Howdy from Mississippi!
Carrie and I have made it back to the States, both of us arriving here in the middle of June. It's a strange feeling being back in a place that was once so familiar after being in a foreign country (especially a third world) for a whole year. Little things like remembering what side of the road to drive on, using dollars instead of "kwacha", the endless options at Walmart in the yogurt section, washing our clothes in a washer AND dryer, the mosquito that just bit you will not give you malaria, etc., etc. Although we can't express our happiness to hug and spend time with our loved ones!

"I never realize how much I like being home until I've been somewhere really different for awhile."
 - Juno

Our spring performance was absolutely wonderful! Carrie and I loved watching from the wings as our students performed each piece. It made me think back to when each class was rehearsing in the studio week after week and then to see them on stage....wow. I will cherish those moments in my heart always.

We cannot brag enough about our lovely tailor who made our show possible!

  Healthy lunch choice during performance week?

Last performance together!
"Come and listen to what He has done."

One of the BEST things that happened during my last week in Malawi...

 

My mom came to Africa!

It was so perfect to have my mama bear with me and I loved showing her around Lilongwe. She was such a massive help with prepping for our show and helping me pack my life up again. 

We took a road trip to Dedza and lastly Lake Malawi, also called the Lake of Stars. My heart overflowed having her with me. 

Here are some beautiful photos of the Warm Heart of Africa:

 

Saying goodbye to my students and the country that I had come to love was harder than expected. I have some idea of what I will be doing next year, but I know that Africa will always be there calling me back.

 Each day I am learning to wake up and surrender. Here's my heart today, Lord. Here's the breath in my lungs. Here's my mundane day job. Here's my broken spirit.

I want my heart to be in a constant state of surrender. It's not going to be perfect and it might be messy most of the time, but I know that there is grace enough to see me through. 

"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." Hebrews 4:16

Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I. 

Emilie Getts will be taking over my position in Malawi. She is a beautiful friend who also loves to blog! So, from now on all Malawi updates will be found at www.to-glorify.blogspot.com 

Please continue to follow the work of Christ in Lilongwe with my friends. 

My personal blog can be found at www.sitandselah.blogspot.com.

I will leave you with some Malawian wisdom...

Love and more love,

Becca

 Hallo!

The month of May is here and has treated us well so far with divine weather and precious moments with friends. Our students are anticipating our upcoming performance that will happen on the last day of this month. Our costumes are coming together beautifully...our trailor is an angel!

We had two weeks off for our spring break and I was able to travel to Cape Town with three of my friends here for one week!

Cape Town was awesome in every way possible. I loved exploring this city! One of the best parts of the trip was going cage diving with great white sharks! Check that off the bucket list. Our time was spent doing lots things like going to Table Mountain, Robben Island, taking too many taxis, Cape of Good Hope, going to the movies, and scrumptious food.

Lots of coffee was consumed on this trip....

^Treats from Charly's Bakery^

Glorious sunset at Signal Hill. 

Carrie spent some of her break on a safari in Zambia! 

 

Here she is standing tall next to a giant Baobab tree! 

We are both so thankful for the opportunities we've had to travel and explore Africa. 

Here's a splash of photos from life around here recently:

Gail! 

 One of my favorite things to do on the weekends is visit the Crisis Nursery and love on these precious babies. Their smiles give me hope and renew my perspective. Joy.

 I love these two. Can't imagine Africa without them.

My crazy girls. How I adore them. 

On a more personal level, it seems my time here in Malawi has come to an end...for now. I prayed constantly about where the Lord would have me this coming year and for awhile I had no idea of the direction of which to go. In the end I decided to return home. After making my decision I began to wonder if I made the right choice, did I make a mistake? My roots here have been slowly growing deeper and my heart has become strongly attached...how can I leave now? I am at a place where I do not know why or what the future holds. The only thing I am sure of is WHO holds my future and that is enough for me. 

"Just as you do not know the path of the wind or how the bones develop in the womb, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything." Ecclesiastes 11:5

Africa has been a place of growth, cleansing, and learning. The people I have cultivated friendships with and my students whom I have watched grow have taught me more about myself in one year than anywhere else. I am learning how to choose to embrace the unknown future with arms of faith.

Easier said than done.

These next few weeks I have one thing at the top of my to-do list:

CHERISH. 

To continue cherishing each moment I have left on this continent that has been my home for the past 40 weeks since first stepping off the plane.

I have been showered with love and blessings that I do not deserve, but my God gives unconditionally. 

Happy News: My mom is coming in two weeks to get a taste of Malawi! 

Prayer Points:

:: Continued financial support for Carrie as she raises funds for her next year here. 

:: That our spring performance will come together and that it would be a night of glorifying Jesus!

:: For me and Carrie's bodies as we prepare to perform together one last time.

Love and love.

Zikomo,

Becca

Good morning, good afternoon, good evening!

Time is flying by here in Lilongwe, I can't believe it's already March! The rainy season here is slowly coming to a close as we prepare for fall. I myself am definitely ready for some cooler weather, but most of my family and friends (from what I see online) are ready for spring to come :)

 

Sporting our red Ballet Mag tees for Valentine's Day <3 

 I received a love package from Reagan just a few days ago and my heart is oh so happy!

^ This is what $10 can get you at the local market!

 Carrie and I have set all of our choreography for all of our classes in the past two weeks. Our girls are doing a wonderful job of practicing and improving each week we see them. Now we are in the midst of designing our costumes for each piece! In the past month we added one new class to our schedule allowing off-campus children to take ballet once a week. We have about six girls in that class but a large variety of culture! Norway, Denmark, Belgium, and Germany are just a few of the places were these girls are originally from. I am thrilled to have new faces to teach!

This past weekend was Martyrs Day here in Malawi, so we had Monday off. Carrie and I took a day trip to Lake Malawi which is only about an hour and a half drive from our place. This was my first time at the lake! For some reason in the past every time plans were made for me to go they fell through or time did not permit. We had a lovely time basking in the sun and dipping into the warm water of this massive lake. While there, we met up with some friends from ABC and took a boat out to an island where we went rock jumping. It is absolutely, positively one of the most liberating feelings to take a leap off of a 14 ft. high rock into the water! Ah, yes. When we first arrived, I didn't have a desire to be adventurous or daring but with some coaxing I did it...and more than once I might add! If you had asked me a year ago it don't think I would have taken the opportunity. Carrie didn't jump off any rocks..she was our photographer.

 

^^^^ Yes, that is I^^^^

            When you're a dancer obligatory beach dance photos must take place. It's an unspoken rule.

In my third grade ballet class we are going through Psalm 103 because their song is based off of that specific psalm. The word steadfast comes before the word love throughout this entire psalm...and what does steadfast mean?

Steadfast ::   Firmly fixed in place, immovable; not subject to change.

Jesus has immovable, unchangeable love for us! In verse four it says that He "crowns us with steadfast love." Our heavenly Father crowns the lowly, weak, unworthy, abused, forgotten, broken, and sinful with His steadfast love. What a gift. 

Prayer Points:

----> Continued provision for financial support, especially for a plane ticket for Carrie to return again to Malawi at the end of the summer. This is a big one but we both know the Lord will provide!

-----> Direction and clarity for me as I decide on what I will be doing next year. And that I will be obedient to His call.

----->Grace for these next two months as we prepare for our spring production at the end of May.

-------> That Carrie and I would continue to fix our eyes upon Jesus and desire to fulfill His purpose for us here in Lilongwe.


"Live and do. Not do and live."
Charles Spurgeon

So, that's life around here lately! 

Blessings from Jesus and grace for each moment. 

I love you and miss you all! 

Until next time, this is Becca signing off.

xoxo

Oops...don't worry we're back!

First off, let me begin with my deepest apologies for not being as diligent with updating this blog as much as I would have liked. With preparations for our Christmas production, getting costumes made, choreographing, power outages, the Christmas show, and our Christmas holiday unfortunately our blog has taken to the bottom of our to-do list. Until now! I'm here with loads to fill you in on.

In late October I was blessed to take part in two separate trips a local village to pass out backpacks and school supplies to the children for Project Juembo. It was a truly rewarding experience, getting to see these beautiful children smile. While I was there two little girls began clinging to me and chatting away in Chichewa. I found out they were twin sisters named Fiona and Fina. They became my companions and little helpers for my remaining time there.

On December 14th we had our Christmas production and what a night it was! All of our 83 ballet students, plus over 300 ABC Christian Academy students, put on a lovely show. Carrie and I both are so proud of our students and loved seeing them perform onstage. May all praise and thanks be unto the Lord for being our strength, the ONLY one who is worthy of our hard work! Carrie and I had the opportunity to perform as well. I hadn't performed since May and it was so refreshing to be back on stage dancing before the Lord.

After our production I hopped on a bus bound for Johannesburg, South Africa. The bus ride turned out to be almost 48 hours long, but I finally made it to a friends home where I stayed for a few nights before getting on another bus to the city of George. There I met up with a friend I met at Ballet Magnificat's summer workshop and her family. During the week of Christmas I went hiking with this family on the Otter Trail along the coast of South Africa. Beautiful, marvelous, gorgeous, and stunning are words that come to mind but even those words cannot accurately describe the views my eyes beheld!

The hike was five days long with each day holding its own little victories and uphill climbs. At the end of each day we arrived at our overnight cabins where we played games and prepared dinner. On Christmas Eve, while eating dinner, we spotted a team of dolphins swimming as the sun was setting. We were able to spend a lot of time on the shore and it was a perfect spot to sit before the Lord and journal. Each day I was blown away by the artistry of our Heavenly Father! The lullaby of the sea, pink and orange sunsets, the differing sounds of birds in the trees, and the feeling of rocks under my sore feet. I am so very grateful to have had spent time and get to know my little South African family. I have only sweet and beautiful memories of my time in South Africa, thanks be to Jesus!

                              My go-to snacks on holiday were these little ones ^^ and rusks with tea.

 

                                   Enjoying an evening chat with my lovely "host nan" in Johannesburg. I am     forever thankful to have met such a strong woman in Christ who encouraged me so much during my time at her home.

So, now it's 2013! We are now on our second week back to classes with some new faces! Carrie and I are now choreographing and preparing for our spring performance in May.

Recently I have been learning quite a bit about true security and peace. Through some recent experiences I am being taken on a new journey of trust and completely leaning on the Lord. Definitely not an easy lesson, but a sweet one nonetheless. This quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer helps express it all:
"There is no way to peace along the way of safety. For peace must be dared, it is itself the great venture and can never be safe. Peace is the opposite of security. To demand guarantees is to want to protect oneself. Peace means giving oneself completely to God's commandment, wanting no security, but in faith and obedience laying the destiny of the nations down in the hands of Almighty God, not trying to direct it for selfish purposes. Battles are won, not with weapons, but with God. They are won when the way leads to the Cross." 

"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." - Isaiah 41:10

Here is a little bit from Carrie and what the Lord has been teaching her:

"These last few weeks have been humbling. The Lord took me through every area of my life and showed me how He alone was in control and without Him it would all crumble to pieces. I once more have to give up my deepest desires completely to Christ and trust Him to know best and trust I won’t be disappointed in His timing. God doesn’t call us to be happy; He calls us to be holy; to rejoice in the Lord, not in our situations.  Take our queues from Paul, Job, David and Jesus.

                                         "Rejoice in the Lord, again I will say again, Rejoice."

                                                                             Phil. 4:4

“Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.

                                                                            Luke 22:42

                 "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."

                                                                           Job 1:21b

           "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God."

                                                                           Psalm 20:7

                                       Here are some snapshots from the last few weeks!

                                   Watching "A Christmas Dream" with our third grade class.

       It's rainy season here and it looks like the rain decided to make an appearance in our studio!

                                         Carrie and I performing at the Christmas production.

                                 Smiles from my girls and little surprises make each day special.

 A few prayer points:
*I have been spiritually attacked the past few days and tempted to live in fear. Pray for a continued spirit of courage and know that HE IS GOD!
*Pray for me and Carrie's decision making on where we will be next year and that the Lord's will be our strongest desire.
*Continued financial support as we are looking for plane tickets to return to the States in the summer.
*Blessings over our students as we begin a new semester of working hard unto the Lord through dance.

Updates will not be this spread out again! Thank you for taking the time to lift up our work here in Malawi. May the Lord receive all the glory!

Hugs and love,
Becca