It's all a part of the process...

Greetings beloved friends and family!

It’s Bri here and I am so excited to be writing a blog post for you all. By the grace of God, the team was able to have a smooth journey back to Boston. We are so blessed that a little turbulence was the only inconvenience on the trip back!

You’re probably wondering… “Why is Bri writing a blog post AFTER the mission trip?” Well, I’ll tell you why! One of the biggest misconceptions about doing ministry in this capacity is that once you depart the country you served in, the hard part is over with. That could not be further from the truth. After all of the wonderful and heartbreaking things we witnessed in Ghana and all of the beautiful bonds we built, we were catapulted right back into the busy and work driven life that lies in America. I cannot speak for the team as a whole but I know that I have been having a bit of a hard time trying to adjust to a routine at Gordon.

On Sunday night (hours after we had landed) I went to sleep fairly early because of my exhaustion caused by a day of travel. One would think that someone this exhausted would sleep through the night but NO. I woke up around 5 am extremely disoriented as I looked around my room thinking to myself, “Am I in Ghana?” Much to my dismay, I realized I was lying in my XL twin dorm room bed and not in my room at camp. As the hours passed by, I noticed how different I felt. There is nothing more unsettling than having a transformative experience halfway across the world and coming back to a place full of people that seem like they haven’t changed at all. To be rather vulnerable for a moment, I am not ashamed to say that I have shed a lot of tears this week. Tears of joy recalling fond memories of the girls and their sweet voices followed by tears of sadness because of the harsh reality that I might not see a lot of those princesses again. At least not in this lifetime.

So, to me, the hardest part of the mission was not executing it in Ghana. It was leaving the people we grew to love so dearly and simply trusting that all of the work we put in makes a long lasting impact. Our team has to have this newfound reliance on God and know that He is going to work things out for the good of each one of the Nabia fellows. The incredible faith of those girls gives me hope for their present and their future. Through all of my scattered processing, one thing that I know for sure is that God has done great things and he is faithful to continue doing great things. Great is His faithfulness!

I want to leave you with two excerpts from Psalm 30 that have filled me with peace as I have wept to our Abba:

“For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning” (Verse 5, ESV).

“You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!” (Verse 11-12, ESV).