From last June -Comings and Goings and 'Settlers'

(I decided to publish this draft that I wrote last summer.  It'll be here for me to remember, if no one else :))
Ray and Julie are playing a quiet game of "Settlers" with Eva Durst this afternoon-- the first that we have had that favorite game out here in Mali, after a full week of celebrations of hellos and goodbyes. This the season of comings and goings in the missionary community. School is finished for the year, so it is a good time for transitions. We are thankful to be well settled in at this point, rather than just arriving.
Eva Durst arrived at the Bamako Airport on Monday evening on Tunis Air--minus her main suitcase, unfortunately, which has not yet been found! She is returning to give us another summer of service just as Christian Spindler, who has served here for a year, prepared to leave to return home to Austria. Then Claudia arrived back at the base from the United States--also missing a suitcase,just in time to participate in the goodbye festivities for Christian.
All that and more.  Julie had a goodbye brunch with several new found friends who are leaving and not expecting to return to Mali anytime soon.  Several families of the missionary community we have met in the greater Bamako area have also left this week, some for summer committments and others who are not planning to return.
We have been into Bamako several times,  and also out the other side to the Village of Goro. We have also traveled, several times, the shorter distance to the Village of Dara-pronounced "d'ra", where we have received some of the best mangoes I have ever eaten!  Nothing is quite as good as fruit picked ripe from the tree.
This week the trip back was a bit different.  Christian needed to stop at the livestock market along the way to purchase a sheep.  He is planning to prepare a feast as a parting gift to the boys here. A small goat can be purchased for maybe 12,000-18,000 cfa, but a sheep large enought for this family's feast costs 35,000-50,000 cfa(about $70-100 USD). A large ram was selected and given a ride back to our base in the back of the bus, then tied up and fed some fresh pulled grasses and millet overnight, before the butchering that took place the next morning. Quite an event!

WOW! 'Home' in Pennsylvania

We have had so much change in the last month.  We are 'home' in Pennsylvania since we evacuated on April 4th.  WHat a whirlwind that was.  Sunday morning we thought that we were staying, by Monday morning we were buying tickets to fly out on Wed night.

We flew out of Bamako Wed evening, had a smooth flight to Brussels and then Washington before landing at the Harrisburg Airport early evening on the 5th. I was not realizing how much stress we were under til we experienced the rush of emotion on landing on US soil.  Brussels felt 'safe', but DC......  We were home! (and I splurged on a cup of Starbucks 'Coffee americain'.)
Warmly greeted by our 7 grandchildren, their parents (you see the order of preference there, don't you?  ;)) and several other family members at the Harrisburg Airport, we got hugs all around, cryed a few more tears, got out of the way when Julie spotted Megan Roper(her BFF) and there was a scream and mad rush into a hug, secured our luggage (PTL! It all arrived with us!) and headed to my sister's house nearby to eat and unwind.  Norma has a house that allows for several conversation groups to be going on at one time, all the while we 'grazed' around the kitchen counter of goodies everyone had brought. At 11pm EST, they pulled me away from a nonstop monologue (well a little bit of questioning from the listeners), our kids drove us 'home' to Roxbury Camp and we all dropped into bed. 

That was then!  This is now! 
3 weeks later we are pretty well settled into the 'Guest House' that we will occupy here at Roxbury Camp for the next month or so.  Following that, we expect to move to a slightly larger home next door that we will live in for the summer.  After that..... we will see what God has ordained! 

Julie is back in school at Chambersburg Area Senior High School, after seeing God's hand in opening up classes just where she needed them.  Ray has been getting some work to do here at the Camp where he was such a regular fixture for the past 26 years, and we will have housing thruout the summer, as well as that part time job.  God is good!  All the time!
A quick 'God story':  The guidance counselor tried to get into the computer system to register Julie for the fall- for her senior year, but was locked out.  I just quietly breathed a prayer to my God, "God, we just need is a little window here."  She decided to try one more time, and Voila!  She was in!  "H-m-m-m!" she says.  "Your prayer must have worked."  Thanks God!

We have been assessing our finances and job prospects, keeping apace of Reuters' and BBC's  Africa news, asking God, "What is our next assignment?", "When can we go back to Mali?", and "What do we do in the meantime?'  As a result, we are trying to plan for the summer and the next school year for Julie here in PA.  Ray is looking at using his years of plumbing and construction experience to do some plumbing/construction work, partnered with his Roxbury Camp parttime job. (Anyone have a project that needs done? I know a very experienced plumber who is available.  ; ))
Me??  I am seeing a ripe field of work that is laid out before me.  Interacting with some beautiful young ladies and pre-teens who are in need of a listening ear, and maybe even some 'mom' advice.  Well, maybe that will be 'gramma' advice. Godly advice that will hopefully reinforce what their own moms are trying to say to them.  In a word: Mentoring!

Isn't it fun (yes, it is also stressful sometimes, because I am impatient)  to see what God has planned?
GOD IS GOOD!  ALL THE TIME!!       ALL THE TIME!!!     GOD IS GOOD!!!!

Go, intentionally, with God today and prepare to bless and be a blessing.  You WILL be blessed in the process!
Mim, in PA at the moment but with a heart divided between here and Mali.