Saturday, August 9, 2014

Home

     Home is where the heart is. This phrase is very familiar to us. Many of us may have these words hanging in our homes. It wasn’t until I moved to South Africa that those words really took on meaning for me. I always understood the phrase and knew what it meant, but it never really hit home for me until now.

     Last year I went on a short-term trip to South Africa. I honestly wasn’t too excited about going to Africa in the first place. It was a last minute decision I made, after being talked into joining the team. I wasn’t sure I had made the right decision, but I was given the full amount of money that I needed in less than a month of signing up, so I stuck to the plan. Even as we landed in Johannesburg that night and made the drive to Polokwane, I wasn’t really excited to be there. I had no idea the great things The Lord had in store for me.

     As we were driving to the village we were going to be working in, I felt this overwhelming feeling that this was home. It was very strange, and I tried to ignore it, because I didn’t understand why I felt that way. I had been on several mission trips overseas, but I had never felt this way before. A peace I can’t describe filled my heart. I loved every moment of the trip, and I fell in love with the people of Africa. Every time I have gone on a mission trip, part of my heart has stayed with the people there. Even when I served in Montana, I was still in the States, but part of me never left and still loves the people there dearly. I expected to fall in love with the people of Africa. I did not expect to feel like Africa was my home.


     Through this feeling and many other crazy things The Lord did in my life, I knew South Africa was where he wanted me. It is home to me. Of course I miss my family and friends in the States! I have already shed a few tears over them. Life here isn’t easy all the time, but the undeniable peace and joy that fills my heart as I do life here is so much greater than anything else. My heart is in Africa, so Africa is my home.