So my last blog was my experience with being homesick. This week I asked my parents and boyfriend to write a blog post on how it’s been since I have left.
Makena asked if we would be willing to write a blog post about her mission trip and experiences from our perspective, and we were eager to share our side of the process. From the very beginning, when Makena made us aware that we she was interested in going on a Semesters mission trip through Adventures in Missions, we were excited. We were careful, though, to not push either way. We wanted this trip to be something that Makena fully owned, so we listened, asked questions, and supported whatever decision she made. She worked hard to write letters for support and to prepare herself for the trip. We helped her along the way, but she carried the bulk of the work. Due to the time and effort she invested in preparing for the trip, when the time came to leave Makena was ready to make a difference.
We are excited about how this trip will develop Makena’s faith and are really proud of her. We worry too, of course. We worry when Mak is 30 minutes away, much less half way around the world. We’ve worried about her health and about her safety, but that’s pretty normal I think. We’ve come to understand that risk is often a part of living a meaningful life. So, in addition to praying for Mak’s safety and healthy, we pray for her continued growth. We pray that God will allow her to experience things that will change the way she understands the world and herself. More than anything we pray that she will fall more and more in love with the God who loves her so well, and who’s plans for her life are good.
Love,
Michael and Mindi
I left for my second deployment early October and I knew, for me at least, it would be a breeze. You make a little extra money and you get to hangout with the guys that you are contractually obligated to hangout with. What I didn’t take into account was how hard it was on the people back home. I sadly got a taste of that when Makena left to go to the Philippines.
I was satisfied with the schedule we had arranged: wake up at 0430, talk on the phone until 0700, go about my day, then talk from 1800 to 2300-0100. Granted, I wasn’t getting much sleep, it was doable. Now we can only really talk when she has WiFi, which is only for about an hour each week, a massive difference from how it was. I had to learn to adapt very quickly to her schedule. Now for anyone that has served we all know that any timeline that is made most likely will change at the last minute. The biggest struggle I’ve dealt with since Makena has been gone is being able to sync up our timelines in order to talk to each other.
The second hardest struggle is the lack of a best friend. Before she left I knew that I could call her at any point to complain about work or just to hear some motivational words to help me keep powering through whatever challenge I faced. We talked about anything and everything, did countless devotionals together, and discussed our future. It was everything I needed to help decompress from working in -20°f all day. So now that I don’t have that what do I do? I turned to God even more than I had ever before. Countless nights I would stay up and listen to old voicemails, watch quirky videos of us just laughing, wishing that April would hurry up.
All my love,
Tucker
Thank you again to everyone who is keeping me in their prayers!
