I am coming home. Tonight.
Most of you have already seen my facebook or instagram post, but for those of you who haven’t heard the news—all teams under Adventures in Missions’ care are being pulled from the field and sent back to the US due to the rapid spread of corona virus and the continuing travel and border bans.
I was given the news Friday night (3/13) that the Parent Vision Trip was cancelled, and not even 48 hours later, I was given the news that my world race is being cut short by 3 months and I’ll have just a few days until I’m put on a plane to the US.
I don’t have much to say about this all. I feel totally robbed. Robbed of 99 days that I still had remaining on the race, robbed of the relationships and people I would have met in Ecuador/Peru/Chile/Argentina, robbed of 99 days to be a part of the Church in South America, and robbed of the 99 days I had remaining with my world race friends who are my family now.
I’m in total shock and confused and sad and I’ve just got a whirlwind of emotions and thoughts wrecking my mind. Right now, about 600 missionaries from my organization are being sent back home. There is about to be a radical movement in the US in the name of Jesus. I believe it. I can’t see right now what God is doing in all this, but I know it is bigger than me. I may be feeling robbed, sad, grieved, confused, scared, angry, shocked, and heartbroken, but I trust God is with me in the midst of it all has has prepared me the last 8 months for moments such as these. And he is with each and every one of you reading this right now too.
I get on a plane in Bangkok tonight and will be landing in NYC Wednesday afternoon. I plan to take a 2 week hiatus/getaway/grieving/processing/quarantine period with a few of my squad mates in another state before coming back to Mt. Pulaski/Edwardsville to be back with my friends and family.
Thank you all for the immense support you’ve given me and prayers you’ve lifted up over the last 231 days of my race and the last 24 months of this whole journey from the day I decided I was going on the race. A little bittersweet fun fact: it was March 17, 2018 that I decided I was doing the world race, and here I am today—March 17th 2020—finishing the dang thing and coming home.
With love,
Hals
