How Great Thou Art

          Seven months. That doesn't seem like much time, but it feels like a lifetime ago. Its been seven months since I boarded my plane to Malawi... A country I had only known existed for a short time. I had no idea what this year would hold or how it would change and affect my life. I had no idea that I would fall in love with a place so far away and people I had never met. At the time, I was walking away from the thing I held closest- my family. I couldn't tell you what had possessed me to pick up and move so far from all that I knew and loved. I did know that it was heartbreaking to leave and the only reason I could give was Jesus. I hadn't heard Him call down from Heaven or leave me some big sign... I hadn't planned this or dreamed about it... But something deep, down in my spirit was at peace. Every time I prayed, or sought what the Lord had next, I knew this was it. I knew this place called Malawi had a special hold on me. As I stepped on that plane, all my independent ideas of adventure vanished. I wondered what I had gotten myself into and what I could have possibly been thinking. Sound familiar? I have to think that I'm not the only one who has suddenly second guessed all my decisions in a moment of weakness... That's the point though... In a moment of weakness when we fail ourselves, God steps in. When I arrived on this side of the world, I felt at home almost immediately. Not in the sense of being with family, but in a sense of knowing you are "supposed" to be somewhere. I know, I know, that sounds silly... However it has been incredible to see how God will use someone so small and let them be a part of a plan so big. I didn't think I would like teaching very much, and I had no idea if I would get along with the people I would be working with. You know whats cool though? So many things that I learned, dreamed, or did before I came here have been so necessary for what I do here! Its crazy to me how God orchestrated things for this year before I knew I would be coming here. Looking back now, I can see how He put all the dreams and things I love into one place. I get to use ballet every single day to share the gospel. I get to perform with super talented Christians who have the same desire to use art to glorify the Lord. I get to teach kids every day. They will each change somehow from the classes we teach, and I get the privilege and responsibility to try and help them grow. I get to live in Africa- a place that has had a grip on my heart for years. I am so very fortunate to have all these things, yet I forget too often to thank the Lord for all He has done. God has allowed each of us to be a small part of His master plan and getting to see it play out has been encouraging and exciting. After seven months, much prayer, thought, sad talks with family, and more prayer, it has become abundantly clear to me that I am called back here next year. Decisions are hard. Decisions that take you across the world from your family are even harder. Yet when I take a step back and look at the bigger picture, another year here though short, can be long enough to continue in what the Lord began here.
          So, as usual, I forget how long its been since my last update. Clearly I need to work on my blogging and I apologize that they are so few and far between. Also as usual, much has happened since I last penned things down. We began school again mid January and had an actual sprung ballet floor laid in our studio! This is huge! I never would have thought that we would have marley in Malawi! It was a ton of work and we were exhausted, but it was so worth it! ABC Christian Academy Dance Department is becoming more and more of a ballet school. We are still in need of more ballet shoes, so if any of you know of a way we can get donated shoes, please contact me! There is a container getting shipped here from Mississippi and we can put items on it. We did have a late start on our semester because of the flooring delay, so the past few weeks have been busy with loads of choreography! We have 20 pieces to choreograph for our end of year show alone. We also have performances throughout the semester that we have to rehearse for as well. Which reminds me, we had a very exciting performance a few weeks back where we opened for the National Malawi Music Awards! This is a great example of how God showed that He is capable even when we are not. The show was on Friday night. We found out about it on Wednesday night. A random encounter with a friend led to, "Oh, you should open for the Awards! You need to have traditional African costumes, and oh... here is a song... Make up a new dance." I'm laughing as I write this and remember how we thought they were joking. All my dancers will understand that you don't simply "make up a new dance," especially to a song you've never heard. They were serious though, and the only reason we even thought about it was because they were going to let us dance to a worship song as well. We knew the event would have all the talented artists in the country attending as well as the future President and Vice President. Because of this, we laughingly agreed. Somehow, in one day, we created a new piece and rehearsed for the show. I still don't understand how we got costumes made in 24 hours - that usually takes weeks to do. Friday night came quickly and before we knew it we were dancing to Phil Wickam's Cielo and a traditional dance on national TV. I felt so, so, so, so, so, humbled. It should have gone terribly, but God gave us a ton of grace. Things like that happen to us a lot and I never cease to be amazed at how God pulls things off using His vessels. We have sort of joined up with this talented group called One Lord. They do concerts all around the country to share the gospel and we feel blessed to perform with them sometimes. The last one was an event called Sold Out and apparently 50 people were saved. I cannot remember the last thing I wrote about, but we also got to travel to Blantyre with One Lord to do a Young Life conference over our Christmas break. It may be one of my favorite performances because yet again, we had little time to prepare and it was one of our most worshipful nights thus far. It was a really encouraging weekend and we also got to visit a new part of Lake Malawi. That was an adventure in and of itself:) God brings opportunities all the time. Our next big event will be held at the largest theatre in the country and we are stressed, nervous, and excited. All one hundred and some of our students will get to dance on an actual stage! This is a big deal and we need some serious prayer to pull it off! It is an expensive venue and though we will have tickets and funds to raise, we want our focus to stay on the gospel. Each piece being danced to is done to a hymn. Some of them are contemporary, classic, remixed, acapella, country, rap, instrumental, etc. We want to give our kids the opportunity to use this gift as worship. They have worked so hard and we really want the show to express that. The dance/performance opportunities can be overwhelming, so keep us in your prayers! Seeing how accepting people are here of dance, it is a great tool to share the gospel. We need yall to be in prayer!
          We are pretty much work-a-holics, so there isn't a whole lot else that's new:) However I wanted to say a bit about our adventures since December. While in Blantyre for the conference, we decided to take a short day trip to the lake... yeah... It wasn't so short... For some reason, when you ask for directions, people think you drive 500 miles an hour or something. Hah. Well we don't drive that speed, so what we thought would be a 3 hour drive took 6! And yes, it was mostly on dirt roads. Eventually after driving through the mountains- which provided great photo opps, we got to Cape Mclear and it was raining. Or pouring. We refused to notice though, and sat in the rain on the beach:) Thankfully in an hour it cleared and was a beautiful day. By the time we left and got back, it was late and we were tired. Word of advice... If you aren't used to driving on dirt roads, without lights, and random people in the middle of the street, practice before you move to Malawi. Anyways, the next day we were headed back to Lilongwe and guess what? Our car broke down. 5 minutes after leaving. Praise the Lord though, it didn't happen in those mountain roads. Since we had nothing better to do while it was getting fixed, we all went and got tattoos. I'm just kidding... We put a lot of thought into it before we got inked:) People will probable think I have gone crazy, but I promise I am not a hippie and everything was thought out:) I do hope my family likes my dreads like I do. That is pretty much the only thing outside of work that we have done lately. Our team - Arsenal is doing well, and we have been watching a lot of games as always. Our church - Flood, has started several ministries and I am excited to get more involved. I have been teaching kids church this semester, and I absolutely love it. You know when you find something you are "meant" to do? I found my niche with kids. Its been great. Our kids always bring a smile to my face, even if I have just finished yelling "pointe your toes!" I love them so much. I've also enjoyed spending more time with some my friends from the ABC staff and getting to know people better. Its crazy how busy we get and so much times goes by without getting to know everyone! I have to say though, I am really looking forward to coming home in June! I get to spend the whole summer with my family and I cannot wait:) I am looking forward to spending time with each of my brothers and sisters and hoping they haven't grown up too much! I want them to know how much I think about them and am super thankful to be able to go home for so long. We are separating in some aspects from Ballet Magnificat and will not be going back to Mississippi this summer. I will miss all you Jackson friends! Please also pray that I can find a summer job while home to raise money for my next year here in Malawi. I love you all and appreciate your support so much! I am praying for you as well and hope God is using each of you in beautiful ways. I am planning on putting up another blog tonight full of pictures, but you can also see whats going on here on my facebook page : facebook.com/emilie.getts
or our school's page : africanbiblecolleges.net

Much love,
Em

O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder,

Consider all the worlds thy hands have made;

 

I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,

Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

 

Then sings my soul, My savior God to thee,

How great thou art, how great thou art.