has their own staff and hospital which is usually open to any one for the “RIGHT PRICE”… Money really does get you some where here… as it does most places in the world.

After one hospital was closed (after 22:00), one wouldn’t accept me as I wasn’t a Copper miner employee, and the last was full of what seemed to be incompetent employees. I was finally seen by a few doctors that were awoken from sleep to give me an ultra sound. This man wasn’t able to locate my ovary, saw that my kidney was okay (which we knew), thought my appendix had some fluid around it and infection, but wasn’t sure about gull stones… However the doctor that finally arrived disagreed. So who do you or can you believe in a time like this? [The one who should have seen it on the ultra, or the doctor who is trained to test and know a bit more.]

WHO trains and hires these individuals is what I want to know…???? Honestly! They took some blood, and did a few labs, and found that I was negative for Malaria, and my white blood cell count was way off, showing the sign of major infection. Not to mention my fever that was on going…

They requested that I be admitted for the night, but I REFUSSED. I feared with all my life that I would end up dead, as a result of their own lack of attentiveness, and would rather go home with Dr. Liz (from the states) and pray that God would work a miracle in the middle of the night.

Home I went, with a trunk load of antibiotics to take around the clock, not to mention the OVER WELMING doses of pain killers they’d given me orally and by injections (which were only making a dent in the pain)

I rested and woke up a bit better… Dr. Liz was able to tend to me a bit more, until she had to jump a plane back to the states. Here time in Zambia had finally come to an end.

All that to say, I’m still not sure what’s going on, but it’s now three days later and I’m finally back to ‘normal’ or so I feel. I’m a bit weak and dizzy from time to time, but I’m no longer on pain medicine, nor in pain for that matter.

I was planning to fly home this week… but that has been post dated for the time being. I’m hoping to be home in the states by next week to be checked out and examined on that end of the world.

Your prayers are being felt… as they have been the past month… [during the robbery, false accusations from Social welfare (child trafficking), the 17 murders that took place near my former mud house with in less than two weeks, being forced by Immigration to leave the compound (which became my 'family' and comfort, being told to dis-continue any form of ministry with the girls and boys on the street, the fear of not finding an NGO to come back and work for, throwing up and purging from dual ends for days on end and the list goes on and on… or so it seems]

I have a close friend here who had a dream the Tuesday before any of this began and she shared it with me, only giving me a bit of hope and light for what is to come. She said I was pregnant and really sick in the beginning. But when the time came to deliver I like most mothers were able to embrace the ‘new life’ and change that I’d just birthed. She furthered to tell me that her mom always taught her (she’s from Austria) that pregnancy in a dream means that it is a sign of hope, as new life is going to be birthed but only after all the pain, sickness, and discomfort have passed. Childbirth is rarely fun or easy from start to finish for anyone and I can only pray and believe that God is allowing all of this to come to pass to bring new life and new hope for me in the future.

As Psalm 121:1,2 says

” I will lift up my eyes to the hills-

From whence comes my help?

My help comes from the Lord.

Who made the heaven and earth.

So my eyes are lifted and I’m seeking his help.

I hope and plan to see most of you in the up and coming months, and seek your prayers during this time of restoration that the Lord is taking me through.

I say God called me and that is why and how I find myself living in a mud hut in the middle of ‘Tim Buck Two’… Africa! Which lies an abundance of questions from others.

“Did you hear His voice?

Or How do know His voice, or his WILL for your life? Etc.. etc…

The answer(s)…
God speaks through the Truth in His word (Bible) the most. Revealing verses of Truth, Peace, Wisdom, Faith and so on. He gives us all direct “words” to not only by in our day to day life, but also to embrace and live through.

Second, would be the still small voice (Holy Spirit) that Jesus promised to guide and direct us as His ‘servants’.

Last, (the list could be endless)… Clouds, People, (burning bushes), silence etc… “Nothing in Impossible with God…”

He calls all of us, but few will GO! It’s not always easy, thrilling, or joy full. Yet when your heart desires to serve Him, He’ll provide all our needs and be our strength when we are weak.

I believe that’s half the reason I’m here in Africa, I’ve been placed in a situation where “I Keisha” can’t survive on my own, but rather I’m left with not other option but to rely on God’s Strength to get by day after day. The last eight months have been nothing more than smooth sailing in each and every aspect of life here in ZA. But I must say the wind has finally been taken out of every sail and the first real dose of emotional and mental exhaustion has finally taken its toll. I finally hit the bottom of the valley and I’ve been fighting my way up the valley wall (this past week in a half). After scraping and clawing with hopes of escaping, I finally realize I can’t fight this on my own, and it’s not a battle that I can win alone.

Psalms 23:4 & 6
verse4. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou [art] with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me… 6. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

God HAS CALLED YOU… but are you willing to go and do what ever it is He’s called you to do? Africa sounds fun, but it’s NOT easy!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, our mission field is outside our bedroom window. God WILL use YOU just where you are! And remember an ocean is made out of thousands of drops, and one person can make a difference, no matter where you are in (that ocean).

My new mission field will be back in the states for the up coming four months. I meet with Heart of the Bride for the first two weeks to make sure we both agree and have like minds and hearts toward the mission field here in Zambia. If we both agree to move forward I’ll start training with HOB and MTI, along with visiting several states to inform my friends and family along with fund raising for my return to Zambia and new job description that HOB will set up.

For those of you that have donated financially thus far, I want to assure you that the money will be held in a reserve account until I return to Zambia, and I’ll be using my own personal finances for my travel and stay in the states.

I look forward and pray for the change to visit or see most of you during these up coming months, and wish each of you a Blessed and up coming summer in the mean time.

Thanks for all your prayers, support, encouragement, friendships, and love… It’s carried me along thus far, and I know that it will continue as I plan to return to Zambia for anther ‘long haul’.

As far as my life here has been… The police haven’t found my stolen belonging yet, because there were over 17 cold blood murders with in a mile radius of my ‘mud house’. And some of them were killed with an axe which one was left in my house the night my neighbor chased the robbers away. (Only God knows what would have happened had the Immigration not forced me to move the night before) Needless to say the police and investigators have bigger fish to fry (other than locating my lost goods). Regardless, I’m a bit depressed to have left the comfort and space of my own home and ‘family’ of friends that surrounded me there in the compound. Yet, I know this is for the best…

The charges and investigations of me and my ‘illegal pursuits with street children’ have come to an end, as we’ve agreed that I will only be on the streets with another Zambian and I’ll work under an official NGO when I return, not just on my own. In the mean time.

I’m currently living with another missionary family (The Walkers) who are from Florida and long term missionaries here. They work with Heart of the Bride and I’m so grateful that they have taken me in during this time of ‘homelessness’. HOB has placed them here to work with the children on the streets and they not only work with the boys, but also many of the girls, and children that are born from the street girls, which is what I’ll be joining forces with once I return.

So there you have it… another wild update in the world of Zambia, and they place I call ‘home’.

Until next time…