Our 3 months in Africa is quickly coming to an end. For years I dreamed of coming here and my
wish finally came true. My amazing
Grandma Lynn always tells me, “Once you taste the waters of Africa you will
never be the same.” Well, thankfully I
didn’t actually taste the waters of
Africa or I probably would have ended up in the hospital (kidding, Grandma!)
but the saying is definitely true. I am
going to leave here with a new found love for Africa.
where my grandparents spent years as missionaries and the continent where my
beautiful niece Matea is from. I had
this picture in my head of rustic, dirt roads, wide open fields and mud huts. And while yes, there are millions of dirt
roads, plenty of wide open fields and an overabundance of mud huts, Africa is
so much more than that. It is a place of
warm and friendly people dying for you to come visit them in their house so
they can shower you with pop and mandazi and all they want in return is for you
to pray for them. It is a place where
people introduce their best friends in this way: “This is my best friend Janet.
I
love her very much.” It is a place
where you can see tears streaming down the cheeks of women full of compassion
for a girl they just met when she cries during a sermon. It is a place where God speaks. It is a place where pastors treat you like
their own children and truly want what’s best for you. It is a place where you can see the incredible
creation of our Lord in every mountain, tree, animal and sunset. It is an amazing place.
I will be leaving Africa with a hero in Pader, a Mama in
Tanzania and tons of friends in Kenya. I
will leave with a greater understanding of the vastness of God and His
creation. I will leave feeling
incredibly blessed that God has brought me to the place where my grandparents,
completely out of faith, came to serve Him and to the place where my nieces
cultural background lies…to the place where my heart longed to go.
