A friend asked me to sum up my time in Congo. But I don't know if I can do that. Every day I realize something new. I miss something else. I understand more of what God taught me during my time there; what I learned and am still learning from. And I don't know that I could even think of everything that I learned there or everything that changed me.
I learned a lot of simple things.
How to shell peanuts.
How to roast peanuts over a charcoal fire.
How to pound peanuts into peanut butter.
How to tolerate an incredible amount of rice and beans.
What mpondu tastes like.
How to cook mpondu.
How to pound mpondu, and how to tell when it is done.
How to cook without an indoor kitchen.
How to bake a cake over a fire.
How to bake in a homemade oven.
How to roast coffee beans.
How to bike in a skirt.
How to pick out bad rice.
How to separate the shaff from the rice.
How to grind wheat.
How to ride on the back of a bicycle.
How to carry someone on the back of your bicycle.
What bamboo trees look like.
How to ride in the back of a pickup truck.
How to ride over Congolese roads in the back of a pickup without falling out.
What monkey traps look like.
How to sing and dance, Congolese style.
What the mist looks like as it rises in the early morning.
What the forest sounds like.
What the rain sounds like when it dances on the tin roof.
The incredible beauty of lightning in the distance.
How to properly greet others.
How to climb into the back of a unimog.
How to be okay with being extremely hot and sweaty from just sitting down.
How to pretend like you completely understand everything, when honestly you have no idea what they are even saying.
How to bargain in the market.
What a MAF plane looks like.
How to eat a pum.
How to (kind of) speak Lingala.
What cocoa nuts taste like.
That love goes deeper than common words or language.
I learned so much more than this. Every day I think of something that I learned or experienced there that changed who I am today. But most importantly, I learned about the faithfulness of God. I saw day to day how our God never leaves us nor forsakes us. I experienced daily His complete love and grace. I saw His power and glory in the mountains and trees. But every single day I experienced the deep, compelling, powerful love of Jesus.
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and you will find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, "declares the Lord.
-Jeremiah 29:11-14a
Thank you so much for supporting me through this, through prayer, friendship, gifts or teaching Lingala lessons. I have been incredibly blessed.
Here is a link to a little video of my trip, hopefully it will work :)
