Africa is Nothing Special

I’ve been trying to write a blog for weeks and it just won’t take; There are so many things going on in my heart that I don’t know how to put onto paper. Things like un-met expectations, disappointment, and yearning. There’s a lot of hype about traveling around the world and all that you get to see and do, and the reality is: it’s great but it’s also really, really hard.

 

I quickly discovered that everything that was hard for me at home is hard for me here too, and it’s traveling with me. The leadership at Adventures in Missions tells you not to have expectations about the World Race, they told us to go in open minded and ready for anything… and I tried too, I really did, but I believe expectations are built on hopes and I had those! I had imaginations of what it might be like and though I could list what they were, what really matters is that the World Race is different than anything I hoped for or expected. God is changing me from the inside, from the deepest parts of who I am and what I believe; He is challenging me, and pushing me towards more. He is calling me out of my selfishness even when I would rather relish in it.

 

Sending us on the World Race requires a lot of funding, and with that comes a lot of expectation from the supporters. So I just want to let you all know what’s going on here with us in South Africa:

We are just living life with people every single day. We aren’t super heroes for Jesus or anything crazy like that. This month, we are living in our hosts home, sharing their own kitchen and bathroom, staying in their nieces bedroom, and helping them minister to the neighborhood. We play with the neighborhood kids, we feed the families, we go pray for the sick, the needy, or whoever asks. We are painting the neighborhood park, and we even took the kids to the beach! But our hosts aren’t doing anything different because we’re here, they just invited us to be a part of their lives. They share Jesus with these people every single day! Their house is always open – there are constantly people who come to the door and ask for “Ma & Pa!” They have extended their family beyond the doors of their home and invited everyone inside. That’s a kind of a scary thing to do in South Africa, where gangs are prevalent and racism is still a big issue, but because of their obedience to Christ they have earned the respect of everyone around them, even the gamblers and gang members listen when Pa speaks.

Everyday I wonder what it would look like if I was at home in America and had 7 people come move into my house for a month. Would they be able to minister with me or would they be bored because of the lack of ministry?

 

What’s happening for me on the World Race is that my worldview is being challenged. My idea of life and what it looks like to serve Christ is being challenged and broadened… split wide open. I don’t need anything, I only need Christ. Wherever I am, with whatever I have, I am fully equipped to follow the command we have been given. I am learning that what I should want more than anything is Christ, I must seek Him first and above everything else (Matthew 6:33). He is teaching me that I need Him just as much as the kids on the streets, the widows in Nepal, and the hungry in Africa. I need Him and seek Him as I share Him.