Already in Africa

Well, we are not actually already in Africa, but some of our experiences are certainly serving to prepare us!

On moving day, we prepared and waited. and waited. and waited. No movers. It seems that someone put a hold on the move (on Friday afternoon) without informing us, naturally, and then went home for the weekend. 

So we didn't have movers and had to be out of the house by Tuesday. Oh, did I mention that during the same time period, the main water main from the water plant had broken, so we had no running water?

After getting our stuff shipped on Tuesday, we moved to Geneva Hills Camp in Lancaster. No problems. Except we did encounter a huge bug, as big as the one we met at Kafakumba. Tara noted that she had never ever seen one that big. 

Welcome to Africa!

Then we found out hat we had to move out of the Geneva Hills cabin for a week, so we moved to our friends' house while they were on vacation. And their AC went out. And our car got dented. 

But lest you think that my "already in Africa" title only refers to hardship, we have also had unexpected drop-ins with amazing friends, wonderful times of sharing and relationship, and sharing resources and enjoying generosity and hospitality. 

So, as we wait a few more weeks until the plane flies, we prepare to head for Africa by "already being in Africa!"

Moving

If you have ever moved, you know it can be difficult. Everything you own goes into boxes and shortly, into a truck. If you are fortunate, nothing gets broken, and everything comes out of boxes in the new home. There are, of course, things that you don't move - most notably, things that won't fit in the new house, things you haven't used in forever, clothes that don't fit (or that went out of style decades ago).

We have moved every 3-4 years, so you'd think we'd be old hat at it. Except we've never really had to downsize. It was actually rather embarrassing how big a moving truck it took to move all our stuff when we moved to Wellston.

That won't be a problem in this move, that's for sure! Global Ministries will move a 5x5x5 container for each adult (plus half of one for each child). That means we have to downsize this entire (huge!) parsonage into four 125 cubic foot containers. But that's better than we thought initially; we originally thought we would only get two containers!

So the way it works with clothes, for example is this: we initially got rid of all the clothes we don't wear. Sounds simple right? So we were then left with way too much. Next came the clothes we won't need. I won't need sweaters in Zambia. I won't need my cold-weather running gear (I was actually surprised at how much of this I had accumulated) as it doesn't get much cooler than beautiful running weather. Once we gave away the clothes we won't need, we were left with the clothes we like, we wear, and that we will need. And we pared that down by about half. So now all of our clothes are in a box or two and a suitcase. The boxes will be shipped, and the suitcase will be with us until we move.

The funny thing is, it is hard to get rid of stuff. But once we get rid of it, we don't miss it. And we'll probably realize when we get there that we brought too much stuff. Which is just as well. It is easy to see why Jesus told the rich man that the one thing he lacked was to sell his stuff and give to the poor. His "stuff" was holding him back in his relationship with God.

And that's a hard word for a materialistic society.

So... enough of blogging. I have stuff to get rid of.