Day 169 – April 30th

IT IS FINISHED! AND I HAVE ROOM TO SPARE!
I am truly shocked that I have a little room to spare (coming home with 2 checked bags, carry-on, and personal item). My third bag will come home packed in my luggage, not full of stuff. :-)
And I was able to fit things well, keeping weight in mind. I can lift even the heaviest bag (which will come in handy in DC, where I have to go through customs). That will be a super fun layover...about 2 ½ hours to land, get all my bags, go through customs, recheck my bags, and get to my next flight. I don’t forsee much downtime.... But at least I know that I can manage it all, since it is less than I came with. Good times.
Sad day...said more goodbyes today. It was my last time seeing Julie, who helps us here at the Conrod house. We parted with a hug. :-)
And Julie’s daughter, who came with her today, is going to keep Squirrley-poo-poo for a pet. So we all said our goodbyes to him, too.
So. Beach in 2 days. Home in nine days. It feels real now, as I look around my empty room with my bags off to one side, as it thunders and the rain comes down outside. So strange, the feeling I had when I arrived is back, the feeling as if your life in one place is dying, or at least going to sleep, and simultaneously your life is getting ready to wake up in another place completely different.
Only now, after all this time, where this has been home, and has become familiar, it doesn’t seem so different, after all. I mean, how life is lived is, in many ways, VASTLY different. But the people, as people everywhere, are the same. We all have hopes, desires, potential. We all have the capacity to grow and change, love and hurt. We all have need for Jesus, and His transforming power can work a miracle in any of us, if we are willing. And the results, in any culture, can be positively inspirational. What great things God can do.
I am thankful to have been on this journey, where I have seen that transformation first-hand, and actively in my own life, too. He is so able, and faithful, and if I had it to do again, I would follow wherever He leads, yes, even to Africa, away from everyone I love at home. For now I find my heart enlarged. I love people here, too. Cameroon has become home, too. I guess, in God’s love, more is definitely better. :-)