One week

Only one week left here... sniff, sniff.
Sorry about the post rates... haven't had wireless this year (2010) so it's harder to get on the internet and post stuff. I have a feeling when I get home I'll be able to write all about Africa - what I remember at least.
Love you and can't wait to see you!

Well I'm coming home...

It's official... I've bought a ticket and everything. I will arrive in NC on the 5th of April. To warn you all, I have mixed feelings about it. I am oh so excited to see friends and family!! To relax and hang out with them, to talk about their lives for the past year, share pictures and stories of Gabon, etc.. But I am also sad to leave this place, the many friends I've made here. Below are two girls at church who hang out and wait with me after the service.
And I wonder... will I ever come back here? Mama Jeanine thinks it will be in two months... and it might be - just to warn you guys! Honestly though I have no idea what I'm going to do with the rest of my life. And although that question sits in the back of my mind I'm trying not worry about it.

Awhile back I read this book called "A Million Miles" by Donald Miller - definitely recommend it! Mostly it talks about leading an adventurous life, but it also had some interesting words relating to the meaning of life... here are a few quotes I liked:

"For instance, Marcos said, 'The human body essentially recreates itself every six months... You are not who you were in February.'"

How have you changed in the last six months? How have I changed? Just to warn you guys now... I'm not the same person! Oh I may look the same and act the same, but I have been genetically engineered into the 6 billion... okay just kidding... they do a lot of stuff at Bongolo Hospital, but genetic engineering is not one of them!

"I thought about Marcos's conclusions... that we were designed to live through something rather than to attain something, and the thing we were meant to live through was designed to change us. The point of a story is the character arc, the change." (70)

My latest resistance to change (haven't changed yet) has been selfishness... have I talked about living with people who are more familial and socialist? Let me give an example and then you can give me the rights words to describe the society/culture... I'm not sure those are good words. For example, a guy in Libreville is getting ready to get married. To get married here the guy has to give the family of the girl a dowry of sorts. He has a good job here, but is also working on the side to earn more money. If his family asks him for money he is pretty much obligated to give it to them, and there goes the dowry. In the villages if someone in the village needs money and you (a fellow villager) have it, you give it to them. (Which is one of the reasons there are so many unfinished houses - when people get money they put it into building.) Now don't get me wrong, I actually don't think this is a bad idea as far as the community is concerned. But the "I work hard for my money" side of me kicks in. The attitude of those in need plays a big role in this as well. All this just to say that my character is changing - I hope for the better.

Ok so I think I have sufficiently wandered off of the subject. Now to return to our regularly scheduled program.

"Contrary to Freud's posit that man's greatest pursuit is of pleasure, Frankl (an Austrain psychologist who in 1942 was deported to a Nazi concentration camp) argued that life is a pursuit of meaning itself, and that search for meaning provides the basis for a person's motivation. Pain then, if one could have faith in something greater than himself, might be a path to experiencing a meaning beyond the false gratification of personal comfort." (196)

What is the meaning of your life? Have you ever thought about it? What motivates you?

Check me out

I'm the last girl on the right holding up the sign!

http://www.alliancelife.org/article.php?id=499

And you might be interested in the article as well :)
The Straw family has been a huge blessing to me here in Gabon!

Get A Life

Actually I think it's "ALife" - the magazine for the CMA. I think Alace Straw, the wife of the pilot for the Bongolo hospital, has an article in the March issue!! It tells a little about their journey to Gabon, Africa. Just thought it was cool she had a published article!

Christmas is here!

You actually might think this, since the city still has the Christmas decorations up - on the 20th of February!!! Actually we did see them taking down some of it today. But actually I'm referring to the Christmas Shoeboxes... they just came into Gabon recently and yesterday Joseph worked at getting them in storage. Joseph works with Pastor Jean Marc who is the director of the Shoebox project here in Gabon. They are very excited to have five containers coming in this year! Two that will be distributed here in Libreville, while the other three will go to Port Gentil, Lambarene, and another place I forget.

I was excited to see reminders of my home state! Actually Jean Marc deals a lot with Boone, NC since I think that's where Samaritan's Purse headquarters are located.

Unity in the body

It really makes you expand your view of the body of Christ (the church) when you are standing on another continent talking to women who believe in Jesus in another language.

Mama Jeanine is the wife of Pasteur Jean Marc (wrote an earlier blog on them) who used to be the president of the CMA church here in Gabon. So she often is asked to speak at women's retreats. Well this past Saturday she asked me to give a short message before her message. The theme that day was something along the lines of "looking in the same direction for a victory". The words that hit me were "meme direction" (same direction). So I ended up talking about John 17 - where he prays for the people in the future that will believe and prays for their unity. I also talked a little about the body of Christ and how difficult it is if the hand wants to go in one direction and the foot wants to go in another direction (it is difficult to do this move in a skirt!).

Although I have been called "preachy" before, my goal is always to teach. In my case I love interaction and so I tend to ask questions (so I know the students are paying attention and getting it). This took them off guard at first since they are used to listening to a preacher and not necessarily having to respond to them. Even in school, their teaching method is by lecture. But when I started talking to my feet, they started giggling and opened up a little more.

Are you really surprised that I talk to my feet? I mean I talk to myself all the time!! Where have you been? Ok so I was trying to explain that the body has to listen to the head, because the parts of the body don't necessarily know all that goes on. For example, in order to walk there is the movement of the feet, but there is also the breathing and the blood pumping... so I was asking my feet if they knew that the heart was pumping the blood or if the lungs were breathing. I think they were a little nervous in front of an audience, because they didn't respond.

After that I gave my testimony and then Mama Jeanine spoke. We hung out with the women for the rest of the day as they discussed things, sang, and prayed.

Misc random

Mom do you remember giving me that Compay Secundo CD - yes the Latino one... well here is a night club that has a memorial to him. In downtown Libreville, Gabon... go figure.

I just thought this was interesting... no heat in the vehicle. Not that I am surprised. Admittedly in the dry season I have put a light blanket over me at night and I have worn a jacket, but also remember I get cold easily - poor circulation.