Une Belle Vie: May 2011

Been staying pretty busy lately with a few days visiting a game park in Burkina Faso and a week seminar on campus in Bouaké, and then having 2 girls from a short term team stay with my host family for a few days. There's also been a good bit mind on my mind lately, which I wrote about in my most recent email newsletter. Here's part of it:

Tomorrow will be exactly 7 months since I stepped onto a plane to come here. This blows me away, in some ways I feel like I’ve been here forever, in other ways I feel still like toddler in the age of discovery. Whether 7 months actually qualifies as a long time or not depends on the perspective but no matter what it means I have some decision making to do: should I stay here for another year or come home in the fall?

If I stay, I generally know what I would do. JourneyCorps is a program that is still in the works, so I’d be part of the leadership for the next couple of teams that come and maybe help figure out some more of the program. I feel like my previous leadership in my college’s Christian fellowship is something that will have helped me prepare for this. Of course the biggest obstacle to this is money. I have only enough support raised for one year. I’d also have to raise more than I did last time to cover my monthly loan payment. And yet, God showed me the first time I raised support that if He wants me here He can easily make it happen.

The other side of the coin is returning after one year, which feels like one big question mark. There are several things that I’m considering doing, mostly between going to law school or getting my masters in social work (maybe they don‘t seem related, but my main passion is social justice and both of these could lead me to work in that field). That wouldn’t happen until the fall (of 2012) and I’d spend the time up to that hopefully taking classes and/or having an internship to help me prepare for going back to school. Of course also I would also need to get a job to help pay for all of this and make loan payments. So, this option involves a lot of unknowns and potential searching for internships, schools, and/or jobs .

The truly amazing thing about all of this is that in the past, big decisions like this would fill me with all sorts of stress and fear of making a mistake. Thank the Lord, He’s been changing me; I am filled with peace over this. I know whether I stay or I go God will be there with me; I have absolutely nothing to fear.

So, because I did NOT come here of my own doing (but have many, many wonderful people supporting me who have an equal hand in my ministry here), I know that this is not my decision alone to make. So please pray with me and if you want send me an email letting me know that you're doing so!!

Like I said, there's a lot for me to think and pray about!! Also want to make sure that while I'm going through the decision making process that I'm staying present here, where I am now.
Be on the look out for another blog soon, maybe some pictures of Burkina!

Yesterday, I woke up thinking I was in store for a 'normal' Sunday, with a baptism after our regular church services. My family forgot to mention that 4 of our family were going to be baptized. 54 people in all were baptized. Baptisms don’t happen that often, usually once or twice a year. Baptisms are taken pretty seriously in our denomination, you don’t take communion until you are baptized and there is a baptism course you participate in beforehand. So the ages of people baptized are pretty spread out, but there aren’t very many children baptized. There was no one under the age of about 15 yesterday.

The ceremony was boisterous, with a lot of hollaring and dancing. After the ceremony at the church, we had a fête at home. People came in and out of our courtyard for the rest of the day. Here are some pictures from the day: