A Bittersweet Good-bye

I am back in the United States now, my two-year stay in West Africa suddenly over. Sitting here in my old room writing this with so many familiar things around me, it's easy to imagine that it was all some strangely dark and beautiful dream.

 Saying my good-byes was one of the most poignant things that has ever happened to me. You can never really be sure how the people feel about you, but leaving put all of my doubts to rest. These people do not show their emotions. I have seen them bury their babies and their old, and nothing ever seems to shake them... but as I walked to the car for the last time, one of the chief's wives was talking to me, and suddenly she just fell apart weeping. Then everyone started crying - the old widows, the young mothers, even the little girls... and then some of the men, including the oldest man in the village (though they tried a lot harder to hide it). It was simultaneously the most heartbreaking and validating thing possible. I now know beyond any doubt that those people loved me. And I do love them. Leaving S.* was the hardest part. He couldn't even speak, and I barely could. The chief actually came to the airport to say his good-byes, and in the end he, too, had to walk away to hide his tears.

And so now it is my hope and my prayer that all of that emotion, something I never expected to see, was poured out because they had seen Christ in me. Christ as a light and as a well of hope. I pray that in my leaving, their hearts would be opened as never before to the gospel truth that our brothers and sisters are still there proclaiming.

I covet your prayers for the village chief. He is so close to the truth, but with all the pressures of his culture and position, he has not come to the place where he is ready to turn and follow Christ. I desire so much to see him believe, first because I love him, but also because of what it could mean for his people.

Please do not stop praying for this people group. As the work is moving into a different phase, pray for a smooth transition as we pass the work entirely over to the African believers.

Your fellow worker*
 

*Name withheld for security purposes