So what do you miss about Africa?

So what do you miss about Africa?  I’ve been asked this several times since moving back to the states two and a half months ago.  The first answer that came to my mind was “ Uh, Nothing and if you had ever been there you wouldn’t be asking me that question.”  But as I began to think a little deeper I realized that there were a lot of things I was missing about Africa and they’re significant.

I don’t miss the cockroaches I had to battle daily in my kitchen for the right to cook.  I don’t miss sweating for no good reason, especially while asleep.  I don’t miss being on guard every time I step out of my house, never knowing who might approach me.  I don’t miss hauling 5 gal. water jugs twice a week from a public tap to my house.  And I don’t miss being face to face with a poverty-oppressed nation.

I'm guessing you wouldn’t miss those things either.  So what DO I miss?  I miss how relational and warm African culture is.  Leonians love strangers, even more than themselves.  People say hi to their neighbors on a daily basis.  They actually know their neighbors.  I don’t know my neighbors.  Do you know yours?  In Africa it’s common to say hi to a stranger on the street, especially if you made eye contact.  I grew up in the N.W. and people are generally friendly, at least compared to places like L.A.  Still it’s not easy to get a stranger to say hi to you.

The other day I said hi to my neighbor and she politely greeted me back, but I could tell that it made her uncomfortable.  I later wondered how much more uncomfortable she would be if she knew I could hear her family through the adjoining walls of our town home.  If she knew I could hear her giving her children a bath every evening or that I could hear them making breakfast in the mornings.  I think she got off easy with a simple “hi.”

Which leads me to think if I was a missionary in Portland, OR and I am; how would I go about getting to know my neighbors?   After all I can barely get them to acknowledge me.  The fact that we can walk by another human being and barely show any awareness of their presence is so strange to me.  In Africa at any given time I could walk out of my gate and several people would just be there, waiting for someone to engage them in conversation.  People make time to talk in Sierra Leone, especially to their neighbors.  They help each other, watch out for one another and annoy each other.  There willingness to engage in conversation and life with one another creates a strong sense of community.  And that is one of the things I miss the most about Africa.  

God is one and there is no other. And loving him with all passion and intelligence and energy, and loving others as well as you love yourself. Why, that's better than all offerings 
and sacrifices put together!  Mark 12:33 The Message

So why start a blog, you ask?  I’ve asked myself the same question?  I never understood why so many people seemed to be interested in reading or  starting blogs.   What's the deal yo?   Why blog?  I could respond, “why not.”  But that not a satisfying answer.  After pondering the idea a bit, my answer is this: I have something to say, and I miss communicating my ministry adventures through writing.  So whether some one reads it or not I’m going to blog for a season.  Here goes...