Thoughts

I'm continually amazed by the interconnectedness of people around the world. I met a girl at church today in Nashville, TN who spent the summer in Kenya working in community development and microeconomics just 30 minutes away from Tenwek. I stay connected with friends around the world through email, blogs, & Facebook. Though I hadn't heard of Burundi two years ago and thus don't expect others to know it, I regularly run into people who have been there or who know Burundian refugees or who have read the book "Strength in What Remains" (the story of the Burundi genocide).

And yet somehow, despite all this interconnectedness, despite the fact that I talk about both Kenya and Burundi daily with friends and strangers as I share my story, sometimes it still seems surreal. I lived in Kenya for two years, and, though I missed aspects of life in the U.S. and certainly faced unique challenges, my daily life was very comfortable and even felt normal. I didn't notice the cows or donkeys on the dirt path on my way to work or the ladies selling local produce on the corner. I forgot that before living in Kenya I used to drink tap water and buy eggs and milk from the grocery store. I shook hands with everyone and greeted them in Swahili without thinking twice about it. I wore long skirts daily. I expected to treat patients with meningitis and malaria and HIV/AIDS on a daily basis and to take a break for chai at 10:30am. I visited with friends and neighbors every day because, with the exception of an occasional trip to Nairobi (3 hours away), most people, missionaries included, rarely traveled farther than walking distance from their house. It was not uncommon for me to not even ride in a vehicle for a month or two at a time.

Now that I'm back in the States, though, life here seems normal, too - decorating for Christmas, driving my car everywhere, going out to eat regularly, brushing my teeth with tap water, pumpkin in a can. And of course, the joy of all the Pfister pfamily Thanksgiving traditions:

Family Thanksgiving. Congratulations, Lauren and Wei Chi on your recent engagement!

Boulevard Bolt - 5 mile race my family runs every year on Thanksgiving morning

With a November 28th birthday, I always enjoy a family birthday celebration sometime during Thanksgiving weekend.

To give you a glimpse of some of the juxtaposition between worlds, though, I'd like to share with you some recent news and observations from here and there:

Many of my friend's 7th grade English students in South Sudan have not even held one book this entire year.

My mom's third grade students are blessed to be surrounded by hundreds of books on a daily basis. I loved getting to share with them my story and vision last week. They were so sweet to listen enthusiastically and even pray for me.

Other friends report that in Doro on the Sudan/South Sudan border, there are currently 8700 refugees. The United Nations has exhausted their food supplies at that site and people must wait in lines for 4-5 hours to obtain water from one of the three boreholes near the camp.Medical needs are already significant and climbing with problems of severe starvation and lack of sanitation.

I enjoyed the fireworks display at the Summit mall in Birmingham, AL a week ago - an impressive show to kick off the holiday shopping season.

Friends here and there around the world have suffered from significant disappointments and loss in the last month.

Recent news from Tenwek includes another man gored by an elephant and a lady with a completely dead uterus two weeks after a C section was done at a district hospital. Both patients miraculously survived.

Poignant story copied from the Myrhe's blog: "This is Tume, the severely malnourished 9-year-old girl who was transferred from NE Kenya with TB, a dislocated hip, sores where her fragile skin had broken down as she lay immobilized in bed, and allergic reaction to her drugs. Two weeks ago she was not moving or talking, let alone smiling. Now she's up with a walker, coloring pictures, and chatting. Progress. But something about the poignancy of her "Prom Queen" shirt tugged at my heart. Her mother is also HIV-positive. This girl's challenges include eventually being orphaned, and possibly being lame. A bit far removed from some other distant little girl whose cast-off shirt seems shallow and vain in this context. Yet I hope Tume feels beautiful too, and loved and admired in the same way the prom queens do."

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I found this definition of poverty from the book, "When Helping Hurts" (which I would definitely recommend):

"Poverty is the result of relationships that do not work, that are not just, that are not for life, that are not harmonious or enjoyable. Poverty is the absence of shalom in all its meanings."

 

While few of the people reading (or writing) this blog are materially poor, most of us suffer from some element of poverty - poverty of relationship with God, with self, with others, &/or with the rest of creation. 

I've been blessed with so much and yet, like this blog writer and fellow missionary, I don't truly live a life of gratitude. I complain. I judge. I don't demonstrate the compassion and love of Christ to family and friends in my heart or in my actions.Thankfully, God is transforming even me, slowly, into a new creation. Thankfully, He loves me and Tume and the refugees in Doro and the third graders in Nashville unconditionally. He created each of us in His image and through Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, He is calling us back to right relationships. We won't fully experience shalom (peace, wholeness) until the coming of the new heavens and the new earth, but we see glimpses more and more each day around the world.

 "For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him [Jesus], and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross." Colossians 1:19-20 (italics added)

GMHC

 

McCropder Team at Global Missions Health Conference November 2011.                            From left to right: Jason, Heather, Anna, & Abi Fader; Jessica & Samuel Cropsey; Alyssa Pfister; Carlan Wendler; John Cropsey; Rachel, Ben, Eric, & Maggie McLaughlin

Last week I attended the Global Missions Health Conference in Louisville, KY. This annual conference has been very influential in my life and is something I look forward to every year and I missed in Kenya. During residency I even arranged my vacation requests around this event. Through this conference in medical school, I explored opportunities for an international rotation and subsequently spent two months at Tenwek during my fourth year. In residency, I pursued another international rotation in Togo. I also continued to pray and seek God’s direction for after residency and through this conference I learned of the post residency program with Samaritan’s Purse. I applied and was accepted into the program my third year of residency, and while attending the conference during my fourth year in 2008, I decided to serve at Tenwek in Kenya for 2 years. I also first met most of my McCropder teammates at that time – needless to say, a good first impression!

Through listening to speakers such as John Patrick, Dave Stevens, Steve Saint, David Thompson, & many others, I have wrestled with ideas of sustainability, calling, development disparities, suffering, the Great Commission, limited resources & even martyrdom. I’ve thought through issues of families and singleness. I’ve learned about malaria, HIV/AIDS, the millennium development goals, and even photography.

And the highlight, this year more than previous years, was reconnecting with friends from around the world. The medical missions community seems to grow smaller as I recognize more and more people at this conference of 3000 people. What a blessing to be surrounded by friends from college, medical school, residency, Togo, Ethiopia, Kenya, and beyond – all with a shared vision of caring for the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of the “least of these” around the world. One of my teammates once described this conference as being the place in the world where he feels most at home, and I’m tempted to agree with him. Especially now as I’ve been living out of a suitcase for two months traveling around the U.S., processing my experiences in Kenya, Burundi, the States, and not feeling fully at home in any one place.

But then, as has been expressed many times before, none of us are fully at home on this earth. But we do have a home and I look forward again to the day when most everyone I love will be in one place and we will fully rest in our comfortable, glorious home with our Heavenly Father.

“These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland…But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.” Hebrews 11:13-16

Precious

 "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." Psalm 116:15

Grandan, Grandma Chris, and me (2009)

Grandan and his two children - my mom and my Uncle Chris (2007)

On Saturday night my grandfather entered into the presence of His Lord. I am so thankful for God's perfect timing that I could be here now. I visited with Grandan 6 weeks ago at his home in Indianapolis before his health began to seriously decline. He has always been an enthusiastic vicarious participant in all my adventures. He read the "Miracle at Tenwek" book more than once and was thrilled when I came to know characters in the book. He bought a detailed African map and marked out exactly where I was in Kenya and where I will be in Burundi. He checked the Nairobi weather daily in the paper. :) He cared about all the specifics of my journey and clearly had read and remembered my many blog posts and update letters from Kenya and Burundi. He was the first person to commit to supporting me financially in Burundi. Even in the hospital last week as he struggled to breathe at one point he looked over at Grandma Chris and me and remembered, "We haven't yet opened the Burundi coffee Alyssa gave us last month!"

My Grandan was the epitome of thinking of others above yourself - he always expressed interest in others, listened carefully, and made others feel special. He loved to laugh and frequently made jokes - even in his hospital bed last week. As a voracious reader, he could converse on most any topic but he did so in such a humble way that did not draw attention to himself. As my father stated in the service today, he embodied the fruit of the Spirit extremely well. 

What a blessing that I am in the country now and was even available to drive my mother to the hospital last week and help sort out the medical information. These occasions certainly are bittersweet as it was a joy to be with family I haven't seen in years, though sad under these circumstances.

Extended family - Pfisters, Conlins, Lutz's, Wongs

Grandan would have been so proud of his great-grandson Samuel, age 3, who led us in reciting the Apostle's Creed - he saw the live version a couple weeks ago when Samuel used Grandan's oxygen tank as a pulpit and led church in his living room. :) Grandan was an amazing grandfather to little ones and to grown grandchildren. :)

Pfister family - special congratulations to my littlest sister Lauren on her engagement to Wei Chi on Saturday!

Fall

I love fall! And though I was only out of the U.S. for 2 years and the weather in Kenya is lovely year round (70s and generally green with lots of blooming flowers), I did miss the seasons - especially fall. It has been such a beautiful time of year to be driving around the Eastern U.S. - I've enjoyed leaves in 16 states these last 8 weeks! 

I love this Nathaniel Hawthorne quote: "Our Creator would never have made such lovely days, and given us the deep hearts to enjoy them, above and beyond all thought, unless we were meant to be immortal."

We were meant to be immortal! And I think we glimpse that eternal home with our Creator through the beauty of fall leaves, picking apples and painting pumpkins, cool, crisp days shared with friends and family, and even through pumpkin spice lattes!