Missionary Mama Blog

Just noticing the date today, 2/2/2022. It’s always interesting, and often beautiful to see order in numbers, in nature, in a meal, a symphony, a garden. There’s something about ordering things that creates a feeling of accomplishment and a sense of goodness and beauty. There’s also something exciting and hopeful about the potential of new “seeds” planted in our lives.

I read about the month of February being the month where the secrets of the natural world are whispered underground. The coldest, and often most dreary month of the year is when the consummations and conceptions of nature are happening, and where the intricate designs of each prairie flower, forest-tree, and garden perennial are being formed in the womb of earth. It is in the darkest times that the blossoms of Spring are promised. In the life of Christ, of the Church, and the human soul, the same is true; It is in our darkest hour that God is working, and that the truth of who we are is slowly being revealed.

The “SEEDS” that we plant in Bwambo Village each year are always planted with trepidation. It is in January and February that we form the ideas for things wanted and needed by the people on Bwambo Mission. We talk for long hours in meetings or on the phone with board member, pastor, priest, and physician about how we can improve this year’s “crops,” We sit with our gracious board of directors and put things in lists of priority. We spend the first few months of the year collecting proposals, designs, BOQs (budgets), material needs, and labor costs for each “SEED” we hope to plant in each category of our mission statement: Sustain, Educate, Empower, and Develop. It is at this time that there are many unknowns, expectations, and never a real understanding of how all of these dreams are even possible. In the lives of the Villagers in Bwambo, this experience of the “unknowns” is how most people experience life each day. “How will I plant my crops if there’s no rain this week?” “When can my child go school if there’s no money?” “Will I be able to find healthcare for my sick, elderly mother when I live hours away from the nearest hospital?” The unknown is not only part of the Pare people’s lives – it is the very nature of their lives. And yet, it is in the unknowns that the seeds of creativity, community, and hope are planted.

The “seeds” we plant each year in Bwambo Village are in fact designed by the Creator of all goodness, truth and beauty. We are mere bystanders, waiting to see how we can help to water, till, and harvest the fruits the Lord has chosen for our work at P4HT. Through the diligent work of our, staff, donors, and volunteers, the “seeds of hope” are planted, but it is the staff at the mission, the villagers and laborers who water and till the crops until fruition.

It is in these times of bitter cold and darkness, sometimes under the weights of heavy crosses, that the Lord is “planting” His most beautiful designs in us and in our chosen vocations. As Partners 4 Hope, we know that many miracles have happened in Bwambo Mission because we have waited, we’ve prayed, and we have known that from “seeds” come hopes and dreams fulfilled.

In Christ, our hope,

Molly Delaney Druffner