can i just be done?

Fact for the day: Goodbyes are draining.

Today was the staff fun day at the school. I played soccer for the 2nd time in my life, anchored in tug-of-war, and emceed a singing and dancing competition. It was so fun to go out on a good note. Saying goodbye to everyone was not easy, though I had gotten the heavy-hitting ones over with yesterday.

This evening I was actually double-booked. First I had dinner with friends from church, the people with whom I watched Parent Trap last weekend. Their 8-year-old daughter wanted to learn the movie's secret handshake tonight, and I was happy to oblige. After that was a piggyback race all over the house, reading books, and animal charades. When bedtime came around, I learned that goodbyes aren't any easier on 8-year-olds. It was pretty tough to say goodbye to that fabulous family. After dinner, I buzzed over to Bible Study with more church friends and said more goodbyes.

Tomorrow morning I'm going to the airport early to say goodbye to my flatmate Jan who will be heading to UK for the summer. Then I'll be packing like mad.

In the afternoon I'm headed to a friend's house for some friend time and--hopefully--some pool time, too...even more goodbyes.

Which is not to say that I'm numbering my friends as goodbyes, but it's that nagging thought at the back of my head: You're my friend, I love you, our goodbye will be tough.

By the time I get home, I suspect it won't only be jet lag that makes me exhausted...these goodbyes are really doing a number on me, too.

taking my mind off it*

* it = impending doom

This weekend has been SO MUCH FUN. It's been incredibly emotional, but for the sake of my sanity, allow me to table those emotions and focus on the excitement.

Saturday morning I loafed around the house, watching movies and packing half-heartedly. In the evening I got myself on over to M&M's house...they're Americans doing full-time ministry work here and their family also goes to Abuja Ark Church. We had pizza and watched Parent Trap together. It felt so normal to be with them and enjoy family time. I mean, I'm not trying to graft myself into theirs, but it reminded me of my own family's pizza & game nights.

I took a big leap out of my comfort zone and did the corporate prayers in Church this morning. Praying publicly is something in which I'm a bit...how shall we say?...out of practice. But I've had a lot of time to think about why corporate prayer is so important, and it comes down to this (and this I shared with the congregation): the Body of Christ is meant to rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn. We pray to a God who knows the words on our lips before they are even spoken, but public prayer allows us to stand together in our joys and trials. It allows the body of Christ to encourage the afflicted as they are patient in tribulation and also rejoice in hope with those who are triumphant (Romans 12:12).

After church, a whole gang of us went lunch at Silverbird, where I said more goodbyes and made more plans for further goodbyes. (Sensing a trend here?) Tonight, another group of us is going out for fish. Apparently, this is an essential part of Nigerian nightlife that I have yet to experience. Who knew?! So, I'm making up for lost time tonight and going out with friends.

Tomorrow and Tuesday are working days. I have plans with friends in the evenings--I'm even double-booked on Tuesday. Wednesday is sanity day. Thursday is freak out/get my crap together day. Thursday night I'm on a plane.

So much for tabling the emotions.


4 days 'til takeoff.

worship practice

What an ironic term. Worship is an attitude, a lifestyle. It's not something one practices, it's something one lives. Alas...

I've never been on a worship team before but when I learned this Sunday is a Praise & Worship service/Farewell service for all of us departing (and oh there's a lot of us), I had to join in.

We're singing 13 songs on Sunday, and I'm leading the actions for Pharaoh, Pharaoh (woah, baby, let my people go...). It's going to be a lot of fun.

By the way, if there are any English majors out there interested in teaching in an international context, I know of an opening at this really great school...contact me for more information! They REALLY need a Lit teacher!

on friendship

Jan and I were invited to a pool party/dinner party at our friend Bob's new flat. Also in attendance were 3 other female teachers from the American School and another young family from our church. Some were British, some Canadian, some a mixture thereof, some transplants from Zimbabwe to America, some Malaysian, and some good ol' Midwestern Americans. Some older, some younger, some married, some single, some divorced, some widowed. It was a beautiful mix of ages, nationalities, cultures, vocations, experiences, and vocabularies!

It looked a lot like the Body of Christ.

I have so come to love the people gathered together tonight. I love their warmth. I love their openness. I appreciate their humor. I respect their experience. I admire their willingness to invest despite the fact that most of us have spent lives in transient communities, always meeting new people and saying goodbye to others (and then there's me...about to experience it for the first time).

It was a great time to enjoy conversation, pizza, wine, and the 3 lovely children in our presence. We swam despite the threatening rain clouds and I had a blast playing around with the kids in the pool.

It felt a lot like goodbye, too.

In that bittersweet, let's-go-out-on-a-good-note-and-be-grateful-for-each-other kind of way. I think I've figured out (though it should have been obvious) that goodbyes are a time to edify, to encourage, to build up, to bless, and to send off in faith. Parents of college-bound children, take note. The international community has got it right. This is how we say goodbye. With love and laughter. With help and support. With a long list of contact numbers and friends all over the globe. With the promise of seeing one another again, even if it's not in this life.

I am at peace. Amen and amen.

let me be brief

I sang on the worship team at church this morning...that's a new one. It went just fine...we sang and danced to Days of Elijah!

Also, it's 8:30 and I haven't even made a dent in my lesson plans. Why, yes, I am changing my name to include Procrastinator. Is there such a thing as senior slide for teachers???

All About Abuja Ark

We sang the following refrain in church today. In the Igbo language, it simply says, "Thank you. God, thank you." There is power in its simplicity.

Ime...Imela
Imela, Chineke Imela.
Ime...Imela
Imela, Jehovah Imela

Add guitar, bongos, and a tambourine and you've got an idea of what it was like this morning at my church, Abuja Ark International.

Since our pastor relocated suddenly to South Africa, our church has elected a leadership team as the operating body, with different laypersons preaching and teaching each week. Some are missionaries, some are ambassadors, some are teachers, some are doctors. It has been encouraging, though, to learn from my brothers (and sisters!) as fellow believers. Apparently, I have a tendency to put pastors on pedestals and forget how much I can learn from those sitting in the pew (ahem, plastic chair) next to me.
There's a sign-up sheet that gets passed around each Sunday, and people sign up for responsibilities from teaching Sunday School to making coffee to leading worship to running the projector. I usually sign up for projector duty or the Scripture reading. Talk about being the elbow, knee, left ear, or ankle of the body of Christ!

Today was Communion Sunday (we celebrate twice a month) and the accompanying liturgy really stuck with me: The gifts of God for the people of God. The body of His only Son is offered as a gift to me--lowly me--who has been grafted into the family of God.
I chewed on that during the sermon, which was delivered by the Hon. Sekonte Davies, a member of the Nigerian House of Representatives and member of our church. His sermon addressed the lessons we learn from our children which we can apply to our relationship with God. Blind trust, easy forgiveness, willing openness, unconditional love, eager expectancy--these are all examples shown us by little children which we ought to mirror in our relationship with God.

Each quarter, our church selects a ministry to support with special offerings. This quarter, we're sponsoring an interfaith conference here in Abuja in April. The emphasis of the conference is on recognizing the common ground between the Islamic and Christian faiths and using that as a starting place for healthy and free discussion.
It is our prayer that this conference will bring together leaders from both faiths and bring about a mutual understanding and peace between the two groups, especially in light of the recent conflict in Plateau State, which is half-religious, half-ethnic in nature.

Abuja Ark is approximately 50% responsible for my sense of belonging, security, and well-being since arriving in Nigeria an astonishing 7.5 months ago (how has it been that long?!). It has truly been a place of inclusion, appreciation, community, and growth for me, and for all of that, I simply say, Imela, Jehovah, Imela.

Prayer / General Update

For those of you keeping up with the, ahem, "prayer concerns" of my life, I have an update.

5-year-old I has been diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Her prognosis is upwards of 90%. She begins chemo tomorrow, and will continue treatment for the next 3 years. Thus, our pastor's family will be leaving Nigeria to be together in South Africa for the first part of her treatment. I'm so glad they'll be united as a family, but selfishly, I'm sad to see them leave Abuja Ark. There are many questions (When? How? Who?) that will be resolved in the next few weeks. Pray for I's parents to have divine wisdom, for their 6-year-old twin girls to have understanding beyond their years, and above all else, for healing for little I.

Secondly, please pray for my flatmate Jan. She was widowed a year and a half ago, and she's still walking through the grieving process. She's been particularly down the past few weeks, and I suspect the upcoming holiday season isn't going to help things. Pray specifically that she is able to spend Christmas with her son. (While I'm gone, she'll be alone.) I'm very unsure of what role I'm supposed to take to support her--all I'm doing now is listening and trying to understand, which feels very futile--so prayer for me to know how to comfort her is also welcome.

Lastly, the next two weeks are going to either fly by or creep very slowly. Whichever the case may be, I need grace to make it to December 12th. This Friday is the Christmas program at school, for which I am the emcee (M.C.?). I'm pretty nervous about appearing in front of everyone, just because I am the new kid on the block...I feel like this is my opportunity to prove to the parents that I deserve to be here educating their kids. Not to put too fine a point on it. :) Somewhere in following week, I have to gather all the information for my visa, pack up my stuff, teach a full week of lessons while maintaining patience and sanity, and try to squeeze out 2 more sets of curriculum so that I don't have to bring work home with me. Then I have to jam 30 hours of travel into a 24-hour day, hopping through 6 cities. Weather permitting. (Speaking of which, I have a 7-hour layover at Heathrow...do I have any readers in London who want to help me pass the time?)

I am so thankful for this chance to be reunited with my WHOLE family (both sides of extended family, too!), get my fill of friends, watch movies with my brother, and generally stock up on some American love for the next 6-month push. I also can't wait to know what it feels like to miss Nigeria. In August, I felt a pull towards this mysterious place, and now that I know all the life that it entails, I can't wait to feel a pull towards familiarity.

Thanks in advance for your prayers. Can't wait to see you!

Prayer Request

This one is urgent and hits close to home for me:

Iona, the 5-year-old daughter of my pastor here in Nigeria, is being medivac'd out of Nigeria tonight; they suspect a serious blood condition. Please pray for her quick and comprehensive healing, for wisdom for the medical team caring for her on the way out of Africa, and that her mother Annabel will get a seat on the same flight. Her father, Ulric, will be staying behind in Nigeria with the twins, Caitlin and Meriel, who are 6.

Yes, Iona is the same little girl I profiled in my previous post about hiking in the bush.

This family has become quite precious to me in the 3 months I've been here. Their hospitality literally welcomed me into the fold at Abuja Ark Church, and their selfless leadership has caused me to conceptualize "church" in a new way. Please join with me in prayer for Iona's complete recovery.