Dear John, I'm off to Africa

How many people here have been in a serious relationship? I am not talking about flings but serious relationships that get in to the nitty gritty of the two people involved, maybe even 3 if you are a polygamist. After awhile there comes a point where you need to decide do I want to marry this person. Some simple questions that might go through a women’s head are

- Do I see myself spending the rest of my years with this person?
- Will this person be able to support me or would I want to support
them?
- Do we have the same values?
- Do we have the same goals?
- Have I done my part to save the world before I get married?

Believe it or not I have seen many great relationships end based on this last question. Let me explain. A lot of relationships end, there is no doubt, some just are not meant to be. But sometimes relationships end for odd reasons, like “ I think you are a great guy, you have so many qualities... I just don’t see marrying you because I need to go off to Africa, it has always been my dream and I really feel like god has called me there” Some of you may be laughing, but this actually happens. For most guys who hear this the first question that goes through there head is “ I have never even heard you talk about Africa”.

Being that I can account for at least 10 relationships where this has happened I am beginning to wonder, why isn’t Africa rampant with white evangelical women? So many of them are “called” to be there. You would think with the amounts of women who talk about it there would almost be an epidemic of women there. Is there?

I want to set something straight, life doesn’t end when you get married. Just because it ended for you mother doesn’t mean it has to for you. Marriage can be a beautiful thing, where two peoples paths intersect and they start a new journey, a journey carved out between them and hopefully God. I would hate to think that the person I choose to marry one day would
wake up one day and feel like they didn’t get a shot at living the life they wanted. Did you know they make planes that can carry more than 1 person at a time, maybe just maybe that person might also want to go to Africa...

Warren Bitenko