Stan Gaede Said to be a Life-Long Learner

Stan Gaede, previous president of Westmont College, was somewhat of a celebrity on our tiny campus. T-shirts, caps, even bobble-heads were made of the famous Gaede. (My brothers got such a kick out of his name since instead of calling me Katie, they often refer to be as "gay-de.") A semi-celebrity + a small campus = several awkward encounters with yours truly. He once pulled up next to my car as my friends and I had the windows rolled down and were singing "Testify" by Avalon at the top of our lungs. Before taking the picture tot he left, Lesley said, "We love you!" and I too felt the need to explain why we wanted a picture and said, "You're famous." Smooth Katie, very smooth. However, my favorite Stan run-in was when Megan Fate smashed my ice cream cone in my face so I was retaliating and had her in a head lock right as Stan came up behind us and said, "What are you doing?" I heard "How are you doing?" and replied, "Goo-ood. How are you?" I realized my error when Megan looked at me and started laughing hysterically and Stan looked at me with pity. Why all the reminiscing about Stan Gaede? I learned some valuable lessons from him during my years at Westmont and one thing I will always remember him advocating is being a "life-long learner." At the time, I didn't really give this concept much thought but in recent months I've been thinking more and more about how much I love to learn new things and how important it is that I continue to learn and grow and not grow stagnant in my faith. That being said, here is a list of things I have been learning recently:

* How to ride a chapa! In recent entries I've written extensively about these public vans which wreak havoc throughout Maputo. I've often laughed as they whiz by me with 30 people on board when it should only hold 12 passengers. People sit on laps and stand with their rears out the door as the often-times-drunk drivers weave in and out of traffic. Not having a car here, I assumed I would be using this form of public transportation often but I actually have only used it twice and both times I was escorted by a bunch of older boys from the orphanage. I always opt for power-walking rather than dishing out the 5 mets (25 cents) for a risky chapa ride. The other day I was running late and needed to get to Lisa and Sabina's house pronto so after being in Maputo for almost 9 months, I rode a chapa by myself for the first time! It was actually incredibly simple since the one I needed drives right by my house and then goes right past Lisa and Sabina's but I was a bit intimidated not being able to communicate if I needed to. Lisa had coached me on how to say, "stop here" in Portuguese but in all the excitement of finally boarding a chapa, I totally forgot what I was supposed to say. I spent the ride packed in like a sardine, sharing a seat with the man taking the money, fretting over what I was going to say when we got to Lisa's house. As we neared her house I finally concluded I would go with a resounding, "Ummmmmm" and point out the window and hand over the dough. Luckily I didn't have to sound like a moron since right before I said "Ummm" someone in the back called out in Portuguese to stop.

* I should preview all videos before showing them in class. I learned this the hard way the other day in US History. I was showing World War II footage and never imagined there would be anything inappropriate. Wow. In explaining the context of the Battle of Stalingrad, suddenly tons of fully nude men were in the river moving a boat. Why? Why on earth weren't they clothed? You're fighting a war for goodness sake! Put on some clothes. Of course my kids all giggled and I blushed. Whoops.

* How to cook! Ok, so I'm no Martha but I am getting down the basics. You would laugh if you saw some of the things I type into google. Some of my latest accomplishments made from scratch: Rice, tortillas, pancakes, and spaghetti sauce. These are all things that I honestly assumed always came ready-made in boxes, packages, or jars. When I first made tortillas, it took a few times to figure out how to make it into a circle so I experimented and in the picture you will see my "Africa tortilla." I am still perfecting the "pancake flip" and find myself laughing more than one is supposed to when cooking pancakes. Ironically, the pancake in the photo was tastier than all the other nice, circle pancakes. I also discovered that half-cooked, refrigerated chocolate chip pancakes are my new favorite snack. Madalena was very proud when she returned from her 3 weeks in South Africa to find me cooking away and informed me that now I am ready to get married- apparently this is a typical Brazilian saying; once you can cook, you can marry.

* What it means to "be surrendered" to God. I remember growing up and singing lots of songs about surrender and my youth pastor would often talk about surrendering all aspects our lives to God but I was always kind of confused. My thoughts back then: "I want to be totally surrendered but how do you know if you are surrendered? And if you're not, how do you actually surrender? Practically speaking, what does surrender look like?" I didn't come up with great answers then but one thing I am realizing is that when I thought I was "surrendered to God" in all areas of my life, I was kidding myself. I'm realizing that complete surrender is a daily action and a daily struggle. Every single day there are multiple moments when, if I pause and think, I can consciously choose my way or God's way, my attitude or His, my perspective or His. If I am truly surrendered, I will choose His way every time- I will love and treat people how He wants me to. If I am truly surrendered, I won't be battling against my will so often because my will will be His will. (Too many "wills" in one sentence?) I am still grappling with this idea of surrender and asking God to show me when I am clinging to my own will and refusing to surrender.

I recently read a passage by Francois Fenelon which addresses this idea of complete surrender. He was a member of the court of King Louis XIV of France but was banished by the king after he was denounced by Pope Innocent XII for "having loved God too much, and man too little." Interesting guy who went on to become an amazing pastor and wrote the following: (I know some of you will be tempted to skim read over this next part- I know I do when some people put quotes on their blogs, but I encourage you not to skim. This is great stuff.)

"Christian perfection is not so severe, tiresome, and constraining as we think. It asks us to be God's from the bottom of our hearts. And since we thus are God's, everything that we do for him is easy. Those who are God's are always glad, when they are not divided, because they only want what God wants and want to do for him all that he wishes. Peace of conscience, liberty of heart, the sweetness of abandoning ourselves in the hands of God, the joy of always seeing the light grow in our hearts, finally, freedom from the fears and insatiable desires of the times, multiply a hundredfold the happiness which the true children of God possess in the midst of their crosses, if they are faithful.

What God asks of us is a will which is no longer divided between him and any creature. It is a will pliant in his hands which wants without reserve whatever he wants. Happy are those who give themselves to God! ...The true Christian, whatever the misfortunes which Providence heaps upon him, wants whatever comes and does not wish for anything which he or she does not have. The more one loves God, the more one is content.

They know by experience that the yoke of the Lord is "easy and light," that we find in him "rest from the soul," and that he comforts those who are weary and overburdened, as he himself has said. But woe unto those weak and timid souls who are divided between God and their world! They are torn by passion and remorse at the same time. They fear the judgments of God and those of others. How unworthy of God and of ourselves to want always to stay where we are! Our whole life was only given us to advance us by great strides toward our heavenly country.

There is only one way to love God: to take not a single step without him, and to follow with a brave heart wherever he leads. All those who live the Christian life, and yet would very much like to keep a little in with the world, run great risk of being among the lukewarm of whom it is said they will be "spewed out of the mouth of God."

God has little patience with those weak souls who say to themselves, "I shall go this far and no farther." Is it up to the creature to make the law for his Creator? What would a king say of a subject, or a master of a servant, who only served him in his own way, who feared to care too much for his interests, and who was embarrassed in public because of belonging to him? What will the King of Kings say to us if we act like these cowardly servants?"

Wow. I can see why a French king would not like to hear this theology- well any king at that matter. I understand why even the Pope would be rubbed the wrong way by his teachings because they are so bold, straightforward and tough to swallow. How often do I "serve him in my own way" and like to "keep a little with this world?" I was very convicted by this.

Ok, back to things I've been learning...

* How to distinguish between male and female turtles. Henrik drove up the other day and then pulled out a turtle from the back seat and informed me that since the shell was curved at the rear-end side, this was a female turtle. While he was giving me my lesson in turtle anatomy, she got a bit annoyed and started peeing which sprayed all over Henrik's feet. It was the highlight of my day. Although Lisa gets to roam the large garden in the yard, I feel bad for this turtle because occasionally Gizmo and Simba (his puppy that is still with us) treat her like a soccer ball. I came out the other day and she was fully in her shell while Gizmo was running at her and literally hitting her with his paws. (Yes, I named her Lisa. Anyone who is a true Saved by the Bell fan will understand) I liberated Lisa from the dogs the other day, quite certain she was going to pee on me at any second but she didn't. You may be wondering why Henrik brought home a turtle. The answer is: he's just random like that and asked his friend if he could have Lisa and see if she would mate with the other turtle we already have.

* How to diagram sentences. I remember flipping through the Grammar textbook at the beginning of the year and shuddering. Having never diagrammed sentences, I was super intimidated by the whole process and worried about having to teach it to a bunch of kids who have been doing it for years. (There is only so much "b-s-ing" a teacher can get away with.) The picture to the left with my much darker hair is proof of my previous apprehension. I've been learning with my students though and sincerely enjoying the process. I have been admitting when I'm wrong (This happens even though I have the answers- how does this keep happening?) and discovering that it is like a puzzle to diagram a tough sentence and I am enjoying the challenge. My kiddos scoffed when I told them I thought it was kinda fun but I think some of them secretly enjoy it too but they still have to pretend to be cool. Earlier in the year Sabina opened my eyes to the wonder of grammar and sentence diagramming when she informed me of the following:

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo" is a grammatically correct sentence used as an example of how homonyms and homophones can be used to create complicated constructs." We spent way too much time discussing this and figuring it out but I can pinpoint this as the moment my appreciation for diagramming began. Thanks Sabina. For the curious, the sentence means: Bison from Buffalo, New York who are intimidated by other bison in their community also happen to intimidate other bison in their community. What would we do without Wikipedia?

* Zimbabwe is in deep trouble. Being a neighboring country of Zimbabwe, Mozambicans talk a lot about this nation in turmoil under the current leadership of crazy Robert Mugabe. During the 90's Mozambique was wrecked by civil war and was thee poorest nation in the world but the transformation since the war days has been incredible. Sadly, now our neighbor seems to be approaching that infamous # 1 spot for poorest country in the world. The reason: Mugabe. In 2000 he took the farms from the White land-owners and distributed them to black farmers who didn't know how to run a large farm. This, along with other "reforms" have led to Zimbabwe having an 80% unemployment rate and around 150,000 % hyperinflation! To make matters even worse, Mugabe just passed another law which will take the businesses away from the White business owners. On March 29 there will be elections and hopefully Mugabe will be removed from power and a new leader will make wise decisions to bring this nation in turmoil back on track without any craziness like in Kenya. I admit that when I first moved to Mozambique, I had never heard the name Robert Mugabe even though he is on a list of a few world leaders not allowed to travel to the United States. I didn't even realize Mozambique shares a border with Zimbabwe. (I know- pretty sad for a history and geography teacher to admit this but I also share it in case I made you feel bad for not knowing he was)

* People actually do win those cars in the mall. I know this because one of my 11th graders won a car! Not being able to drive, he sold it for $20,000. I always thought those things were gimicks. Lesson learned.

* Europe considers a "youth" to be under the age of 26. This is very disheartening for a number of reasons. First off, I will be 26 in May and still feel like I'm 13- how do you explain that Europe? Because of this European error, it appears that on Trent and I's backpacking adventure, I will have to cough up more dough than him since I will never get the "youth" discounts. I'm quite upset about this and am considering seeking out Prince William to discuss a possible change. (I realize he cannot nor will not ever be able to do something about it but did I mention that I learned how to cook, thus making me ready for marriage?)

* Speaking of Europe, I am also learning all about the kings and queens of England in my World History class and am finding it fascinating. We watched scenes from the latest Elizabeth movie and wow, that Kate Blanchett can really give a captivating speech. When she was dressed in armor, addressing the troops before the Spanish Armada reached England, I got the chills and had to refrain from cheering at the end. While mentioning the famous, "Virgin queen," I must mention the awkward moment from last week. I have a very vivid memory of the day I learned what a "virgin" meant. It was 5th grade and Clint Calory came to school asking everyone if they were virgins and no one else had any clue what it meant. I remember the panic I felt that he would ask me and I wouldn't know what to say and would have to admit my naivite. I had a flashback to that awful day when at lunch one of the fifth grade boys was asking his classmates if they were virgins. (why is 5th grade the year we seem to learn this?) I saved the others from my past panic by announcing, "You are all virgins now stop talking about it." Caris couldn't help but go on and share his knowledge and I heard him whisper, "It's when a woman has not yet done bad stuff with a man."

* How to spell "fricassee." I hope you, like me, are thinking, "what the heck is that?" I started giving my English class their pre-quiz for spelling and started laughing when I came to this word and admitted, 'Ok, I have no clue what this word is.' They had actually had the same word in past years so knew that it was a cooking term and knew how to spell it. I felt it unfair to punish them for not knowing how to spell it since I didn't know how to pronounce it so I sounded it out for them. "Fric- ass- ee." Of course that led to a bunch of giggles but there was no getting around it and now they'll remember how to spell fricassee. Yes, someone actually did misspell it after I gave the answer. Yet another reminder that my kids aren't hanging on my every word.

* How to pray scripture. I hesitate in adding this to the list because I don't want to sound "holier than thou." Truthfully, when I'd heard this phrase "praying scripture," in the past, I didn't understand what it meant. So when I showed up to Bible study and Molly announced that instead of discussing Hebrews 12, we would be praying it, I confessed that I didn't know how to do that. After reading through the chapter as we always do, we then turned to a time of prayer when we thanked and praised God for the specific things mentioned in the chapter: for the examples of witnesses before us, for discipline, for treating us like sons, for Jesus and his role as mediator, and for a "kingdom that cannot be shaken." We asked Him to help us, "fix our eyes on Jesus" as verse 2 mentions and help us to "live in peace with all me and to be holy" as verse 14 says. As we continued to pray, we also searched the passage, thus having our eyes opened and I was more focused in this time of prayer than I think I have ever been before in a "group prayer" setting. In listening to the prayers of others and praying myself, I felt like I dug deeper into this chapter of Hebrews than any of the other chapters and came away thinking, "I need to do this more often." I highly recommend this strategy when you want to talk with God but feel like you are treating Him like Santa or a genie but aren't sure what else to pray. (I say this because sometimes I feel that way- that I come to Him just asking for things) Read one of the Psalms and then pray it by using different quotes from the passage to praise God.