Reflections on 2020

Me thinking to myself: “Jenn, what are three big topics you’ve thought about in 2020?” 

Your kingdom come
Suffering
He is making all things new

What do these sentences have in common?  Well, the first and last go somewhat hand-in-hand, but are dissimilar enough they warrant separation. 
I realized that not only have I thought a lot about these ideas/topics, they also have helped me answer my own question: “why should we practice and teach medicine in Burundi?”

In March 2019, a dear older friend sent me a link to listen to a message/lecture given by Eric Mclaughlin about "Medicine and the Kingdom of God."  (**Let's note that I didn't know Eric at this point and had NO idea that he would end up being our team leader after deciding to move to Burundi!!)  I listened and appreciated the insight Eric brought to the topic of medical missions. 

During his talk, he references Mark 1:14 "...Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel."  What is God's kingdom? Arguably it is "all of life under the gracious rule of God."   If you are in the kingdom, you are in the domain of the King. 
Little did I know at the time, but these words would be so helpful as I experienced (not personally, but rather witnessed) so much suffering this past year.  What a huge swing in worldview I’ve had after moving from one of the wealthiest countries in the world (in which we were extremely comfortable) to one of the poorest.  Living in a country where people who are wondering where their food will come from, living off of less than a dollar a day (for those who actually have employment), and most living without running water or electricity can lead one to feel and think many different things. Initially, it was overwhelming, and to be honest, many days I still am overwhelmed by the sadness and hardships by which I am surrounded. This is baseline, let alone what people go through when they or their children are ill and in need of hospitalization.  A child is born in Atlanta, GA with some sort of cyanotic (causing baby to be blue and hypoxic) congenital heart disease deadly in the first few months of life if not corrected; child receives surgery and lives an (almost) completely normal life – minus checkups, possible mild sequelae, etc.)  A child is born in Kibuye with same defect – there is no one here to fix this. And there is no way the family could ever afford to travel to the capital, let alone Kenya where there is possibly someone who could fix this.  I know this baby will die. Sometimes it’s worse knowing what could be if this child were born somewhere else.  Suffering. Injustice.  Knowing that children here suffer and die from congenital diseases/malformations that are easily treated and corrected in developed countries is a daily mental battle which all but forces me to long for the kingdom which is yet to come.  I have always believed that my hope is in the Lord, but in this past year that truth has become solidified in my daily thoughts and actions.  My hope rests on his faithfulness, His promises, His never-ending love, and the promise that one day Jesus will return and He will make all things new. 

Where am I going with this?  Honestly, I'm still working through the ability to articulate exactly what I've been processing since our arrival last January.   I'll take a few points straight from Eric's talk because he has stated them in a straightforward way, and also let's not reinvent the wheel...

• Medicine is a tangible way to testify that God cares about the sick and suffering.  
• By allowing God to use me and my skills to help treat those who are ill shows a little bit what life is like under God's rule.  
• Disease and sickness are being taken away and when Jesus comes back again, will be banished for good.  

So while we are not personally capable of bringing God's kingdom to earth, I am able to pray – 
"God, your kingdom come.  May I surrender to your leadership and not lose sight of whose kingdom I am working for.  Forgive me for the times where I am working for my interests, my ‘kingdom’.  Help me to see the injustice and pain that is happening around me as part of the ‘not-yet’ kingdom as I long for your kingdom to fully come at which point all pain and suffering and death will be wiped away. I ask that the Holy Spirit would work through me to bring your kingdom to earth until that day when Jesus returns and all is made new.”

What do YOU want ME to write about?

Hey there! 

Time to dust off the cobwebs!  

Between monthly newsletters, writing on the team blog, and, you know, life... I have somewhat neglected this space.  But (I think) we are back.  I'm trying to decide exactly what to put here.  We send out (almost) mostly newsletters with pictures and updates.  And we periodically write on the team blog.  How about this. YOU tell ME what to write for the next few months. And past that if you'd like. Otherwise I'll just try to think of something interesting and worth reading.  

What I will publish next is something I wrote recently for our newsletter and the team blog, so why not share it here too?
If you've already seen this twice... sorry ... but I guess it's up to you now to think of something creative about which I can write/show pictures ;) 

Love from Burundi,

Jenn

The whole Harling crew in front of our new home on the compound! 

HARLING HISTORY (+plus an update from Feb 2021!)

Hey!! Sorry we've been so absent on here!  We don't have too much to update (and really haven't had a lot of new news in the past few months) so we've just been keeping touch with our newsletters. I realize, though, maybe some of you don't receive our newsletters so wanted to put a quick summary of what's happened in the past few years!

2015 - I (Jenn) graduated residency and started my first post-residency job at Kids' Care in Anderson, SC. Michael still had 2 more years to complete his residency.  We also added Amelia to our family :) 

2016 - Michael and I started seriously talking about where we thought we felt God was calling us since we knew we felt called to some sort of long term missionary work.  Michael always felt called to PAACS, so we started looking at programs.  The PAACS program in Cameroon seemed like a great option for us (and our growing family) so we decided to take a vision trip the last year that Michael was in residency.  During that trip, we felt like God confirmed our calling there and when we came back we started moving forward.

2017 - We completed our pre-field training (multiple training programs with our sending agency - SIM) as well as a two-week cross cultural training program.  We also started our support raising process.   Michael graduated from residency in June and we still had a few more trainings to complete.  Our initial plan was to move to Cameroon in April 2018.  We started preparing big things such as what we were going to do with our house, our cars, and our stuff.  We gave away/sold/donated everything we didn't want to or couldn't take to Africa.  

2018 - The weekend before the movers (the movers who were going to pack our shipping container to move to Africa) came, we received an email stating that the violence in Cameroon was to the point where our leaders believed it would not be safe for us to come at that time.  So in April we canceled the move and flights that were supposed to occur in the next two months and started thinking about other options.  We still felt a call to Cameroon at that point and were not sure how things would play out there (i.e. could things get better after the elections in October 2018?) so we decided to go to language school to learn French for a few reasons. 1. French would be beneficial (but not mandatory) in Cameroon as many of the patients speak French.  2. If for some reason the door was closed for us to go to Cameroon, having French in our tool belt opens up more opportunities in Africa where we feel called. 

Today, May 14, 2018 - Over the past 4-5 months we have been discussing/praying about/seeking counsel about what our next steps will be. We've been in France for 8.5 months and have 1.5 months left here in Paris.   The PAACS program in Cameroon was officially temporarily suspended in February and so we knew at that time we needed to make some decisions.  It was a very long process of truly asking God where He wanted us to go.  At the end of the day, we feel as if God is leading us to Burundi.  As of this moment we plan to visit Burundi for a few months after language school, return to the States in September to deliver baby #3 (due early October!), and then return to Africa.   As stated in our most recent newsletter, many details have to be worked out for us to go to Burundi long-term and it's still not set in stone, but that is our current trajectory!  We are holding loosely to all of these "plans" as we know they can all change at a moments notice! 

Et pour les personnes qui parlent le français,  bonne soirée a tous!  Aussi, je me demande combien de personnes vont chercher cette phrase dans google translate.... ;)

*****

UPDATE: 

Well, those few months went well in Burundi so we returned to the good ol' US of A to deliver Mark. Good thing... the birth was a doozie. But everyone went home in good health!  We spent time with friends and family from Sept 2019-Jan 2020 and scooched right back into Burundi before the world exploded.  We've been nestled in the hills of this beautiful country ever since.  We plan to take our first "home assignment" or "furlough" in Jan 2022. 

Merry Christmas!!!

Bonsoir!  Nous esperons que vous aves passé de joyeuses fêtes!

Voilà quelques photos du mois de décembre!

Don't forget to go here to read our most recent newsletter!  There is a lot more about our actual school in the newsletter, so I didn't put much of that here in the blog because I didn't want to bore those who actually read both! :)

We have learned so much already -- yes, a lot of French, but also that God can teach us so much in the waiting. I feel like I've talked to and know a lot of people who are in a period of waiting in their lives.  A lot of times I just want to rush through the waiting, but God has taught me so much about His character during this time and I am so thankful for that.

Anyway... here are some pics of our life outside school from December in Massy!

We went to a Christmas market in Massy and there was a free carrousel!! We may have ridden it 4 times.

Amelia is in preschool around the corner from our home. It's all in French!! She's doing an amazing job.  There is a little boy who is in Amelia's class whose mom is Canadian and dad is French.  They invited us over for a Christmas get-together and we had foie gras for the first time!  The picture below is Vince (the dad) showing Michael how to make foie gras!

One thing I'm having to get used to is doing dishes multiple times a day since we don't have a dish washer. I can't complain too much though because the view out of our kitchen window is spectacular (especially in the fall!!)

The girls enjoyed getting Christmas presents throughout the month!  Started with Jimi and Papa (Vivian's parents!) and Vivian,  then they got to open presents from Meena and Pa (Michael's parents) and Uncle Jonathan, Aunt Hillary, and Hannah a few days before Christmas!

A few pictures of us just hanging out at home. 

This one is of Amelia checking StarBright's ears.

  Our friends, the Eison's, came to visit us in Massy!!! Loved seeing friends from Greenville! Thanks for stopping by! Sorry we didn't get a picture all together!

 My (Jenn's) parents came to visit for Christmas. We stayed with them in an Airbnb in the middle of Paris for the week of Christmas which was so fun!

 Michael and I were able to slip out for a date night one of the nights my family was here!

Since there are about 8 hours of daylight these days and it's usually cold and wet, we find other things to do inside! One of my awesome friends here, Courtney, found this place one town over. It's called Playmobil land! Kids can come in and play at tables with all the figurines for only 3 euros! Well spent money in my opinion, ESPECIALLY because we don't have to clean up the toys at the end!!

The girls enjoying some of their Christmas presents! (Thanks Gigi and Papa for the peg boards and thanks Meena and Pa for the floor mat!)

A tout à l'heur!! 

We are in France!!

We are finally expats! Things were a little touch and go there for a bit back in the spring/summer regarding when we would actually leave and where we would be going, but here we are in France about to start language school in less than a week!

                                         

(Our living room/dining room with a beautiful view! We are very close to the Orly airport so Amelia has constant entertainment watching the planes coming and going!) 

We arrived at 6:00 am. Michael had arranged a van for us to be transported from the airport to our school/apartment. So glad he did! 10 bags and 4 people would have been a sight on public transportation!  We arrived and showered and took a nice nap – all four of us! – and then walked about a quarter of a mile to our school to introduce ourselves. We met a few other families who are also attending Le Cedres. We got some tips from a few people who have been here a while and walked another 0.5 miles to the grocery store, Cora. It’s like French Walmart…maybe even bigger.  A guy who we just met at the school literally came to find us in the store to bring us a grocery cart (like the ones you can walk home with from the market) and told us he has a car and was free to wait for us/help us in the store until we finished so he could drive us back with all of our “set up” groceries!!! What a kind/generous/thoughtful thing! So fun to see how God looks out for us and takes care of us even in the little details of life!  Also, the girls were getting fussy so I ended up just walking back with them and Michael and our new friend stayed and did all the grocery shopping!

Thankfully, Michael speaks un petit Francais, however there were a few little hiccups on our grocery trip. Example one – we wanted creamer for our coffee and ended up buying some sort of thick cream that you would put, say, I don’t know, on your fruit or something like the picture shows on the front cover (hand on forehead).  Good news though! It still tastes great in coffee!!!

Girls slept ok last night, up multiple times but well overall considering.  Grateful we have a week to adjust before school starts for everyone!  

The weather was beautiful yesterday, in the 70s. Today its cooler but raining. Good thing we brought the rain cover for the stroller! 

That's it for now -- here are a few pictures below.  Hopefully can update again next week after we start school!

 Amelia eating a cracker in our new kitchen!

  Our Kitchen! The clothes washer is in here!

The girls' room.  All very nice (seems like new!) furniture!

Eating some eggs for lunch before we go register Amelia for school.

Au revoir!

Aren't you supposed to be in Cameroon?

No fancy blog post this time, just an update.  See our most recent newsletters (archived on a separate page on our blog site -- click on the menu (three white bars) and then drag the page down to find the "PRAYER LETTERS" link) for all the deets.

Yesterday came and went and we did not board the plane to travel to Cameroon.  Still saddened by all of the unrest going on in Cameroon and for the unclear path, we are excited to move forward and see what God has planned. Currently our plan is to attend school for a year in Massy, France to learn French!  (I say currently because we had been planning to move to Cameroon for over a year...things are always changing and we are learning to be flexible!).  We are praying that things settle down in Cameroon after a year of language school and that we will be able to move there in the fall of 2019.

Saying Goodbye

You know how you feel when you see someone in the grocery store, have a conversation, then say your goodbyes....then see them 15 more awkward times in the store.  That's how I currently feel!! We've been SO HONORED to have so many wonderful friends throw us goodbye parties.  The funny thing is that we knew we will see a lot of those people at those parties at least one more time due to the fact that our departure date was pushed back (but YAY we now have a departure date of May 28!) Despite sometimes having those awkward interactions, I am so glad we've had the opportunity to have some closure with the goodbye get togethers  (because "goodbye party" just sounds funny to me!).

These first pictures are from the farewell lunch thrown by my amazing colleagues at Children's Clinic!  I was blown away!!  And as if one party wasn't good enough, they even threw me a super thoughtful goodbye lunch at the Greer office!! Seriously, I was just overwhelmed by all the sweet goodbyes.  Going to miss you guys a TON!

____________________________________________________________

These next pictures are from a going away party thrown by our previous and current community groups and included many friends from our time in Greenville! Thank you Laurie and Silvia for hosting/organizing/planning! You are the best!! 

 _________________________________________________________________________

Below are a few pictures from the get together hosted by Beth and David Jacobs for a lot of our friends from GHS residency...they put together a photo booth and printing station and MADE us a photo book at the party! So thoughtful! :) 

_____________________________________________________________________________

And last but not least, the farewell get together thrown by my amazing friends from Atlanta. These are some of my oldest and dearest friends.  Thank you for all of your years of friendship! Love you all. 

Creating this blog post has been so humbling. We have such wonderful friends and family and without your love and support we would not be where we are today -- headed to Africa!

Goodbyes are not easy, and we want them to be sincere. So while we are so excited about our new life in Cameroon, a sense of sadness laces every interaction we have in these last few months here.  Please know that even if our faces or words do not express our sadness about leaving, we are very much going to miss those who we are leaving behind.