Dear Future Racer,
Some places are going to be way harder to leave than others. You should know that going into this crazy year. There are a hundred reasons why this is. It could be something as simple as the dirty child who climbed into your lap during church. Or the way the light skips through the trees and makes patterns on the red dirt roads. Or a ministry contact with an especially kind spirit.
Or it could be something more unexplainable, more intrinsic, more part of your spirit than your heart.
There are going to be some places that you just can’t see yourself leaving. You will wake up every morning and realize how many more days stand between you and a bus ride to the next country. It will be a painful realization at first, but ultimately, will spur you to make the most of the days left.
You will come home from ministry physically exhausted but spiritually full because you’ve poured every ounce of yourself into something bigger than you ever thought. You will try not to dread the minute you leave. You will hate the act of packing more than ever before. You will probably cry more than once.
When it’s hard to leave, you know that the month has been worth something.
Because ultimately, Racer, this is what you signed up for. The bitter part of the 11-in-11 deal is that you have to leave country number nine to go to country number ten. It’s a wonderful—and terrible—fact that you have to move on. You cannot stay.
But that doesn’t mean that your heart won’t want to with everything it has.
That fact, oddly enough, is part of what makes this whole thing worth it.
Blessings,
Heather
