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Anneke shares stories from labor with Baby Hope now in her arms!
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I’ve written before about comings and goings and how difficult they are as a missionary with YWAM. But there is something about those greetings that is so different. It’s almost like God took one of those assorted seed shaker tubes and shook out a variety of wildflowers onto our plot of land here in Kona, Hawaii. Take my stroll the other day from my condo to the school where I teach. The walk takes five minutes max. En route and on the way back, I was greeted by several friends. To show you the incredible diversity of this place and the privilege it is to know these folks, I’ve left nobody out.
Marcia, my Brazilian master-teacher friend who has taught years in the state of Kumin in China, was hanging out at the nearby Learning Center classroom working with a student. She ran up the path when I greeted her, coming to give me a real hello.
I walked further and came across, Andre’, who is a Harley-driving Brazilian pastor(with the full look of a Harley driver) . A newer resident in the dorm my husband manages, I barely know him, but I greeted him in Portuguese: “Oi!”
“Oi-you!” He called back with a smile.
A little further, I found a new friend and ICS parent, Jean-Patrique, who is Swiss-French and has worked the last several years with his family in Mali. “Bon Matin!”
“Bonjour,” returned the tall, middle-aged gentleman.
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| Melissa and I on a hike during a multi-family camping trip this August |
“Hey, Kris! How’s it goin?”
Next I saw Anneke, my friend from Holland with whom I swim each Wednesday. She stopped me, out of breath, to share good news: "I won't be able to swim with you anymore. I am in pre-labor!" I plopped down on the nearest lava-rock wall, listened, hugged her, and rejoiced at this good news. I have given rides to this health-conscious mom-to-be as we’ve swam laps at the community pool for months. It has been a delight to watch her body, and her anticipation, grow with this imminent arrival.
After class, I saw Melani, a friend from France. “Bonjour! Ca va?” I asked the Marlo Thomas look-alike who always is fashionably dressed.
“Bon, merci!” she called out to me with her characteristic knock-out smile.
Corlize, my journalist-trained friend from South Africa, called out to me in her soft Afrikaan accent, “Hello, Kris!”
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| Corlize, one of my first friends when we joined YWAM in 2009. |
“Hi, Corlize, it’s good to see you!”And it was. Striking Corlize could have a high-powered job with CNN. Instead, she chooses to live in a simple apartment in Kona among the poor and abused. Her passion is to hang out with homeless people on the beaches.
“And you also,” Corlize beamed.
Next, I saw Wilson, a tall young man from Nigeria who once relayed how God told him to speak to me about releasing a worship song in his native language. I led him to sound-engineer Kumu, who is helping him do just that. “Hello, Kris!” he greeted me with his huge, white-teethed grin.
“Hi, Wilson!”
The thing is, this was just about every person that passed me in those minutes. In other words, I know most of the staff at this base. What a delight and honor!
I gathered up these international greetings, a fragrant bouquet in my arms, and smiled as I hustled home.
