United In Prayer

One of the things I loved the most about the World Cup is how small it made the world feel. It truly was a blessing to celebrate “futbol” with others from around the globe, and to be able to celebrate together even when cheering for opposing teams.

Sunday night was the final game. All over the world, people were tuned in to see who would win the cup this year: Netherlands or Spain. I was no exception. I went to a fan park to watch the match on a big screen in Johannesburg with thousands of others. People gathered in this way all around the world.

They gathered that night in places in Kampala, Uganda, too.

My night ended in celebrations with new and old friends.

Uganda has a different story to tell.

During the final match, the Somali terrorist group al-Shabab, who is linked to al-qaeda, sent suicide bombers to two places in Kampala where people gathered to watch the match: an Ethiopian restaurant, and a rugby club.

I first heard about the blasts on Monday afternoon, when I heard through friends that Nate Henn of Invisible Children had been at the rugby club and didn’t make it. His death is a huge loss to all humankind… read a bit about him in this IC blog.

As news travelled, I soon learned through a blog posted on CNN by Thomas Kemper, GBGM General Secretary, that there were two UMC Mission Teams in Uganda at the time: One team (from Alabama) was completely unharmed, while the other team (from Pennsylvania) reported that 5 of its 6 team members sustained injuries (some very serious), though all were in stable condition.

This morning, we got a phone call. Due to Rachel’s connections to home and the Pennsylvania Conference, she had been put in touch with the pastor of the church where these missionaries are from. At the time we were told three, we now know only two, of the missionaries (a high school girl and her grandmother) were being sent to Johannesburg for “specific or higher quality medical services.” It took us all day to find their names and which hospital, but as soon as we retained that information, we made our way there.

Both are in ICU, where the medical staff are truly taking great care of them. They even let us break the two-at-a-time rule so the three of us (Rachel, Hannah and I) could greet them together for the first time.

It was a privilege to hold the hands of, speak with and pray for these two incredible women tonight. It is humbling to see their unstoppable desire to be of something greater than themselves, even when they have been through so much. Had it not been for the bombing, they would have made their way home today after serving in Uganda for the past month. No doubt, they are longing for home more now than ever. Yet that was far from the first thing we heard. What did we hear first?

Prayer requests.

Prayers for their three beloved Ugandan friends sitting next

to them at the restaurant, who did not make it:

Pastor Peter, Becky, and Francis.

Prayers for their only teammate who did not sustain severe

injuries, as she stays behind to bury their friends.

Prayers for their 3 teammates who also sustained injuries and were
still to travel to hospitals outside of Uganda
for further medical help.

(We have now received word that they are at a hospital in Nairobi)

Prayers for everyone they left behind: the church, children and
community they worked with and grew to love during the past month.

Lastly: Prayers for themselves: for healing, coping with

pain, for the difficult processing as they try to

wrap their minds around it all.

Their request is a humble one, and yet so urgent. Tonight I was reminded of what a very, very small world we live in. I am grateful that our God hears our prayers, no matter how great or small the world feels. I am grateful for this, and for opportunities to laugh together at a bedside as we decided that the prayers of the children they left behind are probably reaching the ears of God long before ours: there is nothing like the faith of a child!

These are two women of tremendous faith, and no doubt their intense prayer and love for others have sustained them. Wont you please join me in praying with and for them?

Reflections on Wounded Healers

The conference thus far had been absolutely amazing. Words cannot describe how great it has been to meet the delegates and satellite leaders, to share in our stories that have brought us to this place, to learn and worship and pray and feast and fellowship together in this conference center that has been made a holy place by so many great people gathered in one place.

Every night I go home and think about the days past, about how much I have been able to learn and grown in this short amount of time. I debrief a bit with my sisters I’m staying with (Hannah, Rachel, Lucy and Joyce) and think about what has been and what is yet to come. About how we are growing not as individuals but as a larger community across the continent of Africa. I think about what it means to be a “wounded healer” and am thankful that so very many people who have such deep, cutting wounds have sought healing in Christ and want to use those wounds to seek further healing or prevention of wounds for others.

I have heard stories that sound like they are from a book. These are the stories that I have heard “of” -
you know, the ones someone else once encountered and it affected them so strongly they brought it home to share, to share with others that others might seek a means to help and make a difference. These are the stories I have heard before, the stories that have helped connect me to these men, women and children. The stories that have played such a strong role in developing my understanding of my call to do what I can as one part of the body who has a means to make a difference. We were told many times this week, “As one person I cannot change the world, but I can change the world of one person.” That is the humble goal we seek this week. To make a positive change on person at a time. Easier said than done, as it is often harder to love one person well than to love the idea of changing a community. But that really is the point, isn’t it? That the higher path is rarely the easy one, and the right path requires a community such as Sister2Sister to rely on, encourage, and offer strength through prayer to one another. That is what this community has embraced. Those are the stories I am hearing.

Stories of lack of clean water in communities that are desperately trying to move on with education or development or farming, but who cannot because they must walk to carry dirty water home each day for cooking, cleaning, washing. Water that is making them sick, so the sick are taking turns with days off, meaning they really do need every person to help out.

Stories of communities where the average age is 14. Where entire generations have disappeared because of HIV/AIDS. In many households, it is difficult to be clear who is caring for who: the grannies for the babies, or the babies for the grannies. What would they do without each other? Where will this lead the next generation of youth?

Stories of women and children having violent crimes committed against them. Crimes of abuse, of violent rape, of being taken as child soldiers or sold into slavery. Crimes committed out of fear, confusion, miseducation. Crimes being committed because no one was there to break the cycle for them, because violence and abuse and fear are all some generations have ever known. Fear is the heart of so much of the evil and pain, and at times it seems unstoppable.

Then one comes to Sister2Sister Tujenge conference here in DRC, and we know differently here. Here, we are a room filled with people who carry these same stories, but something was different for them. For these women, children and a few men, these stories are as real today as they were the day the were a victim. The difference is that someone somewhere along the way reached out a hand to them - to one person - and offered them a way out of that cycle. Their worlds were changed. Now, these “Wounded Healers” want nothing more than to be that glimmer of hope and change for one other person. To return the favor as many times as they can. God has led us to this place, God has guided us through this healing, God has given us the courage and wisdom and presented us with opportunities to move beyond the cycles we were once in the midst of.

Here at Sister2Sister Conference, we are choosing God and God’s grace to continue moving us to a place of healing. We are focusing this week on the theme, the one thing that keeps us moving not from week to week or sometimes even day to day, but from moment to moment as we grow out of our own painful stories. We (Wounded Healers) are remembering that “Hope Is The Cornerstone of Africa.” Thanks be to God.

New Understanding of an Old Conflict

The Israeli-Gaza conflict...

It hits different when it is a place you have been. Places I visited only days before the conflict heightened. My understanding of the conflict has shifted greatly as a result of the people we encountered, the conversations we held, the places we visited. I fear in different ways when I have friends there, whether they are in immediate danger or not. Instead of allowing this fear to cripple me or allow me to worry, it is a fear that brings anger at injustice and positively draws more prayer.

The injustice of how we define "terrorist" makes me sick to my stomach, and I think the name calling in this conflict is backwards. I wish we (the United States) weren't funding all of these lives being destroyed... and that I could do more about it than having sent letters to my senators and an appeal through Amnesty to our Secretary of State.

I cannot shake the image of the teenagers (as young as 16) carrying around huge guns all over Israel. As Israel sends ground troops into Gaza today, I can't shake the pictures of a "substantial number" of teenagers moving in and using those very weapons...

I continue to pray for peace in the Middle East...

Big Changes

I just got that phone call that I have both been dreading and hoping for all day.

My best friend from college, Eliot, is a US Marine. He has become that one person in life who knows me as well as (if not better than) I do, and I trust and love him more than I probably ever have anyone else in life (he is as close as any family member ever could be). I love this guy, and his friendship has been an amazing blessing to me.

Eliot leaves in the morning for Iraq. He will be stationed there for 7-9 months. He is infantry. Fortunately not army infantry, and he assures me that the group he is going to replace has not even had to fire rounds. Which is great on many levels - both because I worry for his safety and because I am such a pacifist! (we make a great pair, huh?)

Please pray for Eliot and his team. Also, extra prayers for his family - and for me - will be greatly appreciated and incredibly necessary. Its going to be rough on a lot of us. I'm not usually a worrier, but I have never been so afraid of anything as I am for his life.

Its Been 5 Years...

Yesterday marked 5 years since the war in Iraq began.

In some ways, it feels like that was just yesterday. I remember when it all began. I was in Durlam Lounge in the chapel at Simpson College, surrounded by friends and a faith community and trying to keep a friend with a fiance in the marines calm. It was a long, dreadful night.

Yet in other, perhaps more real ways, it feels like we've been at this war forever, and as such, its hard to see an end in sight. I have hope with upcoming elections, but as we have been at war for several decades, I am reminded that hope isn't enough. We need action, leadership - and a word of truth to final be spoken from our country's highest office.

There was a large (peaceful) protest in downtown Chicago last night. A huge part of me wanted to be there, but I had other (important) commitments. On my way home, I ran into some folks on their way back from the march. "There could have been more people, but it was powerful anyway" they told me, drums (plastic buckets and wooden blocks as sticks) in hand. There must have been a lot of truth to the small numbers, for I really had to look for any news coverage on it. Or maybe they're just tired of covering it, convinced that filling us in on the latest gossip between battling Presidential candidates is more important.

Either way, its too bad. Either way, I am still left praying for the tens of thousands of lives that have been lost senselessly. For the leaders who got us into this mess and those who will do their best to get us out of it. For the troops who have no say but to follow the lead of their Commander in Chief... and as a result are risking/losing their lives, if not physically than emotionally. For the people whose lives have been shattered as we invade their land, territory- their home. For all of these people and all of those around the globe this war has affected but I have not mentioned, I hope they know that thousands around the world have been thinking of and praying for them more this week than ever... and while it is hard to see the light in the midst of darkness, I hope they too can find hope that the light is out there, and is coming...

New Hope in Kenya

There is good news from Kenya today, where after months of violence and upset in Kenya, President Mwai Kibaki and the opposition leader Raila Odinga have made a progressive step towards peace. It brings hope to their broken nation, and I can only hope for more good news...

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga have signed an agreement to end the country's post-election crisis.

At a ceremony in Nairobi, the two men put their signatures to a power-sharing deal brokered by ex-UN head Kofi Annan.

A coalition government comprising members of the current ruling party and opposition will now be formed.

Some 1,500 people died in political violence after Mr Odinga said he was robbed of victory in December's polls.

To read the full article, click here. Here's to more hoping there is more good news to come! May there be peace among Kenyans in the very near future...

Peace Deal in Eastern Congo

Good news today.

With the ongoing news about the terrible situation in Kenya and the never-ending bad news out of the Middle East, news today from Eastern Congo brings hope into our dark world.

A peace pact has been signed in Goma, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, by the government and armed groups. From BBC News:

It aims to end months of bloody conflict in the east which has driven almost 500,000 people from their homes.

The deal offers an amnesty to Gen Nkunda and his forces but the rebels say its full implementation will be dependent on the disarming of an ethnic Hutu militia.

The different factions had said they were ready to demobilise after seeing the peace deal on Monday but then disagreements emerged.

The breakthrough came after a flurry of last-minute face-to-face contacts and telephone calls involving government ministers, the rebels and international diplomats.

Of course, this important step is far from the end, and further cooperation will be needed by others to truly end the violence in the Congo. But it is indeed a step, and an encouraging one. It means there is an end in site.. after more than 10 years of fighting and 5.4 million lives being lost, I see this as a strong sign of HOPE.

Let us continue to pray together for further successes that follow, that someday the Democratic Republic of Congo, and our world, will see peace.