Katombi Chronicles

And I'm back!

The last three weeks were spent with a friend on her village about 4 hrs from my home in Chito. This village (Katombi) is just about my favourite place here in Zambia.

I went for language studies, as has been the focus of these trips in the past. There is a lovely couple here that I spend a couple hours 3-4 times a week just sitting and chatting. WOW! It still amazes me that we can find enough to talk about in my very broken Lunda to be able to chat for nearly two hrs!

There is a wee satellite clinic that my friend runs and while I was visiting this time she allowed me to see her patients every morning. Great langue opportunities! And again, I just amazed myself with how much of the language I actually do know- and not just Lunda, I can kinda make out some Luvale also; kinda helpful since nearly every one up here seems to know Luvale better than Lunda!


Its also a slower pace, which is a nice break from hospital! And a slightly different focus: more Gospel outreach and less medical work.

We had so much rain the few weeks I was there that we were basically flooded in for just over a week. So thankful there were no medical emergencies to rush to hospital!

We had several adventures with driving because the forest road was so bad. Stuck in a log bridge one day in the rain over a seasonal stream. 8 men and several onlookers and an hour later we managed to get unstuck and be able to reserve the car to use an ox cart trail they had just been working one.

Another day, using a diversion that had been made especially for the motorcar, and the diff got stuck, and i mean STUCK on a stump that hadn't been cut down low enough. Let me tell you about this amazing lady I was staying with: she decided, well, I need the car to be raised up higher than the stump, lets put the jack under it, raise it up off the stump and drive off the jack. She had never seen or heard of this being done before, but gave it a go. When we finally arrived Loloma we found out that was a perfectly reasonably thing to do.


Many, many other adventures and little experiences that I wish I had written down for you day by day and really given you the 'chronicles'.
I'm back now at Chito. And glad to be back. Well... except for the ortho marathon tmrw and friday and the plastics marathon next week! The fun never stops

What are you writing while you are waiting?

Waiting

We spend probably most of our lives doing it.

Waiting for the light to change

for the microwave to ding

for school to finish

for that special someone

for the kids to grow up

for the golden years

at the doctors office

at Emerg

at the doorbell

in the grocery line, the bank line, the cinema line

But what are we writing while we are waiting?

I've had waiting on my mind since the start of the year. Whether it was because the year started off so slowly, and in fact is still very slow, or because I was waiting to go visit a dear friend on her village about 4hrs from here, or because my next trip home is less than a year away now, I'm not sure. But waiting and thinking about waiting sure has taken up a lot of my time so far this year.

Over and over again, this question comes to me:

What am I writing while I am waiting?

Waiting to finish the Ward Round

Waiting to speak to the Doctor

Waiting for the surgery to end

Waiting to go back to work the next day

Waiting for the meeting to start

Waiting for the meat to defrost

for the oven to heat up

for there to be hot water for a shower

for the patient to come

for there to be power to my house

waiting waiting waiting

But what am I writing? 

Is it a story of grace? Of patience? Of a quiet spirit? Of joy in the Lord?

Am I seeking moment by moment for His will? Accepting it with joy when it comes?

Or am I anxious and fearful? Am I wasting my time in frivolous pursuits? Am I cross and unkind and impatient?

Too often this is the story I am writing

You see, we are writing a story. The story called: The Adventure Called My Life.

Each day is a new page. Each year is a new chapter. Each season is a new part in this book. 

There is a lot in our story that we don't get to choose, but I think there is even more that we do get to choose.

What is my attitude to the events I don't get to control?  That's a big choice right there!

What is my focus in the in between times- the times in between life's big events? Building character and growing in virtue or seeking amusement and empty pastimes 

Am I using my time wisely? Productive use of my time, use that will bring God glory, use that will be interesting and useful at a later date - studying, trying new things, building relationships, seeking God

God has given us this life, this story to write. How are we going to write it?