Mama Angela

A definition I found for immerse:   enclose or envelop completely, as if by swallowing.

I found this definition fitting for what Harvest School calls immersion. I was given the privilege of living for 24 hours with a mama in the village. We would be immersed into her life, do everything that she did…cook with her over hot coals in 100 degree heat, fetch water from the well attempting to carry it on my head the way she did, clean the dishes in about an inch of dirty water, sweep the dirt yard, play with the children, go to bed by 7pm and attempt to sleep on African day bed with a few grass mats.

I arrived at the mamas house with Anke and Heidi. Anke is from Germany and Heidi from Norway. What a ragtag group of internationals we were. You want to talk about language barriers and culture differences…we had a bit of everything. Our Mama’s name was Angela, she told us she was 23 years old and had 8 children (think about that for a minute...23 years old, 8 children). 8 Children meant there were normally at least twice that amount running around, to this day I’m not sure what kids were hers and what where just neighbors visiting. Within the first 30 minutes of being at her home she laid down some grass mats for us all to sit around and instantly all 3 of us had little girls braiding hour hair. It hurt sooooo bad!!!! I really wanted to tell them no, but I remembered what one of the house moms said before we headed out for immersion “remember the Lord wont give you more than you can handle.” And then Heidi Baker came into my head with “What does love look like?” and for that moment love looked like letting three little girls braid my entire head of hair.

Mama Angela took us for a walk through the village to visit her sister who had a one month old bady. So adorable! She also showed us the market where she bought us some mangos that we had for dessert after dinner. She cooked us some kind of fish stew and was poured over a huge bed of rice. The fish were just mini little guys, with their heads and eyeballs, bones, tails and fins and everything just thrown right in. I thanked the Lord that by the time we were eating it was dark out so I did not have to see the eye looking at me. It actually was very delicious, but I did have a rough time getting over the crunch of the bones.

It gets dark by 5:30pm so we were literally in bed by 7:30pm! The mama gave us her best. We had one African day bed and a grass mat on the floor. Anka and Heidi switched on and off the cot with me until the both decided the floor was more comfortable. I keep checking the time, thinking hours had gone by when really only 15 minutes had pass. It really was one of the longest nights of my life. I was getting eaten by bedbugs all night long. I thought as I laid there in the dark, praying for the sun to rise quickly “Our dogs in America have better beds than this mama will ever see.”

This experience really showed me how blessed I am. Do you realize how blessed you are? I pray that the Lord would continue to give me a thankful heart. Even now that I am back home in America, where we are so so blessed to have too much stuff! We have all that we need and so much more. I pray that I would not forget to be thankful for the little things that really aren’t little things at all. 2/3^rds of the world live like they do in Africa. Running water is a big deal!!! Clean water to drink is huge!! Hot water, wow, such a blessing to get to take a hot shower!!!! A stove to cook on, a comfy bed to sleep in that’s bedbug free, carpet in our living room with comfy couches, food, so much food.

I am reminded today of a something Heidi Baker said during harvest school. “We are called to come with great humility and great love.” Keep me humble Lord, give me your heart and love for each person I encounter today. Give me a thankful heart, help me remember how blessed I am. You are always so good to me!!

This is a picture of my neck after the night getting eaten by bedbugs. Oh these things itch so much!!! They were all over my back, stomach, arms, hands and even my face.