These past few weeks have been very rough. On our off day last week, I was so excited to talk to my family and friends. We walked about a mile to the wifi cafe only to find their internet is down, and wouldn’t be rebooted until further notice. So we have had no internet going on two weeks now. I have been trying to humble myself and think that I had a very blessed and comfortable life at home. Most people around the world don’t have any, if not all, the luxuries I had at home. But being 10,000 miles away from home and not knowing a single thing going on at home has been an emotional battle. Yes, I want to stay present in my incredible community and ministry. But my family and best friends… I miss them. I have so many questions about what’s going on and have so much I want to tell them. It’s funny how when we boil down to it, when we really miss someone, all we want to tell them is that we love them and miss them. So simple of a message and yet I can’t even send it to them. The disconnection has kept me emotionally crippled.
So, tonight when we gathered with our brothers and sisters from the local Christian school and literally had a rock show in a small building, it lifted my spirits up and over and beyond. Jumping up and down and shouting at the top of your lungs to God is therapy in itself. So imagine doing that with your brothers and sisters and Christ alongside you. People were sweating, jumping up on stage, taking videos… When was the last time I had so much fun? They had set up a small stage, with a curtain behind it, and had a band and everything. Skits were performed, songs were sung, poems read, dances performed. I haven’t laughed so hard in so long. It never ceases to amaze me how similar humor can be in different countries. My home is 10,000 miles away from theirs, our cultures are almost opposite, and yet we were all howling with laughter at the same things. And dancing away my sadness in a conga line of 100 people has left me sitting here, writing this blog, in my tent at 9:45pm (I’m usually passed out by now) knowing I’m going to be fine, and that I have everything I have ever needed. The Lord gave us light tonight, and gave us joy.
