To Zambia and Back II

Claire Devereaux was at the Whitestone church last Sunday to share her story about her trip to Zambia this past summer.

She brought some of the simple items which had been to Africa with her, and which had taken on so much meaning for her: work gloves, a hard hat, a bucket--all symbolic of the hard and joyful work of serving others in God's name.

Claire told us about her lifechanging trip. We learned how those work gloves and that hard hat were used in the building of a concrete bridge with culverts from start to finish--all by hand. We learned how that bucket and many others were used to carry the concrete--load after load--from where it was mixed--by hand. And we learned how that bucket was also used for personal laundry and bathing.

We learned about the daily tasks necessary for keeping life in their "tent city" going, like fixing meals and pumping water through a filter--by hand--for hours on end. We learned about their study time and prayer time. We learned about opportunities to teach the children, and to worship in the local churches. We learned about the chance to travel into the bush to see giraffes and elephants and hippos and crocodiles, and how their trip ended up at the breathtaking Victoria Falls.

We also learned about the culture shock experienced by Claire and every one of her team when they returned to the United States. Claire just shook her head, still trying to cope with a new perspective on the world and her own country's way of life. Her father, Dale, who went on a similar mission trip with Teen Missions 35 years ago, knows something about what Claire is going through. He said, "Most people here think you go over there to a country that's broken, and then come back home to the way things should be. But you come back here and realize your country is the one that's broken."

What's broken in this land of plenty is our ability to experience the depth of faith of people who depend on God for everything. As Claire said, "They're so thankful!...I just wish my friends here, when they complain about things, could just get perspective."

Thank you, Claire, for going to Zambia, and for coming to our church to tell us about it and to help us gain some of that perspective.