Back Home

After days of flying, debrief, and two cancelled flights I have finally made it home. I must admit that it really wasn’t until the morning we left Casablanca to catch our flight to the states that I was really excited to be going home. That’s not to say that I wasn’t looking forward to coming home before that point, I did miss family and friends but I wasn’t ready to leave yet.

The weeks leading up to debrief I wasn’t looking forward to going back to west Africa at all. It was only three days but I had no desire to go, but once I got there I realized just how important it was to go to debrief. Yes it was great to hear the stories of the other teams and hear how God worked in their lives and the lives of the villagers but it was important for me to have time alone. Having those three days being neither here nor there allowed us to process what all happened in those four months on our own without the distraction of home or our lives in our host countries. Even having that day in the Charlotte airport by myself was kinda nice (although my family was worrying about me getting home and it was a little stressful), it was the first time in months I had time by myself for a whole day. Yes that day was also hectic and frustrating and I had been up at 2 am from jet lag but it was also nice not having to rush around the airport or through security like some of the other airports we had been through. God knew what he was doing when my flights got cancelled and placed two very nice women in my path to help me at the airport and hotel. Also that was something else that I was reminded of. I can trust God with the big decisions of my life and yet when it comes to the small things I forget sometimes that He has it in control. He got me home safely just a day later. We really had no travel problems until we got to the states and I learned my flight was cancelled and even then I was glad people spoke English here and I knew where I was stuck.

So much had happened and we had all changed in some way and being able to take a few days and process a small part of that helped us brace for the transition back home. We had it a little better than others in terms of culture shock living in a country that was industrialized, but there was still culture shock for me. There is no way that you can live and work in a place for a time and not change. There are things about myself that I know have changed. I’m so thankful for the opportunity to have been able to go and work there, my experience there was so much better than anything I could have imagined.

It was hard to leave and say goodbye but at the same time it is so great to know that there are people that will continue to work at the orphanage and school. Sue the woman from church that went with us to the orphanage and is continuing to go and has already updated us on the kids. Sarah and Mandy are planning on working at Aurora still once they get back from the states from Christmas break and the kids were really excited when they told them they were coming back next year. We did learn from Sue that Comfort had died. She was a child at the orphanage who was about 14 months old and had down syndrome. She had gone to the hospital to get a hole in her heart fixed and ended up getting an infection and passed away, but we take comfort in knowing that she is now in heaven fully healed.

It’s been a week and a half since being home and it’s been hectic and fun and jammed packed. Now that Christmas is over it is now back to settling in to life and starting the next chapter in my life. While this new chapter is starting parts of the previous chapters will flow into it, just like they have in the past. Again I have no idea what the next few months hold but I rest in the fact that God knows and has it under control. So for now I will go and enjoy time with family and friends.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support over these amazing four months.

Continue to pray for the kids at Lambano Orphanage and at Aurora Primary School pray that they would ultimately come to know the Lord. Also pray that God would send teachers to Aurora Primary School, they are in need of teachers. Also pray for EBC and them as a church family that they would continue to glorify God and grow as a church. For the EBC youth leaders that they would come back from summer break with a renewed sense of purpose and passion for reaching these kids and that they were able to rest over this break. They work hard. For the youth that they would continue to come to Friday night activities and Sunday morning and that they would bring their friends and would ask questions and would come to know the Lord and would grow in their relationship with Him. There is so much potential with the kids in that youth group and just pray that they would be a generation that would reach the world in the name of Christ. Thanks for the prayers.

Closing Time

Our time here is quickly coming to an end. The past four months have flown by and have been filled up joy, frustration, change and lots of fun. Going into this I never could have guessed what was going to happen or expected to meet so many great people or learn so much. I came to South Africa not knowing what I would be doing; all I knew was we were working with a local church and that was about it. Over four months later and we have not only been able to work with the youth at EBC but also got to spend our weeks with the crazy and hilarious kids at the orphanage playing who knows how many games of uno (we lost count after a while) and helping with homework. I was even given the opportunity to counsel one girl a little bit. Our weeks were also spent working with grade 2 at aurora and just helping out teacher Emilia (who is incredible for teaching both grade 2 and grade 3) with class work and a lot of reading test.



In these past four months we have been able to see a little boy (kektzo) at the orphanage go from being close to death and skin and bones when we first met him to becoming healthier and he has put on weight and see him smile and his personality and just see him act like a kid. We were also able to watch as Thebule progressed developmentally and see her able to crawl and walk with the help of someone holding her hand and just her smile back at you and imitate your facial expressions and clap. It’s the small things. Thebule and a few other smaller kids have developmental delays so it has been great to see her progress.


Living here and being able to work with these kids has been amazing and my experience here is more then I could have imagined. The past two weeks have been sad as we have had to say good-bye to the kids at aurora and the orphanage as well as to the friends that we've made. Last week we did have the oppurtunity to have a Christmas party with Aurora School. Thanks to the donations from people that Sarah, Mandy, and Lisa (they are americans and Canadians that live in our complex and have been going with us to Aurora) knew they were able to provide these kids with a pizza party and each a christmas gift and a lunch box with fruit and toothbrush/paste. It was so incredible to be a part of that that day and to just see how excited these kids were to open up their gift and find a baby doll or marbles. It really was amazing and we were all just as excited as the kids were. There even was a santa clause thanks to one of the men that works with Sarah and Mandy's husbands. It was a great way to end our time with them.

Thanks so much for your prayers and support during this entire time. I have greatly apprieciated them and so have my teamates. I will update again once I am back in the states for one or two final posts.