Notes from Cameroon

Yup, that's where it is. Don't worry, I didn't know either.

It is amazing how one can come to love a country when you barely know it. Perhaps it is infatuation, so immersed in the adventure and romance of something new that you allow your heart to be swept away. Perhaps...but I think it has just as much if not more to do with the state of mind I find myself in when traveling in a foreign country. Robbed of language I resort to observation. I watch people's faces and strain to read every crease to fill in the gaps of understanding. Isolated in my own language and humbled by my cultural ignorance I become introspective, but also acutely attuned to every person around me, feeling connected in a way I never do at home. Why do I love it here? Because it is good for my soul.

Already I miss those dearest to me back home, but I know with conviction that this is where I am supposed to be, as much if not more so for my sake than for the sake of those I'm serving. I will return home soon, my brief absence forgotten, but I can tell already my heart will be changed, healed, and grown by this place.