Farewell Zambia, Hello Minnesota

A great ending in Zambia -- More Pics Here
"It helps now and then to step back and take the long view. No prayer fully expresses our faith. No program accomplishes the church's mission. No set of goals and directives include everything. This is what we are about. We plant the seed that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. e lay foundations that will need further development. We cannot do everything and yet we can do something and do it well. There is a sense of liberation in realizing that. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for God's grace to enter in and do the rest. We may never see the results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders, ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own."

El Salvador Archbishop Oscar Romero, Martyred in 1980

It is a beautiful Sunday afternoon and it seemed like a good time to write out last post from Zambia. We are heading home next week and, strangely enough, will be waking up in Edina wondering where to file these last couple years of experiences.

Leaving and moving home fills us with multiple emotions - excitement, gratefulness, loss of this season and chapter of life, "undoneness", anticipation and more...

The quote above from Oscar Romero answers well much of what we have wrestled with as we finish our time here. The idea that things are not complete and still undone in many ways. I am comforted by the idea that I am the worker and not the master builder ultimately responsible for fixing what is broken. All of us are simply called to do our part. Whether that is in Zambia or Minnesota or California or Colorado...

I'd love to be neatly summarizing our last years here but of course that is both impossible and unwise. The lessons and learnings of this time will take a life-time (and then some) to sort out. What we do know is that we are grateful that we've been here for this season, just as we are grateful to be heading home to friends, family and familiarity. We also know that it has been great to be able to share this experience with you. At times our being here has made the most sense in relation to the things we heard back from you, so thank you for being with us in spirit.

Some of you have asked what is next for us. For starters we are moving back to Edina (where we kept our home) and removing our wild & unruly tenants (Molly's parents) to settle back onto Branson Street.

We have started our own company, Africa Business Development Partners, where I will be working to help companies, organizations and individuals develop and grow partnerships with Sub-Saharan Africa. I could not be more excited for the opportunities that have already developed and for others that are unfolding and I'm grateful that I will be able to remain deeply connected to this place both vocationally and personally.

This summer will be full immersion for all of us back into life in the U.S. -- camps, sports, weekends at the cabin, a trip to Colorado etc. and we are all very excited for this. Our stuff, which is being packed up this week, should arrive in early August so we will have the "empty house" again for a couple months. (Roller-blading in the living room anyone?)

So, when we write again, it should be from the U.S.

We welcome your prayers for what we anticipate to be an even bigger adjustment than moving to Africa - moving from the developing world to home - and can't wait to see you soon.

Zikomo (Thanks)

Jeff, Molly, Mackenzie, Clara & Bennett