I Kinda Like My Ruts (by Thom)

Let me start by saying I actually like my ruts. When things are steady, when they’re consistent, I feel like I do my best. I’m fully aware that this seems a bit askew, considering we’ve been called to a missionary life in Mali, Africa. That’s hardly what most would consider a fertile ground for building ruts and patterns. Just a couple of weeks ago, though, I was thinking to myself that we’d mostly settled into a comfortable pattern. We’re feeling more and more at home in our new house here in Bamako, things at the mission office have been going well, language class has been consistently challenging, but also consistently rewarding, and life, in general, is feeling consistently good. Starting this week, though, things have been changing and will be continuing to change for the next several weeks.

First, we have a short-term work team here in Bamako now. They come from Florida and are mostly here to work on constructing the Sabalibougou church (Sabalibougou is a section of Bamako and the church there is growing and dynamic. We’re so thankful that we can be a part of its continued growth!). Also with the team came an accountant to audit the mission books. This was daunting to me as I didn’t know what to expect, but it has gone well so far.

Next up, we have visitors coming from Michigan to stay with us for the next month. We’re looking forward to this and getting to play ‘hosts’ in our adopted city and country.

Also coming up I (and possible Amanda, too) will be making several trips out to the bush to visit with Malian pastors who are in completely unreached parts of Mali. They’re considered missionaries sent by the Malian church and have a very difficult job. I’m going to be filming them and putting together a video with their stories.

I don’t expect to feel ‘the rut’ much for the next few months, but I’m ok with that. I know that times of growth happen in the times of stretching and times of challenges. It should be a fun few months, but please pray for us. It’ll be a challenge!