Don't Forget... Episode 1

Laura took the time to write some thoughts down as reminders to herself when we returned to the states. we thought we would share, as it shows where our hearts have been and are...


Laura,

don't forget how much slower everything moved in Africa. when you were there, it may have started out as a frustrating African habit, but by the end of the summer, you realized that those times you had to wait ended up being time to spend growing in relationship with someone, or enjoying the scenery or a rich cup of coffee that you wouldn't have otherwise enjoyed. in the end, you were so glad for those times, and were able to see the value in taking your time.

don't forget the DELIBERATENESS you grew into through those forced times of patience. you have learned to take your time when you eat, to be present in the moment of a conversation, to notice the things around you, to enjoy moments as they are. Africa has taught you to be cognitive in the hours, minutes, seconds that you are physically in, rather than looking ahead to the next moment, and the next and the next, until you find yourself always living a sort of half-life, in between now and then and never really being anywhere that you might enjoy it.

so when you are late for work and the car in front of you is going the speed limit when you want to go five over, remember patience, remember deliberateness.
when you have a few minutes before you have to leave for something, don't waste them fidgeting and tapping your foot, be in that moment with enjoyment and find something to help you savor it.
when you are in conversation with someone, and there's so much going on around you and so many people to see and talk to, be present, aware, and listen as if they were the only person, and that is the only moment in time--they are worth it.
and when you find that life is a whirlwind and you cant quite keep up the pace, be conscious of your need for quiet, for unhurried-ness, and take a walk, or sit somewhere beautiful and let things slow to Africa speed again.

but even when you can't, know that things in America are inherently at break-neck speed, and the intentionality of time has to be a filter in your brain that you choose every day. no excuses, just stay aware and ask for help from the Maker of Time.

Sincerely,
Me (Laura)

Holiday - Part 2

Day two of our adventure started in Kruger Park. we had the chance, earlier during our visit, to join a team on a night drive, but that was shorter and you tended to see much less. This time, we drove on our own and were able to see lots of cool animals (sometimes WAY close!). I believe we spent about 6 hours driving around the park and only covered about a fifth of the park.

All in all it was a nice relaxing time, but we did need to get moving because Laura found an Elephant Sanctuary on the way to Kruger that we were able to make a reservation for last minute.

At Elephant Whispers we had one of those experiences that you just don't have very often. We were able to learn a lot about the African Elephant and see it in action. It was actually way more interesting than we even thought it would have been. I think most of it had to do was when they talked about the elephants we actually got to have our hands on at the same time!










But, what took the cake was getting a chance to ride! it was a wonderful day, that was capped off with a nice ride at dusk to wind down.

and that's about it for our short little holiday!

Love,
Mikey and Laura

Holiday - Part 1

Laura and i will get to celebrate our 4th anniversary on August 13th! Well, when planning what we would do, we realized getting back into the country on July 31st, and both of us starting jobs right after that (especially Laura getting back into teaching), chances of us getting to do something nice would be very unlikely, so...

we decided to take the opportunity to do get away while we were in South Africa...

we took two days, rented a car, and went on a bit of a scenic journey to some parts of the beautiful country we were already in! the following two posts are going to mostly be picture updates to give you a visual experience of what we did and where we went, but i will try to point out some things when it seems needed...

we started by headed up to a place called God's Window, which is apparently the South African version of going somewhere like the Grand Canyon. on the way up we stopped at a place called Harrie's Pancakes, which are slightly different from American pancakes, but stil "oh so tasty!". from there we went on to God's window, then stopped at a couple waterfalls, the first, Berlin Falls, then Lisbon Falls.

we ended our day at a little bed and breakfast in a town near our destination for the next day... Kruger Park :)

One Week Later

Wow, i don't even know where to start...

well, how about this; we're back in America. A week ago we were about to leave to go to the airport to head home from our trip and already we have made it back to the states, moved into our new apartment, had dinner with numerous people, and i have even started back at work! i know, a whirlwind right?

Laura and i are still processing all we saw, and experienced. we are thinking about all the people we met and relationships we made and how they will affect us forever (we hope!). i guess that is what friends, family, elders, and other people with a good listening ear are for. i wish i could describe it, but i think the thing that is sticking with us the most right now is something a friend told us before we came home, and that is, that lots of people refer to it as "going back" and then they do just that -- they go back; unchanged, forgetful, referring to their time as a "good time", etc. but we were encouraged to think of it as a time in our life that would change what our perspective of what "going back" looked like; that it doesn't have to be going "back" at all, but "going forward".

this encouraged us as we have no idea what lies ahead for us. Laura put it well when she said "i have to believe that going home is what i am meant to do next, even if it isn't as 'exciting' as being a missionary..." (know that this is a paraphrase). we are here, in Greensboro, NC, waiting in anticipation for what God is doing next -- but not waiting idly. We wait while enjoying the life that we have been given, and the friends and family that are here to support and love us. for this reason, we will probably actually continue to keep posting on this blog, though we are not currently in Africa (or some other fascinatingly different place) because we realized we are still two Fissels on a Mission. we hope that you will continue to come with us :)

Love,
Mikey & Laura

PS. We still do have a couple of follow up and catch up posts we want to do about our time in Africa, and hopefully i will get those up in the next few days with lots more pictures!

Quick Update

Hello again!

Laura and i were able to take a two day Holiday (vacation) last week before we needed to head out this week. since we've been back we have barely been able to sit down we've been so busy getting ready to come home. it has been exciting and hard to think of coming home. Our time of rest was very good and we will post pics from it soon, along with pics of our last couple of days around base. for now we have to figure out how to get tons more stuff than we brought into the suitcases that were full when we came! our next few days will be filled with traveling and more than likely, little to no internet access, so we will update again when we get home (hopefully friday). thanks to all of you who were a part of our time here, and hopefully we will be able to tell our stories first hand.
Cheers,
Mikey & Laura

Building relationships

We are entering into our last full week here in White River, South Africa. As we look into our final days, our last events and final goodbyes, things seem hazy and unclear to me. My head is almost always full of thoughts, questions and reflections and I have to make an effort to pull myself out of that mist and engage what's going on around me.

As you can imagine, knowing us and the things we enjoy and are passionate about, relationships that we've developed here are going to be a challenging thing to leave behind. It's funny now to think back to our first week here, and how we felt so "on the outside" and longed for community. It's been many weeks now since we've had regular dinners and movie nights with friends here, and enjoyed so many conversations and community events with the team on base. In fact, this last week, Mikey and I had some intentional relationship-building time with two couples in particular. We took them out to dinner and enjoyed hearing more of their stories and sharing with them more of our own. I have to chalk some of those moments up as my favorite here in Africa. One night in particular, we sat at a dimly-lit table eating steak with Carla and John Shaw, engrossed as they openly shared about their lives. My heart was so moved to hear John express how God called him into relationship with Him and to listen to Carla express the first scary and exciting moments of being called into something new--moving to Africa this year.

In some ways, the people here have become voluntary orphans of the world--they have chosen to separate themselves from the "parent" that the world, that culture, can become. They have intentionally become "homeless" and left not only material possessions behind, but also meaningful relationships with others. All for what? To step into something new and scary, something that doesn't always have a visible reward, something that has no promise of physical safety. The more I am here, the more I see how attached I have become to the physical comforts of life. I have perhaps convinced myself that those things don't matter to me that much, that they wouldn't really factor into making life decisions. The more I think about what it would take to make that commitment to live here, the more I realize how heavy a weight they have in my life.

That's one of the biggest reasons Mikey and I came here. We wanted a break from living a life to work and buy things. We wanted to come to a place where, for many reasons, those material "blinders" had no place--so that we could see just a little more clearly. Now I'm sitting back and trying to articulate to myself what it is that I have seen. One thing that I know I see is that relationships, that people, mean more to me than anything. It has been so refreshing to be in a place where enjoying others (maybe sometimes because there's nothing else to do :D !) has been able to be at the top of our to-do list. In the end, though, it is going to make it that much harder to say goodbye than if our goal had been to accomplish a physical task. I am bracing myself for that moment and am not looking forward to its impact.

Throughout the post, Mikey has included pictures of people we have met and built relationships with...

SPORTS DAY!

What a long day we had on Friday, July 17. It was an event we had long been looking forward to, and it did not disappoint. We started at Stambiso's church (see earlier post) and ended at the soccer field there in Mbonisweni.

The agenda for the day began in the church building. It was the last day that King's Kids were going to perform in a community and what a success it was! At the other communities, their program went well and was enjoyed, but at Stambiso's church, it went a little differently. The whole youth choir and then the men's youth choir at the church blessed us visitors with several songs that were--as always--filled with pure worship and enjoyment. We sang some worship songs together as a "congregation" and then when the King's Kids got up to dance and act, the youth joined them by dancing and laughing along. It was very obvious how encouraging this interaction was to the King's Kids team--their performance was filled with an energy and excitement that we hadn't quite seen yet. It was quite an experience to witness the Holy Spirit moving in and joining together a community of believers--especially a community of believers of such different color, background and experience.

After the program in the church, we gathered around to eat (PAP and veggies of course!). I got to talk for a brief time to the pastor's wife--Tuli--which I always enjoy. She is a quiet, sweet girl who is so hospitable and joyful when we visit their church/home. She is one of the dear people here that I wish I had more time to get to know and love.

Lunch and dishes done, we walked a little ways up to the soccer field in Mbonisweni, which is very close to Mamma Victoria's house (where we have a weekly feeding program). This was an exciting time, as we bused some friends from Kabokweni so that they could compete in netball and soccer against our friends in Mbonisweni. Mbonisweni dominated in netball and men's soccer, but Kabokweni was unbeatable in lady's soccer. I was able to enjoy the mostly-friendly competition while sitting on a hillside surrounded by kids. Well, I say enjoyed but sometimes it was rather painful...there was a group of girls that did my hair for about two hours (a typical thing here) and at times, it was some of the worst pain I've felt in my life. I was surprised that I had hair in my head when it was all over. Mikey, after running errands between communities with John Shaw (a guy on the TTH team), was able to have great conversation and fellowship with John during the game (John is a fellow lover of Kraft Mac n' Cheese and misses it maybe even more than we do! BTW--Donna, we shared a box with him and I don't think I've ever seen so grateful a man!).

We arrived at Stambiso's church around 11 and left the soccer field as the sun went down around 5 so it was a long--though excellent--day. I'm not even sure what we did when we got home, but I think it probably involved activities that required no movement or energy...



Here's a short video I (Mikey) took of Laura blowing bubbles for some of the children!