I can't believe I'm really going.
The flight itinerary looks horrendous -- 7-1/2 hours to Amsterdam, a 3 hour layover, 10-1/2 hours to Johannesburg, a 12 hour layover, and 3-1/2 hours to pemba. Over 10,000 miles.
They serve mainly bread and rice at the orphanage, so we are advised to bring peanut butter and tuna fish, if we want to supplement the protein. Considering the fact that I normally eat a relatively low carb diet, this will be a dramatic switch.
They have running water for an hour a day, so I've got bucket showers and non-flush toilets to look forward to.
They recommend bringing shampoo with tea-tree oil to try to discourage lice. Ugh.
We're supposed to start learning Portuguese, although it might not even help, depending on who we are ministering to. While it is the official language, many people only know their mother-tongue which might be any of a number of tribal languages instead. But the idea of trying to pray in a foreign language that I've spent just 2 months learning sounds problematic to me. What if I try to say "Demoniao saia agora em nome de Jesus" and I say something else by mistake? What if I mistakenly invite the demon to bring his friends, rather than commanding him to go?
And yet, in spite of all these factors that each sound discouraging, I'm hugely excited to go. I'm excited to see what God is doing in a land still recovering from years of war, with recent floods, and ongoing starvation. I'm eager to see what revival looks like. And I can't wait to see miracles.
Vem, espirito Santo.
