Saying goodbye to someone who has made an impact on your life is never easy. It’s something we all do. Whether it’s for a few weeks, nine months, a few years, or even for the rest of your lives, goodbyes are so hard.
Today was my last day in India. Which meant yet again another round of hard goodbyes. We have had to say a lot of them over the course of the race but this one might have been the hardest. Because here was the perfect amount of time to fall completely in love with everything and everyone here.
At launch it was hard to say goodbye because it was your family and friends you said goodbye to. It was the comforts of home, your home church, regular toilets and nice water pressure, and yes even What-A-Burger. But you know you will get it all back in nine months. Of course your whole opinion of everything will have changed and nothing will be the same, but it will be back.
In Swaziland it was a hard goodbye because you spent three months playing with the same kids everyday. You got to know them. You heard their stories, and most of the time your heart broke with them as they told it. You heard about their dreams. But also many of them didn’t fully grasp you leaving, reasons ranging from them being to young to the language barriers.
In Nepal the hard goodbyes was the ministry hosts. We were only there for a month so we weren’t really able to build many relationships with anyone but them. But also we were only there a month so it wasn’t as heartbreaking as it could have been.
But India…. oh man. This has definitely been the hardest goodbye for me. Some friends and I had the amazing opportunity to get close with a family that lived right next to us. They are absolutely incredible. I honestly do not have words to say about how much they impacted us. To try I will tell a little story. This family took in the their nephew. He is one of the smartest kids I have ever met. He is also one of the cutest. They took him in right as we got to India. So he was in a new place just like we were. And Martha ( not actually her real name just a fake one, for confidentiality) told us today that when he first got here that he was missing home. He would cry and not want to do school work. But once my squad mates and I would start to interact with him and them that it immediately stopped. He was so excited to have friends here. American friends. And that as soon as he would get home from school he would say “oh I have so much school work I need to finish before my friends come over tonight” and he would drink his tea, and do all his work. And while he would eat dinner he would study for the next day. And by the time seven would roll around he would be done and would be ready for us to come over. And we would be there for hours. Talking, drinking tea, laughing, drinking more tea, playing games, and then drinking more tea.
Now if I write anymore about them I will cry more then I did this morning. So now I will talk about our “guides”. These four guys are some of the most fun guys I have ever met. They would come to ministry every day with us and do it with us. They also came to meals with us occasionally. They would constantly make fun of us guys for going to the gym. We would always go back and fourth with jokes at each other. But these guys quickly became brothers. They were always quick to share whatever they had if it was needed. They showed us the good spots around town. They made everything so much better. And this morning they came to the airport to say goodbye, and it hurt so much more than I thought it would, because it really was like I was losing older brothers.
I still have more goodbyes left on the race and in life and I can imagine that they will be much worse. But that is life, God puts people in your life and he uses them for however long he needs to. And no matter how long that may be it always comes to an end at some point. And hopefully you have learned what the Lord has wanted you to during your time with the people that have been placed there.
“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another” Proverbs 27:17. These people have definitely poured into me so much and I’m going to cherish every moment I had with them.
