"The Heart of Africa...the Heart of a Young Missionary"

As I waited for my turn to step off the plane for the first time in Africa, a woman grabbed my attention and began a conversation with me. She was a young teacher from America, traveling back to Africa for her second time, and the words she said to me that day have stuck with me even until now. She looked me square in the eyes and said, “Many things will impact your heart, but Africa will change your heart.” I knew that my lifelong passion for Africa, being fulfilled that day, was going to radically change me in a way I could not yet imagine.

I blinked, and I found myself sitting in the airport in Lusaka, Zambia three months after speaking to that young teacher. Where had the time gone? Three months was but a moment, and yet a whirlwind of experiences and sights I had never seen before. As I looked out the airport window, my traveling companion held me as I cried for what felt like an eternity. I watched my best friend from the summer leave Zambia on a plane headed for Germany. I knew her year long experience changed her too. I knew there was a high chance I might never see her again.  And I also knew I was next to board a plane. How could God make me leave this place that had stolen my heart? For the first time in my life I found my heart buried away in the deep roots of Africa, and for the first time I began to feel the throbbing ache of homesickness.

What is it about Africa that changes a person heart? Is it the culture, the people, the joy, the laughing, the dancing, the mourning, the sickness, the nshima? The one thing that strikingly stands out about this far off land is the Spirit of God being so near. In my short three month stay, I have never felt closer to heaven, and closer to God’s heart. He is not a different God in Africa; however, He does show up differently. The people rely on Him, cry out to Him, trust Him, and have an undying joy for Him like I have never experienced before. God delights in His African children because they delight in Him. Even the unbelievers are hungry for His word. People desire the gospel in the far reaches of Africa.

I could tell you hundreds of stories of how God revealed Himself to me while in Africa. I could share with you details of stories like a paralyzed man being healed, a young woman hungry for the word of God, hungry prisoners who were hungrier for the gospel than their meals, brave men and women combating spiritual warfare, four hour worship services. I could tell you about the disabled people that were more competent in their faith than I. I could tell you about the orphan children that were changed because people loved them. I could tell you about the wonders of Victoria Falls, and the heartache of the starving. I could tell you all these things, but these descriptions may just sound like stories. What I want to tell you is that my God, my Love is present around the world. He is full of culture and diversity. He is eager to answer the prayers of His people. Many mornings in Africa God would wake me up fifteen minutes before my alarm to speak His love over me, and simply to talk to me. After returning to America I was hit with the hard truth. I hadn’t yet seen God. I couldn’t walk down the road and talk with Him over a cup of tea. I couldn’t pick up the phone and call Him. However, after leaving Africa that is how I felt. I was lovesick for my Romancer who felt 7,000 miles away.

Now, nearly nine months out of Africa, I desire to be standing in the place of that young American teacher…stepping off the plane for a second time. Like the young woman described…Africa changed my heart. God invaded my life there unlike He ever had before. He introduced me to His people, and He allowed me to be His hands and His feet to love the poor and the widow and the oppressed and the orphan. He allowed me to glance into His heart, and then when I thought I couldn’t bear to look into His heart anymore…He placed His heart in my hands.