I received a
couple of awesome letters this month!
First up, a
letter from 11-year-old Isimbi in Rwanda. She referred to a letter I sent a
while back on the subject about names. She’s my third kid to mention it…
apparently it was a really popular letter!
She says, “I firstly greet you in the Name of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Are you doing well? I believe that you are doing fine and the
family. We are in holidays and planting sorghum and beans. I do home activities
at home. I love you so much and your family and I pray for you to have a good
healthy. I thank you for the letter you gave to me and Bible verses. They
inspired me so much. I am happy because God knows my name. Thank you!”
Then I got a
very exciting letter from 16-year-old Shakira, also in Rwanda! I don’t hear
from her very often, so it was a real treat! It was the second letter she’s
ever written in English, and she did so well with it!!
She asked
several questions about how I am, how my family is, how I feel, how my life is,
how I celebrated Christmas and New Years’, etc. Then she said her and her
family are “cool,” which made me chuckle a bit. I had to wonder where she
picked up that expression! Then she added, “I
thank God because I have a beautiful sponsor, thank you for choosing me.” She
then shared the results of her National Exam with me, which was awesome! She
was really hoping to get promoted to the next level, and she made it! She told
me that her purpose in going to school is to study hard. She also told me that
she celebrated her birthday on January 19. (I shared pictures in an earlier
blog post.) Then she shared some song
lyrics with me, which was pretty neat! I shared a song with her in my reply
letter.
I also have a
letter on the way from Mbula, and I was hoping it would arrive in time to be
included in this blog post, but oh well! Next post!
Since my last blog post was about John Schlitt, the lead singer for Petra, I figured I'd share a Petra song today! This song is called No Doubt, and it is one of the most encouraging songs I've ever heard. I've gone through a lot of dark times, and this song literally was a lifeline to catch hold of in those times. Please share this song with someone who's down or discouraged this week... it may make a difference!
It was late September, one of those brisk fall days when the
sky is the deepest blue imaginable. The sun shone through the windows of St.
John’s International Airport, illuminating the coffeeshop table where the four
of us sat laughing until we had made a spectacle of ourselves.
“Okay, so… Jiggs Dinner? What exactly is that?”
“Well, you start off by putting all your vegetables in one
pot…”
“Oh, so it’s like a stew.”
“No, it’s not like a stew. You put just one big chunk of
salt meat in it, for flavoring… ”
“Oh, so it’s like a roast!”
“No, it’s not like a roast either.”
I laughed until my sides hurt as Sherry tried to explain to
John exactly how to cook a “Jiggs Dinner”. To the curious onlooker, the sight
must have been familiar enough… three “Newfie” friends trying to induct our
American friend into the nuances of Newfoundland life.
“That actually sounds pretty good,” John admitted. “I would
try that. But that other thing you mentioned, what was it again?”
“Scrunchions.” I supplied.
“Yeah, that. I wouldn’t touch that! Fried fat? Euuuugh.”
“And fishheads.” I added with a snicker. “Cod cheeks, to be
precise.”
John roared with laughter. “Fried fat and fishheads? You guys are gross!!”
At that, we all broke into laughter.
Finally, I gasped for air and tried to get ahold of myself.
The hysterical excitement of the weekend was ebbing away, leaving plenty of
memories in its wake. After picking John up at this same airport on Friday
night, life had become a whirlwind of welcoming meals, sightseeing, visiting,
interviews, and concerts.
Oh yeah… maybe I should mention that our “visiting American
friend” just happened to be John Schlitt, multiple Grammy- and Dove- award
winner, international music artist, songwriter, and lead singer for the Christian rock group Petra.
John laughed when I introduced him like that on stage, but
even though it’s quite an intimidating moniker, it doesn’t begin to describe
the great guy he actually is. And I guess I really didn’t begin to understand
how great, until that weekend.
You see, most folks get a “limited” view of John Schlitt.
They see the TV interviews, buy the CD’s, attend the concerts, get an autograph
at a meet-and-greet, and maybe get to chat for a while. But let me tell you,
it’s not until you’ve crawled into a van with someone at 1 o’clock in the
morning, hollered at their bed-and-breakfast window to wake them up, hauled
their luggage (or as John put it, “holding the bags”), set up their sound
equipment, stood with them in a fast-food lineup, took them sightseeing, and hiked
cliffs and walked on the beach with them that you really get to see what they’re
like. From the time the tall blond rockstar stepped off the plane and into our
world, he became one of us.
Well, we tried to make a "Newfie" out of him!
“So, John, I hear you saw your first moose!” Those were my
pastor’s first words to John. We had all met up at a restaurant the morning
after John’s arrival for a “leadership lunch” which turned into a discussion of
the previous night’s adventures. A one-hour drive from the airport turned into
a dreamscape of black night, rolling white fog, and of course, the moose that
dashed across the road in front of us.
“I sure did!” exclaimed John, still wide-eyed after his
escapade. “Man, that was a big sucker!
And I still say that it looked like a
horse with… you know… funny-looking ears. I can’t believe people actually hunt
those things here.”
As I pretended to scan the menu, I inwardly cracked up at
John’s wonder of the island we live on. And of course, things were about to get
even funnier.
An elderly gentleman who was on his way to a nearby wedding,
finding with dismay that he was unable to tie his necktie properly, rushed into
the same restaurant with hopes that someone there would be able to tie his tie.
Noticing him going from table to table, one of our party recognized him and
waved him over.
“This is John Schlitt from Nashville,” we introduced our
rockstar. The “skipper” blinked at us and demanded, “Can ‘e tie a tie?” John,
of course, proved to be an old hand and quickly knotted the tie correctly. Upon
seeing this, another gentleman popped over and said, “My tie’s already done up,
but can ‘e tie me tie the same way he done t’ other feller’s?” John acquiesced,
although he later admitted, “I couldn’t understand one word they were saying!”
After the “Great Tie Caper”, we tried to settle down and
finish our lunch. John munched his club sandwich and discussed American
football vs. Canadian football with the men. Of course, he kept interrupting himself
to tease me about my choice of lunch. Fish and chips are common enough fare…
fish and mashed potatoes, apparently, are not. John tormented me about “Chips
and mashed potatoes” for the rest of his weekend stay.
Inevitably, the conversation turned to Petra. John waved his
fork in the air, punctuating his words as he explained to everyone that I was a
“Pethead,” which means a die-hard Petra fan. (In John’s own words, “I love meeting
Petheads! They’re so cool!”) During part of the conversation, John mentioned
his solo album “Unfit for Swine.” “What year was that, Hannah?” he asked,
turning to me. “1998.” I replied. Then I corrected myself. “No, I’m wrong. I’m
wrong. It came out in ’96, one year after Shake, which was in ’95. I was
thinking of God Fixation for some reason, that’s why I said ’98.” John dropped
his fork and threw up his hands. “You see? You see?! She knows more about Petra
than I do!” he complained good-naturedly. For the rest of the weekend, he
referred to me as his “memory” and consulted me when he was unsure about the
dates or obscure titles.
A much younger Uwimana Hannah with John... both of us fried after a concert!
One thing I learned about John that weekend is that he loves to laugh. He’s always teasing
someone about something. He relates to absolutely everyone and gets along with
kids and seniors alike. When he noticed that two elderly ladies looked very
uncomfortable with some of his harder rock songs, he ran right down off the
stage and hugged them in the middle of a song… to a chorus of “awwwwww”s from
the rest of his audience. He calls everyone remotely younger than him “kiddo”
and was immediately adopted by half our congregation. The girls in the youth
group adored him and clamored for autographs and pictures. (Of course John,
being the goof that he is, kept hauling me over and saying, “Hey girls, this is
my “Pethead friend!”) I think everyone was shocked by how normal the “rockstar”
actually is.
John takes time for a cuddle with his "littlest fan" Madison.
Then, of course, we went sightseeing. I’d been told by John’s
booking agent that it wasn’t his practice to go “touring around” with his hosts…
but after all, he’d never been to a province quite like ours either! He took
everything in stride, reacting in typical wide-eyed amazement at our language,
our sense of community, our history, our scenery, and our people. When we’d
drop a tidbit of interesting information, he’d respond, “Really? That is so
cool!” (Everything is “so cool” with John!)
John overlooking St. John's Harbour from the top of Signal Hill
One of our jaunts to us to Flatrock, a tiny historic village
perched way up on the cliffs above the community of Freshwater. John was
stunned at the sheer 800-foot drop down to the sparkling ocean below.
John at Flatrock
Before we left, he hollered to me, “Hold on kiddo!” and ran
back for one more picture. “Don’t step backwards!” I yelled against the wind as
he spread his arms and posed for one more photo, his hair flying in his face.
Neither of us realized, as I raised my camera to my face and
captured him in time, that people all around the world would see that
photograph.
A few months later, I received a copy of John’s newest
album, the Greater Cause, in the mail. Hardly noticing the scrawling autograph
on the front, I slowly opened the jewel case to reveal the same photo that I’d
taken in Flatrock. And there, to one side, was the inscription, “Photography,
Hannah --------“
Now, every time I pull out John’s CD, I marvel at the fact
that people all around the world hold that photo in their hands… but what they
don’t know are the hours of laughter and memories and poignant moments that
prompted it.
So I chuckle to myself and lay down the CD case, and keep in
my mind that anyone who’s ever visited Newfoundland gets it in their blood.
Yep, you’ll be back someday John. After all, you’re family!
Here's John singing my favorite song, "The Cross Remains." He performed this one in Newfoundland when he came.
I recently did an interview about child sponsorship with Laura from Mommy Maleta. Yesterday, it was published on her blog! I'd like to invite you to hop on over and check it out by clicking this link:
February was an
exciting month for the simple fact that I got another letter from Ada! I think this
is the first time I’ve heard from any of my kids two months in a row.
Ada begins her
letter by greeting me in the name of Jesus Christ, and wishing me peace from
God
and a Merry Christmas. She shares that she was 10th in her class
with a score of 53% (a great improvement!) She then said, “I thank God who connected us.” She said that in her family, there
is no one sick, which I was glad to hear. She then asked me to continue having
a Merry Christmas. She also sent me her first request “I wish that you show me your father and mother and I wish them a Merry
Christmas.” (I have a letter all ready to go now with photos of my
parents!) Then she told me, “I wish to be
a doctor and I wish to see you.” Then she wished me Merry Christmas. She
thanked me for the letter I sent her with good words, and ended by wishing me
(you guessed it) Merry Christmas! (Do you think she wanted me to have a Merry
Christmas?!)
I also received
the most wonderful treat from Compassion… a photo of Ada with the tiny stuffed
dog I sent her almost two years ago with a traveling sponsor. Compassion said
that she sadly lost the necklace, but had kept the little dog all this time! I’m
thrilled to death with a brand-new photo of my precious girl. She’s grown so
much taller! What a sweet little sad face she has.
Then, I heard
from Mbula! He’s definitely my most consistent writer. He greeted me by saying,
“Hallo my sister?” Which thrills me
because I love being “adopted” into my kids’ families. He says, “I am fine with my family members, and they
have actually greeted you very much.” Mbula shares his happiness that I managed
to sponsor him, and prayed for the Almighty God to bless me as I keep
sponsoring him. He also shared a prayer for his previous sponsor, which I
thought was so sweet of him. It’s the first I’ve heard of a child doing that.
Mbula thanked me for the Christmas card I sent him, he appreciated it so much.
He told me that it is the rainy season there now, and that they have already
prepared the gardens and planted crops. He then said, “I would be very happy if you wish to visit us here in Kenya and enjoy
good and attractive places with beautiful natural features.” He then told
me that he is doing very well in his studies and hopes that I keep praying for
him. Then he wished me a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year and ended by
saying, “Be blessed!”
All-in-all,
another fantastic letter/picture month!
