God have mercy on me and my corn rowed hair

Tonight I was sitting in one of the girls’ rooms getting my hair planted…in corn rows…which looks so good on my pasty white scalp…and I was threatened (by a 10 year old) that if the braids were gone in the morning I would get my privileges taken away. haha! I wasn’t planning on taking them out anyways because they make me feel very African J

I didn’t have much of a choice to do anything but sit on the floor and be still while my head/hair was yanked back and forth. But I was surrounded by seven sweet girls and they made the yanking a little less hurtful. So we sat and talked like girls at a sleepover and they sang and we laughed and it was so good.

And then I noticed the bugs crawling around.  Bugs here don’t bother me near as much as they do in America, but regardless I’m not a fan when they start crawling towards me. And this was a cockroach… so I stepped on it. I figured I would help them out a little and kill at least one of the bugs crawling around their floor. One of the girls watched me do it and said to me, “Auntie you kill God’s creature, you need to ask for mercy.” I thought that was hilarious…but she was serious!  So I bowed my head and asked for God to have mercy on me for killing his disgusting creature. And she was pleased with me.

Only in Africa…

boys, boys, boys

When I was in Sierra Leone this past July, I hung out with the younger boys at the center a lot. They were just so fun and wild and I guess they reminded me a lot of home. One day when I was doing community out reach with the team the kids at the center watched a version of Superman. When I returned I went into the boys’ room and they all screamed “Aunty Louse, Aunty Louse!” I just stared at them confused. I knew they all knew me as Aunty Ashley and surely they didn’t forget in the few hours I was gone. So I said what are you talking about who is Louse?? They all chanted, “you know Superman’s wife!” I said Lois? “Yes! You like like Louse!”

…So for the rest of the week the boys referred to me as Aunty Louse. I loved it. It was hilarious that first of all they couldn’t even say her name, so no one else knew what they were talking about and two, I look nothing like Lois! But it was just one of the many ways God assured me this is where I was supposed to serve.

…

As we were pulling up to the center last Sunday after three days of traveling I started getting a little nervous. All these thoughts were going through my head…like how none of the kids would remember me and none of them would be excited that I came back. BUT God shoved his way through all my stupid earthly thoughts yet again.

I got out of the poda (which is an old VW van with all the seats taken out and 4 plywood benched put in in their place) and the first kid who saw me yelled to all his friends “Aunty Louse is here!” They remembered. And my heart was full.

I love this place and there’s nothing I more that I need. Except maybe a little running water and more internet access J But 120 hugs and love from precious precious little people trumps both of those any day.  

New year. New country. New life.

Tomorrow morning at 7:30 a.m. I will board a plane in Nashville, TN to start the 3 day long journey to Sierra Leone, West Africa. Words cannot even express how freaking excited I am!! I’ve been waiting…for what seems like forever…for this day.

Almost a year ago I felt called to take a year off after high school and do mission work in another country.  I was in my car listening to a radio talk show about orphans in third world countries. All my life I have had a love for children and it’s been my passion to work with them. As I sat there listening to the horrible conditions these kids were living in, my heart sank. All I wanted to do was pack up my bags at that very moment and go. And then I remembered…I was still in high school, and then I had college, and all these excuses kept piling up in my head. Then God whispered go.

Even though it has always been my dream to “go save the orphan”…I wasn’t ready to hear this from God. He was messing with my life and I was pretty content with just the idea of loving on orphans. I would need time to think about it and I wanted to get back with him later…but God doesn’t really work like that.

I sat in my car by myself crying trying to figure out how this could be real life. In my panic, a song came on the radio with the words, “and in the end it’s going to be beautiful.” And then it hit me. This wasn’t about me or what I want. This is God’s plan and it’s going to be beautiful.

After a couple of months after I decided to take a year off, I became involved with an organization called The Raining Season. They opened an orphanage in 2009 called The Covering in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone. (for more info you can visit their website www.therainingseason.org or savetheorphan.blogspot.com) I was able to visit the orphanage over the summer for 10 days and have been anxiously waiting 5 months to finally return!!!

My plan is to stay at the center for close to six months loving on the kids, helping the caregivers in any way, and working one on one with the seven special needs kids. I want to be there so bad I can hardly stand it. I’m so excited to continue down this road in a country I’ve grown to love.