Sunday, November 01, 2009

Africa Plans Update


So far, we've had about $1250 sent to us to help toward our trip to Africa in February. That's about enough for one person to go and stay. I hope it's me.

Fund raising is such a humbling/humiliating process. Truth be told, it's one of the things that keeps us in the states. It's hard to ask people to give money so you can do what you love to do. There's a piece of me that thinks it would be easier to make requests if we promised to be miserable when we got there.

It's a funny thing, this wanderlust that is part of my every cell. I yearn for far-off places. I love to talk to people who are not like me, to listen to what makes them tick, to puzzle out why God placed them in this time and place like he said in Acts 17. I have a lot of friends who are perfectly content living in the same town they grew up in, going to the same grocery stores, visiting the same attractions. I think they're lucky.

I'm the one (I'm blaming my dad for this) who wants to hike every trail in the book at least once before we hike the same trail twice. I'm the one who's willing to taste anything once, the one who loves that moment when the chaos of a foreign tongue resolves itself into meaningful words in my ears.

I'm kidding about wanting to stay in Africa, at least for now. I know our family is where it needs to be for the next few years, but my heart aches for a continent that is both the darkest and brightest place I've ever been.

3 comments:

Shelli said...

You have taught me so much in our years as friends. About the world, Africa, and people who I probably will never meet. Yet I hope one day to blessed in a way that would allow me to travel to parts of the world I can only imaging seeing and experiencing.
Thank you for helping my eyes to be 'opened'....I will be forever grateful

Greg Bailey said...

Well said Patty!

Dana Wyatt said...

I think that your Papa John also passed this on to Geoffrey, too. I know his heart longs to be in foreign places, hiking up steep hills, lost in a world that is both lost and beautiful. I wish we could go with you! We just put our "Slack Family Contribution" in the mail. Sorry for the delay. We are looking forward to the fruits of your labor :)