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Well I guess I finally have achieved real-life-true-and-actual missionary status. Never mind about all the paperwork, applications, certifications, interviews, fundraising, flights and prayer services it took to get me to Africa, the real test of my street-cred as a missionary was clearly the ceremonial receipt of precious-baby-angel letters from little wanna-be-someday-missionaries, written in Sunday school classrooms all over the world.

It's the kind of fame that we all dream of as kids right? Well it's the only kind of fame that I was ever interested in. :) I remember sending letters to my home-church missionaries as a kid, and now I am THAT missionary!

I was so touched to receive these little bits of encouragement from home and blessed to know that what I do, matters to people that I might never meet. Just as the missionaries who came and spoke at my childhood church impacted my life, then surely one of these kids will grow up and have a great impact on the kingdom of God because of the stories they heard in their own churches.

It reminds me of the importance of what we teach our kids, and how we prepare them for the life they are to lead, and how we can encourage them to be the kind of people they aspire to be.

God bless you, you dedicated local Sunday School teacher. You are shaping these little minds each and every week, to love the things that God loves and to help them grow to be the next generation of God fearing men and women. Keep at it... it matters!

And THANK YOU to Sarah, Carter, Ronny, Yatzari, & Keaton. You rock :)

Aside from the names of items, don't get me started on the phrases... 


"Sorted" - As in "I'm all set" or "I'm good to go."  


"Hectic" - In the States we would say you had a hectic day, let's say, if you had a flat tire and were late to work and spilled your coffee while driving your kid to school. Here "hectic" means something terrible, tragic, bad or wrong... like if you had a "hectic" past, you probably did heroin and were a prostitute and have a warrant out for your arrest. Not the same thing at all. So no matter what happened to you this year, you did not have a "hectic" summer. 


"Is it?"- Used like one word "Izit?"- An expression frequently used in conversation and equivalent in the States to "Really?" or "Is that so?" or "No way!" Sometimes used to express disbelief or shock. If you told a friend that your dishwasher broke last night. They might respond "Izit?" 

"Just now"- If a South African tells you they will do something "just now", they mean they'll do it sometime in or around the near future, maybe in like an half hour or so as in "I'll do the dishes just now." Or "I'm leaving just now." Try not to place any actual expectations on that time frame. It's mostly vague and loosely interpreted.  

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People keep asking me if I ever get overwhelmed with all that there is to do here. So many patients, so few nurses. So many problems, so few solutions. So much brokenness, so little healing.

Most of the time my answer is no, actually, I'm not overwhelmed. My struggle is to fight against being underwhelmed. From leaning attitudinally towards apathy. To give into the lie that things will never change. 


Change doesn't happen overnight. Solutions do not magically appear. Illness doesn't melt away into the night. Compassion fatigue sets in and it's easy to want to just give up and go back to the ignorantly-blissful albeit slightly-mediocre life I had before. "What difference does do I make anyhow? We clearly aren't making any progress so why not just give up and move on?"

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Do you know what the hardest four words are for me to say?

"I trust you Jesus."

No matter what.

I trust You.

Even when it is painful.

Even when it is frustrating.

Even when it costs me something.

No matter what.

I drew that line in the sand along time ago when I put my faith in Christ. Now I just have to live by it.

Moment by moment. Day by day. Hour by hour.

How many millions of times have I read... "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding."

I just didn't need it before now.

"ALL your heart." Even the parts that hurt. Even the parts that are scared. Even the parts that are selfish.

He is the God of the universe.

I am not in control. Of anything.

He could be moving mountains right now without my input. He could be rolling back oceans without my knowledge. He could be changing hearts. He could be healing sickness. He could be making the sun stand still in the sky. He could be raising the dead. He could be working on circumstances that I can't even begin to imagine.

I say I believe it, and now I have to live it.

I will not take matters into my own hands.

I will not rely on my own strength.

I will give up the illusion of control.

I will cry out to the Lord.

I will stand in His promises.

Through my tears, and my fears, and through my gritted teeth I will tell Him, "I trust you."

I will seek His face.

I will trust no matter what.

He is always faithful. He is always good. He is taking care of me.