"And I'll take with me the memories, To be my sunshine after the rain, It's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday." Boys 2 Men
"His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature " 2 Peter 1:3-4b
So I’m going to be one of those people who talks all about how great it is not to be around you. What? Are there really people like that? Okay, maybe that came out wrong. Let me start over.
I remember my High School graduation. One of my fellow classmates (there were only nine of us, mind you) got up to sing the Boys II Men song “It’s so hard to say goodbye”. It was very sweet and touching, until he started to give his speech after he sang. He started out by saying, “It’s really not hard to say goodbye, it’s time to go…” Now he was right of course, we couldn’t very well stay in high school forever and the time had come for us to leave. But, man, what a way to say it! Just to boldly proclaim “It’s easy to go!” That’s how I feel lately. In case you didn’t see me there or you didn’t know, I recently took a trip home for about a month before returning to Ghana. I have to say I was really excited to get there, and enjoyed my time a lot. I got to see friends and family (including a new niece and nephew!), got to visit churches, meet with my Pastor and other spiritual mentors and take some time to rest and recoup. But to be completely honest, I was probably more excited to get back to Ghana than I had been to go home in the first place. Now, before all my family and friends stop reading and cut me off for saying that I’d rather be here than there, I love you all and I would absolutely love to be around you all the time. I just think that would work out better for me if all of you packed up and came with me :-) Something that I’ve been coming to realize is that, having once tasted of the plans God has for you, nothing else is quite as satisfactory, no matter how wonderful it may be. I would probably have said before that I knew this, or something along those lines, but there are just some things that you don’t really know until you’ve experienced them firsthand. Of course, this doesn’t mean that everyone should move to the mission field because you’ll be so much happier than you ever were before. I think most people wouldn’t love it for long periods of time, not because they’re not cut out for it…it’s just that not everyone has the same purpose in life. That’s why God made some people to be missionaries and some people to be pastors and some to be businessmen and some to be…I don’t know, astrophysicists. My point is that I’m where I’m supposed to be right now and I love it.
So what is it I love exactly? Well, lately I’ve been keeping pretty busy. We’ve made several trips to the orphanages we work with since I’ve been back…taking them food and soccer balls and just going to hang out with the kids in general. One thing that has made this in some ways even more fun for me is my new camera… While I was home someone got me a new digital SLR camera and it is totally awesome! Point being: up till now we’ve usually gotten a photographer to come on these trips so that we can send pictures to supporters who sent money to buy food or whatever the case may be. However, with that method we ended up having to scan the printed pictures before we could email them at all. So with the cost of the photographer and the hassle of scanning, it was taking a lot of time and money to get pictures. That is no longer a problem thanks to me and my new Rebel xTi--with my handy digital SLR I am now, more or less, the official photographer for…whatever. So I get to go around snapping pictures of everything that’s going on, and let’s face it, every kid loves having their picture taken so it makes me even more popular than I was before. Plus the pictures come out amazing. (Can you tell how much I love my new camera?)
Aside from trips to the orphanages, I’ve also been working on the filing system for Fountainhead Christian School. Filing can be a mess, and if anyone wants to donate filing cabinets and hanging files we will welcome them with open arms :-) We’re really looking forward to a lot of work the rest of this year, with some ministries we really want to see get off the ground before 2009 starts. I think I’ve mentioned both of these before, but two of the ministries we’re looking at starting are a prison ministry and something along the lines of a soup kitchen. The prison ministry is one I’m especially looking forward to, having heard about the conditions of prisons here and the complete lack of even the most basic necessities like toilet paper and enough food to eat. The soup kitchen is also an exciting prospect, but will definitely start slowly. We want to reach out to the elderly in Tema who might not have family that can take care of them and so can’t really get enough to eat or enough social interaction for that matter. We’re looking at starting by hosting a meal once a week or so, providing haircuts and other needs, and eventually maybe doing the meal on a more frequent basis. One of the main things to figure out is where to have this take place. We definitely have room on the base here, but whether it’s too far out of the way/too much trouble for people to get here would be the question. On top of those, the next Discipleship Training School starts up in July. We’re praying for lots of students and for God’s provision for them for their school fees, so join with us in that!
I’ve really been blessed by something over the last couple of months. In the past couple of years I’ve managed to accumulate friends that have ended up flung far and wide across the globe. Not that long ago, the only possible international call I could have considered making would have been to Mexico. But all of a sudden, I find that I have friends in Singapore, Ukraine, Tanzania, Costa Rica, Holland, Iraq, South Africa, Switzerland, Romania, Nigeria, Israel, Sierra Leone and probably some other places that I’m leaving out (if you’re there please forgive me). Most of these people are in missions in some way, and I get reports from them as to how things are going. I cannot tell you how encouraging it is to hear what God is doing all around the world. I get to read about orphans in Ukraine, Iraqis showing interest in Christ, border guards along the Gaza Strip risking their lives to bring a sick child to a waiting medical team amidst falling bombs, Bengalis hearing the Good News in a foreign country and then going back to Bangladesh, and the list goes on and on. Our God is a wonderful, caring, compassionate God and I am blown away by His love for us.
One last note before I leave you…while I was home, I did not keep up the habit I had started here of jogging every day before dawn (the earliness was more to avoid the heat of the sun than any great ambition of mine). This was a very, very, very big mistake. Can I just say that if you have started exercising regularly (or any other disciplined activity for that matter) you should NEVER stop for a month at a time. It’s a lot harder to get going again once you’ve stopped and you often have to start back on a lower level than where you left off. That being said, I have started back up and am now just trying to get up earlier… seriously, by 6:40 the sun is up in almost full force and you get tired a lot quicker.
Grace and Peace to you all!
Rachel
