Life takes us on such a journey. It takes us through our highs and our lows. Our laughs and our sorrows. It sometimes has a way of punching us in the gut or stabbing us in the heart. Sometimes it hits us in the head or makes our knees buckle underneath us. Life hit me with all of this when I got the crashing news of our return.
In less than 24 hours, I will be jumping in a plane where my feet will find American soil again.
This virus has become so big that ALL the squads on the Race will be sent home in the next few days. Our trip has been cut 3 months short. We expected this to come at some point but were not expecting it to happen so abrupt.
Early Sunday morning I was startled awake by my team as we got the tragic news that we will be heading back to America. Little did I know, we would be quickly ripped from our sweet host family with hardly anytime to say our goodbyes. We needed to head to Baku to meet the rest of our squad to start our journey home. I was asked multiple times by the kids if I could just stay instead of leaving.
This hit me hard. Every possible emotion flooded my mind and tried to destroy me. I want to stay. I want to be with this family. I’m not ready to come home. We were told just the day before that we were in the clear to continue moving forward and our stay would just be extended in Azerbaijan. We had time. I never expected that I would only have a few hours to say my goodbyes. My heart felt wrecked.
But God is good and I’m trusting Him as we make our travel plans.
We will arrive in New York and have a two-day potential debrief with our squad before making our departure home. I will be coming back to Kansas City to spend time with my family and find my feet again after this long journey. I do plan on teaching at some point, but honestly not sure what that will look like quite yet at this point.
I don’t know what its going to look like when I come home. I’m not only coming home to the culture shock of America but coming home to the epidemic that has plagued our world. Communities are being shut down and people are hiding in their homes. I really don’t know what to expect as I get home.
My goal is just to seek the Lord during these months and figure out where He wants me to go from here.
A lot has happened on this trip within the 8 months of travel. God has done amazing things around me and within me. I am definitely not the same person that left America back in August. There have been many joyful moments and also many hard moments.
I’m sure many of you will have questions to ask about my trip, and I will have many stories to tell. If you have all the time in the world, I’ll tell you story after story, but I suggest that you ask specific questions.
With all this said, I will see you all back in America rather soon!
Love,
Laura Leigh
