Today, as I look back, I see that the Lord had to teach me many more lessons before he would use me as his tool in a worldwide ministry like Rafiki. He had shown me clearly that Africa needed Bible study and Christian education. However, apparently God’s plan for Rafiki was bigger than just Africa and he had to show me more countries. I am convinced that the best education comes through reading and travel.
Thus, when we left Tanzania in 1966 headed for the United States, we took advantage of seeing as many different countries as possible on our limited budget by staying with good friends.
We stopped off in Ethiopia where the people are black, but tall and fine boned, unlike sub-saharan Africans.
Then we went to Egypt to see the pyramids and where the kids got to ride on a camel.
From there to Israel during the time when Jerusalem was even more divided than it is today. Of all the places in the world, to me, Israel is the most fascinating. I am grateful that we have been able to visit there a number of times over the years.
But Bob, (ever the student!) wanted to study the German language, to better work with the German doctors he left at the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center. Therefore, we stopped off in Ansbach, Germany, for ten weeks while Bob studied German. We bought a Volkswagen squareback, put the children into a US military school, and rented a two-room flat above a bakery. Although I thought Ansbach was a beautiful town with all it’s hanging flower baskets and steep tile roofs, I will admit that of all the places that I have lived, Ansbach was the place I liked least. Maybe that was because we had to bathe, wash clothes, and wash dishes all in a bathtub in a small bathroom. The children were not too happy either since the three of them slept in two beds pushed together. Poor Tova always had to sleep in the crack! The saving grace was the wonderful aroma of baking bread that came up to our flat every morning!
I did learn what it was to live in a country where I did not know the language and therefore could not communicate enough to know people except to see first-hand the difference between the stricter German people and the gentle open people of Tanzania. And for sure, Germans need the Bible too.
When we arrived in the USA we landed in Maryland where Bob wanted to get his boards in preventive medicine at Johns Hopkins. In Africa he had been convinced that prevention was more important to the people than the curative medicine he was trained to do as an internist. The problem was that we had no money. We borrowed $200 from relatives to live on until Bob went back on active duty in the Army. Going on active duty meant that the Army would pay for his training at Hopkins with pay-back time when he was finished.
We put the kids in public school where they were way ahead of their classmates because in Africa their schools were much better, being classical.
As for me, God gave me an amazing opportunity to learn something I would need later. My mother had taught me to sew when I was a child, but where we lived in Ashton, Maryland, the founder of Stretch and Sew, Ann Person, taught a class on how to sew a knit shirt from start to finish in half an hour! I was intrigued. Little did I know how this would help me learn some lessons I needed for world-wide service.
One lesson I learned for sure is that God will put into us what he wants to get out of us. And in some cases, he will literally show us the lessons he wants us to learn. I’m grateful that he showed me many different nations. All of them need Christ and his Word.
What is God showing you about the world as you travel and read about other countries? Then, what will you do with what you are learning?
What a delight it was to read of all the places you have lived and of what God taught you in each place. I have moved throughout the US, through several states, and each move, from CA, FL, MO, WI, WV and more had something new to show me about the Lord and myself and the various churches I attended. I got a deeper understanding of the universal church when my daughters moved to opposite ends of the globe - one to Singapore, the other to Belgium, each giving birth within 2 months of the other. I loved the orchids that cascaded down from the over-passes across the streets of Singapore, and the food markets were wonderful. Huge, ripe pineapples for 75 cents in US dollars and other fruit I have never seen before but tasted delicious. Belgium had a quaint old-world flavor to it. My daughter had 4 babies there, and I stayed with her 4-6 weeks each time, I know the forlorn feeling of not understanding the language, yet having to grocery shop for a family of 6 and get from one place to the other without being able to ask for directions when I got lost. The hardest thing was to attend church services and not be able to understand the sermon. I so wanted to talk to those who loved my daughter, but I couldn't tell them how much I appreciated them for helping her and being a family to her when she was so young, so overwhelmed with the duties of being a pastor's wife in a foreign country. But when the cup was passed for communion, I suddenly was overwhelmed myself as we each took a sip - there was the point of unity. There was the unifying love among us as we remembered Christ's death on the cross for us. I could then look at the small congregation not as strangers or foreigners, but as brothers and sisters with me in loving Christ. I wept then, and have never forgotten the experience. Nor have I forgotten my visit to the BSF class in Brussels, where I sat in in a group with a lady from Russia, Switzerland, and several other countries and knew we were of one heart and mind, despite our difficulty in understanding each other. God taught me much through these experiences about Himself, that He is the same God in every country, in every language. With Him, there is no separation because of language or culture. In heaven there will be no separation either, as we will all understand each other and bow as one before the Lamb.
ReplyDeleteI loved your comments. Thank you for sharing the truth that travel educates you and also unifies you with other believers. Not everybody has the luxury of travel, so they have to learn by reading. But for those who can travel, there is nothing better to keep us from being narrow-minded. Bless you for being there for your daughters when they needed you.
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