Family Bush Trip

Life as a missionary is never how you picture it. Before coming out here, we expected that we would be living in the bush. Once our job position changed from soly church planter to team leader over a region - we knew that it would be better to be based out of the town of Tulear. While Tulear is a rural city in many ways, I still miss being able to be out in the villages with Grant on a frequent basis. The toughest part in trying to get out there is the road. It is an INCREDIBLY rough drive out there. For the past few years, I have either been pregnant or had a tiny baby...neither being a good time to go out. After talking to my OB doctor in South Africa about traveling out, he recommended only going during the second trimester. As I am about 21 weeks pregnant and Titus is big enough to not get shaken baby syndrome from the bumpy roads (!) we finally had our chance to go out. I was incredibly excited! The 5 hour drive out wasn't too rough on me...though Grant did take it painfully slow.

Once there we were able to visit the 4 villages that the guys have been working in. I was really nervous in the first village of Kilimary, and regretfully didn't interact too much with the people. I was determined to make up for it the rest of the trip - no matter how nervous I was.

Grant and Nathan went out to Andremba for a special meeting, and left Doug, me, and Titus in the small (very small) village of Tanantsoa for the afternoon. Doug taught alone for the first time and did a great job. I was so incredibly proud of him. I tried to be intentional about having conversations with the ladies around me. It was a labor some few hours - as the dialect was pretty tricky for me, but by the end I was starting to get comfortable :)

We spent the next morning in the village of Besatra. Here I was able to get a little bit more comfortable and I was active in talking to the ladies, even when it was difficult to communicate. The kids make great conversation starters and really take a lot of the attention off of me. Titus was carried around the whole time, and Eli entertained all of the kids with his strange dancing and karate moves.

My goal during this trip was to be brave enough to share a story with the women. Fortunately, God opened the door and I was able to share the story about Mary and Martha. I told them about Jesus visiting them and how the two sisters responded to the situation - Martha working hard to serve and Mary sitting at Jesus' feet. The women listened closely and really understood the story. They talked about how hard life is for women, cooking, cleaning, etc...but that choosing to have a relationship with Jesus is the most important thing. Although the story came out pretty rough, the ladies were really encouraging and I was excited that I was able to overcome my fear.

It was really a great trip, and I was so glad to be able to take Titus out there for the first time. He was such a sweet little boy, and we made some great memories!