With every mission trip, normally you find yourself going through a sort of "re-entry" process. Re-entry is a term that encompasses what it will look like to "re-enter" the States, or wherever a missionary comes from. It enables you to consider what it will be like to go back home. Since our 8-month debrief in Siem Reap, Cambodia we have been filling out a packet as a team where we describe the great things and hard things about each month – where we stay, what we'll remember, who we met, our teammates, and what we learned from the Father.
And I think one common thing that repeats itself for me in my head is that
My life will look different.
It will look different than it did when I left the States.
For almost a year,
Decisions have been made for me.
Questions have been asked and I have received answers.
Where am I going next month?
Oh, let's look at our contact sheet to find out where we will be located.
What am I going to eat this month?
Our host is going to cook for us.
When am I going to eat?
Well, of course you will eat at 8:30am for breakfast, 12:30 is lunch, and 6pm is dinner.
What am I doing today?
You are visiting this house, this house, and this house, teaching English, and maybe preaching in the evening time.
Of course this is all dependent on the location and the contact, but that's a rough draft of what questions and answers may look like in the life of a racer.
For the past 10 months, going on 11, I have served a number of different people and ministries.
I have at times gone without luxuries, such as a daily shower, for lack of available water not only to shower but to wash the clothes that I wear.
I have worn the same sets of clothes for weeks, washing each set once a week.
I have eaten what I have been given without thinking twice most days.
I have gone without a phone.
I have walked to get places and I have taken buses to get to further destinations.
I have used a headlamp to see at night when the power goes out.
I have dealt with limited internet.
And in 5 weeks, I get to go back to comforts that I have had my whole life. These comforts I will have lived without for 11 months, and one step off of a plane in JFK and suddenly they are all at my fingertips.
Not only will my physical life look different, but my spiritual life will also look different.
Relationships will look different and decision-making will be different.
Time will be different and I don't want to waste a second of it.
The one thing that I have in Africa that I will continue to have in America is a close relationship with my Father.
I thank God that though this process of "re-entering" all that I have learned to live without and "exiting" that which I have grown accustomed to looks a little bit nerve-wrecking, He is constant. Although things around me are about to change, He never changes.
And I will miss so many things about this lifestyle called the "World Race," but I know I will miss the people I have done life with these past 10 months, going on 11 months, the most. These people know every nook and cranny of my life and it's going to look so different when they are not there to be around me every single day walking with me in life. But, thus is life! However, I know that I have gained lifetime friendships with some of these people though and I am grateful for that opportunity.
And although it will all look different soon, I trust the Lord will carry me through this new season that I'm so excited to walk into.
Round 11: Kenya, here we come! Last stop before we hit home!
