We had a small problem at the annual conference. His name was Benjy. That is a bit unfair, but it does seem as if when we said we were going to our Spiritual Life Conference, Benjy misheard, and thought it was Sleepless Nights Conference! A change of environment or bed always upsets his night-time sleeping – which has never been the best – and this was the worst we'd had so far. The first night at the conference I only got four and a half hours sleep, in several bits. The day which followed saw an overtired Simon refusing to do anything his parents asked him to, and Benjy spending an hour in the afternoon screaming because he was so short on sleep but still couldn't drop off! The second night, Benjy didn't once sleep an entire hour without waking up and crying – and we were worried he'd wake up our neighbours so kept taking him out to the car, the only place where his screams were muffled!
All this meant that by the second morning I was at the end of my tether. I knew I couldn't possibly go on with so little sleep. The days were hard enough, but at night I was feeling really desperate. So Marc went to see our Director, who talked with her Deputy and his wife, and they agreed that although Conference is supposed to be obligatory, for our own sakes it was better that we go home. I was very relieved to know that the nightmare was going to be over, but very sad to be leaving Conference early. Despite everything, we had appreciated being with the other SIM missionaries, plus others from our partner missions, and felt like part of one big family. This was reinforced by the reaction to the announcement that we would be leaving – many people came and told us that they understood but were sad to see us go, and assured us of their prayers. Several also made a point of saying when they would next see us.
Fortunately we will be able to listen to the teaching and the individual missionaries' reports, as they are all being recorded.
We travelled home to Parakou after lunch on Wednesday with a colleague who had to leave to go to meetings in South Africa. He was glad of the lift, and we were glad of his company and a fresher driver to share the strain of driving on pot-holed roads! It took four and a half hours, and we arrived in Parakou in a thunderstorm, which was slightly weird as we thought the rainy season was over! That night we got over nine hours sleep, with only two short feeds, nicely spaced four hours apart. Such a blessing! And quite a confirmation that we'd made the right decision to leave.
We'd dropped Esther, our home help, off in Djougou (a city two and a half hours away) on our way to Togo on Monday. Funnily enough, the taxi she took to come back to Parakou overtook us while we were having a break at the side of the road, and she yelled greetings out of the open window as they zoomed past. She then turned up for work at 8.45 the next morning, which was very helpful as we had a lot of dirty washing!! She's always fun to have around, too, and the boys like to watch her work – or even help out.
All this meant that by the second morning I was at the end of my tether. I knew I couldn't possibly go on with so little sleep. The days were hard enough, but at night I was feeling really desperate. So Marc went to see our Director, who talked with her Deputy and his wife, and they agreed that although Conference is supposed to be obligatory, for our own sakes it was better that we go home. I was very relieved to know that the nightmare was going to be over, but very sad to be leaving Conference early. Despite everything, we had appreciated being with the other SIM missionaries, plus others from our partner missions, and felt like part of one big family. This was reinforced by the reaction to the announcement that we would be leaving – many people came and told us that they understood but were sad to see us go, and assured us of their prayers. Several also made a point of saying when they would next see us.
Fortunately we will be able to listen to the teaching and the individual missionaries' reports, as they are all being recorded.
We travelled home to Parakou after lunch on Wednesday with a colleague who had to leave to go to meetings in South Africa. He was glad of the lift, and we were glad of his company and a fresher driver to share the strain of driving on pot-holed roads! It took four and a half hours, and we arrived in Parakou in a thunderstorm, which was slightly weird as we thought the rainy season was over! That night we got over nine hours sleep, with only two short feeds, nicely spaced four hours apart. Such a blessing! And quite a confirmation that we'd made the right decision to leave.
We'd dropped Esther, our home help, off in Djougou (a city two and a half hours away) on our way to Togo on Monday. Funnily enough, the taxi she took to come back to Parakou overtook us while we were having a break at the side of the road, and she yelled greetings out of the open window as they zoomed past. She then turned up for work at 8.45 the next morning, which was very helpful as we had a lot of dirty washing!! She's always fun to have around, too, and the boys like to watch her work – or even help out.
1 comment:
Sorry to hear about the early leaving but also good that you had someone to do the washing when you got home!
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