Little reflections, from Lindsay

 A BIG thank you to God. That's what this is. A deeply heartfelt 'thank you' to the One who has walked with me through 5 months of difficult days. And a BIG thank you to God for bringing me into a new season. Our holiday in Mauritius gave me space and time to enjoy feeling 'normal', and to carry that freshly into our next block of time at work.  I don't know what has changed in my head and heart, but something has... and it feel amazing to be feeling free from the heaviness of the past months. My friend who also works here said she had the same thing - after 6 months, something clicked, and she felt able to be herself in Juba the same as in other places. But the first 6 months were difficult... It was encouraging to share the experience with someone else.  But I am also grateful for how God has literally counselled me through the previous months! He has daily listened to my thoughts and feelings, and shown me better ways of using time and thought life to bring g...

Day 1 in Juba following 2 weeks on leave on the beautiful island of Mauritius. The turquoise of the sea is REAL, and you can see fabulously colourful, tropical fish in the shallow waters. I did snorkelling for the first time which felt very odd trying to breathe underwater, but got there. The island has very shallow waters until a long way out, and there is a coral reef surrounding almost all of it, so lots to see. My favourites had bright pink, patterned heads, and bright green patterned bodies - wild!  The sun shone fairly consistently except for a couple of days, and we saw a lot of the island, mainly by bus driven either way fast or walking speed. In typical Cressey style, we stayed in 5 different places, but settled in 1 place for a full week at the end to relax and enjoy self-catering, a washing machine, and other comforts of domestic life. And a fantastic swimming pool and 5 mins walk to another perfect beach.  Steve did 3 good walks up some of the hills (mountains?) on...