Dan drove Alessandra to MPH, the Methodist-Presbyterian Hostel built to house expats in transition in the Congo. He promised to pick her up on time the next morning to get her back to the airport for her flight to the interior. Alessandra’s missionary colleagues were friendly, and her night of sleep was mostly uninterrupted, except waking to find a gecko inches from her face.
Dan was due at nine, planning to bring her diamond mine permits with him. But the appointed time came and went.
By ten Alessandra was apprehensive and went in search of Kwete, the hostel manager. His call to the mission aviation compound ended her wonder and triggered her disappointment. He was not coming today.
“Why not?” Alessandra asked Dan when Kwete handed her the phone, barely keeping the tears from flowing.
“Although this is a new experience for you, things rarely work out as planned in Congo. Weeks ago, I got my worker started on the process of obtaining your mining permit. When I didn’t see him last week, I thought he was out working on it. In actually, he was home sick with malaria. He’s working on it today. And tomorrow is a national holiday. So, we will fly to Ilebo on Friday. I’ll tell Kwete to charge your extra stay to us, since it’s our fault.” Alessandra handed the phone to the manager and went to her room to have a good cry.
At lunch, her colleagues were not very surprised to see Alessandra still in Kinshasa. A discussion started about the value of Romans 8:28 in our lives. “And we know that all things work for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose.” Knowing that God is in control of our disappointments and delays is a real comfort when our lives are reeling from the burden of them. Like Alessandra, let’s learn to trust God with the details of our lives and plans.
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