Afrikan Adventure: Auld Lang Syne

Well, it looks like it’s another year over and a new one just begun. I trust we have all made lofty and unattainable resolutions for this year of 2008. I personally have resolved to swim across the Atlantic using only the butterfly stroke for the entire voyage. Moving on…my time in South Africa was grand. It was great to be able to spend Christmas with the Armes/Hilty family and see some of the beautiful country. South Africa is like a whole new world, a dazzling place I never knew! I arrived back in Lusaka on New Years Day after ringing in the New Year by going to bed at 11:55pm…I got up 20 minutes later to finish packing.

I arrived back in Lusaka to a climate that seems all too familiar. It has been raining like crazy here, in an unseasonably heavy fashion in fact. It seems that it is preparing me to arrive back in BC. So with the new year brings the task of beginning to wrap up here in Zambia. On Thursday night I had an “All-nighter” with Chisomo drop-in centre as somewhat of a farewell. Many of the youth will be going back to boarding school this coming week and since I will be leaving soon as well we decided to have one final shebang all together. The kids prepared songs, skits, and testimonies which were awesome. We had a nice meal of chicken and rice and then had popcorn and watched movies all night. It was a good time but a saddening realization of all the goodbyes that are looming.

This coming week I am headed down to Sinazongwe, which is in the southern part of Zambia, to visit Susan and Stephanie, former team mates who now work as a nurse and midwife down there.

And so I leave you with my new motto for 2008, but first how I came upon it. While in South Africa I stayed about 6km from my friends so they lent me a bicycle so I could get around and cycle to and from their house. I was pretty excited about all of this until I realized that the route to their house was almost entirely uphill. To top it off Port Elizabeth is a seaside city and for some reason the winds seemed to have it out for me. Every time I made the uphill trek it seemed like I would be cycling into gale force winds. You know its trouble when you have to pedal to go down hill. So on my final cycle, December 31^st, I was reflecting on the year gone by and thinking that this was a good depiction of what the past year has felt like at times. So if 2007 was “an uphill cycle into the wind,” then my new motto for 2008 is: “It’s all downhill from here!” I don’t know, call me an optimist!

Looking back on auld lang syne (times gone by) I can begin to see glimpses of how God has been at work in my life and those around me and that is just the tip of the iceberg as I try and begin to process this year gone by. I hope you had a happy and festive Christmas season. I thank you again for all your support and encouragement over this past year. I am so grateful and can’t even begin to tell you. Well, I guess that’s a lie because it seems I just attempted to. Anyway, take care and I look forward to seeing you soon!

Love,

Shannon

“But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.” ~Titus 3:4-5a