Well for those of you still out of the loop of information (which could be most of you, since I haven’t written here in awhile), me and the Port Elizabeth team have now left South Africa, and we’re spending one last day together in Georgia, to kind of “debrief” and talk about our crazy experiences, life lessons, and get ready for the reverse culture shock of returning to the USA.
Even already we all feel so overwhelmed by the change that we are about to experience. We all knew that going to live in Africa was going to “change our lives,” but I don’t think anyone really understood what a changed life might look like. We spent a lot of our travel time together reminiscing about stuff in Africa, sometimes laughing sometimes crying. It was tough to say goodbye, I think we all cried when some of our church family woke up early to send us off in PE. Since then we’ve struggled to grasp the idea that we may never see these people again, and what hurts even more, is that very soon we will say goodbye to our team-mates for the last time as well. Despite having the past week to write each other notes of encouragement, to say everything that nees to be said, and hug everyone as much as possible, it doesn’t make the final goodbye any easier. We are seriously and truly a family of believers here in PE, and it feels like our family is all being ripped away from us.
But we all know that God is still with each and everyone one of us, and we have hope, because we know that God is greater than any barrier of distance or time. One day we will all be together again in glory, and perhaps then we can understand why God brought us through such a difficult time together. It’s not for us to know the answers now. But now is the time for us to have faith.
I’m pretty tired from all this travelling, and I’m not even done yet. But I have a quick two hour flight back to Rochester tomorrow! Then I can finally just crash and let things sink in for good. I hope that even though this trip and missions experience may be over, you will all still keep in touch and look out for more updates. I guess I get to keep this blog page, so I’m sure I’ll continue to use it for whatever journeys God has for me next. Until then, God bless, and thanks to you all for reading, praying, supporting, or even just thinking of our team! I love you all and I’ll be home soon!
