Here's the Plan

Here is a quick update on my plans from now until I finish up my internship with Wycliffe Benin in August of this year. Although I dread the thought of leaving Benin, I also believe God has made his plan clear: He opened the door for me to come to Benin for a definite amount of time, 10 months, and unless he calls me to do otherwise, I'm going to stick to that.

That being said, I am very excited to have the opportunity to come home for a month in May/June in order to attend my brother David's wedding (wohoo! marriage!). I am looking forward to celebrating that happy day surrounded by family, and reconnecting with many dear friends. My excitement is surpassed perhaps only by my co-workers and host sisters--the Beninese are really enthusiastic about weddings! I will enjoy sharing the details with them :D

My flight home for May falls 8-and-a-half months after my arrival. However, I also knew that God had called me here for 10 months. On the one hand, it seemed like a trivial thing--it's only 1.5 months shorter! But it just didn't sit right with me, so after some prayer, I expressed this thought to my trip coordinator from Wycliffe USA, John. He was very understanding of my conviction to follow exactly what I believed to be God's instructions, and asked me if I'd be interested in returning to Benin as a leader for one of Wycliffe's summer trips called "Discover". College students/young adults from both the USA and Benin will be coming to Wycliffe Benin for a taste of what Bible translation work is like. I was energized at this idea, and said I would love to help welcome this group as part of the leadership team. What an awesome opportunity!

So in short, here's the plan:

mid-May - bopping back to Minnesota

late June - back to Benin to help lead Dsicover trip

early August - return home to Minnesota

I have gotten a few questions about this (and thank you for your thoughtfulness in asking!!), but I am still not certain whether I need to do any additional fundraising for this slight change of plans. That should become clear in the next month.

As always (although perhaps I haven't done a great job of inviting this) if you have any questions at all about how things are here in Cotonou, what I've been up to, cultural minutia etc. that I haven't addressed in a blog post, please feel free to post them in the comments section below. Who knows--you might inspire my next post! Plus, I always enjoy hearing from you people :)

You can continue to pray for us here at Wycliffe Benin, for the ongoing Bible translation projects in the Aja, Saxwe, M'belime, and Idaasha languages, as well as for a BIG event coming up on March 1st (at the National Conference Center of Benin, no less!). Wycliffe Benin is hosting an important fundraiser to help finance the construction of their new headquarters, and we at the office are all praying for God's help to make the event a success that points all the glory back to Him. Please join us in covering this day in prayer!

You can also pray for me, for discernment on the next steps God may want me to take after the end of my internship in August. As of now, I have ideas, but not a concrete plan. Through this decision process, I am continually reminded to trust God and listen for what he wants me to do next.

As always, merci mille fois (thank you so much) for your prayers and words of support! Please let me know if you have any prayer requests as well.

Enjoying a frolic on the beach with expat friends