Oftentimes on the mission field there are many new hellos as well as a lot of goodbyes. We are transient. And we find that over time we begin to measure our friendships in thousands of miles instead of just a few. We find that when we are in Africa, we dearly miss our friends in the US; and that when we are in the US, we dearly miss our friends in Africa. This past weekend was one of those rare oasis moments where our African friendships and US lives overlapped in a beautiful and refreshing way.
Last Friday, Anna and I hopped in the car and drove to visit the Johnsons and Ann in western NC for a mini Bundibugyo team reunion. The Johnsons have relocated back to the US and Ann was visiting on HMA (Home Mission Assignment). Travis and I spend the afternoon building an IKEA bed for Aidan, while Anna visited the kids at school with Amy. Ann came over for a yummy chili dinner and we stayed up late playing games and talking. All very normal things. But so refreshing when so often our life feels transient and not normal.
The next day we headed out to a state park to see the partially frozen waterfalls that we had heard about.
(I tried to convince Aidan to give me a piggy back ride up to the top)
(the partially frozen river was so beautiful…and so cold!)
(ice on the trail is just a new kind of slide)
We loved the day, we loved the hike, we loved the hot-chocolate, and we loved the deep fellowship with good friends. We are thankful to God for this time.
No comments:
Post a Comment