Never-Never Land
20 Feb 2011 2 Comments
I have been in South Africa for over seven months now! With the half way mark past comes the inevitable question, “what are you going to do when your year here is over?” It feels like the question has come upon me too fast. I am getting comfortable here, getting to enjoy the great relationships God has blessed me with. Now comes the hard part, thinking about actually leaving a place that has become a home to me!
I spent the past week sick…which has been somewhat of an ordeal! I had to go to a couple different doctors and switch up antibiotics, just feeling a mess. The cool part was the number of people wanting to help me, wanting to take me to the doctor or the chemist. The people who wanted to get me food, or anything I needed. I realized just how blessed I am with the amazing and compassionate people God has placed in my life. I was talking to a co-worker about this, how although I was feeling horrible, it was good to know I had people here I could depend on. She responded by telling me she has been thinking about how I am no longer a foreigner here, but that I belong. It hit me that she sees what I have been feeling lately, that I am at home here.
I feel so blessed that God would create a home for me in South Africa. Although I do miss so many things about my home in the states and the people there, I am glad to feel so comfortable here. Instead of counting down the days to get back to the States, I am finding myself dragging my feet a little bit, wondering how I can leave this all behind. How can I leave behind the people here who have made me feel at home and the kids I have grown to love!!?
Due to being sick most of last week I didn’t get a chance to see the kids as much as I usually do. A couple of days went by without me seeing them at all. When I did see them again, they were excited because most of them thought I left to go back to America. Because I had not been around much, they assumed I left. A part of me was so saddened by this. To think they would assume I would just leave without saying goodbye, knowing this has happened to them before. The kids then asked me when I was leaving for America. I told them it would be sometime in June or July. They told me they didn’t want me to leave this year, so I asked when they thought it would be okay for me to leave. One of them responded “never,” that he wanted us to go to “never, never land, like Peter Pan.” This touched my heart, there is a part of me that wants to have this time stand still, to not have to worry about the future or leaving this home and the children, but just enjoy right now. So that is what I am going to try to start doing…live to enjoy today, live mission by mission, day by day, and love the people God has placed in my life here and now to the best of my ability!!
