Before coming to America, Charlene had never been on a horse, a motorcycle, or a four-wheeler, but she has been a trooper in trying them all. She'd also never seen a parade, but we actually got her involved IN a parade! Our loyalties were a little split because my dad works for Pella Motors ...
... and Harris's dad owns Pella Motorworks.
As a bunch of us were sitting around in my sister-in-law's kitchen waiting for the parade to start, my cell phone rang. It was a strange number, but that never stops me from answering, so I threw out my usual "Hello," only to be greeted by my daughter's voice on the other end of the line!!! "Haley? Is this really Haley?" I could hardly believe my ears! I quickly pushed the speakerphone button so everyone else could hear her voice too, and we were able to enjoy a few precious moments of conversation. Her first question was, "How is Grandpa?" and at the end I handed over the phone to Keaton so she could wish him a happy birthday, which is one of the main reasons she chose to call when she did.
In between, we learned several things:
* The peanut butter and jelly sandwiches have become the highlight of her day when it comes to food. Sometimes they eat things that aren't real great, but at least they're warm.
* She had literally been praying for pancakes, and her teammates had been "mocking" her because they were all quite positive that those would not be on the menu, but she was quite impressed when pancakes were served and she could share the power of prayer with them! They had caramel on them, which was a new twist, but all was well in Haley's tummy!
* It's been very cold in South Africa, and there's nowhere to go to get warm, but it does get hot during the daytime.
* She'd showered three times in the two weeks she'd been there. "Only some of the girls are brave enough to get fully undressed and take showers." I'm not sure if that's because the water is cold, there are bugs, people could be watching, or what. She didn't elaborate.
* She has fallen in love with several of the children and wishes she could pack certain ones up and bring them home with her, especially six of them in particular.
* She absolutely loves her teammates, and they have become really close.
* Her limited clothing selection is getting really old and boring but, in her words, "Oh, well."
* She's never seen a country more proud of their flag, but she figured it was partially because of the World Cup going on there at the time.
* She had borrowed someone's cell phone to make the call and wasn't sure that she'd be able to call again. Evidently when the public phone lines went down, the Africans turned to cell phones instead, so now there are no public phones where she is at. Her times on the computer are so short because internet access is very expensive, and they have only been able to do that because of the generosity of their project director.
* She shared with me that my "20" messages per week compared to some others' "3" messages per week was a little much, so I could lay off just a bit in how much I write! It was a little too embarrassing! Oops!
* She hadn't personally witnessed any miracles yet, nor any demonic activity (praise God for that!!), but the people there were so appreciative and receptive to their help. Their ministry efforts going shack to shack seemed a little ineffective to some of her team, but she loves seeing the expressions on their faces when they offer to help the people.
It was so incredibly good to hear her voice and the excitement in it! She said that she had been a little bit homesick the night before, but she opened up five or six of the letters that we had sent with her, and a couple of them had her laughing, which was very good medicine. We didn't talk about her physical health at all, but I guess no news is good news. After we finished talking, I just had to find a quiet spot to soak it all in and thank the Lord for how He'd been working in her and through her and for her seemingly really good spirits.
Back to life here ...
Another thing that Charlene has never experienced is church or anything to do with God. Obviously that's a pretty major part of our lives, so she's been inundated with it by being placed in our family. Kelsey's been taking her to youth group, and one of the songs she picked up on is "Glory to God." I even heard her humming it one day! Kelsey explained to her on our way to church Sunday morning in Pella that it wasn't likely that she would hear that song, but I'll never forget seeing her hand shoot up in the air and point to the screen when she saw those words! Definitely a God thing was occurring, and I couldn't help but shed a few tears as I watched her sing along with a smile on her face. It's been a bit challenging to know how to best convey our faith with her, so we just keep praying for wisdom and the right words and are trusting that God will grow the seeds we are planting in her life.
The gloomy skies prevented us from some water activities the rest of the day, but we thoroughly enjoyed some time with my family where we celebrated Keaton's and Larissa's birthdays!
Once we got home Monday night, it was time to regroup with everything around the house, and then we moved into serious office mode for the next three days because of our scheduled annual audit on Thursday. Friday we were thrilled to welcome a cousin of mine and her family for lunch and a nice visit, and after they left, we took advantage of the beautiful weather this weekend by pulling out the camper and let Charlene experience another favorite Westerkamp activity! What a glorious weekend of relaxation!
While we were hanging out yesterday afternoon, I picked up Harris's phone and navigated my way into Facebook where I was elated to find a nice long message from Haley!!! There is no way I can describe it to you, so once again, I'm just going to share it in true Haley style. Enjoy . . .
Mommy, mommy, mommy!!! i miss you so much i could cry right now! i need a hug and from father i need a stair hug! this is the first time in a while i can contact home! i am loving c-gap... some downtime was very very needed! all i really wanna do is watch a movie with dad but other than that i am doing great! we actually had a "movie-night" where we watched national treasure which was freakin amazing! God has been doing some amazing things here in my heart... so much is changing and i can't wait to be home but off to zambia first! i am psyched and so ready to minister to those lost and broken children! i have become so much more bold! it was so hard to say see ya to the a-trippers... watching them drive off in a bus on their way home was much harder than i thought it would be! however... all of us c-trippers would agree that we are so not ready to go home. we all know that God has not used us to the fullest extent and he has so much more to do in everyone of our lives! i have made a ton of friends and have become so close with them! it is awesome to have about 12 sisters all going through the same boat right now! literally... we have become such close brothers and sisters idk how we shall all depart. the b-trippers will come on tuesday night and then next wed we will fly out to zambia. i have embraced fully the idea of not showering... i have done little laundry... and i smell a bit but we are in AFRICA so who stinkin cares!?! haha none of us do... i'm not so sure i am ready to fully rough it but it's coming quick! please continue to write notes... i never meant for you to not write! how is gpa doing? how is charlene? i miss you all and love you so much! i wish i were telling you all of this on the phone but prolly i will not have the chance. i am however loving not having the phone and internet and car all the time! such distractions! i read esther this morning which was awesome... haha i ended up taking all of my words back about that movie you made us watch... umm a night with the king? yea i would have been lost if not for that movie! lol i figured you would enjoy knowing that! 1 corinthians is also an amazing book! woot woot! i am so loving the hour everyday we get in the word!!! just not the fact that it is at 645 in the morn. i'm thinking that it's God's way of getting me ready for swimming... ugh! lol jk im excited to get home and jump back into everything!!! i love you oh so very much! and i don't want to stop talking but to avoid spending all of my rand i gotta get off!!!!!!!!! i miss you!!!!!!!! i love you!!!!!!!! do you miss me? do you love me? haha are you missing that series of questions every night??? lol jk i'll be back soon enough!!! tell everyone hello!! especially dad, heath, kelserz, and chico chiquito!!! byes:) sorry this was so long!
Glory to God!!! To Him be all the praise!!!
In some wonderful quiet time this morning ...
... HE gave me these words in HIS message to me, and I can't help but leave you with these tonight.
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