I was lucky that I could say goodbye to my village. Knowing I only had one more day, this is how I spent it.
Friday, November 6, 2009
If you had only one more day, what would you do?
I was lucky that I could say goodbye to my village. Knowing I only had one more day, this is how I spent it.
How joining the Peace Corps saved me (my testimony)
So I am home a whole 5 months earlier than expected due to political instability in Guinea. It was the hardest thing I've ever been through, being torn out of my village, listening to women wailing in my concession, as if they were mourning a death. But after all the trials and uncertainity if I could return to my village, I finally found some peace knowing that I had the time of my life as a Peace Corps volunteer. There is so much that I learned during this time of self-discovery, little things like how to properly peel fruits and vegetables, or bigger things like how to speak French, but there is one main thing that I got out of joining the Peace Corps. It was how I needed to live out the rest of my life.
This is something I wrote while back in Guinea:
Being sick abroad really tests your strenth and will. There is no comforting mother, no relief with cold water or a toilet to sit on, no assurance of proper medication. But there is God to lift up my head (Psalm 63). When I am weak, I am strong. And no where else have I been my weakest. It was living in West Africa that made me realize how much I love Christ.
I am a confirmed Catholic. I remember how God had called me my freshman year of college. That was one of my happiest years of my life, when the holy spirit lived within me and my brothers and sisters who were also becoming confirmed. But the evil ways of the world used doubt, hypocrisy, and temptation to cloud my need for Christ. And I'm sad to admit I haven't been able to renew this relationship until my Peace Corps service. An old Peace Corps motto is, "Life is calling. How far will you go?" but really God was calling. It's like He knew I needed this time, this quiet time with Him, away from all my distractions. This time to prepare me, to train me in how I need to live the rest of my life. There are days I feel crazy, like I've had enough rice and sauce, missing my nephews, getting water from the pump to drink and bathe with. But God's timing is perfect and I trust Him. Even if His plan has taken me worlds away from everything I know and love.
And Guinea is that. A muslim country with no access to running water, electricity, and even worse...a Christian bookstore. But the more I prayed for growth and guidance, God not only sent it to me in the form of books and music from Charmie, Russ, and Cerisa, but in the form of something I could actually bike to in under 20 minutes. The Lutheran missionaries came back from their vacation right at the knick of time. Soon other Christian Peace Corps volunteers started to find each other. We would send each other letters in how to pray for each other. But I even began to see Christ work in the people in my village, non-Christians. After living in a concession of huts for over a year and a half I believe Americans can learn a lot from the family unit in Guinea. It is exactly this familial love that makes the idea of orphans non-existent, depression a rarity, or civil war from igniting like it has in Guinea's neighboring countries of Sierra Leone or Liberia.
Love is the answer translates to God is the answer. And with any answer, effort needs to be involved. That is why I fell away from Christ over and over again. I didn't take the time to be with Him. "You will seek Me and find Me when you seek me with all your heart" is painted on my hut wall, right above my study desk. The more I dedicated myself to this task the more I realized the truth in it. The Word became alive, like a personal letter to me from a best friend, something I look forward to reading every morning. And soon enough I began to feel His hand work in my life through a child's smile or from the wetness of a raindrop. Tim, the Lutheran missionary, wrote this on my hut wall, "No one has seen God, but if we love, we can see Him in each other." 1 John 4:12. This has never been so real to me until now, and I will pray that you wil be able to feel Him holding your hand in your daily life, as He has in mine.
This is something I wrote while back in Guinea:
Being sick abroad really tests your strenth and will. There is no comforting mother, no relief with cold water or a toilet to sit on, no assurance of proper medication. But there is God to lift up my head (Psalm 63). When I am weak, I am strong. And no where else have I been my weakest. It was living in West Africa that made me realize how much I love Christ.
I am a confirmed Catholic. I remember how God had called me my freshman year of college. That was one of my happiest years of my life, when the holy spirit lived within me and my brothers and sisters who were also becoming confirmed. But the evil ways of the world used doubt, hypocrisy, and temptation to cloud my need for Christ. And I'm sad to admit I haven't been able to renew this relationship until my Peace Corps service. An old Peace Corps motto is, "Life is calling. How far will you go?" but really God was calling. It's like He knew I needed this time, this quiet time with Him, away from all my distractions. This time to prepare me, to train me in how I need to live the rest of my life. There are days I feel crazy, like I've had enough rice and sauce, missing my nephews, getting water from the pump to drink and bathe with. But God's timing is perfect and I trust Him. Even if His plan has taken me worlds away from everything I know and love.
And Guinea is that. A muslim country with no access to running water, electricity, and even worse...a Christian bookstore. But the more I prayed for growth and guidance, God not only sent it to me in the form of books and music from Charmie, Russ, and Cerisa, but in the form of something I could actually bike to in under 20 minutes. The Lutheran missionaries came back from their vacation right at the knick of time. Soon other Christian Peace Corps volunteers started to find each other. We would send each other letters in how to pray for each other. But I even began to see Christ work in the people in my village, non-Christians. After living in a concession of huts for over a year and a half I believe Americans can learn a lot from the family unit in Guinea. It is exactly this familial love that makes the idea of orphans non-existent, depression a rarity, or civil war from igniting like it has in Guinea's neighboring countries of Sierra Leone or Liberia.
Love is the answer translates to God is the answer. And with any answer, effort needs to be involved. That is why I fell away from Christ over and over again. I didn't take the time to be with Him. "You will seek Me and find Me when you seek me with all your heart" is painted on my hut wall, right above my study desk. The more I dedicated myself to this task the more I realized the truth in it. The Word became alive, like a personal letter to me from a best friend, something I look forward to reading every morning. And soon enough I began to feel His hand work in my life through a child's smile or from the wetness of a raindrop. Tim, the Lutheran missionary, wrote this on my hut wall, "No one has seen God, but if we love, we can see Him in each other." 1 John 4:12. This has never been so real to me until now, and I will pray that you wil be able to feel Him holding your hand in your daily life, as He has in mine.
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