A Surprise Return

Due to s3cur!ty, we left our place of refuge in S3neg@l to return to the land and the people to whom our Father called us without letting any of them know we were on our way home. We knew nothing about what the journey would be like, how long it would take us, or exactly when we would arrive at out homes. Only our Father truly knew what the journey held for us…it was an adventure. We did end up spending a couple of extra days at our second destination.
After arriving at our home, we called our friend O to talk with her and see what she was doing. She was doing her normal things–selling peanuts in the market. She told us she would be working peanuts in the late afternoon and that she would not be going to the market the next morning. She would be working peanuts at home. OUr conversation ended with me saying. “K’an ben, sooooni.” That means “See you soon!!” At first my heart was anxious to go see her and work peanuts with her that afternoon. I knew that it was not a possibility. I asked Father to give me patience and wait on His timing to see her and let her know we had arrived at home.
The next morning I called and still did not reveal that we were home. Just called to make sure she was home and working peanuts like she said she would be. She was, so again I ended the conversation with “K’an ben soooooni!!” This time I knew it would be much sooner than she was expecting..actually she wasn’t expecting it at all!! That was the fun part.
C@therine and I got ready and headed to our friends house to surprise her and work peanuts. It was fun as we took a taxi, walked up her street and quietly entered her compound. As is custom, we walked in and greeted saying, “I ni sogoma!” (“Good morning!”) After a moment of shock and uncertainty about what was happening, our friend stood up, greeted us, and welcomed us home. Truly it was later in the day that she really realized we were home and we were at her house. I’m not certain what she had been thinking or if she thought we would ever be back. For weeks we had been ending our conversations with  “K’an ben sooooni!” But this time it was real and our Father had kept His promise: