Another Day

Hey folks. I was implored to continue this blog so people can keep up to date with stuff going on here at the Grove. I'm currently sitting at my desk in the Admissions Office working the phones until 5pm this afternoon. Really kinda boring in here at the moment because there aren't any interviews scheduled today. Today was rather uneventful, but my stats class was cancelled which meant my academic day ended at 11am. Let's see, this week: I had lunch with Tim and Meredith on Monday (missionaries I worked with in Gabon), a bunch of meetings this week for RA and other ministries, and then just some lunch/dinner one-on-ones. Really not eventful. My roommate and I did start our new Bible study topic for our hall this week. The theme is "Uncommon" in challenging our freshman to be their own Christian. I'll flesh this out more later. See ya!

Home

Got to Pittsburgh last night around 9:30. My bag however did not make it from Boston... Should arrive at my house later today. Will post some more later.

Here We Go...

So, here's the scoop. Our second attempt last night was rejected, the flight was cancelled again because of strike issues. Back in the hotel again for the night. We are now scheduled to leave today at 2pm. Air Maroc is bringing in a jet from another company and sending its customers on that. I hope it's a nice one... Anyways, we'll get to Casablanca tonight, spend the night in a hotel there and then head to NY tomorrow morning. I'll arrive in Pittsburgh Sunday night via a connection flight in Boston. Don't ask me how that works, I don't know. Here's to hoping it all works out today and tomorrow. See you soon!

Stuck

So we're stuck in Gabon. The airline has gone on strike and cancelled our flight tonight. They put us up in a hotel. The strike is supposed to end tomorrow. Please pray for quick negotiations so that we can return to the US. Thanks.

Last Few Hours

Back at the house from our last medical caravan. I'm pretty much packed, just finishing our last meetings with Tim and Meredith. I can't believe we'll be on our plane in several hours... Time has flown, but the memories and relationships made here will last forever.

Today was bittersweet as we worked with the members of the medical caravan. It was awesome to remenisce with the people I have aided these last three months. We sat down to eat lunch and found ourselves talking about funny stories of each caravan. Like the time...Tim ran Joseph's truck into a huge mudhole OR the tire on Joseph's truck fell off three separate times OR when Natalie had a push-up competition with Joey in Ndjole. It was fun to talk about those times with the people I consider my family. Towards the end of the caravan, Mama Jeanine and Pastor Jacob surprised me with a couple of shirts and shorts made for me. You never expect gifts, but that's exactly what we got. Each one of the interns also got a elephant carved out of wood. Arican also gave me a small elephant, awesome. He's one of my good friends that I have gotten to know here. It's hard to leave, but I look at it as "See you later!" More to come on Saturday when I'm back in Pittsburgh.

P.S. - We saw a man filleting two sharks this morning. Crazy!

A picture from Santa Clara beach last Thursday.

Last Beach Day

Yesterday was our last beach day here, so we went out to Point Denis (accross the water from Libreville). An awesome day on all accounts with such nice weather. For me, it was a day to really relax and soak in the sun (something I haven't done in a while). On Monday, Tim, Christian, and I went back out to the church in Melen to finish, err actually start the drop plywood ceiling in the pastor's office and deacons' room. That was an interesting day because we started around 10am and finished at 2:45pm without a break. No biggie, because we were at the beach yesterday anyway. :-) Rough schedule for today and tomorrow, as we prepare to leave tomorrow night, is: shopping and Hope House today (I'm making dinner for us and Straw's tonight) + clinic and leaving tomorrow. There it is, our last two days in Gabon this summer.

Cool experience on Monday afternoon. I was walking back to the house from up the street and a group of Mamas called me over to where they were sitting. I guess I knew them from somewhere, but I could not think of it off the top of my head. We began to converse and they started to tell me about the baby that was with them. I learned that he was 4 months old and some other info. I also learned that they go to church and are believers in Christ. They then proceeded to tell me about another baby which is sick or had been. Let's back up first though, the mamas had me pray for the first baby, so I was placed in a plastic chair and prayed for the baby while I held him. Alright, they then presented me with the other baby and I held and prayed for her as well. This whole series of events spoke to me because I'm pretty sure the mamas don't know me that well. I'm sure they know that I'm staying with Tim and Meredith, but who is to say that I'm not a sketchy kind of person. They trusted in their prior knowledge enough to allow me to pray for their children. I am continually blessed here when God shows me this kind of trust and level of comfort with people.

On another note, the prayer request from my last post still stands. Please continue to keep the Heidengren family in your prayers. Thank you.

Unexpected

Hey all,

Urgent prayer request. I just found out that a guy I worked with last summer passed away yesterday. No need for details, but I ask that you keep his family in your prayers as it is a difficult time for them. It is the Heidengren family. Thanks.

Zach

Coming Down...

It's my last Sunday morning in Gabon today, we're going to Avieux Deux. I'm excited to go here because: (1) it's one of the biggest churches in Libreville and (2) it's the church we went to our first week here. It feels as though we've come full circle in our journey as interns. I've been checking my e-mails pretty regularly the last few days to get caught up with stuff back home, and I'm pretty much going to start my new ministries when I get back. The excitement of the next chapter in my life after Gabon is one that utilizes my passion for serving. God has continually opened up doors with which to help me develop and grow as a man of God. As I reflect on my days here, I also look towards the next couple of weeks and where I will be then.

Yesterday we sent two teams out: one to the mobile medical clinic and another to the church at Melen. I was at Melen where we tore down a drop ceiling and roofed a deacons' room and pastor's office. More to come on that later.

Above is a picture of the team from Allegheny Center, which is my church. Also with us is Martin, our translator in Ndjole. He's an awesome guy.

Beach

So went to the beach today with both teams. We went to Santa Clara, which is about a forty minute drive north of Libreville. The bumpy ride was worth it though. This beach was amazing. It has been a rather long stretch of events in the last week or so and this was worth it. It was especially fun to have friends here that I am familiar with. What a great time to hang out and goof off. I am, however, continually amazed by the creation God has blessed us with. The waves of the ocean today were horrendous. Horrendous as in powerful and torrential.

Tomorrow we head out for one of my last medical clinics at a church called Rogue (pronounced Roh-jay). We've come down to my last seven or so days here in Gabon. I'm savoring these days and praying that God continues to speak to me. I am excited for the journey home next week because new things pop in rather quickly at school and such, but it is bittersweet because this has been my home for the last three months. Please continue to pray for some team members who are sick. Thanks!

Quick Update

Hey everyone. We haven't had internet here for about a week and a half. Here's a quick update:

• 2 new teams arrived - Langley, WA and Pittsburgh, PA (yes, my church!)
• Langley helped lay a couple of cement floors at the Nyeng Zyong church
• Pittsburgh helped work on waterline stuff at the Ndjole church (3 hours south of Libreville)

Everything is great, but some people have been getting sick. Please pray for health of all team memebers. Thanks!

Post sometime later this week.

Ali Ben Dang?

So I got up rather early this morning, probably around 6:45. I have no idea why, I just couldn't sleep anymore... It's giving me a chance, however, to post something which I haven't in a little while.

The Faith team just arrived back from Bongolo Hospital last night. What a blessing to get them back safe and sound. God did great things in and through them down there. The South Shore team has been working at the Ali Ben Dang church in Libreville. Already an established church in its area, just making some repairs and doing other projects at the site. Basically, installing a wood ceiling in the pastor's house and finding solutions for water-runoff at the Sunday school wing. Today we'll work in the morning and then go to Hope House in the afternoon. I love going to HH because it really is relaxing and lighthearted when we see the kids. Please continue to pray for the housing situation. I'll post pictures soon of the land that they obtained.

Also just want to quickly throw something on that is on my mind. Family. Yes, my own which is awesome, but also how relationships here are so familial. It blows my mind whenever different Gabonese walk through our front door and see me. They bellow out my name like they've known me for ages. I may have met them once, but they know my name all the more. Family is so important, literally and figuretively as friends. We are to care for one another as our family cares for us. You know the one verse that sticks out in my head? Luke 10:27 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself." Think about it.

Okolassi

So today was digging day. We went to the village of Okolassi to start the foundation of the church. The foundation itself is 8 meters by 12 meters which meant a lot of dirt was flying. Let me give you the rundown: 40 meters distance, 40-65 cm deep, 40 cm wide, 20 people, 10 shovels, 3 pick-axes, 2 machetees, and sweat galore. :-) We got it all done though. I'll try to post some pictures at a later time.

I think the coolest part today was some of the village kids coming down to help us dig. It was right around lunchtime when we were all dead-tired, and they were an encouragement to keep on going. More so because this church is for them as well. Let me explain: the team starting this church (about 5 months ago) ministers to about 100 kids a week which is roughly 5 times the size of the adults attending service. The church is going to for many children and this allowed them to take ownership of something that will be integral in their futures. Someone brought this up in debrief: won't it be cool to one day meet a kid that helped us and he says "i helped to build the church and my kids now attend it where there are 500+ attenders." What an awesome opportunity God had us be a part of today. Two words for today: God works.

Prayer: A couple of the team members have gotten sick the last two days. Pray for good health and safety for the duration of their trip.

Ready, Set, Go

So we've been preparing for the next team to arrive, which is tonight. The whole team has been working on building bunk beds for the guys' bunkhouse. I cut the lumber yesterday, Dick and Dan assembled the pieces with washers and bolts, and then we fully assembled them today (actually in the process of assembling right now). I can't believe how fast the days have gone, our next team is about to arrive... I'm excited though. I'll be staying here in Libreville with each team. We'll have two teams here at the same time: one will go down to Bongolo Hospital on Monday and the other on Saturday. The rest of the interns will accompany each team, but I'll be sticking around up here to be at worksites with the teams.

We went out to eat with the intern team again last night. It included all of the interns, Yoann, Christian (one of the African teens we met in Ebel-Abanga), and Joseph. What an awesome group of people. I didn't realize how far my french has come until I found myself having a full-blown conversation with Joseph during dinner. That's one thing that has amazed me. I am to the point where I can communicate what I need to in french without someone giving me a "what the heck did you say" stare. I appreciate, so much more, the patience of the Gabonese when I was learning.... be back to finish this because I need to do some work...

Ok, I'm back. I'm all over the place on thinking about things tonight. More on the Ebel-Abanga church. 2 years ago, a group from a church in Libreville decided to go out to EA and start a church. A doctor that used to live in EA funded the entire church plant. The "church" started meeting in the house of a woman in EA, sometime later they had to move to the current building which is rented from a well-known man in Libreville. The congregation had enough finances to suppport a pastor last year so the national church (C&MA) sent a pastor to EA (Pastor Moises). Now, 1 year later, they are in the process of building a church. What an awesome experience to be a part of. The passion that I can see in the team that started this church process is incredible. God has a plan and what a neat opportunity to be a part of it.

This week we will be digging and pouring a foundation for another church plant. The site is about 30 minutes outside of the city. I can't wait to see what God is doing there as well.

Time for a Break...Maybe.

So one more shout out to the team that just left. Thank you for letting God use you to not only speak to the Gabonese, but also to me. You all have reinforced what I already knew and see daily: God works. You glorified God in all of your actions and I know that you went 100% all of the time. Safe travels as you continue back to PA. Maybe we'll run into each other sometime :-).

Many thoughts going through my head from last night at the airport to now. Saying good-bye with a heavy heart for the work God did and trying to stay focused because a new team arrives on Saturday night. Hectic... Finished clean-up on the bunkhouse and what not, also went to Hope House this afternoon. Tomorrow we will start to build more bunks because of the 41 people that will be in the house next week. Just need to get in gear now to switch from one thing to the next.

God continues to speak to me. This is especially true when I actually stop to listen to His voice. Hmmm... Could there be a connection there? I led worship last week and played the song "Give Me Jesus." The song really spoke to me, isn't it weird how that works sometimes? Here are some words that really stuck out: In the morning, when I rise. Give me Jesus. (If you want to hear the song, it's right here on the blog) What an awesome line! To often in my life, I have thrown away the morning not really seeking Him from morning to night, 24/7. What a waste of my time. But at the same time, we need Jesus daily. He is our strength, our rock, and our provider. How can we ever get through a day without Him. Yes, breakfast is the most important meal of the day (in my eyes), but isn't Jesus much more important to have in the morning? Start your day off right, give me Jesus.

Prayer:

• Re-orientation to the states for the Lancaster team.
• Safe travel for the Faith (OH) and South Shore (MA) teams as they arrive on Saturday and Sunday night, respectively.
• Strength for us as we prepare for them and go through the days when they are here.

Happy Fourth of July

So we spent the 4th of July in Ebel-Abanga with the Lancaster team this week. What an awesome experience to be able to work alongside Gabonese as well as high schoolers. They are both pretty sweet people. I'll just give a quick synopsis of the week:

Got to Ebel-Abanga (EA for short) on Thursday afternoon, set up camp (26 people) and met the EA church team. We then went out to evangelize on the street with students from the church that planted the EA church. Friday we worked through the afternoon to clear land of brush, logs, stumps and other "crap." Saturday we dug foundation for the new church building (86 meters in distance, 40-65 cm deep, and 40 cm wide). Sunday went to church, Lancaster leader preached and then had a cornerstone ceremony for the new church building. Arrived back at the house on Monday afternoon.

I'll go into more detail about the day either later tonight or tomorrow when I have more time. The Lancaster team is leaving this evening :-( so it's "see you later." Thanks for an awesome week and a few days guys and girls. I had a blast hanging with you and getting to connect with you.

Welcome Lancaster

The team from Lancaster arrived on Sunday evening. Yesterday, they helped us clean out the hospital warehouse and unload our medicine container for the Bongolo Hospital. Today we went to the village Ntoum and had a medical clinic with the team (Mama Jeanine, Pastor Jacob, etc.). It was neat for the team of students to experience this ministry.

I was leading worship tonight at our debrief and we sang the song "Give Me Jesus." What a powerful song, it speaks to me in that all I need is Him. Nothing says more than one of my goals this summer: to always seek to glorify Jesus and really hear His voice. Not much time tonight, I'll post something later... Hope House tomorrow.

Please pray for the team that God will speak to them and that they will hear His voice.

Back to Ndjole

This week has been fairly busy seeing as today our first team comes in from Lancaster. We've been working to get the house ready, and it is basically ready. Yes, I worked all week, but I also found myself on the way to Ndjole on Friday morning for a medical caravan. It was kind of a spur of the moment type deal, so it was just me, Joey, and Torey who went. We rode out with Pastor Jacob and Natalie (one of the eye clinic technicians) in a taxi. Got to Ndjole around 12pm and started working. I was mostly on pharamacy duty that day which meant that I filled prescriptions from the consultation station. Let's just say it's nothing like a US pharmacy. We had about 50 people at that clinic. We stayed at a "hotel" with the medical team, so 11 people in this conference room sleeping on air mattresses and other such pieces of furniture. Did another clinic the next morning from about 9:30 to 3:30 for 60 people. What a long day because we didn't get back to Libreville until around 7pm. It was a great trip though.

I think the best part of this village trip was the time I get to spend with the medical team. One thing you have to understand is that this caravan stuff is run completely by them. They do all of the planning and traveling because they care about the people in Gabon. They are a family and you can see it whenever you're with them. Just 4-5 weeks ago, I met them for the first time not knowing what to expect. Now I on a solo trip (yes, our first solo trip as intern) with them and I feel like a part of their family. It just continues to show me what brothers and sisters in Christ really means. If one falls, another is right there to pick him up. We are one body in Christ seeking to glorify God in all of our actions. Family.

Hope House

You may indeed be wondering what Hope House is. It is an orphanage run by one of the Gabonese pastors and his wife (Pastor Israel and Natalie). They have 26 children who have been abandoned by their parents and they all live in a rented house. There are, I believe, 18 boys and 8 girls, and they range from 2 years old to 16 years old. The girls split two rooms and the guys have a "bunkhouse" outside which they share with only 2 bunkbeds (you do the math...). As cramped as it is, they are blessed to have food, clothing, shelter, and love.

We go to HH every Wednesday afternoon to have time with the kids. We sing songs, teach a Bible lesson, and play with the kids. The older boys usually play soccer in the school yard beside the house, girls talk and do "girl stuff," and the younger kids just run around. Today, Steve sent over a plastic jungle gym/swing set for the yard. You should have seen the looks on the younger kids faces. I have never seen kids go down a slide so many times before!

These have so few things, but the joy on their faces is still very visible. They are a family of 26, and the key word there is family. A family takes care of each other, no matter if they are from different parents or of different color (though they are not of different colors). They remind me each week God's goodness and faithfulness, for they are in Hope House because it is in God's plan. He has a lot of things in store for each one of them, I know it.

Next week we're inviting them over to the Bible school by the house for an afternoon of "Olympics." This idea started after I started a long jump contest a couple of weeks ago with some of the boys. It's awesome to be able to connect with them and really be intentional about building relationships with them. I ask that you pray for Pastor Israel and Natalie as we found out today that the owner of the house that they rent wants to sell the house. This means they will have to find another house that houses 28 people or land they can build on. Pray that God would show them where they are to go and what they are to do. This ministry would not have started without Pastor Israel and Natalie.

Check them out!

Quick, before we leave for Hope House. I want you to check out what some of my friends are doing. I have friends across the globe this summer, not all of them have internet, but here are the blog addresses for the ones that do:

http://pngupdates.blogspot.com

This is my friend Charlie who is in Papua New Guinea with his sister Lea.

http://faithlikeachild-emily.blogspot.com

This is my friend Emily who is in South Africa working with an orphanage called Door of Hope.

Please pray for them as they seek God's will in everything they do. Others abroad are Chuck (working with Athletes in Action - Soccer in Paraguay), Jackie (working at an ESL school in Cambodia), and a group of GCC students in Uganda. Thanks!