I arrived in SA mid February to a series of things that were less than fun... at least the people were in the process of fixing the leaking roof when I arrived. I now share a house with 3 other ladies... 2 more are still to come...
We all work together and so far it has been ok... grace, grace... we like to think that it will continue that way.

It seems like I have a tonne of work to do... and I am finding my way... but am constantly fighting off little annoyances. *sigh*

This Events Team is good at what they do and a joy to work with... but there are days that I wonder why I am here... I do believe that this is where I am meant to be for the time being however...

Character building is not always fun.
J

Visiting the new PST I came across some familiar faces :)

Painting Pictures of Egypt

"But the places that used to fit me,
Cannot hold the things I've learned
Those roads were closed off to me
While my back was turned!" Taken from Painting Pictures of Egypt by Sara Groves

Have you ever left a place for a long time and then returned to it... and it feels so familiar but... NOT! ?
I travel a fair amount on this 'wonderful' missions experience and recently returned home on furlough. Although I am staying in a house that wasn't one that I grew up in it was still familiar to me. The trouble is the country that I once called home, no longer feels like home. I guess that I knew somewhere in my heart that it would not feel like home again, but the experience of it was quite strange.
In general this is how I feel... as if there is nowhere that feels like home at the moment. Returning to SA will be nice... nice to get back to work... nice to see others that I know again... but I am fairly sure that it won't feel like home... not really.
It's as if the things that were comfortable before now are familiar but hold no real joy or peace. This leaves me feeling a little like, what really brings me joy or peace?

"It's not about losing faith, It's not about trust, It's all about comfortable, When you move so much. And the place I was wasn't perfect, But I had found a way to live, And it wasn't milk or honey, But then neither is this"

We like to stay were we are in life, in our hearts, and physically. It is safe and comfortable. Once we move, the discomfort of not being in control and not knowing tends to make us long for the past that we knew... rather like the Israelites in Egypt. We look back at it and decide it was better because we at least knew how to deal with it, we knew what to expect. We realise that it wasn't that great but hey where we are now isn't great either. Somewhere inside we need to decide to move onto whatever God wants/has for us... no matter the cost to our comfort.

When I look back at who circumstances should have made me to be, and who I was, then I compare it to who I now am... I know that discomfort for a short time is worth it... but often I forget.

A part of me wants to go back to Egypt... but having visited it... I never will!

On January 25th I arrived on MV Logos Hope as a rep of OM RSA... my task was to meet with the South Africans onboard to see how they were doing and to convey the best wishes of OM RSA.
I was able to meet with most of them... The ship was in the midst of a PSSC test for most of the week... this meant that people were running around like crazy and that there were constantly alarms going off.
It was good to see how people have grown... it was good to see the new ship... it was good to meet new people...
I was also able to meet the new PST that were on their training in some remote part of Jamaica.
I was good to chat to a few of them and to my 4 friends that were there.
Tomorrow morning early I fly back home for a few more weeks before journeying again to Africa.