Life In The Village: January 2014

Beauty of friendship

What do you think of when you think of friendship?

I think of kindred spirits, hearts bonded together because of common threads in life. Unconditional love. Understanding. An open home and an open heart. Trust. Comfort. (I could insert a picture of me with a few others but this is the friend I have said goodbye to most recently.)

I once thought it would be difficult to find friendship in Ethiopia. After all, how could I find friends like the ones I had left behind?

I don't have a neighbourhood of women like me, I can't just pick up the phone and call and meet for coffee. Yet God has always provided. It may not be daily. It may not be weekly. It may not even be monthly but God has given me dear friends even here. I have friends of different cultures and language groups and God has clearly brought us together to strengthen and encourage each other. Some I only see 3 times a year and some much less.

It would be easy to harden my heart. Goodbyes are so difficult and so frequent. Yet i know. When I start to withhold my heart from friendship, my heart will die. And so I give and I receive and it hurts.

But God uses us to sharpen one another, to spur each other on to love and good deeds, to love our spouses more deeply and understand our children more fully. And with this we reach out again to others who also have said goodbye to loved ones.

This month, I said farewell to two more dear friends who will leave Ethiopia in the next couple of weeks. God graciously gave us a full week with the Hamilton family. A family with 4 girls uniquely bonded to our girls. A week of homeschooling, riding, swimming, singing, praying, laughing, eating, playing and visiting. A storehouse of memories. Children with many common threads. Love of horses. Age. Homeschooled. Rural Ethiopia. Grandpas with cancer. Love for Jesus. Kindred friends.

My children love and are loved and my prayer is that they will continue to love. I grew up with the same classmates for 13 years. Many of these friends, still live near my hometown. This will not be my children's experience. Growing up in Ethiopia, their friends are from all over the world. They say goodbye over and over again. Many they will not meet again on this earth.

I could despair of friendship but I don't. For these friendships have made us rich. Rich in culture and rich in love. True kindred friendship does not change over the years and over the miles. And when our life on earth is done, we will see what a gift friendship has been. And then there is Jesus. And I wonder. Maybe my kindred friends are far from me so that I see more clearly that all I really need is Jesus. My lifelong kindred friend.

Filled!

Every two years marks the event called SLC (Spiritual Life Conference) that SIM holds for its missionaries and Ethiopian staff at a retreat centre with plumbing issues and mischievous monkeys. It is an event that I think most missionaries face with mixed emotions. We are a mixed bunch representing a dozen or more countries all with different expectations.

This SLC was different than any others. Our children were older and for the first time more confident in joining in the children's program.

Kalia bravely joined the Gr 6-8 group of junior highers though she has little to do with that age group of people. Joel enjoyed his group and made some new friends. Ariana was not keen on staying among her peers so joined the younger group to help out. Our niece Karissa cheerfully stayed with Nadia and Sonia which allowed them to thrive! And so it was. I found myself attending not just one session but all sessions and even a workshop or two. And I was fed. The speaker spoke to the heart and my heart was ready to receive God's word. My eyes were often moist and I felt my heart that carried so many burdens, soften and receive.

I was filled. Tired, yes but filled. Thankful for finding new friends, families that have recently joined SIM, several that will be homeschooling downcountry. Thankful for old friends, the ones that know me well and are always a pleasure to meet again. Thankful for my niece who played with our children while I engaged in conversation. Thankful and filled.

Kruse Christmas

A 14^th Christmas in Ethiopia causes reflection. Missing my first Christmas with family was hard but the thrill of the adventure helped with the homesickness. The cumulative years of absence from family gatherings and Christmas programs brings different emotions. Sadness at missing making memories with family. Relief at missing the secular focus on the “holiday”. Fear that we might never appreciate Christmas in our home country again due to all the distractions. Hope that no matter where we are: our family can shout out Emmanuel! God with us! For it doesn't really matter where we are, it matters where our hearts are.

The season of Christmas causes me to reflect on my own childhood memories. Memories of skating, sledding, building forts and snowmen, twinkling lights, glistening snow, evergreen trees with piles of gifts waiting to be unwrapped, turkey, cookies of all kids, chocolates and nuts, cousins to play with, stockings, mandarin oranges. My memories are strong and I was sure at the time that THIS was Christmas. I did not realize as a child that across the world Christmas was celebrated with great diversity.

Now I know for our children will have different memories. Their memories will be climbing trees, running barefoot in the dirt, one string of lights in a village of darkness, twinkling stars, a 3 foot tree with homemade decorations, paper snowflakes blown by the hot wind, making gifts for each other out of wood and cloth and a needle or nail, cookies of all kinds, stockings hidden outdoors found by a poem, and carolling by the lights of a glowing candles in tissue papered mason jars.

Yet as we celebrated the Advent season without distraction, the meaning becomes so clear. Christmas is about celebrating Jesus. It is about celebrating what God has done....for us. It is about sharing love with those around us, teaching the meaning of Christmas to those who have never celebrated before.

Christmas Eve we hosted two families for the day and enjoyed watching the kids present their drama and songs, eating a Mexican meal and baked goodies. The Lord graciously allowed us not to be interrupted from this special time. Christmas day was quite another story yet God filled us with gracious hearts. As we began our family tradition of searching for stockings, Rolf was called away and made a medical trip to Dibate. We paused and prepared lunch and then on his return, held a small carnival of face painting, juggling and some games with another missionary family. After lunch, our Christmas continued and people stopped by and were served treats and coffee but we found time to play. We didn't wish them away because we want them to know that Christmas is meant to be celebrated.

Christmas was spent with friends that become family and in serving, helping and loving. Taking time with each other, time to reflect. And as we look back we know. Christmas was well spent.