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I wrote this piece for HOPAC’s semi-annual magazine, which came out the last week of school.  

We leave tomorrow for California.  I am sitting in the midst of suitcases (and procrastinating, I must admit….I really hate packing.)  This piece sums up well our 10 years.

I remember the first time I stepped
foot on the HOPAC campus.

It was August of 2001, and I was 23
years old.  I was to be the grade 5 teacher that year.  The campus
had just been built, or rather, was being built.  It wasn’t
finished yet, but I was expected to teach in just a few weeks.  My
classroom had a pile of boxes in the middle of the floor and nothing else, not
even any whiteboards on the walls.  Nothing in the storeroom.  There
was no teacher orientation and the only administrator arrived just a few days
before school started.  And the photocopier was broken until the day
before school started.

It was beyond overwhelming.  I
had no idea how I would make it through the first week, let alone the whole
year.  I was more terrified than the students on that first day.  But
from the moment those students stepped into the classroom, it was love at first
sight.  Their enthusiasm, humor, inquisitiveness, and diversity set them
apart from any students I had ever taught.  And it didn’t take me long to
figure out that I loved teaching at HOPAC.  HOPAC students were
eager learners.  I was given the freedom to build relationships with them
and their families, outside of class.  And most importantly, I was allowed
to integrate a biblical perspective into everything I taught.  

During that first year, a secondary
Bible teacher was needed for terms 2 and 3.  Gil had come to Tanzania to
work with the youth of a local church, but he agreed to take on the grades 7
& 8 Bible classes at HOPAC in his free time.  He had a Bible degree but
had never taught before.  It was then that Gil realized he loved teaching
Bible.  The HOPAC director starting actively recruiting Gil to come to
HOPAC as the full-time chaplain and Bible teacher.  And the rest is
history.  In 2005, we returned to HOPAC in that role, and that’s where
we’ve been for the past 8 years.

Teaching at HOPAC has been so much
more than just a job; it has been our life.  Gil has been coach,
counselor, photographer, youth group leader, and mentor to HOPAC
students.  We’ve had students eat with us, cry, laugh, and have parties at
our house, and sweat all over my couch after playing basketball.  Our
students prayed for us as we waited long months to bring home our daughter,
Grace.  Josiah came home to us two days before the 2008 school year, and
Lily joined our family the second day of the 2011 school year.  HOPAC was
always the first place we brought our children.  They have grown up with
300 big brothers and sisters who have loved them from the very first day. 

God is leading us on now, though
it’s hard for us to even imagine working somewhere else.  But God showed
us a long time ago that one day Gil would be involved in training African
pastors, and we know that now is the time.  This summer, we are headed
back to California, where we will stay a year to re-connect with our family and
supporting churches.  In 2014, we will return to Dar and Gil will join a
team which is dedicated to theological training of Tanzanian leaders.  Our
kids will still be at HOPAC and we will still be around. 

Haven of Peace Academy will always
and forever be in our hearts.  God has blessed us exceedingly, abundantly
during these 10 years.  We have seen the school grow physically,
academically, and spiritually.  We have had the joy of worshipping God
here with hundreds of people from around the world.  We have been embraced
by an incredible community.  What more could we ask for?  We love
this place dearly, and that will never change.

May you continue to grow in God’s
crazy love, HOPAC.  May you treasure Jesus Christ above all things. 
May He be glorified as His grace flows through you and into the world. 
That is our prayer for you, always and forever.

I first met Carley (in red) in 2005, when she came to HOPAC to teach kindergarten.  I helped her label books and gave her tips since I had just finished teaching kindergarten.  Later that first week, I hugged her as she cried at recess time over one horrible exuberant student.  Now she’s assistant principal.  And in November, I got to witness her marry her best friend.  I cried there too.

Lauren (in gray) and her husband Ben arrived in 2008, both to teach at HOPAC.  They came with our mission, so Gil and I were in charge of their orientation.  They quickly became a part of our family.  I remember crying with Lauren that first year, in the principal’s office, trying to convince him to allow us to plan a graduation ceremony for the seniors (which was totally inconceivable in British culture).  Now Lauren’s husband is the principal and lets us do whatever we want.  Ha.

Two years ago, our journey to bring home Lily started Lauren and Ben on their own journey to bring home a  little girl.  It’s still not over, and I have shed many tears with Lauren in her anguish.

Girls bond over tears, don’t they?

Lauren and Carley were in our home every single Friday night for many years of youth group.  We’ve eaten countless meals together; celebrated numerous holidays together.  We’ve planned and organized and talked and conspired together over ideas on how to make HOPAC better and more wonderful.  We’ve celebrated and agonized over students.

And though both of them will be here when we get back, it won’t be the same.  We’ll still be friends but we won’t be co-workers.  I won’t see them every day and I won’t get to plan stuff with them.

Both are incredible examples of perseverance and steadfastness in the face of despair, loneliness, and heartache.  Both love Jesus more than they love life.

At the graduation dinner, one of our students sang this song from the musical Wicked….”Because I knew you, I’ve been changed for good.”

That’s you, Carley and Lauren.

Yesterday

This Morning