“What are you going to do when we leave?”
It caught me off guard at the time. But to be honest, I’ve been thinking about it ever since a friend asked me this question over a month ago. On the World Race, I was with a group of people committed to intentional fellowship over the course of the entire 11 months. I knew that no matter where I went, I always had these six amazing people with me.
And now I find myself in a completely different situation. I live in Manila. I am a long-term missionary here. And this time around, I’m flying solo. Yes, there are other long-term missionaries here as well, but there are also a lot of people coming and going for shorter periods of time. There are people who come for a week, a month, two months, or sometimes even six months or more. And their company is thoroughly enjoyed… but then their time comes to an end, and then they are gone.
So where does that leave me?
With a lot of hellos and goodbyes. It’s not so hard when teams come for a very short period of time… three weeks or less, but recently I found myself experiencing the first difficult goodbye during my time here. Mid-May a volunteer named Amber came to serve for two and a half months. About two weeks later, a group of 5 college students from Mississippi and Tennessee came to serve for 2 months. All seven of us lived in 3 rooms connected to each other at the YMC. We ate all of our meals together, served at the children’s home and school together, and spent much of our free time together as well.
So after 2 months of daily fellowship, you get pretty close with someone! And that’s exactly what happened. I became pretty close with Amber, the individual volunteer, as well as with Laine, one of the other five volunteers. And it was great. I loved being around them. It was a HUGE blessing for them to be here. But like I said, their time came to an end. And then I was left feeling lonely again.
So coming back to the original question… Laine asked me “What are you going to do when we leave?” And I think it’s a pretty valid question. Because now that they have left, I feel pretty lonely! I miss them a lot! I miss their presence, I miss being able to walk into the room and have someone there to hang out with, I miss eating healthy and working out with Laine, I miss running all my errands with Amber. I just miss them. But what can I do? I am called here for a certain time in my life; though I don’t know how long, I know I’m called here for long enough to meet a lot of people and in turn, say goodbye to a lot of new friends.
And the only thing I can think of, is that God knows my needs. He knows my need and desire for fellowship with others. He knows this because He has already provided it in amazing ways. Mere weeks before these women came, I had no idea they were coming. I didn’t know that for 2 months I would have 2 really great friends here in Manila. But I did, because God provided them. And not just for 2 weeks, but for a long time to come– thanks to awesome communication tools like skype! And then mere hours after Amber left to go back to America, Colleen, Danny, and Kelly (as well as Sarah Burrows in a couple weeks), have come to visit for a month!
I don’t take it as coincidence that these friends came in right at the same time that my other friends left. I take it as a huge blessing! As provision from God, knowing that I desire and need that fellowship. And I don’t expect it to be any different in the future. Come the beginning of September, I’ll be right back at square one… everyone back in the States. I guess all I can do is wait in excitement and anticipation to see who it is that God will bring into this ministry next, blessing me with their presence! Of course it sucks to have to say goodbye to the great people you meet along the way, but trusting that He knows my needs and always provides makes it a heck of a lot easier. So that’s just what I’ll do. I’ll take it one week, heck, one day at a time, enjoying the people I’m currently with, missing the ones who have left, and looking forward to those God will bring in the future.
PS- I miss you Laine and Amber like CRAZY! Come back as soon as you can!!!
