ps

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tcheau

a synopsis

I sit here, tears streaming down my face, longing to be back in the place where my entire being became so alive. where my heart was content and wanted to call "home" the moment I set foot on its red soil. and it is now that I finally feel able to bring myself to write to you my humble description of my time there, in beautiful africa.

I encountered God there in a way that I cannot even describe. I don't think I even totally realize myself - all I know is that he is more real to me now than I have ever known in my life. he is real, and cares, and speaks to us even about the most mundane, routine circumstances. my greatest burning desire is to move closer to his heart, and to see the people surrounding me catch a glimpse of what I saw there, and what I'm trying to find here. to grab onto it with all their might and never let go. to catch a glimpse of your eye, and fall so passionately in love that they can't do anything else but seek you.

I'm struggling to find the ease in which everything flowed there, here in canada. longing for the spiritual giants to look to, and the encouragement and support that were a constant part of life there. looking for the courage I need to step out in what I've become, and not shy back to who I was. you've shown me the amazing things that this place could be, and I want it with all my heart.

I loved being under that tent, and having you come fall like a heavy blanket over us, downloading your heart into ours. feeling you in the wind. or like a wave pouring over us. tangible. all united as one spirit, singing and dancing with the angels. flowing with your spirit, moving freely in our individual gifts. not always knowing exactly what you were doing, but knowing we'd be changed when we got up off the floor. or having extremely specific things pinpointed, brought to the surface and completely restored. I am not the person I was when I left. I feel so so blessed, and enriched, and humbled. I am falling in love, and you are drawing me closer. never failing me. waiting in anticipation for me to turn my busy eyes to you. raising such a strong curosity, and desire.

africa, to me, was life changing. I don't care about sounding cliche, cheezy, over spiritual or fanatical. God has given me so so much. more astoundingly beautiful people to love, a deep love for a country and a culture, and I feel so much more clarity and more grounded than I ever have in my life. confidence. *deep breath* there's no way I could ever begin to explain to you what africa was to me, I don't have words to articulate it, but here is some of what's been placed on my heart, and enstilled in my spirit.

thank you Jesus. with all my heart.

Toto, we're not in Africa anymore

So here I sit - freezing toes, warm sweater, back at my computer eating European gummy bears. It's still pretty unreal to me. What's the first thing you did when you got home, you ask? Well... I got to go to a funeral. Then I came home, gave my family some presents, and unpacked all my junk in the middle of the living room, haha.

The remainder of my trip was pretty uneventful. I don't remember where I left off, really. I got to Maputo, met up with friends and then headed off early on the 11th. We were in a cramped bus with no bathroom or air conditioning, so it was a loooong 10 hours. But driving through South Africa is so beautiful, we kept things interesting by almost missing our bus to buy chicken, and hitting people with pillows and stuff. We got in to Joburg around 6, and met up with a native Johannesburger (hah! burger... I'm tired...) and he took us to his place for a bit, then out to supper which was incredible, and then I was off to the airport.

The flights were good. Very long and uneventful. The most exciting part was meeting a girl from canada, living in south africa who had been to Iris and then watching a chick flick about dancers, haha. I got a lot of weird looks walking through the Detriot airport, and getting off the plane in Bangor wearing shorts and flip-flops while everyone else is all bundled up in their winter coats and scarves. When mom saw me, first of all she didn't recognize me right away because I am so dark, and then she jumped up and down a lot until I came out of security, haha. It was great to see my family. So we stayed up late in the hotel room and I talked a lot, and then I slept in a bed.... with blankets.... and didn't die of heat stroke. We got up early and headed home. We amde it across the border with hardely any questions, and then I got to stop at SSU for a sec to say hi to all my sleeping friends. They definately made my entry into Canada a wonderful thing. hehe. They make me so happy.

So tomorrow is church, and I'm excited to see everyone, but a little anxious about all the questions, and attention that is coming my way. This next week is going to be insane. I miss Pemba, and heat and friends a lot, but I'm so excited to be back and see what God's going to do here in the next few months. It's gonna be great.

bye bye pemba

So I've made it to Maputo. After a draining 4 times saying goodbye to my friends, and a few too many stressful trips to the airport with no luck I finally got on this afternoon, and it was the best goodbye I could've asked for. A huge load of Iris people were flying out with LAM this afternoon, so I got to hang out with them all at the airport for a couple hours with them and just relax knowing that I was on my way back home, finally. So when I got to Maputo, I had someone waiting for me at the airport to bring me back here to Oasis where I stayed in October, AND while I was eating supper Carly's face popped up in the window which means..... DUNN DUNN DUNN DUNNNNNNN I'm not travelling to Joburg ALONE in the morning!! oh man. it is SUCH a relief. as usual, I have no time to write..... but eventually I'll do one massive post or something.... off to joburg in the morning. back in NB the 13th hopefully. Horray!!

Homeward bound - almost

Alright, so here's the update that I'll write while my pages load since the internet is really slow today... Otreach was good. It was pretty draining but I'm refreshed again and able to say that the good things outweighed the bad. 9 days in the bush was definately intense and exhausting - mentally and physically, but it was a good experience overall I think. I was never so glad to be back in Pemba as when we pulled in on the 4th though. I didn't see any elephants, but I DID see a baboon as we were driving by. That was kinda cool. lots and LOTS of chickens and goats and lizards. I ate a snail and crab eggs (from a street vendor on the side of the street, haha). I'll write more about the trip later.

As for today, I should be sitting in Maputo right now but - true African style - I got sold a ticket that doesn't actually exist. The airline doesn't even fly on the day they sold me the ticket for, so I showed up at the airport this morning, said all my goodbyes, waited until 1/2 an hour before my plane was supposed to leave and then found out it was "amanya" tomorrow. So I freaked out a little bit, but luckily I had some of my Mozambican friends there who could translate for me and help keep me calm. So to make a long story short - I went to the airline and tried to get my money back, they told me to "write the manager," went to LAM to try to buy a ticket for the plane that was flying out at 3pm - didn't have enough money, so I'm going on faith praying that they'll use my ticket for today at the airport tomorrow which would mean that I would stay the night in Maputo tomorrow night, then bus to Joburg and arrive there the day I need to fly out, instead of staying one night there as well. Oi! stress. I'll be home soon. In the wonderful Canadian cold. If I call you "coonya" it's just because I'm making fun of how white you are, haha. That's what all the village kids yell as we walk by in the villages here. Keep me in your prayers - I need em'.

More from me when I'm not so stressed.