SPECIAL NOTE: We won’t be taking our computer to Chad so there will be no blog update until after Oct 5th.(Pictures: Smile; Tom helping his dad fix up the house; Grace practicing sitting on her own)
I think we have mentioned before the importance of giving gifts in Chadian culture. Well, by coming back from Chad and packing up our home we will be encountering two occasions where gifts may be expected of us. First, whenever someone comes back from a trip they usually bring back some token (often food), though the farther and longer you have been gone the more is expected. Second, they have noticed that when westerners leave Chad they usually give away a lot of their belongings. This makes sense, as many of the daily things needed for life in Chad are either not necessary elsewhere or more of a pain to transport than they are worth.
So o
n our trip to Chad we are preparing to be givers. We’ve already bought some gifts that we thought would appeal to Chadians and that are relatively inexpensive and easily packed. We buy for more than just our close friends because we know people will come out of the woodwork and we want to be prepared. We have some clothes, some cute decorative things, playing cards, hair accessories and candy. Then we have photos we took of our friends before we left.But that is just the stuff we are bringing with us to give away. There is still all the stuff we left behind. We’ve made a list of all the kinds of things we could remember; we left in such haste back in February. We have to make the decision of what to take, what to leave and who to give what to. We don’t plan on bringing much back to the US, a few keepsakes and things that would be hard to replace. Some of our things never really belonged to us and have to be returned. Some bigger items we have emailed people about and will go to others working in Chad. But there are a lot of big and little things left unclaimed. We’ll be able to give clothes, food, books, pens, mats, bowls, and more.
Part of us wishes we could just be haphazard in our giving and not think about it, but we know that people will notice and we need to honor certain people that we have befriended. We also know that there will be the people we have hardly ever seen who will show up at our door to ask for things. And there will be those who will wait for us to come to them (and will be offended if we don’t).
There is a joy and a burden in getting to go back and be givers for a week. We’ll get to interact with lots of people and make them happy, but we’ll have to have our ducks in a row and think about what we are doing. And ultimately we hope our interactions can be about more than just gifts but about reconnecting with friends and watering seeds that were planted.
PRAYERS ANSWERED
Megan’s sister Heidi visited and we all went to the Big E (New England’s annual fair). We have been warmly welcomed back to MA by friends and family. Grace went for
another check-up and is gaining weight nicely now. We have gotten things done and felt less stressed.PRAYERS REQUESTED
Our trip to Chad – we leave Sept 22 and return Oct 5. Pray for all the details of the trip: language, saying goodbye, health, dealing with jet lag, the giving of gifts, and travels (both by plane and car). Pray for Grace while we are in Chad. Pray for our friends in Chad and our relationships with them. Pray that we would enjoy our time there and that God would be glorified.
