Well, can you believe I'm writing a post only one week after the last one instead of waiting for a month?! I think this is going to be the last post about Africa, but I will keep posting blogs as a way to keep you all updated on my life. I LOVE reading your comments, and if you would like to respond but feel hesitant about writing a public comment, please feel free to email me (i love those too!). So, here is Out of Africa #4:

As I wrote last time, I went into this trip with so many expectations about how I wanted God to change my life. However, the outcome was very different than what I had planned. One of the greatest lessons I learned, which I didn't expect to, was what it means to live in Christian community. Prior to this trip, I had seen the Church as a group of people who loved God and loved each other... which is very true, but not quite deep enough. From the moment I arrived in Africa, my eyes were opened to a whole new way of what it means to be the body of Christ.

As most of you know, I traveled to Africa by myself to meet up with the missionaries who work for Monte Cristo Ministries, and I was also going to join another team of Americans and work alongside them. I suppose I can see now how symbolic this was: there was excitement in beginning my journey on my own, but there was an even greater feeling of joy and fulfillment when I met these fellow missionaries and was instantly welcomed in to their lives. We spent every moment of the next two weeks with each other and they demonstrated Christ's love and grace to me. We shared each other's joys, we wrestled through tough situations together, we spent countless hours sitting in our rooms sharing life stories... we went through life together and that is what community looks like.

In addition to my team relationships, I experienced community within the local African neighborhoods and churches. Since we came from America, we instantly had this type of fascination about us and all the kids would ask us what famous people we knew. But it went beyond that... Perhaps the most visible example of authentic community was demonstrated to me during the second week of my trip. On my first day in Africa, I met an amazing young woman who is in Bible school in Paarl, and we became close friends... she is like my sister. We were painting at the community center one afternoon, and she came to tell us that her father had passed away the night before. I was shocked and grieved, and even more surprised when she asked me and some other girls on my team, to go to her grandmother's home to meet her family. This was such a sensitive moment for her family and I didn't even have time to think about how I was going to respond. We walked the few blocks to her grandmother's home and I had this nervous pit in my stomach, wondering how her family would react to these strangers (and American at that) intruding upon the family sorrow. We stood outside the small, concrete building while she ran inside to get her grandmother. I watched as a small African woman emerged, weathered skin, missing teeth, distant eyes. She didn't speak a word, but walked up to each one of us girls one at a time. With tears in her eyes, she took my hands and embraced me tightly and we cried. I will never forget this moment for the rest of my life. It wasn't about me being American or knowing the right words to say or even sharing my own struggles with her. It was a simple moment of "I will share your grief with you" and it was profound.

This is what it means to live in community. I think we as Americans can get so wrapped up in thinking that we hold the corner market on how to share Christ's love or the most effective missionary approaches. It's not about that.... it's about walking with one another through life, welcoming others into our own lives, challenging others to live in a way that honors Christ, and being humble enough to realize that my way isn't always the right way. In the same essay "The Weight of Glory", C.S. Lewis writes of the incredible glory we have in the sense that we are acknowledged by God and pleasing to Him. As such people, we need to be mindful of this when living with others who are also loved by God. He writes that "our charity must be a real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinner... Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses." These are the people we live with in community, so it must be more than a casual "hello" at church or a superficial "how are you?" I experienced what it truly means to be a part of the family of God, and I think that is why I miss Africa so much... I miss my family! I would challenge you (and myself) to live out that community here... let's not make this a special occasion when we have these kind of life-changing experiences. This is how life is meant to be lived...
much love my friends...
alair