Merry Christmas and Happy 2011

Our prayer for you in the coming year - Numbers 6:24-26

"The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you; the Lord lift his countenance upon you and give you peace"

Christmas Eve with the Dixons

Africa New Life Ministry

Africa New Life is a Rwandan run ministry that is striving to empower Rwandan youth. There is so much I love about this organization. The following are my observations, and unless cited by ANLM's website not the exact words of the organization.

First, the founder is Rwandan. Pastor Charles grew up in Uganda after his family escaped the first genocide in 1959, but he returned to his home country in 1995. You can read more about his calling to serve Rwanda by clicking here. So what's the big deal about the founder being Rwandan? Well, he knows what Rwanda needs, and knows how to provide that without compromising the culture. The Mission Statement for ANLM: Africa New Life exists to transform lives and communities through the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Acts of Compassion.

I also love the way the sponsorship program is run. As much as we all want to help every child we meet, or that walks through the doors of the Street Children's Program, the fact of the matter is, not every child is a good candidate for sponsorship. Africa New Life requires a testing period of approximately a year to determine if a child (and his/her family) is a good fit for sponsorship. The child (and family) need to show a desire to rise above their circumstances by attending school and church regularly. It may sound callous to not accept every child possible into the program, but it is really a way to be good stewards of the money God provides through sponsors. This population tends to be extremely transient, and may or may not stay enrolled in school even with funds. By spending nearly a year with a child before offering sponsorship, it ensures ANLM that the child is going to stay in the area, and funds can be used appropriately. When you choose to sponsor a child or university student you can trust that ANLM is working with him or her regularly. If you are interested in sponsoring a child please click here.

Not really lastly, but lastly for the purpose of this blog, I love that ANLM doesn't have Americans on the ground in Rwanda permanently. They truly have a partnership with Americans and American churches, but the Rwandans (and Kenyans and Ugandans) are the ones who work with the kids and families day in and day out. 160 Africans are employed there, with only about 6 counterparts stateside. The local church is being built up and equipped, and they don't look like little American churches.

Clay and I are blessed and excited to partner with this ministry. We can't wait to see how God continues to use it to transform Rwanda and her people. We are both looking forward to the day we can return.

Photo captions -
Top: Sponsored children at a party in Kageyo
Middle: Some of our awesome translators/ANLM staff
Bottom: Clay with our sponsored child, Sarah in Kayonza

Kageyo

On Wednesday (November 25) we had our longest trip yet – 3 hours on a bus down a road smaller than Cobb Mill (yeah, that’s a Woodville reference). Kageyo is a refugee resettlement near the boarder of Tanzania. After escaping the genocide, many Rwandans sought shelter and made homes for themselves in Tanzania. They prospered there. The Tanzanian government eventually told them they had to go home – they were given one day to leave the country, and were not allowed to take anything with them. You can imagine the devastation.

Kageyo has only recently moved out of “crisis” mode. But let me be clear about “crisis” – this merely means there are no longer people dying on a DAILY basis due to lack of food and hippo attacks. Yes, hippo attacks. This community is still INCREDIBLY impoverished, and in dire need of food, clean water, and medical supplies. There are approximately 200 children in this community that still need sponsors. Sponsorship provides tuition, books, uniforms, food, and medical insurance.

The church that ANLM runs is overrun every Sunday with worshipers. The fourth wall of the church has yet to be built because each week the congregation flows out and up the hill. God is at work in this community!

We spent the day celebrating with some of the sponsored children at a party. We played games, talked to them about Thanksgiving and Christmas, and then gave them all gifts sent by their sponsors. Toward the end of the day we hiked up a HUGE hill behind the church. From there we had nearly a 360 degree panoramic view of the valley and some of the hills of Tanzania.

Please pray that the Lord will continue to provide for Kageyo. They are very far removed from the rest of the country. Roads need to be improved to increase trade between Kageyo and Kigali.

Kayonza

Today (Tuesday) we traveled to the village of Kayonza. About an hour outside of Kigali, it was a bigger community than I anticipated. We were continually amazed by the countryside on the drive out – and I have heard that tomorrow’s drive to Kageyo is just as stunning.

Kayonza is the birthplace of ANLM. Upon return from Uganda, it was there that Pastor Charles was overcome with grief over the plight of the children there. Using money that had been given to him for his own schooling, he and his wife instead sponsored 9 children to go to school…thus the first sponsorships of ANLM.

We started the day with a tour of the ANLM property. Currently there is a primary school (grades 1-6) and the first 2 levels of secondary school (American equivalent of 7-8). There are also children’s homes for orphans. There are plans for a full secondary school that will have boarding available (most kids in Rwanda who go to secondary school – 7-12 – board because there are few and the distance is far). ANLM’s school is NUMBER 5 in the nation! This is nothing short of the hand of God. Because of the amazing work the staff accomplished, the government recruited several of their teachers to help write the NATIONAL curriculum that will go into effect 2011. Unlike America, this curriculum is not optional – all schools use the same guides.

This morning, Clay and I made the decision to sponsor an 8 year old girl named Sarah. We were blessed by God to have the opportunity to meet her and her family today. She lives with her mother, grandmother, and younger brother. Sarah is sweet and has a beautiful smile. She loves to play hide and seek, and her favorite subject is English. I can’t wait to see how she grows over the years to come.

Rwanda Days 1-2

We landed Saturday at 10a Rwandan time and headed straight to the Dream Center. It was "Center Day" which is a time for sponsored kids to come to the center for food, baths, and church. They love it! We then headed home, unpacked, and had dinner. By 8pm it was all we could do to keep our eyes open...and we slept like the dead.

This morning started early...5:20 to be exact. Wide awake. The sun was up and roosters were crowing. I finally climbed out of bed at 6:30 to get ready for church. Thoroughly enjoyed the service...I love worshiping over here. Similar to Zambia, the people have no inhibitions. They know they serve a big God and they come to worship him all out.

We are now at the mission house waiting on orientation, and will then head to conduct a service at church for the youth.

Tomorrow we will get the opportunity to feed and minister to the street kids who come the center twice a week for food and baths.

Internet is hard to come by (I'm sure you are all suprised...TIA). And we are not staying in the house that has the WiFi...so I'll post again and with pictures when I can.

Navigation Day 2010 - part 2 The Resolution

When we last left off, I was standing in the parking lot at Zilker Park, lamenting the fact that I had messed up one of the most precious moments of fifth grade...

1:45p (this one is long, but hang with it) – I hide an empty treasure box and go to profusely apologize to my parents and students. On the way I call Amy D. and to find that she is on her way to the school for a meeting. She makes a detour to my room where she gets an extra treasure box (Divine Intervention that I had 2 parents bring boxes) and she puts the letters in it and leaves it in the middle of my room.

My parents are MORE than gracious when I tell them of my SNAFU. We gather the troops, and head off in search of the treasure. At this point I realize I have LOST my car keys. I do not mention this at the time since it did not seem prudent to show my parents that I had apparently lost all sense that day as well. We get to the pomegranate tree in which I hit the empty treasure box, and one of my kids yells “I found the treasure! It’s car keys!”. I’ll take those, thank you. All of my chaperones lost it laughing at this point. The kids finally find the empty box and just before I can launch into a discussion about how Christ is our treasure and nothing on earth can compare, one of my sweet, sweet boys says “It’s the Holy Ghost! God’s our treasure!” Amazed at how the Lord worked that afternoon.

We then spin the story that pirates have stolen our treasure and we must persevere to find it. As we march down the hill, one of my dad’s tells my kids “I need 2 of you to hold Mrs. Dixon’s hands. We need to be sure she makes it to her car.” Love it.

We head back to the classroom to find that Amy has made it in time and treasure letters are intact. Praise God!

2:35p – My kids write some sweet letters to their parents, and 2 of them even wrote me letters thanking me for the day and offering prayers to get well before the trip. This is why I heart my job!

3:05 – I sprint out of my classroom to get home in search of the Driver’s License. It was in the second pair of pants I searched.

To God be the glory for the whole day! Whether Satan was on the war path, or it was simply my humanity, I’m not sure. But what I AM sure of is the joy of the Lord was my strength, and that joy was not stolen through all of my misadventures.

Navigation Day 2010 - part 1

6:15a – Wake up and instantly know I’m sick. Sore throat. Itchy eyes. Not good. We had no cold meds.

8:00a – Start class and prep them on what they will do with the sub. My class rocks – this went very smoothly. I told them I wasn’t feeling well, and was going to need their cooperation so that I didn’t have to yell to be heard much through the day. They were very sweet and nodded in agreement.

8:15a – My sweet husband brings me Dayquil. Which. Jacks. Me. Up. I warned the class that Dayquil has a funny affect on me…and if I said or did anything crazy that it was probably the meds.

9:15 – Kyle and I go to my car and I accidentally roll down the back glass. It will not roll back up. Sweet.

9:20a – We are off and running at the park. I have $300 cash from Regents to pay for canoes. Uh-oh. Can’t find my folder. Frantically look everywhere I have been in the whole 10 minutes we have been at the park, only to find one of my parents holding said folder, because I handed it to him to use as a hard surface to write on.

9:45a – Arrive at canoe station. The hippy sitting at the table asks for a picture ID. No problem. Except there is a problem. My driver’s license is NOT in my wallet. Stay calm. He accepts my Regents ID and we are off again.

10:00a – Man overboard! One of my canoes nearly tips, so in an effort to keep the kids dry, one of my awesome dads JUMPS in freezing Barton Creek. Luckily enough he was near the bank and it was shallow enough for him to stand. How in the world he got back in the canoe I have no idea…because when I say “bank” I mean a side of the creek that goes straight up.

10:35a-1pm – Out of the canoes and heading to Lou Neff Point. All goes well through our stop out there and we make it back to the pavilion for lunch. At this point my kids take a play break on the playscape only to come back to me traumatized by the horrific things written and drawn on the inside of one of the slides. *Note to parents: check the slides at Zilker before you send your kids down them. We live in a fallen world, and it is sad that our young ones have to be exposed to such garbage.

1:30p – I leave my group in the capable hands of my chaperones to hide their treasure. The treasure is letters written by parents to their children. This is one of my favorite parts of fifth grade and a really sweet time. So of course. I get to my car and the letters are not there. I have the box with no letters.

...... to be continued

t-17 hours!

We're leaving for Rwanda tomorrow morning! Thanks to everyone who is willing to pray for our trip. I will post our itenerary later tonight or tomorrow morning.

WHOO HOO!

Donations for Rwanda

Hi friends -

It's hard to believe one week from THIS MOMENT (11:28a) Clay and I will be boarding our first flight for the trip to Rwanda! We have been so blessed by family and friends encouragement and financial support to help us realize the call God has given us to GO.

I have gotten lots of questions about donations so here is a list of things we are aiming to take to the Rwandan children and families we will be working with. If you would like to help gather any of these items please email or call me (mindydixn@gmail.com).

Much love and thanks!!!

small tubs of vaseline (travel size)

soaps

shower scrunchie puffs

toothbrushes/Toothpaste

small scented lotions

lip balm/chapstick

nail polish

t-shirts

crocs/flip flops

socks (fluffy and soft--for warmth)
panties/underwear

towels

sheets

scarves

reading glasses ($1 aisle at Target or Dollar Tree)

large Suitcase/Duffle/Plastic Tub to be left in Rwanda or returned

healthy fruit snacks for kids (pre-packaged)

little boxes of raisins

lollipops (dum dums and tootsie pops)
smarties

stickers

silly bandz

little matchbox cars

bubbles

jump ropes

deflated soccer balls and air pumps

crayons

small coloring books

pens

small spirals/journals

bibles

13.1

Clay ran in the Chosen: Marathon for Adoption this weekend. He did awesome and shaved time off of his last half for a finish time of 1:55. This particular marathon (or half in his case) was to raise money for adoption funds.

I really want to be more active, so I am jumping on the wagon with a group from school to run the Austin Marathon in February. I'll "run" the half, and Clay is aiming for the full.

We'll keep you posted on our progress.

Welcome to The Dixons' Page!

Hi all -

I am officially closing up shop at Mulibwanji-Mindy. I will now post all here about our life together. The lessons we are learning. The hardships we are walking through. The exciting plans to serve the Lord here and abroad. The good. The bad. The ugly.

I did import a lot of my old posts here, and will not delete the other site just yet.

First new blog officially written. Good night!

Rwanda Preparation Update

Thanks to everyone who has been praying for us and offering financial support for our trip! I have gotten several requests for updates...so here we go!

• Clay and I are officially vaccinated! Yes, the rumors are true. The injections made me woozy and I was forced to lie on the floor in the nurse's office with my feet elevated while she siphoned Coke down my throat. Awesome.
  
  
• We met as a whole team for the first time on August 11. It was a great time of getting to know the others going, and hearing their hearts for Rwanda/Africa/the orphan/missions. God has assembled an incredible team for this trip, and I am looking forward to the relationships that will be cultivated through this experience.
  
  
• God has blessed us through many of you with nearly $2000 in funds! Our current balance is approximately $3000. If you feel led to help join our team of Senders by supporting us financially or in prayer, please email/call/Facebook message me or Clay and we'll get you the info. We praise God for His provision thus far, and trust Him as He continues to make a way for us to serve Him abroad.

Again, we covet your prayers in this time as we prepare for this ministry. We are excited to see how God uses us in the lives of the Rwandans, and how God transforms us in the process. To God be the glory!



Africa New Life Ministries logo and photo from www.africanewlife.org

We're going to RWANDA!

More details to come soon. But the short of is we are going on a trip to Rwanda over the Thanksgiving holiday. I'm looking forward to being back in Africa, serving alongside my husband, and spending time with friends and families from Regents outside of school.

Mulungu ni wambweno (God is good! - that Nyanga...I guess I'll need to learn some Kinyarwanda...they are from the Bantu family, but not closely related!)

http://africanewlife.org/

Called

Seriously praying about Africa.

1. Listen to the sermon from 5/16 here ---> Radical Missiology

2. Check out the 100 People Network here ---> 100 People Network

So Great a Cloud of Witnesses

I love the Book of Hebrews. We are wrapping it up in Bible tomorrow, but the last few weeks have been some of the best Bible discussions we've had all year.

In case you have never been introduced to, or it's just been a while since you've spent some time with them, I'd like to encourage you to spend some time getting to know the folks in Hebrews 11. Go ahead and follow through with chapter 12.

Thank you God that my pleasing you is not dependent on my impossible perfection. Thank you for promising to increase my faith if I will only ask. Thank you for giving me just the measure of faith and grace needed to endure through each new circumstance. Thank you for loving me enough to discipline me - even though discipline is not fun, I know it is to make me look more like Christ.

NASA 2010

How is it possible that NASA is over already? The trip was amazing, and I am so thankful for the community I work with. We had a few minor bumps along the way (docents who knew nothing about anything, a bus driver that was as nice as could be but a brick shy of a load, and rough winds that canceled our harbor tour), but in all the Lord blessed us with a great week with our kids and some of their parents.

I love this trip because it gives us all a chance to develop relationships with families we don't work with on a regular basis. We also get to interact with our kids on a different level than everyday classroom time allows. I really enjoyed all of the moments that I had with my kids - especially one-on-one time. I wish I wasn't such a weenie and had ridden Pharaoh's Fury with my class...sorry boys, but I just can't do it!

One of my favorite moments this whole school year happened last night around 9:30. My team and I were sitting in the lounge of the hotel sharing stories from the day (laughing so deliriously at some of Kyle's impersonations we were crying) when one of my kids came over. He asked something about ice cream that I misinterpreted as him asking for permission to get ice cream. I gave the standard answer (that if I said once I said 100 times on this trip) "Ask your chaperone." That's when J clarified...no, he wasn't asking permission for ice cream. He had already bought a pint and wanted to know if I wanted any. Precious. I went over to the breakfast bar and visited with him as he scooped me some bites into a bowl. After he scooped my portion, he asked if Brenda wanted some. And went on down the line until all the teachers (6 total) had been offered a bowl. He then took what little was left in the pint and went on his way to bed.

My patience tends to run thin too quickly sometimes, and I really don't really deserve little moments like that. But maybe that's exactly why God gives them to me. To remind me to slow down and and recognize the sweetness He has surrounded me with.

And in other news I am SO happy to be home with my husband!

Count your blessings; Name them one by one

I really don't think I can manage to count all of my blessings. When I do actively name them off I find myself in an increasingly good mood. Naming the blessings inevitably leads to memories and warm-fuzzy thoughts about the blessings (who are mostly people).

So seriously. You may think it's cheesy, but today I challenge you to count your blessings. A brief look at my list may help you get started (these are just the broad categories...when I'm counting I list every person individually)...

• My relationship with Jesus (if you don't know Him, I'd love to introduce you)
• My husband (see photo)
• Our family
• Our friends
• My job
• Our church family
• Our home
• Clay's job
• Living in Austin
• The Families who share their children with me
• The Children themselves
• My Education
• TEXAS
• My Health
• Our animals
• Our cars are both paid for
• Oh the list goes on!!!

Malaria

The last time I was in Lusaka I went to a bookstore at Manda Hill. I picked up a book written by a German guy back in the '30s and I was taken with a quote on the back. The gist of it was Africa is like malaria - it gets in your blood and you are forever infected by the land and her people.

To continue the simile, this week I had a relapse. I can't get Africa off my mind or out of my heart. I spent time poring over blogs of friends of friends who are there, reading up on missions organizations that work specifically in sub-Saharan Africa, talking to a friend who is preparing to head to Lusaka long-term, and thinking about how/when I will get back.

I don't know what the Lord's plans are. I have learned not to try to out-think Him, or guess at what His will is. He will reveal His perfect plan, in His perfect time. I am praying that I will be attentive to His direction.

Until then....

Kids crowding outside the bus in George Compound, Lusaka, Zambia

George Compound, Lusaka, Zambia

In Mtendere, Lusaka, Zambia with my Jonas and his sister at their school (Jesus Army)

On the road in Lusaka

Grocery Mtendere/Kalingalinga areas of Lusaka

If God is Love, and we are God's children...

Last week I spoke at the Valentine's chapel for the 1st-2nd graders. I didn't feel inspired to talk about one of the many legends of St. Valentine, and I wasn't particularly thrilled with all I read about the fact that it is yet another Roman holiday that was "Christianized". Week before last, God began planting seeds of what He wanted today's focus to be. Sometime last spring I really became taken with the description of LOVE in 1 Corinthians 13. I think this passage is so familiar that we have become desensitized to its message, but there is some pretty amazing stuff in it. Setting aside the fact that if you read it in context, it is actually referring to how you use your gifts, today I just want to focus on the definition of love. I did not move this into essay form...it's just the notes I wrote for chapel.

Here we go.

1 John 4:7-8

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

There is a fun holiday coming up next week. I bet you can all tell me what it is. Valentine’s Day is a day of celebrating friends and family and eating lots of chocolate. It is a holiday to celebrate love. But I don’t want to talk today about Valentine’s has to say about love. The Bible has a lot to say about Love, and one of the most important things it says to me is found in 1 John 4:7-8. Let’s work backwards in these verses to see exactly what they say about love, and what they teach us about our part in love.

Verse 8 tells us that God is love. Verse 7 tells us that everyone who loves is born of God…that means we are His children. Think about your parents. Each of us has characteristics or traits from our parents. I get my brown curly hair from my mom, and my brown eyes from my dad. We don’t just have physical traits from our parents, but also personality traits. I have my dad’s sense of humor, and my mom’s aversion to conflict.

So if we are God’s children, that means we are going to have characteristics of God. The Bible tells us lots of ways that God made man in His likeness, but today we are focusing on the characteristics of love. If we are God’s children, then we must love each other and others.

But what does this really look like? What does it mean to have God’s characteristics of love? Let’s look at 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. I know you all know it, but we are going to read through it a special way today.

4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Now, what did we learn about love and God from 1 John 4? That’s right! We learned that God IS love. So let’s reread these verses and replace God’s name everywhere we see love:

GOD is patient, GOD is kind. GOD does not envy, GOD does not boast, GOD is not proud. GOD is not rude, GOD is not self-seeking, GOD is not easily angered, GOD keeps no record of wrongs. GOD does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. GOD always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Ok, so we are starting to get a pretty good idea of what it looks like to be God’s children, right? If we are God’s children then we are going to exhibit or show these characteristics. Let’s look at a few of them a little more closely.

Does anyone know what it means to be patient? It means to go through troubles calmly and think carefully before making decisions. When we have patience with others we are usually showing respect.

What about the 2nd characteristic listed? I know all of you in here are kind to your friends and your family. But how often do you go out of your way to be kind to someone you don’t know, or maybe someone who you may not be friends with?

Let’s look at what it means to be proud, self-seeking, and boastful. All of those things go together…and the Bible tells us that LOVE and therefore GOD are none of these things. So we should try to avoid them too. When we are proud, self-seeking or boastful it basically means that we think more of ourselves than of others and even of God. We can forget that God gave us the talents and abilities to do things, and ignore people in our lives who help us. To be proud and boastful means we want all the attention on us and to get credit for everything. The Bible tells us that instead of focusing on ourselves, we should consider others more important than ourselves, and that we should remember that everything comes from God…not anything we have done.

We just talked about a lot of characteristics or traits of God’s love. I’m going to tell you a short story and I want you to see what characteristics you hear either right or wrong:

Mrs. Smith’s class was in the middle of practicing their math drills. They were all going really fast around the room, until she got to Timmy. Timmy had a hard time in math and it took him a long time to answer. The class waited a few seconds and when Timmy didn’t answer, Denise started waving her hand in the air saying “Ooo ooo ooo!!” She knew the answer and wanted Mrs. Smith to give her a chance to show everyone that she was smarter than Timmy.

In that story was Denise showing Timmy patience? Do you think she was being self-seeking and boastful wanting to show the whole class that she knew the answer and Timmy didn’t?

The next 2 characteristics are 2 of the reasons I am most thankful to God and why I love him so much. 1 Corinthians says love (or GOD) doesn’t get mad easily and doesn’t keep score. I know sometimes I get mad about little things, but this scripture tells me that I should be patient and stay calm. It also tells me that I should forgive others and not hold things they have done to me against them. When people are mean to us or say hurtful things it is often hard to forget. But God wants us to have love instead of bitter feelings towards each other.

We don’t have time today to talk about the remaining characteristics of Love and God that Paul writes about in 1 Corinthians. But I hope you’ll spend time with your teachers and your parents talking about ways you can show Love like God has shown us love.