Wow, it’s been quite a while since I’ve posted anything. Once again, limited internet access is the culprit and a common phenomenon in the life of a missionary. We are currently in Denton, TX and we are really enjoying the people here. Two things that have impacted me about the people here are that they are really nice and they drive fast.
Over the last year I have changed roles probably more than some people have in ten years. It was only a little more than a year ago that we decided that we were in a secure enough position with leaving for Africa for me to quit my job at Highland Oaks Elementary, so at that point I was a working mom with a very demanding job. Then I turned in my resignation and I was a stay at home mom. That role was great, and a lot of fun. I was able to go to Snowden (the girls’ school) to volunteer, have lunch with friends, spend time reading and praying in the mornings all by myself, cook, clean, do some volunteer work, and towards the end, pack up our house. That time was short lived, but sweet and fairly uncomplicated. My best memory of that time was being able to pick the girls up from school daily, and sometimes having the Mason girls or the Gamble girls over to play.
In January we moved to Africa and my role changed back to teacher, but nothing like my role as public school teacher. It was like teaching kids in an extended family, but with the additional roles of being new teammates and coming back as old teammates. There was a lot of familiarity to what we were doing and where we were, but a big feeling of being in new territory as well. I was intimidated by buying food and cooking meals (just like before,) I had intermittent feelings of wanting to thrust myself into mixing with the Kabiye and involving myself in their culture, alternating with waves of wanting to lock myself in our apartment with popcorn and five seasons Alias (which was the only American tv show I could get my hands on.) Then, after the school year ended but before we left Kara, I found myself in the role of learner and “helper” as I got to know the work and staff at AED. I was mostly just learning, but that took place in the form of meeting people and sharing briefly in their lives, which I drank up.
We left Togo and came back to the States to do our national tour. We’ve been to several places as missionaries, tourists, friends, guests, beggars, and family members. We are now settled down in Denton and are experiencing the role of visiting missionary, which certainly has its perks, but is a category unto itself. Mark goes in to the office each day and I am home with the kids, homeschooling and doing the things stay at home moms do. It’s nice for the most part, but I can feel the presence of another shift in my role looming ahead. I know that we will be back in Togo in a couple of months and my girls will be in school and I will be at home and working in ministry. We will have to find a new balance and a new rhythm, so while I’m enjoying the good of being here, I can’t let myself get too comfortable.
Does that all sound whiny and complainy? I don’t feel whiny and complainy about it, but I guess there is a reality there that I feel a need to acknowledge. I guess its a good reminder to me to drink up all the good of where you are and let the bad slip away. Things may (in my case probably will) change soon and the bad will be gone so why waste your time worrying about it, but the good will be gone, too, and you’ll miss it.
