So we are leaving for Cameroon in less than 3 weeks! I am really, really excited and really, really intimidated/scared of all that goes into living in a new place/culture for awhile. I am beginning to experience my standard impatient angst for the next event in my life. I am so ready to be experiencing whatever it is I am going to experience. I'm ready to get away from the perpetual busyness of my life. I hope that I can actually savor the time I have while I am in the midst of what I think will be a life-changing event. But I fear that I will hate it, and even more that I will love it. Will I be able to really communicate and connect with the people I encounter?
I have images in my head of what the trip will look like, me running around playing soccer with kids, giving high fives and proclaiming victorious yells after we score even though I'm not much of a soccer player, and laying in a bed with a mosquito net making me feel chlaustrophobic but very happy to have it keeping the malaria at bay. I am excited about what I will learn from these kids, from the people my age, and from the elders. I am somewhat apprehensive as to what I can teach them. I believe the most important thing I can do, and I pray that God will show me the best way to display this, is to love the people I encounter. This seems very cliche to me. But even in my own experiences, I respect, truly appreciate, and want to be around the people that have really shown love to me. I am not talking about the standard occasional "How are you doin?" or short conversation that ends without any hint of a future plan to talk again. It's the people that really want to sit down with you and really want you to answer the question, "How are you doing?" and want to do something about whatever it is that's going on in your life. The people that make you feel like, at this moment, their world revolves around you. I pray for the initiative to be that person to these people. I believe that loving people requires more action than words and even in writing this, I realize I can/need to be this person more often to even my closest friends and family here in the US. Haven't left yet and already learning things from this trip! Ha.
Please pray for Laurie and me as we get ready for this endeavor. We are both anxious to get there to see what is in store for us and what we can do to be of help while we are there.
ps. I plan to do a much better job of updating my blog while we are there.
