First of all, sorry for the cheesy title. We are about to leave wifi for the next couple of days and I couldn’t think of a title so I panicked. Anyway…
Africa.
What I expected my time in Africa to look like and how I would feel at the end of month 5 is/was not at all what it turned out to be.
Expectation: I would be out in the bush the whole time with limited to no connection to the outside world.
Reality: I spent my first month in a tourist town and the last two months in fairly large and modern cities with easy connection to back home.
Expectation: Playing a lot of football (soccer) and a lot of street evangelism.
Reality: We have only played football twice (once in Malawi and once in Zimbabwe) while playing basketball at least a dozen times this past month. We did not have as much street evangelism as I thought we would but this past month has been a lot of evangelism at the University of Botswana. I have never before loved a sport so much that I am so bad at. It was amazing to develop friendships that I believe will last beyond our time here.
Expectation: I would continue to pursue serving behind the scenes and stay out of the spotlight. I would let others speak up when we evangelize and others preach when we were giving lessons.
Reality: I fell in love with preaching. I began to enjoy evangelism. In the past I have struggled with being in front of a crowd but now I have a new found comfort in speaking to people about my passions. The largest passion of all being spreading the love God has for us and the good news of what He has done for us.
Expectation: Being away from family would get easier.
Reality: It hasn’t, but their support through it all has meant the world. People here ask if I miss home. My response is no not the place, but I miss my family and friends that live there that make it so special.
Expectation: I would not miss the winter weather back home in Pennsylvania.
Reality: I would gladly take a snow day right now because it’s been so dang hot!
Expectation: Africa would be 3rd on my list of favorite continents to live in while on this trip, below 1) Central America and 2) Asia.
Reality: Africa was an awesome experience with beautiful landscape and amazing people. I’m more sad to leave than I would have expected. I can only hope to come back some day. Asia… it’s your move.
