3/20/07

Grass Hut Reflections


A recent post by Craver reminded me of a little book I started to write about my experience in Africa a couple years ago. My working title was “Grass Hut Reflections” because it was while lying in a grass hut in Sudan that I hit my lowest point (and greatest spiritual insight) during the six-week trip. I haven’t done anything with the work I started on that book (which wasn’t much more than a table of contents and some pictures), and I was thinking that the heart for Africa part of my life is not very evident on my blog...so I thought I would take one chapter per week for the next several weeks and post on it. I’ll aim to do it on Tuesdays, but I can’t say for sure I’ll be super consistent.

Photo: Grass Hut, Sudan (2004)

5 comments:

Craver Vii said...

I am looking forward to seeing that for sure!

I carried a steno pad with me on the short term missions trip I took to the Philippines and Japan in ’05. There were forty pages of notes that I expected to expound upon, and maybe use some of the stories to write devotional messages. When I returned to work, my enthusiasm was bubbling over, and most of my break and lunchtime conversations began with, “When I was in the Philippines…” One of my coworkers mimicked my phrase, except she said, “When I was at band camp…” We all got a good laugh out of that!

I haven’t looked through that steno pad in a long time. I did not redo all the stories, filling in gaps, and rephrasing details for the best impact. There were a few slide-show presentations, but no re-written record of the adventure.

Now, there is another group getting ready to head out again to the same place. Please pray that God would give me a clear indication whether to go or stay.

Again, I’m looking forward to the stories of your experience. Thank you so much for sharing!

L.L. Barkat said...

That is the most amazing piece of handiwork. I love how it blends with the landscape.

spaghettipie said...

Craver - I will definitely pray about that. When does the group go, what will they do, is it with a particular organization

LL - the huts? it is pretty amazing to me how well they last. I guess it blends so well with the landscape since it is all made from it!

Craver Vii said...

August. Not so much organized, but initiated by Dr. Horiuchi of Grace Mission International Partnership. Last time, there were six of us from the US, and twelve from Japan who worked in the Philippines. This year, we are expecting a Korean contingent as well.

spaghettipie said...

Cool. How long will the trip last? Be sure to let me know what you decide to do.