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Kilimanjaro Journal: Pre-Trip

Kili: Pre-Trip Planning – Jan 23, 2015

Well, this part should be a short entry! Before we even left for this round the world trip, people kept mentioning Kilimanjaro and how we should totally climb it. Like a strange number of people, and as we were on the trip it kept coming up. So Rick and I had talked about it long and hard, and researched it. We learned that it’s mandatory that you have a professional guide and porters, required by the government no way around it. And the park fees about $50 per person per day!! We decided it was just WAAAAAAY WAY too expensive, and we wouldn’t really have time to do it, and after much debate, agreed that it was stricken from the list of possibilities.

…..Yeeeeaahhhh… so, you can see how well that went. After a day in Arusha, we decided that town wasn’t for us. It was a town of two extremes, either you were in the really rough African town part with nothing to do, or you were a VERY wealthy Westerner getting ready to leave on your luxury safari with your 5 butlers and caravan – we did not fit in. So on a whim we went to Moshi, the town at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro. We figured it was smaller, would have better scenery, and mostly, well “why not?” and “let’s just get the heck out of dodge”. So after a few hours in a dala-dala we were there and wandering the dusty streets in search of a place to stay.

Our first lead from AirBNB was Hibiscus Guest House, but after we walked over there, there was no room in the inn… which turned out to be a good thing, because the price was crazy high and out of our budget! Plus the atmosphere was not so friendly. We were pointed to Karibu Hostel, and the moment we arrived we knew we were home! It’s a hostel that benefits a non-profit school Born to Learn, run by Spaniards. Not only were they incredibly welcoming, friendly and transparent about costs/prices (rare to find, we’ve learned), they spoke Spanish!! Sam, the owner, mentioned she had a connection with a guide service that was honest, gave a low price for her guests and gave some proceeds to her non-profit.We blew it off, since we had already made out decision not to go.

….but as it got to be evening, and after catching astounding glimpses of Kili’s summit, and after, perhaps more importantly, after a lovely bottle of South African Sauvignon Blanc, we looked at each other with the look we’ve come to know well, the “so, I’ve got a crazy idea” look…. What if we could, what if it was affordable, what if we cut our trip a little short to make it work, when else are we going to be in Tanzania…? And off we went to get more details from Sam about hiking Kili, but saying to each other, we won’t decide tonight, we’ll just get some information.

As soon as we mentioned it, Sam looked at our timing (flying to Argentina on the 2^nd and hoping to go to Zanzibar before that), and pronounced that if we were going to go it had to be TOMORROW! She was on the phone with her guy before we could get another word out, and he was on his way to meet us “just to give us more information”…. It was 9:30 at night. Things moved quickly from there and around 10:30pm we were booked on a trek to summit Mount Kilimanjaro… that started the next morning.

We went in for dinner at the hostel (Spaniards eat quite late) and announced our plan to our new friends. We were, un-shockingly, met with shock. “You go MANANA?!” Another of the volunteers, from Canada, told us that she had been training for months in British Colombia, she had booked her trip months in advance, she had gotten all her gear already and asked quite concerned if we had gaiters, a light rain suit, a heavy downpour rain suit, alpine sleeping bags, our summit jackets, etc. Clearly we did not. She was flabbergasted – “WHAAAAA?!? But how can you….!? I mean, you can’t…. But you need…. I just can’t believe” let’s just say that didn’t exactly put me at ease.

Fortunately, from my quick post to Facebook that night, you guys gave me great encouragement! A HUGE Thank You to Anne J-Roberts, Patrick O’Neil, Gavin Davis, Esteban Delgado and Jimmy Abrams for the much needed encouragement! I’ll admit, on some of the tough moments of the summit I repeated “Always excited, never nervous” and “Crush it, Liz!” to myself. And of course, Dad, your email was awesome…Rick and I repeated it often during the trek “Sounds like a bunny climb. Bernard Goosen made it in a wheelchair… Twice! Just sayin’” 🙂

So around midnight we finished packing our trek pack and hoped for the best!

February 5, 2015
Thankful for Brinker!

Random topic, right? Since I’ve been gone from Chili’s for almost five months now? I just couldn’t help sharing this though. While in South Sudan Rick and I were asked to give a few business education seminars to the Seed Effect local staff. I immediately felt under qualified for the task and wasn’t sure where to start. Scovia, the In-Country Director for Seed Effect, was kind enough to provide some general ideas to get me started (like time management, attitude towards work, humility and feedback, etc). And as soon as I got to working on the power points, so much of Brinker’s Culture of Accountability came flooding back, and I was on a roll!

But still, I was really nervous when it came the presentation day because this isn’t exactly an ideal environment: 1) I’m no training expert, 2) English is not my audience’s first language, 3) MASSIVE cultural differences, 4) Most of the team does not have any other business experience or education. How the heck is this going to translate?!

But I knew that the concepts I was sharing were some of the most impactful to not only me, but Chili’s Team Members in the field, people across all departments of the organization, even my non-Chili’s friends and family. So I dove in!

I was able to share the concept of Big Rocks – with a visual demonstration and all! The visual demonstration really resonated with the team – and they totally go it. When it occurred to me to share Big Rocks, since it is the most impactful idea in time management that I’ve ever come across, I thought it was so cool that there was actually a demonstration that I could pull off while presenting in the middle of nowhere South Sudan with zero supplies! What does every village in every country have? Rocks, pebbles and sand (well, more like dirt, but close enough). So after taking a machete to a couple of water bottles, and having most of the staff think I’m a crazy lady running around gathering rocks and dirt – picture “Excuse me Eivans (our driver), could you stop again please? Those little rocks are the perfect size! Tinate” – we had a presentation!

I also got to talk about how Feedback is Priceless. Open, constructive feedback is something that’s hard to come by in the U.S., but in other countries, where offending someone can often be repaid with rocks being thrown at you, or a swinging machete, it’s even rarer. Fortunately, the Seed Effect team is amazing and has a solid Biblical foundation, so introducing giving and receiving feedback was a concept they took to immediately. In true Tony Bridwell style, everyone paired up and practiced “What feedback do you have for me?… Thank you for the feedback”. And committed to asking for and giving feedback in regular weekly meetings.

We talked about ensuring that all teams goals were aligned around the Big Rocks, then setting clear expectations, aligned with your Big Rocks. And how to talk your team through “The Why’s”. And then we got to talk about giving recognition and practice it – Dom Perry, you would’ve been proud!!

Beyond the presentations I spent some time talking with the leaders about leadership (it all start with investing in your leaders), managing a team, ownership and accountability. As I did, it made me realize how much of the Brinker culture had become ingrained in me… in fact, Drew asked, “So do you have like reference materials, or do you just have all of this memorized, or what? You quote it all exactly.” To which, Rick laughed and said, “Yeah, I can quote it all too… we use it at home, too” and then Rick went into how Experiences lead to Beliefs, and you have to give some one new Experiences to shift them from C1 Beliefs to C2. For those that don’t know, Rick never actually did work for Brinker, although there may be some debate from some people… 🙂

It’s funny that I didn’t realize how ingrained it was, but even having not been around it for months, Brinker’s culture is part of who I am now. It’s a set of tools that will be invaluable all of my life, and I’m so grateful for the opportunity I had to be part of it.

…To respond to Drew’s question, after I laughed for a minute, I said “No, no reference materials and no crazy memorization… everyone at Brinker just lives it out everyday. From the CEO to the servers and every person in between. It’s just how you live at Brinker”

And Drew replied “Do you know how fortunate you are to have worked for a company that has that kind of culture and training? No one has that.”

Well, I truly thought I always appreciated it, but being away from Brinker for a bit, and then getting to share the invaluable lessons of the culture with others makes me realize even more how special it was. And makes me incredibly, just over the top, grateful for the opportunity to work there and learn from the best leaders. I’m forever grateful to the leadership as Brinker who took time and energy to invested in the culture and invested in me – Thank You!!!

February 5, 2015
Seeing God in South Sudan
I’ve been trying to figure out how to write about our time in South Sudan for a couple weeks now. To be honest it’s so intimidating and overwhelming to me that I just keep putting it off. I just don’t feel like I can do justice to the way the history and situation seems almost impossible, the hurt nearly every person faces daily… and then the passion and love Seed Effect team has and the incredible things God is doing there. So, I totally wussed out at first and asked Rick to write a post blog about our time there, and he did an awesome job!! Thanks, babe!

But I feel like I want to add a few other thoughts and experiences of mine that aren’t as well organized. The best way I can think to do it is a list of the things that surprised me, stood out to me, and where I saw big impact.

1) There is so much power in what is considered status quo in a society. Over the last few years I’ve really come to see how much who you surround yourself with defines your worldview and so many facets of your life. But I hadn’t seen such broadly held societal influences have such power. And it’s so sad. The status quo in South Sudan is a deadly and depressing cocktail made with 1 part corrupt leaders, 1 part regular loss of property and loved ones, 2 parts lack of sense of value of human life, and 1 part “no light at the end of the tunnel” visible for most people. And if you’ve never known anything or seen anything different, how could you possibly believe, work and risk for something different??

2) The war’s lasting effects include many people who have really only known refugee camps for their adult life. And when they were told to return to South Sudan, they had literally NOTHING to return with. Imagine starting a new life, in a new place with no bank account or money, one change of clothes, no tools, you’ve lost everyone you know, no seeds to plant, no house, shelter or tent even, no food, no containers to put water in…. And then when you think you are going back to the town where your family is from, you show up to find that another family from a different tribe has already claimed that property as their own. Nothing you can do about it. Where do you go from there?!

3) The passion and energy that the native Seed Effect team has for Jesus is effervescent and incredible! They are GIANTS in faith. I am so encouraged by them, and inspired, and challenger to grow my faith. They are not exceptions to the above two bullet points, they have lived and are living through some big, tough things. But they embody delighting in the Lord like I’ve never seen. And out of the overflow of that, they care for Seed Effects clients and share who Jesus is with an intoxicating enthusiasm. They have seen God fulfill His promises in their lives, even through incredible heartbreak and hardship. Here are just a couple of stories from folks on the team: Scovia’s story and Butti’s story 4) The life change, and hope, and joyfulness I saw in the clients leaves no doubt that God is mightily at work in Kajo Keji through Seed Effect!! To hear a woman tell you that she used to feel she was not worth anything to anyone, she had no value in the world… and now, because of Seed Effect showing her who Jesus is and what she means to Him, telling her she does have worth and showing it by investing in her so she can have a business, she not only values her life, but her kids’ lives, and values the lives of others in her village and is helping them know worth and love. It’s pretty incredible.

5) I felt like there was a “theme” to my time in South Sudan, a phrase that continually ran through my mind like a song stuck in my head, that so many of my experiences fit into… That was God’s Promises. Not an entirely new concept, but it felt like God revealed it to me in a new way. I mean EVERYTHING was like “oh that’s one of God’s promises to us from the Bible”, or “oh, WOW, that’s God making good on one of his promises”. Maybe it was that I was reading through Genesis with Join The Journey while I was there too. A couple of the ones that stand out in my memory:
- God promises to be our comforter in hard times, and “delight in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart” psalm 37:4 If he is our biggest delight and source of joy, then our hearts desire will be for a deeper and closer relationship with him. It’s an awesome Catch 22! I saw people who had lost so much embodying these and have a joy shining out of them like nothing I’ve ever seen.
- God promises he will not allow us to suffer forever and that He is there in that suffering, 1 Peter 5:10 “After you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace… will himself restore, confirm, strengthen and establish you” It was a pastor in South Sudan who first pointed out this verse to me, and it echoed in my mind as we visited different clients, especially some of the newer clients who had not experienced as much life change yet. I encouraged them with this verse, but only because I had been encouraged with it from other Seed Effect clients. They saw it in their life – they experienced true suffering, suffering that I can’t fully fathom. And they stood in front of me with huge smiles and this crazy sparkle in their eye talking about how God and the work of Seed Effect had given them hope and strength and joy.
- ….and that His love never ceases and his mercies are new every morning, Lamentations 3:22-23. God gives us new mercies every day because each day only has enough mercy in it for that day…. We will not have to bear tomorrow’s troubles with today’s resources, God gives us new hope and mercy each day for it’s own trouble. In so many of the stories we heard in the markets of Kajo Keji, there seemed past days when Regina or Kenny’s circumstances were too much for any person to bear, but as they revealed their stories, God had provided just the right event or person to give hope, or a hand up, or love them, or just the right guidance just when they needed it.
I hear God, as He’s looking over South Sudan, declaring “I know the plans I have for you, and you, and you… plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”. I hear that for Rick and I, for Seed Effect’s leadership team, and most loudly for the Seed Effect clients.

Currently, I’m working on more posts for the Seed Effect blog with client stories and more of our experience. As those get published, we will put them on this blog as well. So stay tuned!
February 5, 2015
Short Stories from Africa

So we have few short stories from Africa that didn’t feel like enough for their own blog posts but I thought they would be entertaining to share nonetheless:

Going to see the frogs

The place we stayed in Yei, South Sudan had a interesting feature in the bathroom; Toilet frogs. These little frogs lived in the back “tank” part of the toilet and if you flushed when they were swimming they would come flying into the bowl with the water and swim frantically until the gripped the side and climbed right back up where the water came from. Liz was the first one to find them and when I went to check it out, I flushed again and nothing. Turns out you kinda had to surprise them and catch them swimming or they would be clinging to the walls of the tank, which is where I found three of them when I looked inside. And so, the term “Going to see the frogs” was coined.

Who told you to become a Rastafarian?

This was one of the few things the pastor that was driving us around Yei, South Sudan said in English on his cell phone while driving (he said A LOT not in english on his cell phone while driving). It was in the middle of a serious conversation in the local language and then out of nowhere in a loud serious tone “It’s a very bad thing you’ve brought into your family! Who told you to become a Rastafarian?!?” Liz and I both tried not to laugh out loud but couldn’t resist. We now regularly ask each other “Who told you to become a Rastafarian?”

Meeting the Mayor of Port Bell

Liz and I had grand plans of taking the fabled ferry from Kampala, Uganda to Mwanza, Tanzania. I say fabled as there is or isn’t one depend on where you look on the internet. Once we got to Port Bell (the port in Kampala) we found out for sure there isn’t one (side note: there used to be a ferry but it was deemed “no longer safe for passenger travel”). We figured it wouldn’t hurt to see if would could find anymore information about possible water crossings at “Sailors Bar.” That’s where we meet a thoroughly drunk older man that everyone else kept referring to as “Mayor.” We humored his rambling dialog for a little while assuming he was somebody’s uncle or something and none of the staff seemed the slightest bit concerned.

About 10 minutes in The Mayor really took a liking to Liz, and asked me if she was my wife… then proceeded to try and barter for her. He offered me “An African” in exchange for Liz which I of course turned down, then he upped his offer to “Two Africans!” again I declined and insisted again that I wasn’t interested in any trading. They then thought he might sweeten the deal with a case of beer… In his mind Liz had zero say in the matter so we figured we better leave.

Just for the record I wouldn’t trade Liz for anything… not even “Two Africans, and a case of beer” and there is no Ferry from Kampala to Mwanza.

A nice, cheap, clean, place to stay

So after we parted ways with Drew at the airport in Uganda we got a ride with 3 other people who were headed into Kampala and already had a driver lined up. We thought we’d go to the center of town and find something cheap so when the driver asked if we had a place to stay in mind we said “No. Got any ideas for someplace nice and cheap?” He thought for a minute then made a phone call, and responded back with “It’s not really open to the public, but it’s nice, clean and I know them and it’s cheap.” Sold!

Turns out he signed us up to stay at “Home for the Religious”… a Convent! Sister Angelica was definitely taken back a bit and thought we were crazy when we told her our plans, but obliged and provided us with a room… granted they didn’t have any rooms with double beds “for couples” after all it was a convent, but she did give us a room with two beds (and two very large Bibles)! It was the cheapest thing we found in Kampala, and it was quiet, probably due to the rule “OBSERVE SILENCE IN THE CORRIDORS AND BEDROOMS.” It was a quiet two nights.

Why Americans don’t buy anything?

Anyone who has spent any time in a tourist area has undoubtedly experienced touts trying to sell you all kind of junk. And for some reason I seem to get offered weed a lot, all over the world. Must be a young(ish) white guy thing I guess, lol. Usually the drug offers are fairly subtle “hey man, wanna party?”, “you want smoke?”,”Lookin’ for a good time?” and are usually accompanied by some friendly chit-chat “Where you from?“ “on holiday?” etc. and maybe a coconut or something else a little more “legitimate” they are “selling.” And then some just come out and say it “Need some weed?” I usually give them a polite no thanks, or just ignore them completely. Liz is usually completely oblivious to all drug offers.

Well this guy on the beach in Zanzibar needs to sit in on Liz’s marketing 101 class. Liz and I are walking to dinner on the beach and this guy comes up with some key chains or something in his hand (again totally not uncommon) and says, “Hey man, want to buy some cocaine?”
I was a little taken back by his directness but said, “No thanks.”
“Marijuana?”
“Nope, not into that stuff.”
“Hashish?”
(In my mind… Are you seriously asking in that order?) “Ha, ha. No man, we don’t do drugs.” Thinking the conversation is over…

Then he comes back with, “Wanna buy a diamond?”
(I can’t not laugh at this point; No I don’t want to buy a blood diamond on the beach in the dark for a guy that just tried to sell me a boatload of drugs.) “Nope, don’t need any diamonds either.”
We start to walk away thinking surely the conversation is over and he realizes we aren’t his target demographic. But no, there is more…

He holds up his handful of key chains, “Want to buy a key chain?”
Still trying not to laugh; “No man, not buying anything tonight.”
Now he is clearly offended; “Why Americans don’t buy my Bull S#!t?”
“They don’t buy anything?”
“No, man. They don’t buy anything, they don’t help Africa.”
“Not even the drugs?”
“NO! They don’t care about Africans. They don’t help Africa!”
“Could be you’re approach.”

At this point Liz and I decided we’re at the restaurant we want to go into and I guess he gets the picture at this point or sees someone else, but walks off continuing his rant about how American’s don’t care enough to buy drugs from Africans.

Catholic guilt will work on a lot of things but not on buying drugs and blood diamonds. – Liz

February 2, 2015
Seed Effect: South Sudan

After literally years of wanting and trying to visit the Seed Effect team on the ground in South Sudan we finally made it! (If you don’t know Seed Effect the micro-finance ministry in South Sudan you might want to read: What is Seed Effect, Our South Sudan Visa Journey and South Sudan Here We Come). We new about micro-finance but we were ready to see it in action. We met up with Drew Mosier, Seed Effects Dallas based state-side Executive Director in Entebbe, Uganda and headed to a little air stripe between Entebbe and Kampala. After an interesting “baggage screening” (unpack everything) we meet our pilot, Dallas, and the 4 of us climbed into the only 4 seats on the plane! I got to play co-pilot. We taxied down the dirt runway and we were up, up, up and away for our two-hour flight to Arua, Uganda.

We arrived in Aura just in time to find out that we were going to have a two, no maybe three… no, no, make that a four-hour layover while our next (and bigger) plane went and dropped off some other people that were headed to a different part of South Sudan before coming back to take us to Kajo Keji (KK), and the Seed Effect headquarters. We briefly entertained the idea of walking into town but the security guy with the gun at the gate to airport didn’t think it was a good idea to leave the airport grounds and suggested we enjoy the “canteen” on the airport grounds (we didn’t argue it’s one of our travel rules… “Don’t argue with guys with big guns”). We passed the time catching up with Drew, playing dominos, getting a briefing on South Sudan and watching the lizards catch bugs. Before long our plane was back and we were flying the short 45 minutes to KK!

Our plane landed Kajo Keji International Airport, aka the dirt strip at the edge of town and we were greeted by what seemed like a hundred kids surrounding the plane and greeting us with “Hi-eeeeeee…!” In the middle of them all was Scovia Kiden, the South Sudan Country Director for Seed Effect, with some of the team to greet us and take us to the office. We piled into a Land Cruiser and down the dirt road into town. We arrived at the office and meet the team then it was on the compound where we’d be staying for our time in KK. Compound sounds more exciting that it is, it was the local pastor’s house and everyone seems to call any group of buildings with a wall around it a compound in South Sudan.

The pastor’s compound had one of the few water wells in the area so there were always kids running in and out all day every day with jugs of all kinds to fill up and carry home. We took our turn playing “water pump” a few times over the course of the next few days and the kids seems to like it when we pumped as the jugs seemed to multiple very quickly when I was pumping water… or maybe I’m just a lot slower at it than they are.

The next few days were a whirlwind of meeting with the team, with clients, hearing stories of life change, training, learning and encouragement; and a lot of getting used to the speed of life in rural Africa. One of the first things we learned was “gayla-tot” which is what all the kids yelled at us if they weren’t yelling “Hi-eeeeeee…” it loosely, and affectionately, translates to “white person.” We got a lot of that; driving down the road, walking through the market pretty much everywhere. Kids would run out to the road and wave at us as we drove by yelling “Gayla-tot. Gayla-tot.” Then we would wave and they would yell “Hi-eeeeee!”

We visited a bunch of the markets around KK and met a number of Seed Effect clients. Some were on their ninth or tenth loan cycle while others were just starting their first or second loan cycle with Seed Effect. They all had amazing stories full of suffering and hardship but full of hope and optimism as well. They want to see their country healed. We heard stories of fleeing the violence and instability of a civil war and ongoing conflicts, of families being lost in refugee camps and stories of uncertainty. But we also heard stories of healing, of kids that can now go to school, of communities being stabilized, and stories of life change. Part of Liz and I’s goal for our time in South Sudan was to document some of the stories of Seed Effect clients and share them with the world. We’ve got number we plan to share of the next few months on Seed Effect’s blog so stay tuned.

The Seed Effect team had asked if we could lead some team training on a number of topics. Liz saw a perfect opportunity to work Brinker’s and “big rocks” analogy into her training class on “Goals and Priorities” and of course there were plenty of rocks to work with. And what team training would be complete without a seminar on “Feedback is Priceless?” She did a wonderful job and had the team totally engaged. She can now add internationally known development speaker to her already overflowing résumé.

I was volun-told that I would be preaching on Sunday, which was nice of Drew to tell me in advance because he said on his first trip he only found out that the American visitors were always expected to “Give the Word” when they called him up to preach so I was extremely thankful for the day or so I was able to prepare in advance as well as for Join the Journey and their daily devotions to inspire me to speak on Abraham and Isaac from Genesis 22… luckily for y’all the mango tree the church meet under didn’t have any recording equipment so we won’t be posting my “sermon” here.

Over and over throughout our time in Kajo Keji I was constantly reminded of 1 Peter 3:15 “…always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you…” It seemed as if the Seed Effect team always had the gospel on the tip of their tongue, the Word of God seasoned all of their conversations; it was truly encouraging, and more than a little convicting.

The second leg of our trip was a scouting expedition to Yei, which is one of the towns Seed Effect is considering for it’s third branch in South Sudan. Yei is considered by many the most stable part of South Sudan and it shows, people and groups are flocking to Yei, it’s main market was HUGE! We met with a number of groups and individuals that are based in Yei to get an idea if Seed Effect would be a good fit for the community. And three flights and another four-hour layover at the “canteen” in Arua later we were back at the airstrip outside Entebbe hugging Drew bye and jumping in a car to Kampala.

Liz and I talk a lot about expectation these days, as we travel always wondering what the next village/country/place to sleep will be like and South Sudan was everything I expected and at the same time nothing like I expected. There were no bullets whizzing overhead but we heard stories from other parts of the country where the bullets still regularly fly. There is practically no infrastructure, no paved roads, electricity in most places is own your own with solar panels and generators and the water is pumped by hand from a well. The people are warm and inviting and proud of what they are doing. Clients view Seed Effect as a company they are choosing to give their business to, but also as part of their family. Maybe I just didn’t know what to expect but I was totally blown away.

God is working in South Sudan and he is using Seed Effect.

January 23, 2015
South Sudan Here We Come!!

I’m sitting here at the Doha Airport, and can’t believe are less than 12 hours away from starting our time in South Sudan with Seed Effect (more on what Seed Effect is about)! We’ll be flying into Entebbe, Uganda, then taking a small bush plane to the rural town where Seed Effect is based. It’s been a challenging journey just to get visas and be allowed into the country, and God has used that process to remind us that He is in control and we just need to trust him. (more on that in a another post) We’re excited to have more detail around what we’ll be doing and we’re eagerly preparing!

In reality, we are not going to be there to hand out loans, or build a storefront for a new business. It’s important that the clients are being served by other South Sudanese, locals who are there invested in their daily lives. So we’ll take more of a behind the scenes role. A big part of it is for us to get to see how God is using Seed Effect and the microfinance loans to change lives, families and communities – that leads to the first thing we’ll be doing – Curating stories of individuals, families and communities that have been transformed by God through Seed Effect. Rick will do some photography and design, I’ll do some writing and content generation. What we create will be used for the website, social media, etc to raise awareness, engagement and support.

While we are there we are also going to be teaching staff training seminars to the Seed Effect staff. We’ve been asked to do seminars on time management and goal setting, attitude towards work, humility, and team building and team work.

So I’m working on a couple powerpoint presentations (déjà vu!) I’m thinking of using the Big Rocks demonstration to talk about goals and time management.

And our third area of focus will be creating a database system for clients success metrics and then analyzing the trends and making them meaningful results and insights. Basically this will allow Seed Effect to quantify the impact of the work they are doing, which allows them to apply for grants and expand their work. We plan to get an understanding for the current survey system and what the team there is working with in terms of technology, reliable internet access, etc and it will most likely be some ongoing work for us for the months following.

In reality, this is God’s trip and we may end up doing something completely different! We are excited to be part of whatever God has for us.

We aren’t sure what the internet situation will be there, so we may not be back online until after January 15, when we plan to be back in Uganda and headed toward Tanzania. But we would love to have you praying for us while we are there.

We need your prayers for us that we are completely trusting of God in all of this trip and running toward Him. Pray that God is preparing our hearts for it, humbling us, drawing us closer to him. Pray for us to recognize spiritual warfare that may be happening and be strong in it – if Satan can’t keep you away from where God wants you, he’ll try to make you ineffective, distracted or demotivated when you’re there. Pray that God is preparing the hearts of those we’ll meet in South Sudan. Pray for us as we start preparing the content we’ll be presenting there. That we take the opportunities God gives us to bring him glory through this process – whether that’s in the plan we think we have, or different circumstances God gives us. Pray that we have open hearts to hear what God wants for us. Pray that any logistics challenges of getting to and around South Sudan are just preparing us even more to be there and trust God, to know it’s him that got us there and is doing the work there.

January 6, 2015
What is Seed Effect?

Seed Effect is a Christ-centered nonprofit microfinance organization. The mission is to plant the seeds that overcome poverty by providing access to microloans, education, and spiritual discipleship in marginalized communities. It starts with a life, impacts a family and transforms a community. Here’s a great video from Seed Effect:

Why not just give these folks some food or something?

Yep – Food, water, healthcare, and education are mere luxuries for millions in South Sudan. But when you ask the materially poor what they believe poverty really is, the answer might surprise you. They won’t always tell you that it’s a lack of things, but more often they’ll say that it’s a lack of dignity, security, opportunity, and hope. They say it is loneliness, pain, bondage, and powerlessness. Seed Effect exists because people lack access to the hand-up, the tool, the opportunity that could change the cycle of poverty in their families for generations to come.

Microfinance is a tool that can enable the poor to break the cycle of poverty by providing small loans and savings services to support income-generating businesses. With repayment of each loan, the money is reinvested as loans to other entrepreneurs, thereby multiplying the impact of each donation.

Ok, so what does that actually look like?

Here’s an example, a woman may have a business selling hand-sewn dresses in the market. While she’s very hard-working, she is only able to complete a new dress every few days. However, by providing her with a microloan to purchase a sewing machine, she is able to make more dresses, grow her business and better provide for her family.

As Milton Friedman, the 1976 noble peace prize winner, put it “the poor stay poor, not because they are lazy, but because they have no access to capital.”

January 6, 2015
Our South Sudan Visa Journey

God has really used the process of getting our South Sudan visas to remind us that He is in control and we just need to trust Him. It’s kind of a funny story now, but in the moment we were stressed, which just showed us that we weren’t fully trusting God with it.

To say it mildly, we have hit a few obstacles to getting our visa to get into the country. We couldn’t do it before we left on our trip because you have to get it within three months of when you’ll be there. So we were planning to get the visa in Bangkok or Uganda where they have South Sudan embassies. This hasn’t worked out for us. We could not get in touch with the embassies in Bangkok or Uganda. So we tried the embassy in Germany, but they will only issue visas for German residents. We then realized this may be the case in Uganda as well (but they have not answered their phone ever, in the weeks we’ve been calling). The folks in South Sudan also do not answer. And we have not been able to successfully communicate with the embassy in Kenya either. We were calculating if it was even possible to overnight our passports to Washington D.C., get them to expedite the processing (from 2 weeks to 1 week) and have them shipped back to us in Germany – all with the holidays and before we flew out. After calculating it every way we could think of, it just wasn’t going to work.

We were getting rather concerned at this point. We were really stressing out, and had to stop and remind ourselves that this is God’s trip and if He wants us there He’ll make a way.

The day before Christmas we learned that there is an embassy in Brussels (where we already happened to be going for NYE). And they actually answered their phones and said they issue visas to non-residents of Belgium. But timing was tough… it’s typically a 5 day process… with the holidays, they were closed Christmas through the 29th, and then may be closed for the new year and we needed to fly out on Jan 6. We completed their online application, only to learn a couple hours later that it no longer works. We must go in person and it takes 2-3 days.

We went early for NYE and dropped off our passports. They agreed to try to expedite our processing to make our flight, but no promises. We already had our flight purchased at this point so we were committed. We had friends praying for us though, and felt much calmer knowing God had it in control.

We planned to return on January 5^th to pick up our visas and passports, less than 24 hours before our flight. We arrived at the South Sudan embassy with big smiles, knowing whatever the outcome, it was God’s doing. And we were met by very friendly staff who told us happy New Year and handed us our passports with the visas in them! We were beyond excited! What a great journey to begin our journey to South Sudan.

January 6, 2015
A Very Bavarian Birthday

Well I’m 31 now. I’m into my 30’s officially. To be honest, I’m not feeling super great about it. I liked being 30 and wasn’t totally ready for that to be over. But oh well, no real choice about it, so I figured we should get on with the celebrating!

We debated on where to go for a while – a birthday in Paris would be so romantic, a birthday skiing in the Alps would be so exciting, or maybe Amsterdam? But turns out that Europe is stinkin’ expensive!! Just the train ticket to Paris is $350 Euros! And that’s before you get a hotel. And I’m quite certain that if I was in Paris for my birthday there is no hope of me stopping myself from going out to incredible meals, eating my weight in cheese and pastries and drinking ridiculous wine – that is to say it would have gotten really expensive really fast. Same goes for skiing (plus, the snow reports say there’s not any good snow yet).

So we decided to go to one of the “must see” sights in Germany – the Neuschwanstein Castle. It’s this gorgeous castle set up on a rugged mountain surrounded by gorges, and it’s right on the border of Austria in the beginning of the Alps. It was the inspiration for Disney’s Sleeping Beauty Castle, you can really see the similarities.

So that was the plan, but of course plans go awry! Its supposed to be a four hour drive to the castle, so we left early in the morning with plans to make to the castle, then spend the night in the hour-away mountain town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Oh important tidbit, while we didn’t get a white Christmas, we got a white day after Christmas… and every day since then! So there’s a good amount of snow already, and as we’re leaving it starts coming heavily down again. So our four hour drive turned into eight+ hours to get to the castle. We arrive there and park, but can’t see the castle because of the snow coming down. We go to buy tickets to go up, and learn that we got there 10 minutes AFTER the ticket office closed. So no princess castle for Lizzy on her birthday.

Knowing it’s taken twice as long to drive as we had planned, we decide to leave for our hotel immediately since it’s going to take a couple hours and make the most of it. The drive was absolutely gorgeous and took us through Austria for the majority of the time. The snow was really fluffy and I just couldn’t help myself, when we got stuck in traffic I jumped out and made snow angels!

The hotel was great and we quickly headed into town to grab dinner and figure out where to celebrate. We walked a couple blocks and found the “Grill und Wein” restaurant we were hoping for, and then found it was closed for the holidays, as were most of the other nice places in town. So what did we do??? Exactly what you do anywhere in the world when you’re celebration plans don’t work out… you find the Irish Pub! And there was one just down the street. After a birthday pint of Bavarian brew there, we went to grab pizza for dinner, promising our new Irish pub friends to be back shortly.

After our quick dinner we returned to a big welcome from the Irish pub. Seriously, how is it that every Irish pub in the world consistently delivers a guaranteed good night?! We made lots of friends there and closed the place down at about 4:00 AM!

The next morning we were up early and ready to see this castle! We made it back to the castle and this time were able to get tickets AND we could see the castle from a distance. It definitely lived up to the hype!!

It’s a 40 minute walk up the hill, which was like walking in a winter wonderland.

We took the required tour to see the inside and it was equally as impressive. Both Rick and I agreed that of all of the famous, historical buildings we’ve seen on this trip and others, this was our favorite! It’s beautifully made inside, and intricate and in great condition. Sorry, no photos allowed inside so I don’t have any share 🙁

King Ludwig II who built it was considered insane. I can see why from even just the exterior design, it’s so different from other castles. It took 23 years to build. The king moved in before it was completed… and good thing because he only got to live in it for one year before he died. King Ludwig was a recluse and built it for complete seclusion, the plan was for the castle to be “sacred and out of reach” from people… and only six weeks after he died the castle was opened to the public. It’s in the top three most visited places in Germany. Guess that didn’t work out so well for him!

It was pretty awesome to see. I’m really glad we visited while we were in Germany.

But I have to admit the 18+ hours of driving was kind of a beat down so it was really great to get lots of emails and Facebook comments from everyone back home! Thanks for making me feel special on my birthday! Cheers!

January 6, 2015
Merry Christmas

God brought us a long way (figuratively and literally) this year from our comfortable, steady lives in Dallas, to a nomadic life often not sure where we’ll be spending the night. We are learning more and more everyday to trust Christ in everything, He is the answer.

From wherever we are to wherever you are,
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

December 25, 2014