I’m coming HOME! It’s super weird to think in just twelve days I’ll be in the USA and two weeks from today I’ll be saying goodbye to my best girls and squeezing my mom and dad in the Portland airport. It’s the most bittersweet thing I’ve ever experienced and I’m not even in the midst of it yet.
I’m anticipating this transition to be really hard but also really sweet. I know that we go from glory to glory and God has some really good things in store for me, but that doesn’t make it much easier to say goodbye to this journey. I wanted to write a blog to let you all know how you can love me well in this time of transition.
First things first, a great way to support me (and my team, and my squad) i’m returning home is through prayer! It’s not going to be easy so we’d love you to support us in that way. Pray for peace, guidance, provision, joy, grace, alllll the things.
Have no expectations!! Coming home from something like this can bring a lot of pressure. Pressure to be the same, pressure to be different, pressure to make time for everyone when I haven’t had time for myself, etc. Please help me in this transition by trying not to expect anything.
Talk to me! There’s so much to talk about after nine months away. Sooo much. I can’t wait to share about it, but I also can’t wait to hear about what you’ve experienced the past nine months! Life has kept happening without me when I’ve been gone (I’ve missed my niece and nephew being born, weddings, plenty of birthdays,
etc.) so I want to know what’s going on at home – what I am entering into. Even on facetime calls or texts it’s common for people to respond to my questions with things like “oh it doesn’t matter, what about you??? what’s been up with you???”. It actually hurts me when people assume I don’t want to hear about their lives, too. So please! Let me ask you questions, too – I care about you and want to know allll the things!
And speaking of questions – ask specific ones! It’s really really really hard to answer vague, broad questions.
Hard questions:
How was it!?! (ermmm, how was your past nine months?)
Are you happy to be back?
Were you homesick?
What was your favorite part?
What did you do?
Good questions:
Who were some influential people you met in each country? (Seriously, if there’s anything I wanna talk about, it’s the amazing amazing amazing people I met. I could talk all day about them and I want to honor them in this way so if you care, ask about them!)
Which country did you like best?
Which country was hardest for you?
How was living with your team for nine months – best parts, challenges, weird stories?
Did you learn to speak any new languages?
Can you tell me about teaching english as a second language to spanish speakers? or khmer speakers?
Was there ever a situation you felt unsafe in? How did you handle it?
What did you do for ministry in Ecuador? Peru? Guatemala? Cambodia?
Which ministry was your favorite?
Can you tell me about one way you saw God move in Ecuador? Peru? Guatemala? Cambodia?
What was your favorite adventure in each country?
When did you experience the most homesickness and how did you get through it?
What do you anticipate being the hardest part of coming home? What are you most excited for regarding coming home?
Anything that is specific is so much easier – even just changing “can you tell me a story?” to “can you tell me a funny story?” or “can you tell me a story about a time you were scared?” makes the world of a difference.
Let’s have grace for each other! I am leaving 40 of my brothers and sisters. It’s a really hard transition for me. It’s not the same as leaving for the race, because then I at least knew I was returning in nine months to see everyone. Right now, I don’t know when I’ll see even my best friends from the race again after June. Not only that, but I’m coming back into a culture thats very different from what I’ve been in the past nine months and specifically last three months. Please have grace for me if I just need a break, if I cry at the weirdest and most un-cry-worthy things, and just in general!! In return I promise to give you grace in any and all areas and I’m praying that God makes my heart full of grace, patience, and understanding as I come home.
While I’m really really realllllyyy sad to be saying bye to my people, I’m excited to see my other people at home. I’ll see you soon, in the land of flushing toilet paper, $5 coffee, hot showers, and seatbelts. Thank you so much for taking time to read this, it really means so much to me that you took time to find out how you can best support me in this transition!!! <3
