Wednesday, 01 August 2007

• Journal for Thursday, July 26th 2007 (Doug Sadler)

  Journal for Thursday, July 26th 2007
  Doug Sadler
   
  We’re on our way home!  After leaving Rwanda in some haste yesterday, we spent several hours in the airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  We hadn’t had a chance to do any de-briefing, so in between doing souvenir shopping and the internet cafe, we found a couple of hours in a quiet corner of the cafeteria to talk about our experiences on the trip.  As the clock drew near our departure hour of 2:00 a.m. we talked about such questions as: What were some of the hard things about this trip for you?  What were some of the best highlights for you?  In what ways did you see God move?  How did this trip change you?  And we spent time affirming one another.  Being a mission team really bonds you together!  We had LOTS of great things to say to one another, but we didn’t get to finish the circle of affirmation before we had to leave.
   
  So we flew through the night, having a brief stop in Rome just after daybreak.  Well, the stop became a little less brief when the pilot announced that one of the engines wouldn’t start, so please be patient while we have a mechanic look at it. (We’re patient!  Take all the time you want, as long as both engines work!!!)   So with the temperature in the plane rising towards 30 degrees C. due to lack of ventilation, we gathered around our little cluster of seats together and finished speaking affirmation into one another’s lives.  One can only imagine what those nearby were thinking as they heard us say things like, “You are such an amazing young woman!  It has been a privilege to serve with you!  You have an incredible anointing to work with kids. (talking to Kara, naturally)”  In several instances, both the speaker and the one being affirmed were in tears.
   
  We eventually made it to Heathrow (both engines working, gracia Deo) where we had to run to make sure Kara could make her connections.  Hasty goodbyes this time.  Then Steve, Trish, Doug, and Jeanette had to catch their flight just a little later.  Sandy and Judith had to wait the longest.  Kind of felt like the end of the first Lord of the Rings movie when people all went different directions.  It’s very difficult to say goodbye to people to whom you have become so close.  For nearly a month, we lived, worshiped and served together 24/7.  We lived in the same house, ate together, did school programs, walked the streets, learned and laughed together.
   
  How do you re-enter normal space after dancing with orphans and giving goats to widows?  How do you walk back into a Wal-Mart after seeing the street kids begging for food?  How can we convey to people the horror of the genocide sites?  How can you ever go through the produce department at Safeway without picturing those Rwandese women carrying baskets of fruit or huge stalks of bananas on their heads?
   
  After my first trip to Rwanda, I remember standing in front of my clothes closet and thinking that I didn’t need half as many clothes as I had.  I remember walking into a store and being overwhelmed with the abundance of items available compared to what you can purchase in Rwanda.  As I came home this time, I found myself filling my water bottle from a drinking fountain in Toronto airport and being moved almost to tears with the luxury of having cold, clean, running water that I could drink.  In Kigali, all our water had to be hauled up the hill, and drinking water had to be either boiled or pumped by hand through our little filter.
   
  The other part that’s difficult is trying to convey to people back home what you’ve been through on a trip like this.  As we wax eloquent, telling stories about meeting orphans and widows, about visiting genocide sites, or about seeing God move in people’s lives, our friends can sometimes fail to grasp the depth of feeling we’ve experienced.  For them, life went on as normal here.  For us, life was anything BUT normal this month.
   
  Missions trips change people’s lives.  Africa changes people.  Someone once called Africa “The crack cocaine of missions – highly addictive.”  That’s certainly been my experience, and the experience of several others whom we’ve taken there.  I know that I speak for several of the team members when I say that our work there is not finished.  May God deliver us from comfort and ease, and grant us to continue to walk alongside the great men and women whom we have met there.
   
  Let me end this day’s journal with a blessing from the 4th century:
   
  May the Lord go on ahead of you to show you the correct path.
  May the Lord be beside you to enclose you in his arms and protect you from dangers on the left and the right.
  May the Lord be behind you to keep you from slander and malice of evil people.
  May the Lord be beneath you to catch you when you fall and to pull you out of the snare.
  May the Lord be in you to comfort you when you are sad.
  May the Lord be around you to defend you when others pull you to pieces.
  May the Lord be above you to bless you.
  And so go in peace and be blessed by our gracious God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
   
  Doug Sadler

  
  Stuck in Rome

  
  Parting ways at Heathrow

  
  

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