Most nights, I go to bed with dirty feet.
I constantly struggle to have basic conversations with a population who doesn’t speak my language.
There are moments when the smell of B.O. and goat meat is a little more than I can handle.
I hear the word “mzungu” an average about 800 times a day.
Usually, I can’t remember the last time I took a real shower.
Every single day has been a challenge.
And every single day has been an absolutely incredible adventure of its own.
I love East Africa. From the middle-of-nowhere bush of Kenya, to a little town in the mountains of Tanzania, to a rural compound in lakeside Malawi…I love it all. I love that I have done life and ministry here for these months. I love the ways that God has revealed Himself to me, and has used me to reveal Him to others. I love the simplicity of the life that I have lived here and the joy that has come with that. I love the challenges that I have faced and the freedom that has come. I love the peace that I have found in life and in Love. I love that it is time to come home. I love that in these four months, things have happened that I may never be able to explain.
Four months ago, this was just another place on a map.
Four months ago, the idea of non-refrigerated milk in a bag would have alarmed me.
Four months ago, I was a different than I am now.
Four months ago, I was excited to come visit a place I had never been before.
Little did I know that four months from then, I would feel right at home here. That four months from then, it would be December already. And four months from then, that I would have the bittersweet feeling of going back to the United States and saying goodbye to 13 girls who have become closer than sisters.
Life changed, eyes opened, grateful as ever, and excited for what is to come.
East Africa – goodbye, for now, but not forever.
Love always,
That mzungu girl
