Reflections Part One

Life in Canada has struck me with a vengeance. The busyness of my life here is incredible compared to the four months I spent in Ghana. Most of this is due to my return to Canada a week before school began.

Because of the aforementioned busyness, I quickly reached stage two (Flee) of the re-entry process (Fun, Flee, Fight, Fit, Fruit). I just want to escape this busy life and run back to the relationship-focused Ghanaians. I haven't had time to think and meet with people because of my commitments at school and work. Even now, I am really procrastinating. Some days in Ghana, I wanted to get away from relationships because I had things to do, but now I have things to do, and all I want to do is talk to people ...

I am still learning very basic lessons. I was chatting Penny one day about two months into the trip, just talking about my thoughts on being there. I said something about the trip being a break from my normal life. Not that I was a completely different person when I was there, I just did some things that I wouldn't normally do. I am good at compartmentalizing my life, I realized. Shortly after that conversation, I felt convicted about this. What is the point of all of going on a missions trip if it doesn't affect my normal life, particularly with respect to my relationship with God? By the end of my trip, I accepted that the missionary life is a normal life, and that anything I did while in Ghana, I can certainly do in Canada, or anywhere else. When I think about the months leading up to the trip, and the excitement that was there, I have that same excitement because (fortunately) I can serve God anywhere. I don't have to fly to somewhere exotic to do that. The flip side of this is that any Christian can be a missionary, not just the really holy ones. We have all been redeemed, and we are all called to share the gospel with those who haven't heard, whether they live in some obscure corner of the world or in the room beside you.

Whenever I make a (big) decision to do something, I suddenly have a million reasons why that decision was not the right one (recall, that I can get into freak out mode easily sometimes). By the end of my trip, I thought that that life was for me, but the doubts flooded my mind quickly: what if I can't deal with the cultural differences, what if I can't find enough supporters, what if I can't learn the language, what if ..., what if ... Then someone told me that all the doubts were quickly drawing me away from the main issue. No one promised that things would be easy. I'm just supposed to live a life glorifying to God, and if that's in Ghana, then so be it.

At my debriefing with SIM Canada, I was asked what the best opportunity was for me in Ghana. I'd have to say my HIV/AIDS teaching because it encompassed a lot of stuff. Firstly, I was not a fan of public speaking, and that's a lot of what I did. I was constantly praying that I would not get into my own way and mess things up for myself. I learned about the Ghana Education System (GES)and the Ghana Health Service. I observed and developed relationships with people in authority at GES and with the students and teachers. I learned about love, marriage, sex education, health, relationships among youth, and HIV/AIDS. I had to do research into Ghanaian youth culture in order to write seminars that would be meaningful to the students. I had the chance to share the gospel with about 250 students and teachers. I was able to speak one-on-one with four students share a bit of myself with them. My HIV teaching made for an easy conversation piece that segued nicely into conversations about sources of hope, Islam and Christianity. I had to be honest with myself and God about my feelings/needs/desires/expectations about the marriage relationship. I gained an appreciation for community health nursing. The list goes on.

Now that I have left Tumu, my prayer is that all those seeds planted will grow. One guy I met in Accra told me that Work = Force times Distance [W = (F)(d)] Work is done when God provides the force and we go the distance. This little physics joke made me like this guy instantly. Thinking about the students I taught, the girls who came to my Bible study, the members of Tumu church, neighbours, and random people on the street, I pray that they will know redemption that comes through Jesus.

As with every other school year, my prayer for myself is that school doesn't consume me or take God's rightful place. God has really helped me in that in the last few years, but I still need help. Now more than ever, I want school to be in a box, part of my life, but not my entire life.

Thanks for reading ~*