The Month of Love

It’s February, the month of love! Around the world - maybe because of the domination of Hallmark- people are celebrating Valentine’s Day or as they call it in India, Kiss Me Day! We decided to do a weekend away for some much needed R & R and so here we are in Starbucks, our blog post center, writing to you dear reader (yes, just Lenny’s mom because we know we are less than consistent in posting).

Yesterday, we checked out what seems to be the most happenin’ place in the sleepy little town we’re visiting - the mall movie theatre. We don’t know if it’s that our time in-country is limited, but between the two of us - there were only about four movies that we’d actually heard of. One of them was Valentine’s Day which is what we decided to see. It was no Pretty Women (for Lenny) or Love Actually (for Mary) but it was actually pretty good.

The movie follows a number of characters to depict different ideas and thoughts about love. One character, played by Jessica Biel (who had fabulous arms in this movie) is a successful, single woman working as a publicist for a football player. She epitomizes what seems to be the single non-dating woman’s attitude towards Valentine’s Day…to the extreme - a bitter, angry person, who finds the only thing worth liking about the holiday, is the candy that is always readily available. We won’t spill the details of how her story turns out but it got us thinking. Is that really what Valentine’s Day should be to a single woman?

There is no “Mr. Lenny” or “Mr. Mary” but we are both in seriously committed relationships which is why Valentine’s Day doesn’t make us cringe. In fact, our relationship with none other than the maker of our hearts, gives us so much more than a man with a blue Tiffany’s box can give any woman. Experience and life has taught us that He who made our hearts knows how to fulfill each desire in His perfect timing.

Candy tastes yummy in your mouth but only God understandings our true cravings. Flowers add beauty but God is the original florist. A man can hold your hand but only God can cradle your heart. A diamond adds sparkle to any outfit but knowing God will save your life.

So with a relationship like that, how can a holiday about love bring out the bitter and angry? So if you haven’t heard it yet this month, we love you and are grateful for you. Of course, that can’t compare to the love that God has for you.
Happy month of love!

Lenny & Mary
XOXO

More Pictures from Mexico

The beginning of the trek

The smallest set of steps

The pyramid of the sun

Lenny... deep in thought

The view from the top

View from the top (it only took ten years and three bottles of water to get there)

Holding On

Writer’s block, lack of motivation, busyness I am not sure what to claim as my tardiness of getting a new entry up…It really is hard to keep those New Year’s commitments but with a little pushing from Mary I have got my swagger back and I have made up my mind to post something TO-DAY!

I have find myself typing away at Starbuck’s (where Unpacked Minds was actually birthed), my soft keyboard taps blending into the mellow jazz playing and the Starbuck’s employees talking/arguing about the latest string of celebrities that have been in trouble. OK, the Venti Caramel Macchiato (extra hot, thank you very much) is kicking in so maybe I can stop rambling and start unpacking.

Just to give you, our faithful reader (I think we actually have one –yippee!), an update I have been back stateside from my latest work trip to Sierra Leone and Benin since March. Benin is in Francophone Africa and since I speak no French, I became a master at hand and facial expressions…All I can say is thank God for translators, however, even with translators I learned they needed to have my “American-Accented English” translated into English (Quick question, why doesn’t “y’all” translate!?). It was quite comical but I made it through in Benin…which, may I tell you, included a trip through Ghana, a long bus ride and stops and interrogations through three immigration offices (2 of which were French speaking)…WHEW!

Sierra Leone, where English is spoken, but again, not my “American-Accented English”, so I still needed a bit of translation help and used facial expressions and hand gestures. However, most people do not think of communication issues when I say I have been to Sierra Leone, they almost immediately connect it to the Civil War that happened there not too long ago. Due to the Civil War the living conditions and infrastructure are still poor; however, I was blessed to be there – generators, water needing to be brought in for basic necessities, bumpy roads and all (I was one of the fortunate ones during my stay because some of these things are very hard to come by and cost too much for a lot of the locals).

I had a first experience of having to take a speedboat from Freetown, where most of the major business happens in Sierra Leone, back to Lungi where I resided. The speedboat was not the “first” experience but being carried out of the speedboat by these young men, though solid muscle, barely came up to my shoulder in height. When our boat got as close to the shore as possible I was surrounded by young men trying to pick me up (literally), at first I had no idea what was happening, then I saw my co-worker, who is male, being carried off. I said a quick prayer and a guy scooped me up and we headed off to shore. The young guy who barely reached my shoulder said something to the effect of, “Hold on. Do not worry, I’ve got you”. The whole (less than 1 minute walk) I berated myself for that seafood lunch I had eaten earlier that day or was it all the ice cream I have eaten this year…urg! Needless, to say I made it to shore safe and dry and for you, our faithful, reader I have attached a picture (above), not of me but to give you an idea of this carrying process to and from the speedboat.

It was funny because during our stay in Sierra Leone, my co-worker who is also a Pastor, preached in the church of our host, on how we often have to “Step out of the boat in faith!” I bet he was inspired by our experience earlier in the week!

Another first was hearing all the first-hand stories of the people who have been personally affected by the Civil War…. How they would hide every time they would hear the sounds of helicopters overhead and felt at many times their lives would end before the war did. One young man told me of the story of his cousin who was barely a teenager when he was kidnapped off of his family’s property, forced and drugged into being a child solider, and now this same young man, in his twenties, has witnessed and done things people three times his age cannot even fathom. He is finally free but having to readjust, relearn and reintegrate into the family he barely knows anymore and a community that still may fear him because of his past. His life was stolen from him at such a tender age. Can you even imagine? I tear up every time I try to.

The most amazing thing that happened during my time in Sierra Leone is that every person I talked to about the war times is full of hope, believing the country, their country, will and is getting better, they feel the government is now on the side of Sierra Leone and not the diamond mongers. They are hope-full that positive change will happen. They want to believe, they do believe, because they remember where they have come from. Everywhere I turned I saw some of the most physically solid built men, woman and children not because of gym equipment but because of the necessity to work, to make a living, to get their country on its feet.

As I write about my experienced being carried to the shore and talking to people who have lived through such a horrific “storm” and thereby forced out of their “boat of comfort”, I am reminded how faithful God is to carry us through the most devastating times and circumstances. Sierra Leone reminded me sometimes we are forced out of the boat of our circumstances and all we can cling to is faith.

If you are reading this please take some time to pray for Sierra Leone, as the Spirit moves you; and please take this “anchor” of hope in your own life, wherever you find yourself now or in the future (your “storm” is either here or may be coming soon), God is saying “Hold on. Do not worry, I’ve got you”.

Until Next Time,
Lenny

Hi from the Philippines!

Thought I'd post some pictures of the food offerings here in the Philippines.

I'll try to get balut (a true culinary experience) up here soon.

Dinner

Fruit to some, icky grossness to others...

Lenny's in Benin with little to no internet access.

If you run into her, make sure she tells you about her very fun ferry ride.

Travel advice of the day: Pack nothing. Buy everything in-country

(motivated only a little by having to carry a very heavy suitcase up way too many steps too many times in the past month)

catch ya somewhere,

mary

Mission Impossible? We hope not!

We don't believe in resolutions, but we do have a few missions for 2009...

1. Be in the same country at the same time for more than 1 week (which we've done as both of us have spent most of January in sunny Florida!)
2. Increase our faithful reader base
3. Grow my hair (I got the world's WORST haircut. I know a lot of people have claimed this but they are wrong 'cause mine causes young children and old people to run)
4. Plan the choreography for verse 2 of the song and dance
5. Go somewhere we've never been before and no one we know has been (Mary suggests Malta in search of the falcon)

Any other suggestions? Let us know

the road less traveled...

Today, I rode the bus. And then I rode the bus some more. And just when it was starting to get to the point when I felt like I have never done anything in my life but ride the bus, I rode the bus some more.

At this very moment, I am in Oradea, Romania. Buna Ziua! That means good day! This is pretty much the only thing I know how to say in Romanian and truthfully, I don’t pronounce it all that well. It is very, very cold in Romania. Shake in your big puffy jacket, stomp your feet to make sure your toes haven’t fallen off, and huddle up to someone else even if you are invading their personal space and are not exactly best friends with them cold.

This is the very first trip I have ever taken to a cold country for work. While I’ve been to Japan in November when a jacket is a necessity to feel comfortable and to Kenya where the cool nights make you glad you thought to bring a wool shawl along, this is the first time I have longed for a permanent I.V. of hot chocolate inserted into my arm.

In spite of the cold weather, I am coming to discover that Romania is a beautiful country with valleys of farmland so green that it makes you want to burst out with “the hills are alive” and mountains and forests that make your feet itch to run outside and play explorer.

But I am here to work. So I did not jump off the bus to explore (or sing), instead I sat there counting down the minutes to Cluj, one of the major cities in Romania. I am traveling with two other people, one a missionary who will be leading the team coming soon and the second, the ministry coordinator for Romania. We are visiting Cluj today for 2 reasons. First, a short-term missions team is will be coming to Romania soon and we need to make sure they have a place to stay and that they have places to share the gospel. Second, I’m hoping to get some school administrators to allow us to talk to their students about the ways they think and feel about their lives. So far, I’ve been to two countries where I have tried to get these projects off the ground and in both countries, nothing went quite the way I was hoping it would. Suffice it to say, my expectations for Romania weren’t very high.

Our first stop was to get permission from a school to let us minister there with the team and (my big responsibility) talk to the kids before and after the team does their thing. Here is what happened:

School Administrator Man: something something something else in Romanian
Ministry Coordinator: something something something else in Romanian
School Administrator Man: More something in Romanian?
Ministry Coordinator: nods her head
Me: Please let us talk to your kids
School Administrator: more Romanian
Ministry Coordinator: even more Romanian
School Administrator: Sure!

I know that Lenny, after her luggage debacle, posted about how God is able to far exceed our expectations. And while I didn’t see any zebras or giraffes, I too have had a first-hand experience of how mighty God is and how infinite his power. I don’t know why I constantly underestimate what God can do and how He can move in the most stubborn of hearts. I went into that school expecting a flat-out rejection and it turned out the only person whose heart was hardened to the doors God can open was mine.

Over the past year, after practically spending ½ a year in India, and then jumping between Mexico, the Philippines, and now, Romania, I realized that I was starting to think that the work I have will only get accomplished if I do it. I forgot about God. I work in ministry and I forgot that God is the one who ministers through his children. Not his children through Him.

I don’t know whether it was the easy acquiescence from the school administrator to our project or seeing all the prayer and hard work that our Romanian coordinator is doing to get ready for the team, but there is such a sense of freedom and relief in knowing that I just have to try by best and that God will do what he wills.

It’s God’s ministry. I just get to live it.

Pack lightly (because you can’t trust that everyone else will do the same and you’ll wind up carrying more bags than you want to- a whole other story)!
Mary

The Kindness of Strangers

Here I (Lenny) sit in the Atlanta airport after almost 20 hours of traveling from Tanzania. I have been traveling so long I feel a little nonchalant about this being my last leg of the journey until I am back home. Mary and I are literally continents apart right now. I believe she is currently somewhere in Asia Pacific. So amidst the chattering of teenagers behind me and lack of free wireless internet access I thought I might use this opportunity to unpack my mind a little about a cool reminder I had in Tanzania….the kindness of strangers still does exist!

I arrived in Tanzania just one short week ago. I arrived minus my luggage. To make matters worse, the very next day I was supposed to go on safari. Short of not having any luggage or toiletries I also had to contend with the thought of going on a two day safari with complete strangers in my two-days old travel dress and completely inappropriate shoes. I was already nervous about going on safari by myself and the loss of my luggage had me pretty convinced that I should just cancel the whole thing. If my mood was the only factor in the decision, I would have cancelled the whole safari idea but thankfully (although I didn’t think so at the time) some new friends had set up a reservation for me and wouldn’t hear of me cancelling because of some lost luggage.

So resigned to my fate, I managed to acquire some basic supplies at a Mr. Price (a type of convenient store), wrapped myself in my shawl/nightgown and got some a few hours of sleep. I woke up to an insanely early wake call dreading the start of a day that I just wanted to be over.
When the safari company vehicle (which had seen better days) arrived, I was greeted by the driver and a couple. My first thought- “Oh great, they’re probably on their honeymoon and I get to be Ms. Third Wheel!” I shook hands with the couple, politely introduced myself and for the next two hours, didn’t speak to anyone at all. In fact, the only sound breaking the silence inside the vehicle was the girl’s coughing, blowing of her nose, and their whispered conversation, which happened in a language I couldn’t recognize (Swedish? Dutch? Who knows!). I’ll just say the ride to the safari didn’t go a long way to convincing me that I’d made the right decision getting out of bed that day.

When I escaped from the car and arrived at the camp ground, there were more people waiting for us to begin the tour of the Ngorongoro Crater (The “Crater” as we called it, is unique to Tanzania as the only conservation area providing protection status for wildlife while allowing human habitation). And here is where my tide began to turn. A girl from Australia eagerly introduced herself to me. She, like I, was a loner on the safari. There were two guys also by themselves- one was a 20-something British guy who was hoping to learn from the trip so he could become a safari guide (he was no joke and pretty much served as the co-safari guide). The other guy was from Poland (he was only on the first day of the safari and was pretty happy to have the new couple on the trip because they spoke the same language, go figure!).

My new Aussie acquaintance proceeded to be the “Purser” of our safari. She asked questions and managed to get the whole group talking. I found out the couple with whom I drove to the campground with was also from Poland (so they were probably speaking Polish earlier). With all the talking that was now happening in the car, I found myself sharing my luggage ordeal with the group (which I’m actually glad of because I just know people were thinking, “what kind of an idiot wears a dress and fancy shoes on a safari???).. The whole van erupted in sympathy and I immediately felt bonded with them. Does misery love company? Why, yes it does!

The scenery we passed on the way to the Crater was beautiful. I began to move out of myself and couldn’t help but marvel at the spectacular nature and scenery God has gifted us with and He allowed me to experience. I was actually experiencing something that some people spend their whole lives dreaming about but never do. And I was doing it. How could I let some lost luggage take me away from being 100% committed to moment?

As I looked around and tried to take everything in, I, without even thinking about it, pulled my shawl tighter to myself to get warmer (it was cold!). The next thing I know, the Polish couple pulled a “hoodie” and a brand new scarf out of their pack and insisted I take it.

Later that evening, we all met for dinner and were introduced to some German friends of the Polish couple. I found out they were actually taking a “gap year” to volunteer for projects in Tanzania. At that point, my table had turned on to a virtual United Nations. It was great! We talked about my work, their schooling, the funny English words that are so easily mispronounced (like “Margarine”). We even spoke about the outrageous cost of malaria prescriptions in the UK compared to the USA. Somewhere in all the laughter, chatter and good fellowship of the dinner conversation, I shared that I’d packed my malaria pills in my lost luggage. In that one evening I had said, laughed, and felt more included with virtual strangers than I ever could have imagined possible.

That night, I was planning to bunk with my new Aussie acquaintance who had become without a doubt, a friend. So instead of polite night time conversation when you are just waiting for the other person to turn off their light, we had a slumber party! Of course it was not without adventure. The lights went out on us; we couldn’t figure out how to get the toilet to work, and do not even get me started on the shower I attempted to take. But in spite of that, it was one of the best nights ever.

It was the small things- like how she tucked herself so securely into the mosquito netting that she looked like a prisoner- that had me cracking up hysterically. I had just put in a movie (the benefits of having my laptop as my carry-on luggage) to lull us to sleep when there was a knock at the door. It took me a while to release myself from the mosquito netting, but when I did I found one of the German girls from dinner at the door with a week’s supply of malaria pills. She and her roommate had gone through their supply of pills and compiled all their extra ones for me in case my luggage never showed up. I was floored by their generosity (those pills cost them a lot!) and tried to refuse but they wouldn’t take no for an answer!

The generosity just continued the next day. On day two at Lake Mayanara, the Polish couple automatically handed over what they said was now “my hoodie and scarf.” By the end of that day, I knew that I hadn’t experienced the wild life of Tanzania with strangers, but with an amazing group of caring and generous individuals.

The end of day two was also the day I received a message that my luggage had been found! My safari friends? They got almost as excited about it as I did! And so…I have to coin a new phrase- “Joy loves company, too!”

On the ride back to town, I exchanged contact information and the Polish couple. Ironically enough, they confessed that they had been really nervous when the car stopped at my hotel to pick me up, as they expected to be forced to go on safari with a snotty couple on their honeymoon. I just laughed (mostly at myself) and said, “Always expect the unexpected.”

So that is my story and my lesson learned. I expected one thing- terrible awful things I should say- and instead was reminded of a basic lesson- be kind to everyone because you never know when you will be the beneficiary of the kindness of strangers. And also, lesson #2: always (ALWAYS) pack emergency clothes in your carry-on bag!

Globally yours and a shout out to Mary (wherever you are!),
Lenny