Leaving Home

You know, a child never really leaves their nest.

I left home at 18 years old to go to college. I left with braces on my teeth and wore overalls for the majority of my freshman year (you can take the girl out of the country, but never the country out of the girl...apparently). It was there that I met friends that I have now known for 12 years. We had all kinds of adventures and we eventually graduated from college, still best friends.I returned home to my family during the holidays and occasionally in the summer to visit, but my life was elsewhere after college. I worked in California, lived in California, and was a busy person.

And then comes the inevitable day when I got my first teaching job. I moved up the the Bay Area and taught 3rd grade in a low income community. And it was tough.
I think it's those tough experiences that push you back home. I remember calling my mom sometimes daily about some of my troublemaker kids. That first year was extremely difficult and exhausting. The holidays were opportunities to get away...to rest...to just "be".

Sometimes, I think that the farther you get away from home...the more you just want to be home.

So, when I moved to Africa, I think that my first few months there, all I could think about was being home...and comfortable...and with people who knew me well.

I think that even though I left home 12 years ago (is that really possible?), I never really left home. It resides here...in this place in my heart...

I still need my parent's wisdom.

I still need the laughter that only cheesy dad jokes can bring.

I still need the tears of a good story that my mom can tell.

I still need the music of a family singing and dancing together.

I still need HOME.

And I suppose that even at 30, when I've had so many other "homes" in my life...there is still something to be said for "home"...the place you grew up, the arms that have held you your whole life.

Autumn's Annual 2011

Every year, I try to put together a newsletter of events from the year before. Here is a little snapshot of my busy past year!!!

		Autumn’s Annual 2011
Seeing God’s Hand at Work in Ghana, West Africa

This has been an extremely busy year and quite an adventure!

As many of you know, I taught for most of the year and really enjoyed my daily time with the kids. I also cared for a small boy at City of Refuge, Edwin, for the majority of the year. Both of these duties came with great joy, but also great exhaustion!! The saying is true, “It takes a village to raise a child”. At CORM, we certainly do work together to raise our children and see God’s handiwork alive and well in their lives.

Here is a little picture of our lives this year.

In January, we dedicated our children’s village site to the Lord and broke ground for all of our projects. We started construction on our two houses and our school and got busy building! We had almost 40 workers on our site everyday digging foundations and building. It was amazing to see the progress as each week passed!

We had our friends from YGAP Australia (Y-Generation against Poverty) join us in February and March. We made a couple trips up to the Volta with them, did some feeds, brainstormed, and overall, were encouraged by their presence and support. We also had visitors come through from Ohio and Semester at Sea around that time. January through June…seemed like we had a constant flow of visitors! Which was fun, but busy!

In April, I was so lucky to be able to have one of my best friends, Katie Majewski, come and visit me in Ghana. She came out to help plan our summer day camp program. It was wonderful to have her out there with me. She made me laugh so much and it was so much fun to show her a piece of my life in Ghana.

April was also busy as we started up our single mother’s program called 7 Continents in Tema New Town. It is our answer to stopping the problem of child trafficking at the root of the issue.

May and June were busy months with more visitors coming through from Finding Refuge, our partner program from Semester at Sea, and my family coming to visit. It was so wonderful to have my mom, sister Brianna, and foster brother Chris, come and spend a couple of weeks with me in Ghana. We had dance parties, a trip to the Volta, games, walks around Doryumu, and so much more. We even got to take a trip to Cape Coast, which was really fun. I think they really got a little taste for my life there. It was such a joy to have them there.

In July, I finished up the third term of our school year. I taught a combination class of our City of Refuge kids. I had 9 students: 2 second grade students, 3 3^rd graders, 3 5^th graders, and 1 8^th grader. It was a busy year, but I was so impressed with the growth of the kids throughout the school year. They did so well!

When the term ended, I took off for the States. I was close to burn out by the time I left, so it was so nice to just get a bit of a break and enjoy some time in all the places I consider “home” in the U.S.

I went first to my friend’s, The Roberts, in Southern California. We joined with our friends from college, The Beatniks, for 5 days up at Big Bear. It was wonderful! We rented a cabin and enjoyed each other’s company for the whole week. It’s so fun now that we have babies added to the mix too. Always someone to cuddle with!

After my time in Southern California, I went to Northern California to visit my friends there. I got to spend some time with PCC (my sending church); friends from my former school (Brentwood Academy), and got to get away with some of my best friends. My friends and I went away to a cabin for the weekend and it was amazing. We rented boats, sang songs and played games, and had an amazing murder mystery dinner one night. It was awesome!

My final trip in August was to Colorado to visit my family. It was beautiful in Colorado and I got to spend a lot of time outside with the fam. We went boating and mini-truck driving. It was such a blast!

When I arrived back in Ghana, it was a pleasure to meet our two newest additions to City of Refuge, Dora and Mary. They were rescued while I was in the States and they are just wonderful girls! It was also so fun to have familiar faces around when I got into Ghana—my friends Christy (from Redwood City, CA) and Tom (from Melbourne, Australia). It was so fun to have them there when I arrived. It gave me a few days to settle in before the busyness of the school year settled in.

With my new role as principal at Faith Roots, my responsibilities changed a bit at City of Refuge. Edwin moved in with Mama Theresia and Daddy Joe, which gave me an opportunity to get more rest. I went from teaching full time to principal all the time. The end of August and beginning of September ushered in time for SCHOOL, SCHOOL, SCHOOL!!! We had to get the school building ready for school to start, make sure teachers were trained, and register students for the term. It was a really busy “welcome back” to Ghana! My days were very long, sometimes quite tedious preparing, preparing, preparing. And, like any first day of school, September 7^th came with butterflies in my stomach. About 35 students showed up that first day, but by the end of that first week, our school was already registered with 120 students! Needless to say, it was a pretty stressful first couple of months of school. My role was completely different, more was expected of me, and I was busy every day of the week. But, as time has gone on, I have been able to feel more comfortable in my role and seen the school progress.

The majority of our students have big needs. Many of them come from schools that gave them less than ideal educations (50+ students per classroom with very little quality instruction). There is a lot to battle with students coming from backgrounds like these, but we’re working on creating change! We’ll continue to pray that God will continue to work in their lives.

We had some big events near the end of the year. In November, our baby Princess was adopted out to a family from the States, the Beute’s. We were so sad to see her go, but know that she is being so well cared for and loved so generously in their home. We also hosted a Thanksgiving Celebration for all of our families at school as well as some of our friends living in Ghana. And, at the end of November, we finally all moved out to the Children’s Village site. We moved without electricity, having faith that God would provide it.

In December, John and Stacy and their kids left for the States. I was excited for them to get the chance to spend time with their family. What a treat! It was a little strange being there as the only “obruni”, but I enjoyed my time with the kids and especially liked living close to the school. We finished up our first term with relative ease and December 16^th, I headed back out to the States.

I’ve been spending time with my family and loving it! It snowed within my first few days here in Colorado and it has been wonderful enjoying a white Christmas, playing in the snow, and participating in all kinds of our family traditions. I’m planning on continuing my time in the States with a trip to Portland, OR to visit friends, back to Northern California and my home church and friends there, and a final trip to North Carolina to visit my sister Andrea and friends. I plan on returning to the States a year from now, so it’s quite a trip this time!

This year has been a year of joy, heartache, passion, faith, miracles, and so much more! We’ve seen God’s hand at work and tried to follow where he leads. It definitely keeps us busy!

Wishing you many blessings for the 2012 year!

Love,

Autumn Buzzell

Keep in Touch!

If you want to be added to my monthly newsletters or monthly prayer team newsletters, please email me at autumnbuzzell@gmail.com.

Keep up with me at www.autumnbuzzell.blogspot.com.

To see what we’re up to at Faith Roots, check out: www.faithrootsinternational.com.

If you want to send a financial donation, write your check to City of Refuge Ministries, memo: Autumn Buzzell, to:

City of Refuge Ministries

PO BOX 91546

Sioux Falls, SD 57109

If you want to write a letter to me, send it to:

City of Refuge Ministries

Attn: Autumn Buzzell

505 Cave Creek Rd.

Loudon, TN 37774

Merry Christmas

I love Christmas! I love when family gets together and laughs so hard they cry. I love when little kids think every closet is an opportunity for hide and seek. I love that even across the country, family can join in the celebration via skype. And most of all, I love that the greatest Gift of all is celebrated around the world.

Happy Birthday Jesus! I love you.

Snowy Day

Yesterday was so fun! I woke up and it was snowing. I love it when it snows. The way it comes down softly and covers everything with this white beauty. The only problem is that when it snows, it means that it's difficult to get anywhere...and you know that both of my parents were busy all day running kids here and there...didn't matter that it was so snowy!

In any case, I made breakfast for everyone yesterday morning (breakfast burritos...yummm!), then Bri and I decided to make a gingerbread house. So, we got out all the ingredients and cooked up a pretty yummy looking gingerbread house!

Only problem came when we started putting together the house with our awesomely sticky frosting. One of our roof pieces came out extremely warped and didn't match the back wall, but we just moved that part to the back of the house.

After that, we had to wait for awhile for mom to arrive back home with candy, so we started beading a little bit and I started prepping our dinner (I was working on making jallof for the fam).

When mom got home, we popped in "White Christmas" and Bri and I went to work decorating the gingerbread house. We made snowmen out of marshmallows, gates out of laffy taffy, and so much more! It turned out so cute! With a white chocolate christmas tree and snow out of coconut, the house turned out perfectly!
And the day was perfect too! Such a fun day with Bri!

Made it!

I made it to Atlanta. I had another crazy lateness scare on my way to the airport. The original taxi driver that we had called the day before to come and pick me up, never showed up. Never answered his phone. Just never showed up!!! Issues! So, we had to call another driver who was in another local village and it took him awhile to get to me.

In any case, I'm supposed to be at the airport 3 hours prior, but I made it pretty much two hours prior, but I still made it! I had to wait in traffic on the way to the airport, and when I finally got there, I got in the WRONG line (the one going to Italy...while that would be nice, I think I'd be a little overwhelmed showing up in Italy instead of Atlanta...little bit of a difference!). When I finally figured it out, they were just shutting down the check-in process, so I made it just in time. And surprisingly, I made it through immigration and security with very wait time, so I made it through with a little time to spare.

While I waited to board the airplane, I got to see one of our friends in Ghana, Chanda. Her and her husband work in a similar ministry in a village called Keta. She was heading home for the holidays and so it was good to chat and catch up with her a little bit. We didn't get long, but it was fun!

The flight was pretty smooth going. I didn't get a ton of sleep, but really, who does get that much sleep on those flights? And when I got into Atlanta, it was almost tear-jerking to hear Christmas music and to realize that in just a couple of hours, I would be home! (Well, more than a couple as I still have the long drive over the mountains....but close enough). And anyone who knows me knows I LOVE Christmas...the decorations, the lights, the music...I start really early getting "in the spirit". It's hard to do in Ghana while it's still hot and Christmas music doesn't play on any stations. But, coming in to some Bing Crosby...so sweet!

Heading out now...

This email made me feel so much better!!!

So, I started feeling a bit better today! The cellulitis, or boil, or whatever this thing is, has gone down a bit and while the pain is still there, the fever, headache, and exhaustion were gone today. Thank the Lord!

And when I came home from school today to check my email, I found an email from a boy that I met when I went to Kenya in 2004. That trip absolutely changed my life. I spent two weeks up in Northern Kenya with the Masaai and two weeks in Kibera, one of the largest slums in the world, right outside of Nairobi. I LOVED my time in Kibera because I got to spend loads of time playing with kids and really saw the power of prayer at work in the lives of people around us. It was a powerful time.

One of the kids that I met in Kibera was a teenager named Vincent. He had dreams of going to University and when I left, we kept up occasional communication via internet. Today, I got some great news from him. This is what he wrote:

Hi Autumn,
How are you doing? I hope that you are well and that the Lord has kept you safely. It has been a very long time since we communicated but I believe that the Almighty has been your protector.

Tell me how you are fairing on with life. Are you still in Ghana? Do you have any plans of coming to kenya? Please let me know and I will be more than happy to hear from you.

Here in Kibera Kenya, the Lord has been more than faithful to to me and the Kibera family. Can you believe that I graduated from KENYATTA UNIVERSITY last Friday on 9th December? I tell you the Lord is just wonderful as He enabled me to score a SECOND CLASS HONORS (UPPER DIVISION) despite my poor background from Kibera slums! This reminds me of a this question that is recorded in the Bile: ¨Can anything good come out of Nazareth?¨ I am now a certified high school teacher and I want to go back to Kibera and help others like me overcome the slum challenges by being firmly rooted in God´s word as He is the author and finisher of our faith.

Autumn, I want to sincerely pass my gratitude in a special way to you for the words of encouragement that you gave to us when you were here in kenya. You told us that all is possible only if we put God First and surely Autumn, I can testify that it actually works to put God first.

Secondly, I would like to thank you very much for donating a laptop to me two years ago. This machine has gone a long way in making my journey at the university a success as it has helped me to type and submit my assignments in time. Thank you so much sister for your Christ-like heart of giving without looking back or sparing just like God who did not spare even His only begotten son for us to get salvation.

Autumn, I will be more than happy if you can spare just a minute to thank God for my successful completion of a Bachelor of Education degree at the campus because it has not been a walk in the park, you have been to Kibera and you know the hardships that people undergo there, hence it is not easy to emanate from such a background and successfully graduate at the campus!!

Lastly, may you pass my greetings to your family and the mission team that you were with and tell them that the Lord has been and He still will be faithful in all their undertakings.

May the almighty bless you abundantly as you continue serving him. I hope to hear from you soon.

Be blessed

In His service,
Vincent.


I'm amazed! And excited! And in awe of God's work in Vincent's life. If you think about him, would you pray for him today! And pray for more awesome stories like this to come out of our little school here in Doryumu. God is at work...all around the world. Love it.

Not feeling too red hot...but getting the job done

I had a boil that popped up on my neck yesterday. It's this massive thing on the right hand side of my neck that almost looks like a goiter. I kinda made fun of myself for it yesterday. I mean, it was a bit sore, but mostly just gross looking.

Today, there's no making fun of this massive thing. It kept me up occasionally throughout the night, whenever I rolled onto it (that and this one mosquito that I couldn't find that kept buzzing around my face) and so I woke up a little tired.

Early this morning, I got a phone call that our staff member, Millicent, was preparing to go to her home town (she's the one we took to the hospital on Saturday), so I needed to get some things ready for the day and get ready to take her someplace so she could take a car to her hometown. When I finally picked her up (around 7:30 this morning), my head had started hurting and I was wondering how I was going to make it through the day without heading back to my bed!

Millicent and I set out and I dropped her in Alfienya (a nearby village) to take a car. On the way there, the police were out again. I knew that if I traveled back that way, I would get pulled over. I saw the same policeman that pulled me over last time still out there this morning. So, I decided to make a quick trip to the pharmacy, and then I was going to attempt to find another way back to the school.

I drove over to our pharmacy that we always visit and on the way, wouldn't you know it, there were more cops on the road! I was praying that God would make me invisible (which is difficult to do since you don't see many white women driving big cars like this here in Ghana!), but I didn't get pulled over. I got my antibiotic and made it back through into Alfienya and then took this back road to Dodowa to avoid the cops on the way back to the school. It was very round-about and added an extra thirty minutes or so to my trip, but I kind of felt proud of myself for being able to figure out a way to get around those cops and to make it home safely. I was by myself and who knows what could have happened if I had been pulled over!

In any case, I made it home, singing Christmas carols (since they don't really play them on the radio here and I want to be in the Christmas spirit!) the whole way home.

Once back at the school, it was time to get down to work. I was hoping for a little down time today so I could get home and rest, but no such luck. It was the first day of finals and so I was busy passing out exams, getting together some paperwork for the end of the term, and soon, the kids had left the school and I was still working, working, working! Crazy how fast time goes when you're busy like that!

In any case, I took Mr. Francis and the staff girls into town and then headed back home and finally got a chance to lay down. I called my mom on the road and she said that the headache and exhaustion isn't really a side-effect of the medication, but means the infection from this boil has gone systemic. She told me that if I don't get better by tomorrow, I might need to go to the hospital to get an IV antibiotic put in. I hope that I can just kick it with this antibiotic that I'm on, some extra sleep, and some hot compresses.

Praying that I'll feel better tomorrow. This is not the week to be feeling sick for sure!