This Sunday Dan and I wended our way for an hour through narrow, high-hedged lanes, deep into the Devonshire countryside, to visit one of the churches which has been supporting us and praying for us during our years in Zimbabwe and then Uganda.
I first visited this church in 1997, before Dan and I were even engaged. So they have been praying for me - and then us - for fourteen years, through our marriage, the birth of our children, being ejected from Zimbabwe, moving to Uganda, and all the ups and downs since (at least the ones which made it into our monthly prayer updates.)
We have twelve link churches, spread all over Devon and the rest of England, so it is a daunting prospect that we will be visiting them all between now and January...
I must admit that I do not really look forward to these visits. There are always so many people I don't know, and people who approach you whom you know you should know... and various awkward conversations because people often don't know what to talk to you about. Often I end up hearing all about their lives instead of talking about our Ugandan life, since I find it easier to ask the questions!
But then again, almost always I end up loving the visits and feeling really glad we went. Same again this Sunday. We arrived at St Edmond's in Dolton half an hour early, to find a group of women singing choruses in the front of the church (a new development in this rather traditional Anglican country parish.)
Two women were setting things up, who reminded me that I had met them and been in their homes on my first visit fourteen years ago. The service was formal but the people were so friendly. Dan and I were given ten minutes to talk about our recent work in Uganda and our future plans. After the service we showed pictures on my laptop and chatted with several people who seemed really interested. It was so fun! Of course there were various people who had joined the church since our last visit, and also many who had left. And it was a bit sad that, being an All Age service, we saw only all ages over about sixty there... But the overwhelming feeling was that we had been prayed for faithfully there, so that even the new people knew exactly who we were, and many were interested in Uganda and the work being done there.
One old chap said to me, "Do you know I see your face every day?" He explained that his wife, Gwen, has my picture up on their fridge from my first visit, (therefore the thirty year old version of me, minus wrinkles and grey streaks - he didn't say that though!) Gwen had written underneath "Married to Dan, Abigail born, Alex born and the dates. I was touched to realise that this lovely couple had been praying for us and thinking of us daily. Gwen said she would miss my monthly prayer letters! If you are someone who writes prayer letters, you will know what a huge boost that was to me, as you often feel, sitting at your desk in Africa, wondering what to write this month, that they anyway are being written into a vacuum and surely sit at the back of churches gathering dust...
So our first church visit of twelve was really encouraging and positive. Having been admittedly glad to put the days of being on missionary support behind me, the visit made me actually feel sorry that we are saying goodbye to all these relationships, and to all this prayer for us. Knowing there are so many more last visits to come, and that they will all be similarly sad, the image came to mind of pulling off a well stuck-down bandaid when it is no longer needed - slow and painful, - but possibly a relief when it is off...
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