As much as I love the Beninoir guys I worked with, it was a struggle to not get frustrated certain days working with them. There is no use explaining the various reasons why, because I have already stewed over it on those days at the risk of bitterness. But knowing how poorly I can bear with my brothers and reflect the self sacrifice I was shown is the context for what God gave me a peek at my last day of work.

It was a special breakfast that Friday with all the workers at the boss's house for pancakes, and to my dismay it was asked of those who wanted to comment on my time with them. Somehow God choose to show them the qualities I hoped for, the ones I kept failing at, and used those qualities of Himself to encourage them to grow as well. 2 Corinthians 12:9 for many years has been a hope, but a hope I could not see happening in my life. The truth of God's strength in my weakness I believe deep down, but all my weaknesses seemed to remain void of his power. Literally the night before my last day I wrote out “what am I doing wrong for surely I am weak and sinful.” I made the connection between that morning and the previous night later while trapped in my thoughts by the rattling motorcycle engine on the way to work. It will be rare that I get such a peek into God's plan, but I want to strive at obeying God even more under the circumstances of my weakness and struggling. I have many more failings I hope to see overwhelmed by God's strength, and I can have confidence that it will happen for His Kingdom.

I beautiful retreat center in northern Benin that I visited two weeks ago, where there is also a Swiss engineering who started a tech school.