Wednesday, October 11, 2017
Today my comfort is hot coffee, a splurge of brown sugar, and my ability to wrap my mind into a thick book. When I was younger coffee never appealed to me like it did to my mother and younger sister. In contrast to the anticipation many young girls await for the day they come of age to wear makeup, I felt the same anticipation for the day my palate matured to enjoy coffee, the way the world around me did. However, it never came. Then as a new believer I observed coffee become the staple of woman fellowship. So I became the woman who considered spiritual building under the pretenses of a warm cup of overly priced Joe. Now I don’t find this discouraging to the world around. I advocate for mentorship and comfortable atmospheres to set the stage, but I recognize the pattern in my life of conforming to the norm even when it doesn’t identify with me. I remember thinking that if I could get past a season of bad taste and bitter smell that one day, there would be a satisfaction in the crappy thing. Maturing to me in a sense meant drinking liquidated ground-up espresso bean without having post anxiety from the caffeine or regretting my decision for the rest of the day.
So here lies a memoir of my grotesque childhood in which I forcibly gulped down cup after cup convinced that the day I enjoyed my drink was the day I saw myself as an adult. Today, why do I take comfort here in Mokhotlong, the Mountainous Kingdom of Lesotho, hand illusively wrapped around my tumbler? It is simply because my once putrid drink has now become a luxury. An indulgence in which I haven’t experienced before, likewise to sugar. Mentally for some reason, it tastes way way better than it ever has. I believe this is because there is an awareness for me that my hosts went out of there way to serve us. This is the only time in my life I can say I have ever liked coffee, and actually not felt awful after. The instant powder combined with hot water seems to fill me with warmth and an inward desire to be more selfless, because they gave and did not have.
Update For Family:
I am doing great, healthy, joyous & slowly learning to taking in/process all around me. From debrief in Nelspruit, I found a great opportunity to rest in the Lord and meet with my coaches. I seized the opportunity God gave me to be alone with him, which I know has benefited me greatly for this next month of ministry in Lesotho. We are told that tomorrow we will be starting ministry and I am blessed by the structure I find here. It is helpful to me to be able to serve diligently. We are to expect prison ministry, hospital ministry, orphanage building and potentially a sports ministry. Our teams are also told that the next four services we attend, we will be responsible for bringing 60 minute messages, worship and testimony. I am very excited by the new challenge in faith and translation. Yesterday we drove across the country of Lesotho through a snow storm to our ministry. The drive was beyond incredible, as is the view all around me. I look forward to sharing the continuance in my Abide Series from Swaziland, although I am slightly struggling to consolidate all the amazing things that I learned in my short lived month there. I have addressed post cards and recently mailed out all of my letters to family and friends which I look forward to you receiving. As for photography, I am working with another racer to form a Ep like magazine of the life captured in Nsoko and I hope to use it as an opportunity to further my sponsorship on the race. I am excited to share with you the growth from my passion as well as allow myself to be vulnerable through the emotional connection I have to the children captured. With great love, Bella Iocolano
