My time in Africa has come to an end. It’s been four long, challenging, sweet months filled with the pursuit of the Lord and budding friendships. In Zimbabwe, the Lord was teaching me about joy in Him and the people around me. In Zambia, He was always reminding me how steadfast and constant He is when times get tough. In Malawi, I began stepping out in a deeper sacrifice to the Lord and learning patience for the people and situations around me. Each month looked very, very different from the months before, but each one was special in its own way. The Lord is always growing me in things I already know and teaching me new things. The cool thing is that no matter how much I learn or know He will never cease to amaze me in the pursuit of depth in our relationship.
So, to end, I’ll share a little bit about Malawi. The goodbyes were hard. I had come to love my neighborhood friends, crisis center babies, Chisomo club kids, host sisters, church plant community, net ball girls, and soccer team so much. Sydney and I went to say goodbye to our family down the street the day before we left. Chisomo, the one who I shared a birthday party with, almost couldn’t look at us because she was so sad. Saying goodbye to Glory, our little girl, was a tear-jerker for me, as well. My babies, who I fed, held, entertained, and loved didn’t know the difference really, but I do. We got to give them love when they needed it, and that love will continue to impact their future and development. Unfortunately, I didn’t even get to say goodbye to the kids at the Chisomo kids club, and that honestly was so difficult. The thing is, they always have a piece of us because we got to make bracelets for each one of them to have. They won’t be able to forget the “azungu” who made that bracelet or played hours of soccer in the hot sun with them. Faith and Sharon, our sisters, were such a blessing to live with. They showed us where the market was, translated at our many ministries, cleaned the floors almost every morning, started our charcoal, and just sat and talked with us. Sharon is getting married this summer, and Faith is the one continuing the church plant we helped start. She still sends me updates every Sunday morning about who is attending the church. Honestly, planting a church in only 7 weeks was difficult, because we really didn’t see the fruit of it. But I will never forget the community. The community that we played soccer with or handed out Christmas presents to. They are seeing Jesus bit by bit, and that is what’s important. My team has planted the seed, we have started from the bottom, we were the beginning, and I do have faith that this seed will blossom even if I didn’t get to witness it. The last Sunday we got to visit the original church of our church plant, and when we walked in, all of our netball and soccer players were there. These were some of the hardest goodbyes. One afternoon, I was dragged into a netball game without any idea how to play, but the girls loved it! They just loved getting the attention from us that normally the soccer team got, and of course, they loved laughing at how ridiculous we looked playing. In Sydney and my’s defense, they didn’t tell us anything beforehand. But we got to love these girls and try to show them what women following the heart of the Lord looked like, and I can trust that it will sink in. Lastly, we had to say goodbye to my soccer team. Throughout our time together, we had multiple soccer games in the rain and played against two other teams in the community. We said goodbye on Thursday because we didn’t think we would see them again, and sure enough we saw them Friday, Saturday, and Sunday as well. They had become part of the family in a few short weeks. We went from slight smiles or a head nod to wet, muddy, laughing bear hugs. When we said goodbye, there were the same hugs all around, except these hugs were cleaner, and a few tears on my part.
Honestly, this wasn’t the hardest goodbye on the race, but it was still so bittersweet. I was ready to leave Africa, but not my people. I will miss African church services, soccer, chatange wraps, Victoria Falls, Lake Malawi, the big animals, and many more things but most all of the people that the Lord blessed me to befriend. I truly believe the Lord has given me the heart to love people and love them deeply. I am learning how to walk in that gift, but the other side to loving so deeply is understanding how to still speak joy in the hardest of goodbyes. The people were the ones that made Africa such a sweet four months. Four months that I will not forget.
