A Chance to "Dive in"

The past few weeks God has answered my prayers for opportunities to "dive into" life, culture, and ministry.  It began with a climb.  The hospital and our home are situated at the very base of a mountain.  It's not the French Alps, but it is a small mountain:)  For exercise, many missionaries regularly walk part-way up this mountain. Even those who come to spend a few weeks get to climb the mountain at least once.  After a year of being here I had never had the chance to climb because it is not an activity I could do with Sam and Lizzie.  Last week thanks to Alyssa Oram, I had someone to watch the kids, and thanks to Jean, I had someone to walk up the mountain with. So, at sunrise I pulled on my sneakers and we began the steady ascent.  It was awesome to climb higher and higher and be able to see our home from God's perspective!  I saw our house, the hospital, the airstrip and hanger, the hills and valleys.  Life became, for that moment  so much simpler.  the complications, stresses, and busyness seemed to shrink and melt into their proper place before the Lord.  And, the beautiful part of our life here became clearer.  Of course, as with any mountain moment, I had to climb back down and reenter life in the valley.  But I am so thankful to have had a moment to "dive in", by climbing up.

I also dove into ministry last week with our first visit to the Cuisine.  The word cuisine means kitchen in french.  At the edge of the hospital property there is a small building where the families of patients sleep, cook, and do laundry while they wait and care for their sick loved one.  There are very often children there as well.  With the goal of having a small ministry with Sam and Lizzie, we made some small muffins and cakes, put them in a bag along with a couple frisbees, and marched past our gates, outside our comfort zone, and over to the cuisine.  I want to take a moment here to brag on Sam and Lizzie.  They were little rays of God's-love-sunshine! They brought out the frisbees and and tried to play with the first couple children we saw.  The first little boy immediately began to cry!  Sam, however, was patient and kind and within a couple minutes the little guy was thoroughly enjoying playing with Sam.  Lizzie attracted a small group of girls with whom she played a round of frisbee.  They played happily for a while, then I gave a plate of goodies to Sam and Lizzie, and they both walked around handing out tasty treats and making sure that everyone received a piece.  It was a small dive, but an enormously successful one!  We will return to the cuisine.

My final dive of the week, was a trip to Lomé without Eric and without another more experienced missionary.  We needed to take a group of visitors to the airport, and pick up my Aunt Paula who is now visiting from the US.  Half way through our drive to Lomé I asked Pariko,  our friend driving the van for us, what the plan was and where we were going first.  "I don't know", he replied, "You're in charge". Yikes!  Thankfully the trip went smoothly. I learned a few things along the way, but all in all it was a good experience and we made it home safe and sound, with Aunt Paula and the groceries and both kids:)  Another "first" is behind me.

So, let the diving practice continue! We'll see where God takes us next.  It's the "Great Adventure"!