Hey….. so, I’m on a new continent!!!!! Getting to Africa was quite the journey, one that included a12 hour layover and a lot of laying around an airport. But I’m here, and loving it! But it is so so so hot here, and I sweat from sunrise to sundown pretty much everyday. We are staying at one of AIM’s long term bases with the rest of our squad, and we are enjoying our time together. Ministry usually looks like going to our care point in Joyella. A care point is a piece of land given to AIM by a community to build a little classroom and playground on where kids of all ages can come to play and get fed and discipled. Each team is assigned a different care point in a different community. We are there to love on the kids, play with them, and help out and pour into the Shepard, a person trained by AIM as a part of a long term program for them to step into leadership and continue their schooling. Thuly is our shepherd, and she is amazing and vibrant, and already she is so excited to see us each day!
To be completely real with you, I am already really tired of ministry. Kids hang on you all day, demand your attention, and then ignore you two seconds later. Everyday I feel my capacity for young children stretched to its limit, and when the older kids show up later I’m so socially exhausted I want nothing but to go back home to the base, as I stare impatiently at the road trying to call our driver early with the shore force of my will. I love running with the kids, bouncing them on my lap, helping them over and over again on the monkey bars, but I’m tired. I know itll only be by the strength and the grace of the Lord that I get through and thrive these last couple months. I want to love those kids like Jesus does, and everyday He is showing me what that looks like. Sometimes its picking up the dirty child with food and snot caked on his face, letting the girls style my hair for the tenth time, or sitting with that baby who whines before taking a three hour nap on you in the heat of the day. I only have two more months to love on these kids, and love is not just a noun, but it’s a verb.
I also come to humbly ask for prayers for the rest of my time here with my squad. Prayers that we would rely on the Lord for strength and see Him move in amazing ways both here and at home! Thank you for all of your support!
