How is it that I can be hundreds of thousands of miles away from home yet still walk past a local tailoring shop and smell the scent of my mom’s perfume?
How is it that I can be hundreds of thousands of miles away from home yet still pick up a teachers manual while teaching homeschool in Cambodia and feel like I was in a classroom full of the first graders at my old teaching school?
How is that I can be hundreds of thousands of miles away from home yet see light hitting paint buckets and feel like I am on my Colorado back porch on a late summer day painting the day away?
How is it that I can be hundreds of thousands of miles away from home yet smell homemade chocolate chip cookies on a walk to the local market and feel like I am standing in my kitchen watching my sister bake?
How is it that I can be hundreds of thousands of miles away from home yet make homemade pizza’s with a missionary family and feel right back at the age of 11 making pizza’s with my family for family dinner night?
How is it that I can be hundreds of thousands of miles away from home yet feel the warmth of the Cambodian sun hit my face outside of a local restaurant and feel as if I was finishing a good conversation with my Grandma on a golf cart in Arizona?
How is it that I can be hundreds of thousands of miles away from home yet walk past a woodwork shop and inhale the smell of my dad and brother making frames in our garage?
Do I miss it?
Do I need it?
What is home?
Where is home?
How can I say that it isn’t with me?
I just explained that I smell it or feel it all over the world. Well maybe, I smell and feel memories of home.
Our host in Haiti made us cookies for dinner
My bed was made with clean sheets in Tanzania
My Thai mom braided my hair in the mornings before harvesting rice
Worship was a family event in Tanzania
I celebrated Christmas with other World Race teams through white elephant
The homeless shelter cook gave me a hug
Needtobreathe plays through my ear buds on all those long travel days
A squad mate broke out with “I love you, Lord” during worship
I helped frost a cake for my teammates birthday in Cambodia
I drank an ice-cold cup of water from our freezer in Africa
The smell on my clothes resembled more of detergent then sweat
We spent an off day in Haiti reading books in bed
We have a movie night as a team
Camp Mahanaim in Les Cayes, Haiti
A small Thai home outside Chiang Mai, Thailand
An apartment in Penang, Malaysia
A dorm in Phnom Penh, Cambodia
A pastor’s house in Mwanza, Tanzania
And I have found home in…
The arms of teammates
The hearts of friends around the world
The silence between worship songs
The smells of the world in which I live
The streets I have grown familiar with
And all the people who have made my journey what it is!
Maybe Jim Elliott, a fellow missionary who served the unreached people of South America, had a lesson for all missionaries…and people… to learn. He said a famous quote, “Wherever you are, be all there.” But maybe even more important than those words are the simple words in the phrase we all know…
But….
I might be coming HOME- to the USA- sooner than wanted if I don't make my next financial deadline. I have a little less than $3,000 left till I am fully funded. The deadline is March 1st. I am so honored and blessed by the money that has already been so graciously given for this amazing journey and I know that God is working to bring in the last $3,000. I thank each of you who have so generously given and who continue to support me with words of encouragement and prayers. Please continue to pray for my support to come in for me to finish this journey. As much as I love home, I am not ready to leave these places I call home all over the world.
