Out of Africa
from We Are That Family
by Kristen

I don’t know who I am.

It’s a startling realization to not recognize yourself: My own voice sounds hollow. My eyes hold a distant stare, remembering all I’ve seen in Africa this past week. My thoughts keep me awake at night.

Just days after I returned, I found my husband carefully watching me. "I don’t feel like I know you," he said softly, beckoning.

"I don’t feel like I know me either," I said.

And I cried.

I feel more than guilt for such an easy life, accessible food, clean water and abundance. I feel aware. The blinders are gone. I can’t pretend I don’t know how the poorest of the poor live. I can’t act like there aren’t children who go to bed hungry. I can’t ignore that 30,000 children die each day from preventable causes.

I can’t stop thinking about Vincent, living as an orphan and father, in squalor. When I close my eyes at night, his face is what I see. I see him in his "home" that’s not fit for an animal.

I see the joy of the Lord in his eyes. Peace. I see Jesus.

I think that is what is so hard. I cannot reconcile his lack of every basic need and such fullness in his heart and life. The two don’t mix.

In America, in my town, in my home and heart, I complain about a dirty house, yard work, needing a "break" from cooking or my children. Every basic need is met, PLUS more luxuries than I can count.

With so much, how can my joy be incomplete?

How is it that I can see true peace in one of the largest slums in the world, where the smell of death is prominent and it’s rare in the most blessed nation?

I’m not sure how to mix these worlds together; how to show my spouse all that I’ve seen and all that my heart holds, or parent my kids without guilt.

I don’t know how to find myself again. I don’t know how to return to my everyday life when children still need to be sponsored. But I’m trying.

I am so thankful for this place, although foreign and uncomfortable, I’m not alone. God is right here with me, leading me into new places.

I may be out of Africa, but it will never be out of me.

Read the entire post, with pictures & comments:

http://www.wearethatfamily.com/2010/03/out-of-africa.html

• Apply online by January 30. The application fee is of $100, and it’s a non-refundable deposit to make a deposit for the airline reservations. Please make the check payable to Great Commission Latin America, and give it to the mission trip leader. This amount will be credited to your final trip cost.
• Plane tickets will be purchased for each missionary by February 13. You need to have in your missionary account $725 (this amount includes your $100 application fee).
• The balance of the trip funds-$805, is due by March 6. The total cost is $1,530. (This cost is subject to change when the airlines increase the fuel surcharge and/or taxes, or if the number of the team’s participants drops below 10 people).

Important Dates

• Jan. 30 – $100 non-refundable deposit due           
• Feb. 13 – $625 first installment               
• Mar. 6 – $805 remaining balance of the trip due     
• Mar. 20 – Leave for Choluteca, Honduras      

Team Meetings

• Thursday Night January 29, 2009 after Rock PWC – 15 minute meeting- Deposit due!
• Sunday Night February 8 at 6PM – Dinner at John’s house.  Let’s bring our first installment money to send together this day.  We will send it together.
• Sunday Night February 22 at 6 PM – Dinner at John’s house.
• Sunday Night March 15 at 6PM – Dinner at John’s house.

• Step out in faith to trust God to raise support
• See their gifts and talents used
• Experience the spiritual bond with Christians from another culture
• See how God is worshiped in another culture
• See the poverty, and feel the compassion
• See the spiritual darkness, and feel the drive to share the gospel
• See fruit of their labor
• Come to understand the similarities and differences between the U.S.and another culture
• Learn flexibility and the feeling of having your life not in your own control, and trusting God with it.
• Learn humility and submission to authority
• Experience language barriers and how to overcome them
• Experience cultural barriers and adapt to them
• Take the risk and share the gospel with strangers
• Learn to communicate the gospel clearly
• Learn to connect with people of all ages
• Walk among the poor, the sick, the dirty, the outcast
• Learn to love children and make an impact in their lives
• See how big the problems are
• See how much bigger God is
• See the passion and power of a missions-driven church
• Learn how they can be used to meet needs – both abroad and at home
• Learn to hear and obey promptings of the Holy Spirit
• Learn to tune out distractions
• Learn to distinguish Satan’s lies from God’s truth
• Experience spiritual attack and rely on God to overcome it
• Learn to work as a team and rely on others
• Learn to humbly accept the hospitality of the nationals
• Learn to live without the luxuries they take for granted
• Learn to overcome physical adversities
• Experience the liberation of leaving their comfort zone
• Deal with the apprehension and possible persecution and opposition from family and friends
• Come back home with renewed passion for missions
• Bring back and share enthusiasm for reaching out to those in need
• Become a catalyst for change at home
• Build lasting relationships with team members and nationals
• Discover gifts, talents, passions, likes, dislikes, personal deficits, challenges, that they didn’t know they had before.
• Begin to look at American culture in a different way
• Consider what sort of life changes and adjustments may be needed