Surprise Surprise

A few weeks ago I experienced one of the greatest surprises of my life. It started like most any other Tuesday here at Beautiful Gate. I went to the local missionary school and taught chapel in the morning and when I returned I began preparing slides for a worship night we would be having that evening. I was a little stressed because we were expecting the arrival of a family who would be serving at BG for the next week and a half and, being the perfectionist that I tend to be, I wanted to make sure everything was ready for them before they arrived. Right in the middle of my worship preparations something came up, though. Bryan came into the Maroon House and told me the family had more luggage than we expected and the car that had been sent to pick them wouldn't be able to bring them and all their luggage back. He asked if I'd be willing to go along with him to help. I quickly agreed, assuming I'd have time in the afternoon to finish the slides, and jumped in the truck with him. We headed to the airport. About 15 minutes later we entered the airport and there in front of me stood the "Hartman" family who we were supposed to pick up. However, I quickly realized I was target of an intricate plot that had been going on for the past six months. The family standing in front of me was not the Hartman family I had willingly agreed to help collect from the airport. Instead my own family stood there with cheeky "Surprise, we got you!" looks on their faces! Inwardly, I was overjoyed. Outwardly, though, I was only able to turn to Bryan and jokingly tell him I hated him for keeping this a secret. I'm still dumbfounded at how many people were able to keep it a secret for six months! I give props to everyone involved because I was seriously and genuinely surprised! I never imagined that my family would be able to find the time or the funds to travel half-way around the globe to visit me and see what I'm doing in Lesotho.

The next 10 days went too fast, but they were wonderful. I got to share my experience at Beautiful Gate with my dad, mom, sister, and grandma. They were able to see where I live. They met the staff and the children I work with. They laughed and played with them and discovered just how easy it is to fall in love with them. They got to see the city, experience my driving (which is always an adventure in Maseru), worship in our church, hold baby lions, and live the life I've been living every day for the past nine months. Toward the end of their visit we were even able to go on a safari in South Africa! Suddenly and finally they were able to understand everything I've been telling them about since I left in a way they couldn't before. They were able to see first hand the experience I've had and can fully understand and appreciate how and why it's changed me. They were able to be changed themselves. Despite all the changes, though, I was pleasantly surprised to see just how quickly we were able to fall back into old familial habits and tendencies. In our free time we'd just sit and talk. At dinner we'd make ridiculous jokes that had no place at the dinner table. Jessi and I found we were still able to annoy one another fairly easily. Grandma is still able to talk to anyone and everyone about anything (even if they are semi-embarrassing stories from my childhood). Despite time and distance and change my family was and is still my family.

When it came time to say goodbye and send them back to America I was again surprised. It wasn't the emotional, teary-eyed goodbye we'd said last September. While it was still sad to see them go they were going with a sense of peace. The unknowns in my life are now known. They know for a fact I am being taken care of here. They were able to see, touch, and feel the life God has called me to and be affirmed that He really has called me to it. Though their time here was far too short I found I was strangely excited for them to go home. Not because I was sick of having them around by any means, but because I was excited for them to be able to share our experience together with the rest of the people who are supporting me, loving me, praying for me, and advocating for me back home. I'm excited because now when I go home I have people who I can process with. I have people who have been in the trenches with me; people who have experienced to good and the bad, the fun and the difficult. I have a community who can embrace me when I don't know how to be an American in America anymore because they shared the experience with me. And I'm just so blessed that that community also happens to be my family.