My Weary Soul!

Monday, November 11, 2013

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28

When I write blog posts and newsletters, I usually try and stay positive.  Let’s face it; I am a positive person, or at least 99% of the time!  But I think its time for a break.  We are getting weary.  We love our life, we absolutely love Gemena, in fact it’s been our favorite assignment thus far, but it’s hard!  Juba was hard in MANY other ways (and to be honest, we are glad we aren’t there), but in Juba we could “escape”.  We had a swimming pool at a near by mountain lodge, we had restaurants we could go to, we could “escape”.   Gemena is completely different.

It’s a small town and there is a LOT to be said about my security and independence.  I wouldn’t want to change the fact that I can walk anywhere I want and be completely safe.  But then…once we get into Gemena the only way to get out for a break is to fly.  And that is just to Kinshasa.  Of course Kinshasa is a break, but it’s still Congo, Africa, and overseas.

We are tired.  Tired of being called “mondele” –>a white person or foreigner.  Tired of people waiting by our front door every morning asking for something.  Tired of kids saying “mister, give me money”.  Tired of rice and beans.  Tired of collecting a trail of people when I run.  Tired of people using our house as the “hub” to charge all of their phones, computers, batteries and everything else they want to charge.  We can feel ourselves losing patience with some of our greatest friends here, its time for a break!

Thankfully the Lord has taught us when we are not being called to stretch ourselves any further.  We didn’t take good care of ourselves our first 2 years overseas and it took us a long time to heal.  In fact I was still seeing the healing effects when I attended a missionary retreat in July.  Since then the Lord has had to remind us “today is not the day to leave your house”…and it’s ok.  Some days He tells us, “today is a day between just you and I”, and it’s ok.

The Lord has provided relief at just the right time.  We are excited to go to America in 1 month!  We are excited to eat good, different food.  We are excited to see our family and friends.  We are excited to celebrate Christmas.  We are excited to rest.  We have a busy few weeks before that rest comes, but oh the joy it’s going to bring as soon as we step off the airplane onto American soil!  Pray for our weary souls, as we find the patience and strength to continue strong, both physically and mentally for just 1 more month!