life

Hello friends...

I'm sorry for taking so long to update... It's been over three weeks! But I’ll be back in Wisconsin in just about two weeks – can you believe it??? In many ways I’m sad to be going, but at the same time, oh so excited!!! It’ll be great to be with my family, see friends, have some of Mom’s home-cooked food, to be able to cook on a gas stove (!), to swim, to drive on a paved, non-bumpy road, to take hot showers from the faucet, to eat Dad's pancakes on Saturday mornings, to laugh with my sisters, practice some of my Swahili with friends and to see how tall Nathan has grown since I left in September!

But it’ll be hard to leave too… I’ve really started to develop a life here in Beni. With work, the community, family, friends. My time here has been more than just doing missionary work (I heard some call me a missionary! How is that possible??). Working at UCBC has been my job. Living and managing the home has been like what I’d have to do in Chicago – you need to keep your house clean, people must be fed... It’s just required that I learn how to deal with employees who help keep my home in order and also help to balance the relationships of all of the different people living under the same roof! The community has become my own – where I can have friendships and relationships that have depth and value, beyond that of work or missions or UCBC.

It’s been exciting, difficult and fun to experience all of these changes, in my new home… And even though I know where my homes are in the States (Door County, Chicago, Bethany Beach… Anywhere else??), I love knowing that I have and am at home here, in Beni, DRC. I praise God for the relationships and friends He’s given me here. I praise Him for the work and changes we’re seeing in and through the work being done at UCBC. I praise God for the students that I interact with and those I can call my friends. I praise Him for giving me the ability and gift to know that I am home and with family, even here in the Congo!

So for now, I think I'll stop writing... With the promise to write again. :) Hopefully sooner than later!

Greetings from so many here in Beni...

with love,
Bethany