Hi Ho, Hi Ho

I have been back in Scottsdale for a week. It has taken me some time to adjust back to 'normal' life. I thought I was doing okay until Monday morning rolled around and the staff of the church where I work got together for our prayer time.

Now, I'm not one to speak up for prayer needs. I struggled. Praises were being lifted up and I certainly had a lot of praises to report from my trip but I also felt the tears welling up and knew if I were to start speaking those very words being spoken would cause the dam to break and a deluge to flow. I sat there.

Then prayer requests started coming from people within the circle. My mind was no longer in the room. I struggled to bring my mind back from friends half-way around the globe. It was almost as though they had taken a firm hold and would not release my thoughts to come back to Scottsdale.

Kind of like my blogging experience, I knew I had to speak. It not for myself, but for the people still on the front lines serving on the m/v Africa Mercy and the people of Liberia who have no 'out'.

Not only did the tears begin to flow, but I am sure I sounded like I had laryngitis. The words were not harmonious in their delivery. Instead they were filled with emotion that I thought had been squelched by my arrival back to familiar stomping grounds.

I was not asking for prayer for myself, but for everyone who was currently running through my thoughts as I spoke. I could see the people I was talking about as if they were standing right in front of me shaking their head in agreement about their need for prayer.

I know this trip to Liberia has impacted my life more than any other mission I have been blessed to be a part of. I am not that person I was when I left at the beginning of February.

I can't sit down over a meal with the people who have the same experiences I have had and know what I have been through, but I can still keep up with their lives through their blogs. I find this a bit funny. When I was on the ship, Mark brought up a good point.

"We don't talk to each other about what has been going on, we just read each others blogs."

We didn't need to talk about the big stuff when I was there. When the gang of friends I became close with got together, we tried to keep the conversation and mood fun filled with a lot of good laughs. We dissected a certain hand jester that is common to the Liberians, laughing as each one around the table added their own twist to the movement. Or putting a young nurse on the hot seat by discussing how her 'man-hunt' was going.

As I read the blogs that tell stories of the new patients I will not know, I realize I have an inside track when it comes to lifting up prayers. The Lord allowed me to serve for a month and then return to my job. I am no longer in the heat of the battle in Liberia. I can be more focused on covering the ship and everyone on her with prayers. What an honor!!

So, keep writing your blogs. I will keep reading and lifting all of you up in prayer. My job has only begun!!!

Hi Ho, Hi Ho it's off to work I go.

Love,
Kimberly