It Was Just a Year Ago Today Part 1

It was a year ago today that I boarded a plane and moved from South Africa back to the United States after spending 7 1/2 years on the mission field in Africa! I always said that Africa was the same just different than when I lived back in the the U.S. and it was. But it was also life changing. Now that I look back I see how 1) God poured into me and grew me and 2) used me to touch others.

1) Missionaries are just regular, fallible people. We are far from perfect. "Us" missionaries would joke that God called us to Africa because we didn't listen and learn well where we came from. I think this is very true. Being a missionary took away so many of the distractions of life so I could be blessed with seeing what was truly important....my relationship with God and others. There is such a peeling away of layers of yourself when you actually "do life" with others. No hiding the real you. I learned submission, communication (okay I did come with a propensity toward that one), patience,  gentleness (still a work in progress), worship from the inside out not superficially, that God is at work even when I don't see it or understand it, that He is faithful even in heartache, pain and loneliness and that God's plan even when I fail miserably at my part, is ALWAYS amazing!!!

2) People...relationships matter. It is not what you "do" but how you do it or not do it with others. One of my first lessons in the field was God using me to be there for Pepe...showing that He put just the right person in the right spot at the right time to fill the need of a specific child! Pepe will grow up and I will be a small piece of her history and her with mine as our lives have gone separate ways but the reality that God is who crossed our paths when she was deathly ill for His greater purpose still blows me away even all these years later!!!
As I said before, I am just a regular person. I am blessed by having been in Africa and of having the privilege of seeing God use my strengths and weaknesses to pour into, challenge, love on (or let others love on me---I love all my hugger friends), listen to and more importantly to let go of (trust God to guide their paths and not me). I see nothing spectacular in any of the things I did, but I treasure knowing that the people I encountered (other missionaries, Africans, visiting Americans, etc), God used me to grow them and them to grow me. He is so awesome and that is probably one of the biggest things I brought back with me!

So tune in tomorrow, on my year anniversary of setting foot back in the good old U.S of A to reside and find out if it is still the same, just different!