It's been six months since I got back from Mozambique.
You can't travel to a country halfway around the world and not be changed, but I wanted to wait and see what feelings were a mission trip hangover and which ones were real changes God was making in my life.
The women of Mozambique are beautiful. I love their bright colors, vibrant laughs, and open friendliness. Their front porches are a place to work and watch their kids and build relationships. They sit and laugh and call out to those passing by. Even though I didn't understand a word of Portuguese, I understood the sense of community. Stories would be told and the gospel would be shared, and it was glorious. 
And I have missed it. I consider myself an extroverted introvert. I like people and enjoy their company, but I have to have quiet, alone time every day. I'm not quick to introduce myself to a stranger in a crowd. I'm better one on one than with a group. I can be shy. But God used Mozambique to change me. I call out to women in passing and pause to see if they're willing to talk. Every Sunday night, I purposefully think of who I can reach out to that week to encourage or to pray for or to just hang out with. I long to be still and hear their stories and share my own.
There's a longing in me to build a community, one of women who encourage and build each other up, women who are different than I am, women who will sit on the porch and talk about life and Jesus, women who laugh, women who challenge each other. And I think women in my area desperately need it. We run in rat races and fight comparisons and worry so much about status that we have become empty. We have nothing to give those around us. We're too busy to sit on our porches, making a meal together while the kids play. We don't have time to be still and talk about our struggles and the answer to them--Jesus. We don't have people who will call us out in love because we're too afraid of offending and too scared to be vulnerable and open. And our community suffers.
The world is broken. We live under the curse of sin. Suffering surrounds us, suffocating us. Anxiety and panic plague us. All too often, we trudge through it alone. And we don't have to. There are so many women looking for something beyond surface level acquaintances, women who desire true friends who stick closer than a brother. One of us just needs to be brave enough to ask, "Hey, you want to come hang out on my porch later?"
Consider this your invitation.
I think of the women of Mozambique every day. Out of respect for them, I didn't take many pictures of them, but their smiles fill my memories. They inspired me to reach out to those around me, to build relationships, to form a community. I don't want to have a busy social calendar but not one woman who is like a sister to me.
I pray I can go back.
