Home Again, Home Again

Greetings from Knoxville Tennessee! We are home! After 31 long hours of traveling Chelsey and I made it back safe and sound to our families last night. Thank you so much for all of the prayers. Our travels were great, we made every flight with plenty of time, they all ran smoothly. It was great. God is so good. That is one thing I have learned more this summer. God is so good. He is for us and not against us. And he works all things together for our good. Before we left Pemba, Chelsey and I went to confirm our flights with LAM (the airline we were flying out on) and we were told that our reservations had been cancelled. The airline had given away our seats. Mind you this is 2 days before we are supposed to leave, and they told us there was nothing we could do but show up and the airport and try to get on, or wait 4 more days and leave Sunday. Ha! But instead of freaking out, Chelsey and I just prayed about it and had peace and just knew that we were getting on the plane on Wednesday. God is our provider and he was going to take care of us. So we showed up at the Pemba airport on Wednesday, went up to the desk and came away with our two tickets, no problem. God is so good! So from that point, our travels were completely smooth, minus some sickness along the way, but again, the Lord took care of us and we were able to laugh about the fact that were getting sick in just about every airport we stopped at...

So I realize I haven't blogged in quite a while, there is so much to say. Since my last blog I have graduated from Harvest school, gone on my second bush outreach, had my hair braided by some Mozambican friends (only to end up looking like bob marley and have to immediately take them out, pictures to come), eaten my last bowl of rice and beans for a long time, had tonsilitis, given out about 300 dum dums, taken countless photos, played on the beach, celebrated heidi baker's 50th birthday, and sung lots and lots of Makua songs...

We left Iris Wednesday afternoon, which was hard, but we just keep remembering that we are moving forward into something new and not just leaving something behind. God has so much more in store for the future and I am excited to see what it holds. I am so so thankful for the summer and all the experiences God has given me. He has been so faithful to fill me with so much joy since leaving. Chelsey and I would just sit on the plane and crack jokes about all the hilarious and amazing memories we had made, with children and new friends and each other. I really am just ready to burst and tell you so many stories... most of them having to do with my mozambican brothers, you'll probably be sick of hearing about them within a few days :) Let me see if I can't load a few pictures...
Asam aka Monkey
Focas

Carlitu

The hardest part about leaving was of course saying bye to my boys. The 3 days prior to leaving I had to fight back tears just about any time we were all together. But we had such a sweet, sweet time in our last days. I took them to town and let them each pick out one new outfit, because they had literally worn the same on outfit every day all summer. So they picked out these really cute matching shorts and t-shirts... after much deliberation. They had a great time deciding what to get. But then we came back to Iris and they put on their new clothes and we had a photo shoot, and I'm telling you, they are the most beautiful boys in Pemba. They were so happy and having a blast snapping photos. I will have to find a way to load some on here... Then Focas made a slingshot for Tommy and Carlitu wanted me to take his only other shirt back to the states to give to Tommy. I'm telling you, these boys about broke my heart with their kindness in the last few days. Focas had been given some money by one of the other missionaries and he used it to buy me a beautiful necklace and then he kept wanting to buy me snacks and drinks with what he had left over. It was unreal. With the little that thier family had, in the last days they wanted to pour it all out on me. So beautiful. What an amazing picture of the body of Christ and what it looks like to love.

So on the day we left for the airport, the boys showed up at Iris at 7:30am and we spent the whole day together before I had to leave at 11 to head to the airport. First we sat and talked/cried together. I told them about what a blessing they had been to me and how I know God has a huge calling on each of their lives. They just sat and listened and cried as I shared with them more about how much God loves them as his sons. It was a really precious memory. Then we dedided to stop being sad and go have some fun so we went to the beach for a walk and played around by the pier for a while. Then we headed back to base so I could finish packing my bag and see their mom and littlest brother who had come to say bye to me. So precious. I don't remember how much I've written about their mom or family, but she is so sweet. She's this tiny little woman raising 5 of the rowdiest boys you'll ever meet, along with her daughter and grandaughter who she takes care of and another little boy whose parents passed away and had nowhere else to go. Talk about a full house. But she would always invite me over to their house, a little mud hut in the local village where we would all sit together in the dirt. The boys would have to translate if we wanted to say anything because she mostly just spoke Makua, so we mostly just laughed and watched the boys. She loves to laugh. Anyway, Mama Laucinda came to say goodbye and we all sat by the playground my last few minutes before it was time to go. I got to thank them for all their love and friendship and for what blessings they had been, and then I prayed over the family. We gave our final hugs with lots of tears. It was really beautiful, definitely a time I will never forget.

And now I am back home. It is so strange. In some ways it feels so normal to be back and in other ways it feels so so different. Everything is completely different from life in Africa. I am so thankful for all of your continued prayers and we readjust back into life at home. I really cant put into words how thankful I am for each one of you and every prayer you lifted up this summer. I know my time and experiences would not have been the same without your faithful prayer covering. I am so blessed by each of you. Thank you for your love and support.

Blessings,
Kelly