I'll be Home for Christmas

Okay... so I won't be home for Christmas. At least not in the traditional sense. But when I think of this phrase or song title, I am reminded of two things: First of all, I cannot ignore the fact that as much as I love it here, this season would be much easier spent with my family. Over the course of the last few days, I received notification that both my grandma and my grandpa on the other side of the family were placed in the hospital. Since then, I have also learned that they are both progressing and for the most part, out of danger, but having this occur really shook me and left me with a powerful lingering reminder that there are people in my family who still need to know Jesus and I have a responsibility and a heart that longs for that to happen. While the thought of anything bad happening to any of them is not a pleasant one, the thought of any one of my non-Christian relatives perishing is the least pleasant of all. The second thought about this is that even though I cannot be "home for Christmas" as we usually think about it, I am so very grateful to always be at home with God. Can you imagine what it would be like if we had to go somewhere away from God and be apart from Him for a holiday or even any one random day of the year? Yikes! What a terrible thought!

In addition to spending my days thinking about things like the aforementioned, I have been enjoying a lot of time at the beach recently. Christmas break started on Saturday and I have been using my time to relax and be with God, lead an AIM meeting on dying to self as it relates to the Christmas story (I'll make a post on that after this one), accomplish long-awaited work, and enjoy the beautiful creation that is such a blessing in this place. Yesterday, Cathleen and I went to White Sands (a hotel nearby) and spent the day swimming and enjoying the ocean. I also practiced Swahili and tidied up all my Swahili notes into a small notebook (divided into categories of course- for those of you who know me well, this is not surprising!) that I can take with me everywhere. Today, we are headed to South Beach for a day of beach-dwelling, work, and a barbeque and sleep-over at a beach house owned by a student's family. It should be great!

On a completely unrelated front (not unrelated to my life, but unrelated to the beach :-)), my friend Jess has a friend visiting from England right now. She is in the process of traveling around Africa and has made her stop in Tanzania here with us. I must say that in addition to the joy of having her company, the Lord has really used her to bring conviction in my life. She is so brave in her interactions with the locals. Instead of buying everything at the more Western supermarkets like we have been told to do, she goes to the small dukas (stores) owned by Africans across the street. She wanted to get her hair braided and find someone to make a dress and she got into a car with an unknown African woman who volunteered to take her to find someone. Now, while some of these choices are not the most safe, the core message that God has convicted me of is that she has probably developed more relationships with the local people than we have in all our time here so far! The joke of this matter is that we have the power of God dwelling in us and we should be more keen than anyone to start those relationships and take those chances than anyone else, because the cost of us not doing so is apt to be someone's soul!!! As such, I have made a resolution and asked God to help me to reach outside our compound walls more; to go across the street just to talk with people and not be afraid that I do not know enough Swahili or that people will laugh at me; to form and maintain relationships with those people who sell fruits and vegetables, cellphone cards, or small grocery items. Please pray that God would help me to follow through with this and feel confident enough in Him that I will seek out opportunities that He has given rather than just accept the ones He places in my lap.