"How was Africa?" seems to be the question of the day. I have spent some trying to come up with a concise response and have yet to find one. It is a bit of a vague question and sometimes hard to determine how much of an answer the asker would like. Kind of like when someone asks you "how's life?" or "how are you doing?" there is often a three second version and then there is a "let's get dinner" version. I will try to boil it down... one thing I loved, one thing I learned and one thing that was hard.
One thing I loved... Never feeling rushed. People frequently run late and it can prove to be inconvenient at times... but for the most part, I found it to be an endearing aspect of life in Africa. People, conversations, relationships always take precedence over consideration for time. With two curious toddlers it was nice to be able to dawdle through the day visiting with people as we ran into them.
One thing I learned... I know very little about faith, trust and hope.
One thing that was hard... Going into this experience I had higher expectations of myself. Grandiose visions of being very involved in the "community" and serving with the Max and Maggie on daily basis (children's hospital, orphanage, etc) I was quickly humbled! The dishes, laundry and kids were constantly dirty and I was always in the middle of cooking or washing something. Once I was able to shift my perspective a bit and recognize the "community" sitting at my feet I stopped stressing and started really enjoying myself and my time at home with the kids.
The three second version... It was a great adventure and further confirmed our desire to do what God asks of us in the future.
