Roads and Resolutions

This time of year is so strange to me. While some of us consider the celebration of the New Year as just another day, others use it as a chance for a fresh start, a clean slate, a new beginning. We spend the 6 days between Christmas and New Years Eve in a cloud of our own retrospect, thinking about what we’ve accomplished or what we haven’t. Then, bam! New Year’s Day hits and it’s time for resolutions…and maybe a Bloody Mary. Nonetheless, it’s forward thinking only; positive vibes and all that jazz.

But not everyone has a clear path on the first of January. This time of year opens a lot of questions for us. Am I where I want to be? Is this what I want to be doing with my life? Some of us are standing at a crossroads.

Maybe this is just the way I live life, but I personally don’t see being stopped at a crossroads as a bad thing at all. I feel that being at a crossroads is a blessing, because you have options in front of you. You are blessed with a choice in what you’d like to be -or do- in life. You see the options, and you know that you have the power to change them. You have direction in your life because you’re taking the time to think about where you are and where you’d like to be.

I myself am not quite yet at a crossroads, but I can see one in the horizon and it’s quickly approaching. I only have one more semester of school left (for the second time around). I know I’m ready to move somewhere new, step out of the comfort zone I’ve created for myself here and get as much experience and practice as I can. It’s just a matter of when and where.

A few years ago, my mom wrote an article about new years resolutions. She decided that rather than make a list of different resolutions she would choose one word that sort of encompasses all of her goals and hopes for the New Year. I have, since then, adopted that same tradition. My word for this year is direction. Reading back this morning, I saw that my very first blog post on here had much of the same content. I talked about being at a turning point in my life. I think at my age, there are quite a few turns yet to be taken, but as long as I have at least some semblance of direction -the sort of “fake it ’til you make it” mentality-  I feel confident in where I am headed.

In its physical and literal form, no matter what road you stand on at a crossroads, you still have three options in your line of sight. Go left, go right, or keep going in the same direction if that seems like it’s working for you but whatever you do, don’t turn around. You’ve come to this point because you’ve worked hard to get here, you’ve overcome obstacles; maybe you’ve dropped someone off or picked up a few more passengers along the ride. Things change along the way but all of these elements are important. Life is about the journey. So, whether it’s New Year’s day or Independence Day, if you find yourself at a crossroads, be thankful that you’re at least moving forward.

Love and Light,

Lauren Elizabeth

How was your trip?

It’s been a while since I’ve written a blog post but I had something cross my mind that I wanted to share.

A lot of my friends have been traveling, and I will be traveling in a few weeks to spend my birthday with family. My friend Marissa just returned from a trip to Costa Rica and I realized I hadn’t seen her since she came back. I thought to ask her how her trip was but I immediately stopped to think: I wonder how many times she’s been asked that question since she got back, she’s probably tired of telling that story. 

Yet, I realized she’s probably not. I remembered that when I came back from South Africa, I was never tired of telling about my experience. In fact, I wish more people had asked me about it.

I kind of fell back into the world. Most people had no idea I had even gone somewhere that summer. I wanted to tell my story over and over. I wanted to talk about the amazing people I met on my trip, the experiences I had, the growth I made. I was proud of myself, I was thankful for the experience and humbled by the people I met.

Which leads me to my routine attempt at a thought provoking metaphor:

For almost anyone coming back from travel or vacation the question is asked: How was your trip? When we reach the end of our journey here in the world, we will be asked the same question. 

When you ‘finish’ what God has planned for you on this earth you will be faced with that question. 

How do you want your story to be? Is it a story you’ll get tired of telling, or will it be a story you could shout from the rooftops until your throat runs dry. Will you be proud of all you accomplished, ready to finally be home? Or will you wish you had more time to do the things you planned?

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Love and Light,

Lauren Elizabeth

Another Goodbye…

Saying goodbye is always hard, but I didn’t think it would be this hard to leave South Africa. I thought that after five weeks I’d be ready to leave, that I’d be tired of it and ready to return to “normal life”. I’m not. I don’t want to leave. I miss my family and friends, sure. I miss being able to talk to people on the phone and have internet on a regular basis. I miss my pets and summer weather. But there are things here that I will miss more than that.
I will miss seeing those smiling little faces everyday. I’ve been working in preschools and schools since I was 16 years old but there is something so special about working with these children. There’s something in you that makes you want to love them a little extra, make them laugh a little harder and hug them a little longer.
I believe it’s knowing that they are so underprivileged, that the hug you give them might be the last bit of attention they get until the next time they walk into the school. Child headed households are rampant in Ikageng. It’s not uncommon to see a 7 year old girl with a 2 year old baby on her hip and a 4 year old in tow. Susan had to make a rule that you had to be at least 8 to come pick up your sibling at the preschool. My heart hurts for these children. I want so much for their future. I want them to see that there is more than the slums of Ikageng. I want them free of disease, free of worry, and full of food and love. I want them to make it to the end of high school. I want them to get jobs, maybe go to University. Most of all I want them to know how loved they are by us and by their Maker. I want them to know that they are not alone, that they can succeed.
I want more people to have compassion for the poverty stricken. I want this to be a daily worry in our lives, not an afterthought from a touching commercial or a powerful sermon. I want more people to realize what how lucky they are and stop complaining about trivial things. I want people to want to help, to feel like they aren’t doing enough.
I believe that we are on our way. I think over the years Americans have become much more conscious of third world countries and poverty throughout America as well. I believe that we are becoming more proactive rather than reactive, but we still have a long way to go. Our wealth as a nation far exceeds most other countries. In Africa, 40% of the population lives on less than $2 a day– chump change to Americans. It’s not even enough for a fast food meal anymore. This two dollars has to provide families with food, clothing a place to lay their heads at night and, if they’re lucky maybe, a light. The amazing thing to me is that most of the people here are still praising God through it all. Their praises and prayers are even different than ours, though.

Us: “Thank you for the food on the table, the roof over our heads, thank you for my new clothes, thank you for Channing Tatum, thank you for letting my team make it to the Super Bowl.”

Them: “Lord, thank you for another day. Thank you for the sunrise, and thank you for waking us up to see it. Thank you for protecting us through another night.”

Perhaps it’s time we change our prayers: “Lord, thank you for all that you’ve blessed me with. Help me to bless others with what you’ve given me. Everything I have is yours, and there are children of yours that are hurting. There are people in need. Help me and guide me. Show me how to help those in need. Remove my selfishness and my greed so that I may be a blessing to others.”

I’m going to try to pray more like this. I’m going to try to not let these sad feelings ever leave my heart, because when the sadness leaves, so does the compassion. I want to forever worry about people other than myself. I want God to remove my selfishness, to remove my attachment to material things so that I may be more free to give.

I have had the most wonderful experience here in South Africa. Thank you to Susan and Bill of Tentmaker Ministries and Tentmaker Trust for hosting me and allowing me to have a glimpse of the life they lead. Thank you to all of you who supported me both financially and emotionally for my journey here. Thank you to all those in my life that have taught me how to love and live life with great joy, especially my brother Justin, my mom Gail, and my dad Terry. Thank you to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, members of Oak Ridge United Methodist, my ‘Grammom’ Betty, my grandparents Ted and Joan, and other friends and family members for being such great supporters of me on this trip. I could not have been here without the support of everyone and for that I am eternally grateful.

Love Always,

Lauren Elizabeth Fritz

Junk in the Trunk

As I said in an earlier post, there’s no TV here, so I’ve spent a lot of my time playing guitar and… get this… reading. Like from a book with pages. How archaic. I always said that I never had time to read at home, which was basically a lie. I had plenty of time to read I just filled it with other things like Keeping up with the Kardashians (I know…forgive me) and making copious amounts of chocolate chip cookies. But right now I live in a place where the running joke is “What’s on TV tonight?” and “Is dancing with the stars today or Tuesday?”. Luckily, I’m in great company and have laughed more in the past 5 weeks than in watching weeks worth of television.
Anyways, back to the book thing. I’ve read several books since I’ve been here starting with Eat, Pray, Love which is a great one, but I’ve moved on to more mission minded books. I’ll be blatantly honest with you the first one absolutely pissed me off. I mean it really made me mad. I had to put it down several times. But there wasn’t a single thing that was untrue in that book. It’s called Radical by David Platt. By the end of the book I loved it, and would recommend it to anyone with the caution that you’re probably not going to like what you read at first, but that’s why it’s so perfect.
The book talks about how we’ve changed God to fit within our American Dream. That we’ve turned this God that we should truly fear and humbly obey to a God that wants us to live well in riches and success. We deny the Jesus that asks us to leave everything we have and follow him. We deny the call to “feed his lambs” and we think that mission life is destined for someone else, not us. And frankly, it’s because we’re too comfortable here. We like the way things are and those people over there will do just fine without our help, or with a yearly donation. But God says to whom much is given much is required, and we really have been given so much. Too much, maybe.
Here now, I get so sick thinking about how much I have. How much I spent on furnishing my apartment. How much stuff I carted home in my trunk because I didn’t have a place to put it. I think of the entire third bay of my mom’s garage that is completely full of my furniture from college that had apparently gone out of style in 3 months and didn’t fit in to my “new design” plan. It’s sick. There’s no other way to put it. I have enough furniture to furnish an apartment sitting, unused and there are people here that sleep 4 to a bed in a shack with a dirt floor.
I wasn’t sure what kind of effect this trip would have on me. I’m still not sure. I don’t know what happens from here. In reality, I’m leaving and going to spend a week in Paris with my mother, which I couldn’t be more excited about, but even that makes me hurt knowing how lavish it sounds. These five short weeks have left an impression on my heart that won’t ever go away; of that I can be sure. I don’t know what my next steps are, but I know this isn’t the last Africa will see of me, and that things are going to change in my life. I only hope that I can always remember what I feel right now. That materialism, selfishness and greed doesn’t creep back into my life. There’s still a lot of it there, I’m still materialistic, selfish and greedy, but I’m becoming less so and it feels good.

All My Love,

Lauren Elizabeth

These are worth 1,000 of those other things.

To serve as my apology for my last two blogs of words only, this blog post today is devoted entirely to pictures with the exception of a few explanatory captions! (:

Enjoy!

Preschool Kiddos:

What happens when kids here see a camera:

The boys working on their South African flag mosaic:

 

Making friendship bracelets with the girls:

Kid sees a camera:

Laundry Day:

Playground:

Cheshire Cat Moon: ( :

This little guy came out a couple weeks ago when I first played a song for the kids at church. He found this toy guitar and today every time I walked somewhere with my guitar he’d follow me with his. Precious.

Oh yeah…. Rions!!
Nom Nom Nom

My time is absolutely flying by here. I have literally never seen days or weeks go by this fast. I cling more now to the concept of enjoying each little moment as much as I can. Holiday is over and the older kids have gone back to school so I spend most of my time in the preschool. I have learned so much since I’ve been here. I’m loving every minute of it.

Love and Light,

Lauren Elizabeth

10…9…8…7…

There is a lot of time here to reflect, and the other night I had a lot on my mind. I was worrying about things that were going on at home. I was stressed out and kind of wishing I could be back home to figure things out. Then I realized how ridiculous I was being. I’m literally on a different continent, and I have my mind racing about something out of my control. I’ve spent days counting down to my trip here and now I can’t stop thinking about things at home? Come on, Lauren get it together.

As a matter fact, I would say that a good portion if not the majority of my life has been spent counting down to things. I would count down to the next trip I’d go on, the next time I got to see someone, the end of the semester, graduation, you name it. I was the last of the three girls in my apartment to turn 21. What did I do? I started a count down TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTY DAYS before my birthday! And not just that… wait for it… I made a paper chain. Seriously. That thing wrapped around our entire living room. Who does that?!!

I have spent so much of my life waiting for the next thing that I’ve missed what was right in front of me. I’ve wasted so many precious moments by looking forward to something I deemed more important. I haven’t always been the friend, daughter or teacher that I could’ve been because my mind, thoughts and efforts were elsewhere. So from this point on I’m going to make the effort to stop worrying about what’s to come. Instead of having my mind 8,000 miles and an ocean away on an entirely different continent, I’m going to realize I am in South Africa. I’m here to help others, not to worry about selfish little me.

That night when everything seemed to be stressing me out I decided to look through my bible. Sometimes (just for funsies…there’s no TV here) I’ll flip open my bible and see if the passage I turned to has any relativity to my current predicament. Well whadya know… the title for this passage: Jesus Teaches about Worry.

Well played, Sir. You have my attention.

Matthew 6:34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

So I offer what little advice I can:
Live in the moment, Carpe Diem, whatever catch phrase or motto you want to throw in there, just do it (oops I did it again). Stop worrying about what’s to come and just enjoy the time you have now. Enjoy the people you are with. Stop and look at your surroundings and realize just how lucky and blessed you are. Stop worrying about what tomorrow holds and enjoy today.

I’ll try and do the same (:

Love and Light,

Lauren Elizabeth

Excuse Me While I Step on This Soap Box…

The grade school kids here on the property are on winter holiday (still getting used to this whole opposite hemisphere dealio) for three weeks, so during this time I get to spend 1.5 hours with each house of kids every day. I work with a group of 5 girls, then have a bible study with a couple teen girls, and then work with two of the boys.

With the teen girls I am doing the Yellow Roses group study which is a really good bible study that focuses on all of the pressures that young women face.

As I talked with the girls, we each opened up about what things we didn’t like about ourselves, what things we would change if we could. Each of the girls had something different to say. I saw a lot of myself in these girls, and when I talked to them I was saying things that I, myself, need to be reminded of. I talked to them about how detrimental it can be to compare yourself to others. No matter what, you can always find someone that has a better something than you. You have to learn to love yourself the way you are, flaws and all.

Here’s where I got on my soap box…

God: this amazing being, all knowing, all powerful, creator of all the universe created you. He made you, and you know what? When he was done, he said “It is good”. If you’re good enough for God that means you are good enough for anyone. Every time you look in the mirror, pick yourself apart, and find all the bad things about you, you are telling God that he didn’t do a good enough job.

It’s like looking at a painting that someone considers to be their masterpiece, and saying  “I think your proportions are a little off, here.” or “I like So and So’s version of this much better”.

My most favorite verse in the entire Bible is Psalm 139:14a
 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

It was David who wrote those words. We all know his story:

When God sent Samuel to find a new King he went to the house of Jesse to find him. Samuel saw Jesse’s oldest son this big burly handsome guy and Samuel thinks This has got to be the one God wants as King.

Nope. Try again.

Ok, more literally he says: “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)

Samuel goes through Jesse’s entire lineage, each time God is saying Negative, Ghostrider. That’s not him either.

So Samuel asks Jesse if he has any more sons. Jesse said his youngest son, but he was tending to his sheep. It was him! The youngest son of all, a boy. David.

This is the same boy that later defeats the giant Goliath. One little boy, one pebble, and one sling sends a 10 ft. tall giant crashing to the ground.

God knew what was in David’s heart. He was not worried about his appearance because he knew all that David was capable of.

So it’s not about how pretty you are, how tall, how handsome, how strong. It’s about how you value yourself. You are worth so much. Remember that you are created in God’s image and you are good. You were fearfully and wonderfully made by Him. With God’s love you are strong enough to conquer anything.

What is your giant?

Do they make an English/Korean/Setswana dictionary?

The other day at the preschool, four girls volunteered to come in and paint faces with the kids. The four girls were Korean and only one of them spoke a teensy bit of English.

So there was Susan and I, the Americans: Susan knows some Tswana, I know none.

Neither of us know any Korean.

Neither of the four Koreans know any Tswana.

The one Korean girl that knows English seemed to cap off at “Hello, how are you?” and “I know a little English”.

The preschoolers don’t know any English nor do they know Korean.

Oh and did I mention that the health department was there giving medicine and shots as well?

How anything got done that day must have truly been by the grace of God.

The kids had a blast! There were little lions and kittens running around with balloon hats, dogs and giraffes. Oh my? I think everyone had a great time despite the language barrier…s. I loved seeing those little faces light up!

 

Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them,

for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 

Mark 10:14

Love,

Lauren

Naledi means Star

The preschool on the compound is called Naledi Christian Preschool. Susan has been working extremely hard to get this operating and successful, and it really is a great school. I think it’s well put together and well run by American standards, and in Africa to have the knowledge, resources and love that is put into this place is a very rare thing.
Every morning at 7:30 we meet at the preschool, set up and open in prayer. All of the teachers and Susan and I circle up. The teachers sang a song the first day. The singing in Africa is truly a blessing to witness, people will break into these complex 4 part harmonies and rounds that sound like they’re reading sheet music. It’s just a part of their culture and I think the thing about Africans singing is that they sing with their souls. Americans sing with their lungs and their minds trying to hit every note perfectly and on key but hearing people sing in Africa is like listening to them tell a story about their entire life. It’s amazing.

The kids in this preschool are adorable, every one of them has such a cute and unique personality. A lot of them are shy with me at first because they don’t know me but even within a day I’ve seen them warm up to me. The biggest challenge is that they all speak their tribal language called Tswana. They know very little english, but they are learning. Tswana is not like any other language I’ve heard, there is not really anything I can pick out and recognize so it’s pretty much like being in the dark all the time.

Naledi Christian Preschoolers

The only word or phrase I’ve picked up on sounds something like “cheese cop”. I guarantee that’s not how you spell it and probably not even how they are pronouncing it. A little boy named Nathi lifted his beanie off, sporting his newly buzzed head and everyone pointed to him and said “cheese cop!”. Nathi smiled, rubbed his head and said “cheese cop” nodding in agreement. So, from that interaction, I learned whatever it is that they’re saying that sounds like “cheese cop” means buzz cut…or haircut… or something.

So if you’re ever in an African Tswana speaking village and notice someone with a newly shaved head you’ll know what to do. You are welcome.

Love and Light,

Lauren Elizabeth

Welcome To South Africa!

So I’ve made it finally! After 7 months of planning and 26 hours of airports and planes I’ve made it to South Africa. Bill and Susan of Tentmaker Ministries (also great family friends) picked me up at the airport in Johannesburg. It is amazing to me to see the disparity between areas in South Africa. Bill mentioned that there are times when it doesn’t feel like you’re in Africa at all, and there are times where it is very apparent. Johannesburg is like most other towns, on the outskirts of Johannesburg there are large suburban areas with houses that you find most anywhere in America, yet not even 3 miles away there are rows of shacks.
Potchefstroom is the closest town to where we are living in Ikageng. For all of those who asked me what the name of the village was, I openly admit that I have been butchering the pronunciation for the past several months. To my defense I always responded as a question “Ikageng?” as in “I’m not really sure if this is how you say it and Google has been no help in the matter.” It is pronounced like ‘eekaheng’. I’m not even going to write how I pronounced it. Let that secret be safe with me and the other 80 people I told about my trip. 😉

We are staying on a compound essentially in the middle of the village. It’s walled and gated and is regarded as a safe place because many of the houses on this compound have families and orphaned children. The preschool is also within these walls. I feel very safe here. Outside of the walls are many shacks, I got to visit with one of the preschool teachers in hers. These shacks are made of pieces of sheet metal nailed together, the floors are either dirt or pieces of plastic, scraps of vinyl and old signs. These shacks have no heat and some of them don’t have any electricity. The night sky here is always full of smoke from the fires being burned for warmth.
   
My nights here are pretty comfortable, and whenever I get cold and think about complaining, I just look out over the walls or up in the sky at the smoke and I realize how blessed I really am.

In Christ,

Lauren Elizabeth