Home and thankful

Tuesday, 2/8/11 -- I'm on the plane headed home from Africa, via a stop at the Paris airport… Actually only a couple of hours of flight time left, and I’m excited to get home, and I want to post a quick update of praise because I’m in awe of how God has blessed this trip and I know many of you have continued to pray faithfully – thank you!

So many times over the last two weeks, Solveig and I have simply looked at each other and been virtually speechless about the wonderful way God was working out the details of our trip. One of those topic areas – and one I specifically asked many to pray for – was my health: that I would not get sick in Africa.

When we arrived back in N’Djamena a couple of days ago and were talking with Kjersten (she and her husband run the guest house), she asked if either of us had become ill in Yagoua. When we told her that “no, we remained well the whole time,” her eyes got big, and she said, “Wow, you must really have strong stomachs!” At that moment I realized just how much God had been answering the health prayers, for Kjersten sees and talks with a lot of visitors in Chad and Cameroon; evidently many of them experience at least one episode of sickness.

There were times when I started to worry about the possibility of becoming sick, but then I remembered how God had opened up this trip in a definite way. With His help I determined that worry is an insult to Him, and His Spirit helped me claim His promises and rebuke the spirit of worry I was fighting. I also remembered all the people who were praying, and knew that He was listening. He definitely answered those prayers!

I will have more trip stories to share in the days and weeks ahead… And I’m excited to see what God has planned next. I'll not doubt that He will show me, and I won't worry about what the next step/s regarding this call to write may be. For now, I will simply rest a bit and re-acclimate to life in Wisconsin, where it is 100 degrees cooler...

[With some difficulty in N’Djamena, I did find out that the Packers won the Super Bowl on Sunday, which pleased me greatly. A handful of flashy Green Bay Packer bookmarks were distributed in Yagoua last week. If the bookmark recipients had heard of the Packers, or even the Super Bowl, I bet they would be prizing these little trinkets right now. But alas, most hadn’t... Yet it does make me smile to know that some green and gold exists in Yagoua...during this very appropriate week.]