It's June 11 as I try to resume resurrecting the past week an a half. At lunch today I calculated with Barry that I began the journey home at 11:30 PM Saturday night CDST, on June 8. I rested in my own bed for the first time since then last night June 10!
I feel amazingly good today, but from past experiences, I'm not so naive as to think jet lag won't be an issue THIS time. The body goes through many adjustments going and coming. I am aware but not as aware as I think I probably should be of all the grace I have been visited, from prayers by those of you who read this and prayed for me. I nurse the bites from various insects (hoping they weren't all mosquitoes) Stomach issues were kept to a minimum. I have been surrounded by Guardian Angels, some I recognized but others I'm sure will only be seen with resurrected eyes.
What I've also come to realize is that through it takes about 24 hours to arrive (and longer than that to return home) the trip begins the minute you BEGIN your journey. I hope there will be comments to the new friends we met in airports, in planes and any other place we went between the bookends of take off to final landing.
Now, I will try to copy and paste June 4
6/4/14
No makeup this morning. The electricity went off this morning and there was not enough natural light to bother . Hair goes natural; clothes are dirty from another day of wear. The room is dirty, the air conditioning didn't work correctly last night. We have no breakfast at 8:30 I guess because the electricity has just come back on. I haven't had coffee since I was in Africa. Nescafé instant doesn't rate as a cup of coffee to me.
Franklyn bought us cucumbers last night. That might be breakfast. Here I go again talking about food.
See why Jonah 3 was good reading for me this morning. The plant God gave withered and Jonah complained. Is that me? I am pondering that based on the above paragraphs.
So much for gluten free. It doesn't even seem important. That roll I just ate was divine. I used it to sop up the yoke of the two fried eggs we got at 8:50 after they had told us the cook had not shown up for work.
Just wondering as I conclude the recording of the wonders of this day why so much centers around my creature comforts and yet I can't seem to do justice to the truly important events of the day. Is it just easier to describe food than people? What impression am I wanting to make on you the reader? I can't tell it all so why do I choose some events described vividly and others I can't seem to grasp words to describe?
Yesterday at this time Franklyn I had known in person for a few hours. Tonight I can add 24 to that number. My impression of him last night was good. Tonight my appreciation of him has been grown exponentially. Why? First of all he has taken so seriously his promise to Karen that he would take good care of us. He has held my hand as we have crossed busy streets. He has gotten on the right side of me when in potentially dangerous situations. He has warned me when he thought I was around people who would snatch my belongings. When Peggy and I insisted that we could get ourselves home from the beach after his wife Becky, pastor Alusine Sesay and friend Joyce Johnson were sent on home, he told us "No, I will take care of you." Later we saw for ourselves the wisdom of his decision. We were in a taxi stuck in traffic. He asked if we could walk. Of course we could. So when we had walked passed the traffic block he guided us to another taxi for the remaining trip back to the guest house.
When we told him about EAFC'S latest experiment in raising funds by making jewelry from African coins, he became a man on a mission to get them for us. It might sound like a simple task but believe me, it was not. I won't go into all the reasons this was complicated but it was.
After showing us the city's high points thanks to his friend Samuel who had a car and not only brought us in last night but spent his day with us today, we then had meetings with two whose applications had not made it to the committee, two church elders, his sister Betsy and his wife who had gotten permission from her boss to get off early so she could greet us.
The seeds of EAFC here were born in 2008, and yet I must admit to not praying fervently even when I heard that Franklyn had been sick almost to the point of death for about a year. He received one degree through us, and after working and being sick another year, he is now well enough to begin working towards a masters degree. We got to visit his university and visit with the finance officer who explained some of the banking issues she had encountered. Our visit definitely helped the situation, I believe.
Now I believe EAFC is on the verge of taking off in this country. Franklyn accepted the position of Country Coordinator with pleasure and we got to meet the team assembled beside him to aid in the development of the work in this country. I truly expect to see it blossom in the next few years.
We are honored to be here. We are about to learn "what The Lord has done for me I cannot tell it all". In both countries they sing it beautifully, and it has been for me a continuing compass centering me on True North when my flesh wants to wonder in the mind fields of secret grumpiness .
Thank you Father for letting me be here.
Tomorrow we leave at 6 AM so we can get the 8 AM ferry, to then negotiate for a taxi to take us to the airport for a flight that does not leave until noon . Can see see how the seeds of grumpiness could again raise its head? And yet even in the travel and uncertainties we meet fascinating people, see God's hand of protection on us. I sense prayers of the Saints back home as well as the ones here too.
Good night!!!
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