Taste of Home

This past week there were 5 volunteers who arrived to work at the Door of Hope. Three of the volunteers were from VA and two from NC. I don’t often get to see people from the Door of Hope. My roommate Sara is usually my only real connection with that ministry. But since there were so many Americans here all at once, Sara wanted to invite them over for a little fellowship time on Friday night. It was a great time!! The plan was to have tacos for dinner and watch a movie together, but we had so much fun just talking and laughing that we never even turned on the TV.

It was so refreshing to hear familiar accents. There are so many different English accents here in Jo’burg (Proper English, Afrikaans, Zulu, French, Congolese, Xhosa, American, etc). And all the accents are unique and interesting. But there is nothing like a good ol’ slow country drawl. You don’t realize that you miss things like that until you have them again. I wonder how many other things I haven’t heard/seen/tasted in the past year are things I’m not even aware that I’m missing.

I’m thankful that I haven’t been over whelmed with missing things from home. No doubt there are days when I’m extremely homesick and just tired of being in a strange place with strange cultural differences. But God has been good and has definitely helped me to love the people here. So for everything I miss about home, God has given me a blessing here. It doesn’t make me miss home less, but it has made me a little more content to be here.

The song “Count your blessings. Name them one by one. Count your many blessings, see what God has done” just came to mind. I think focusing on the blessings that God has given me here in SA has made it possible for me to leave home and come here. When I don’t think of the wonderful things God is doing, I can easily get discouraged and tired. But when my focus is on the right things, things seem alright.

Friday night was so much fun! A little taste of home came right to my door step. I’m so thankful for times like that; times where people who are new to SA come with energy and excitement. They help remind me of why I’m here. Even though I’ve been in South Africa for almost an entire year, I sure have met a lot of Americans while I’ve been here. God is good!

As much as I loved this little taste of home...I'm still looking forward to actually being home. I have one more month here in Jo'burg. Some days a month seems like forever. Other days (like today) it seems like a month is so short and I can't possibly be home that soon! I still feel a bit guilty that I'm so excited to be coming home. There are so many needs here! Shouldn't I want to stay and help? But I still feel God is calling me home and I'm glad for it!