moving -- couldn't do it alone!

Tonight some dear missionary friends in Bangui came over to play games with us, and they brought supper. Then they insisted that we keep the leftovers to eat in the next few days! And over the next three days, we have people making meals for us three more times! This is how our community here is helping us get ready for our move to Berberati. It’s tremendously helpful and encouraging, and means that instead of focusing on making food, I can keep stuffing space bags full of clothes and trying to figure out how to arrange the Tupperware to take up the least room in our truck.

 

I am truly overwhelmed by the help and support of fellow missionaries here who have really become like family to us, even over the course of less than a year! We will miss friends here in Bangui when we move out to Berberati, and among those we will miss dearly are other missionaries. But we anticipate coming back to Bangui for various reasons, so it is not like we are saying a final goodbye to them.

 

As I was contemplating the wonderful friends that God has often brought to surround us at times we need them most, I reflected that a year ago, we were also in the process of moving. I remembered how when Adam left our Dallas home a couple days before me in order to drive our car to NC. Meanwhile, I stayed in TX with the boys to finish up packing and then fly to meet Adam.

 

While I was “husbandless” for a couple of those final days, many friends came over to visit and help me pack. One friend even stayed up most of the final night with me, helping me finish packing suitcases. I looked back at some photos today, dated “December 9, 2010” and saw photos of a smaller Sam and John in the little living room of our Dallas trailer, surrounded by piles of suitcases, and also by many dear friends.

 

Whenever it comes time to move somewhere new, I find it hard to imagine making new friends that can be as special to me as the people I already know. But God never ceases to provide new friends, and a support network, whenever we arrive somewhere new.

 

And then, of course, comes the inevitable goodbyes when it is time for the next move, and I am forced to add more names to the mental list of “people that I miss.” That is okay, though. My heart is filled with happiness when I think of all the people who have so lovingly poured into our lives and become part of our extended “family.” I am so thankful for them all.