How do you say goodbye?

How do you say goodbye to someone who has changed your life? How do you say goodbye to someone who has given you joy? How do you say goodbye to a people group who has molded your heart into a more beautiful object to give to your Lord? How…how do I say goodbye to Sierra Leone?
In my 6 weeks of being molded and shaped into a new creation, I’ve grown to love Sierra Leone more fiercely than I ever imagined. I stare at her, and she stares back into me…straight into my soul: knowing who I was and knowing who I have become. She sees the change that has overcome me, and when we pull away she will wave with stoic presence while I cry for the loss of my first African love: the people of Sierra Leone.

We are packing and tying everything down in preparations for the sail. “Soon,” they say, “we leave soon.” The surreal atmosphere of a half empty ship only makes me long to stay. I feel cheated, cheated out of time with Sierra Leone. I just got here, and we are leaving. I think of my family who adopted me and taught me Krio. I think of the girl who cleaned me when I was dirty and tired. I think of the village that changed its circumstances to prove they can overcome. The patient whose life was transformed in front of me from outcast demon to freed handsome young man. The list doesn’t end as faces and memories flash through my mind. I will miss each of them and pray that God will bless them for how they have blessed me.

My goodbyes are said, and I sit on the ship waiting to leave. I wait to leave, and we don’t even know when we will go. So I stare at her from another world, through longing eyes, wanting to care for her and help her. Sierra Leone, she has captivated me and her struggle has motivated me. I hope one day I will return to Sierra Leone, but for now, I move along the coast to new places with their own powerful hold on my heart. But I wonder if I will love any country as much as I love Sierra Leone.

I leave for Ghana soon: a country more developed and making progress. The ship will be receiving maintenance during this time, and I will find myself at a loss of what I have found normal. No patients, no writing, and no village visits. I pray that this time will be renewing of strength and energy. Togo will become busy as soon as we hit the docks and I will find myself as the “experienced” one training the new writer coming aboard January 1, 2012. I pray that God will renew me in the next 4 weeks so that I can give more than I have to offer in Togo because God’s wisdom will guide me through each day.
Goodbye Sierra Leone! God Bless and I hope to see you again soon!