I can’t believe our time is winding down so fast. It doesn’t seem like our time in JBay is already up. Only a week of debrief to go before I move to P.E.! Apparently we are staying in a mansion in St. Francis Bay for our week of debrief. It sleeps 40! And it’s right on the river so we’ll be playing on boats and sea doos. I guess the whole week will be a time for us to wind down and process all the things we’ve learned and experienced during the last three months. We will also be saying goodbye to a handful of our leaders who won’t be returning next semester. But we’ll have tons of time just to chill and relax and get ready for holiday! And this means that Cape Town is just around the corner.
To be honest, the whole community thing is getting a bit challenging. I’ve had maybe a total of 6 or 7 hours of alone time in three months. Think about that for a second. That’s nothing. Some of you might have that much alone time in a day or two. It gets difficult when there is no place to talk on the phone by myself, no where to do quiet time by myself, or simply read. I live with 7 other girls, so it’s nearly impossible. I promise that I’m not complaining; I really do love everyone in this community and I love my life in Africa. It’s just that it gets difficult at times not having any space to just be. I’m hoping that this holiday will help tremendously. I really just feel the need to get away!
I will really miss the relationships with the locals we’ve met through our ministry. There were days when I would feel stuck and feel like we could be doing so much more, but then God would reveal himself to my team. A quick story from a few weeks ago: my team and I were praying by the side of the road for each other, the people in the community, and the people we’ve built relationships with. I felt like we could be so much more affective in that moment. But a few seconds later I looked up and a man was walking toward us and said that he felt that we were good people and he wanted to come talk to us and ask for prayer. He saw the peace that we brought to his community. His name is Shaun and is searching for Jesus in people. Stuff like that doesn’t just happen by accident. That is all God. This isn’t the first time it happened either. I’ve heard straight from a number of people’s mouths that they can see that Jesus is walking with us and that we have a Word to bring to the people of St. Francis. …Coincidence?
I haven’t really talked about it very much, but my aunt died last week. She’s been sick for a number of months with a lung disease caused by emphysema. I got to see her while she was in the hospital back in May, and also right before I left for Africa. I considered that she might pass away while I was here, but I still haven’t really processed her death yet. I found out on my dad’s birthday, and have been crazy busy ever since. It will probably hit me once it gets a bit closer to Christmas.
So all of this is really random and not really in any kind of order, but hopefully someone will make sense of it all.
Praying for my friends and family this holiday season.
Love makes things possible.
