December is my favorite month of the year. It is a month of celebration. It is a month of family. It is a month of singing and rejoicing with all your loved ones. It is the month of my BIRTHDAY & CHRISTMAS! The two single best days of the year.
So naturally I have been very anxious to be away from home this month. I want to be home with my family in familiarity, not in some random hot Asian city where people have not even heard about Jesus & the real reason for Christmas!!
But I am not…. I am home. I arrived in Da Naang, Vietnam last week and had no idea what to expect. All I knew was that Vietnam was a communist country where I can’t even say Jesus’ name. How was I going to celebrate this month without openly praising the creator of this world and this holiday?
However, the Lord blessed me with every bit of home that He possibly could have. I live in a studio apartment, with a bed, kitchen and hot showers one minute away from the beach. If you walk on the beach in Da Naang you can see the lush green mountains in the distance, replicating the Santa Monica mountains at home. There is a long palm walk that resembles Pacific Palisades park in Santa Monica and along the beach are hundreds, seriously hundreds of hip coffee shops with the best coffee I have ever had in my life (can you say Abbot Kinney?). There are surf shops around town & Christmas decorations flooding the stores and streets.
I was given a motto for the month to travel around the city and meet up with students to teach them English and share the gospel. I get to hang out with college kids all month!! That is my job. To build relationships with students. This is a dream.
So far it has been amazing. I have loved getting to run and swim on the beach each morning, I love having the freedom to ride on my own to see my students, I love getting alone time at night in my room to sit on my porch and read my book. Sounds pretty perfect right?
But something is missing.
This is not home.
My long walks on the beach are not the same without my mom by my side.
Swimming in the waves and body surfing is not the same without my college friends.
Going to coffee shops to talk about life and Jesus is not the same without my church community.
Driving on a motto to “work” on the crazy Asian highways is not the same as riding in my comfy car, Jenna in LA traffic.
Sitting around the Christmas tree in our hostel to watch Christmas movies is not quite the same without my dad & dogs cuddled up on the couch by the fire.
It hasn’t been too hard to be away from home at this point because everything feels so different. Sometimes I forget about the little things that bring me comfort because I am not surrounded by them. But this month is different. Memories flood my mind and feelings of homesickness overwhelm me at times when I have to remind myself that this is not home.
I guess what I am really feeling this month is that there is no place like home. There is nothing that will ever replace the friends and family I have in the states. There is nothing that will ever take place of my community that makes me feel so at home.
I can travel all around the world to some of the most incredible places, but a piece of my heart will always be at home & that’s good. I have been reminded this month just how special it is to have community & a loving home.
But I have also been hearing over and over “you’re at home with me”.
Jesus is my one constant.
He is my home. My whole heart is His. It does not belong to California. It does not belong to Colorado. There is not a person or thing that can bring me the comfort and love that Jesus can. So this month I will celebrate. I will rejoice! I will rest in His goodness. I will wake up missing home, but knowing that these students in Vietnam need Jesus more than my desire to be home. They deserve to have the same loving Father and to experience true Christmas joy, because they will hear the real story of this holiday. This Christmas I hope to bring these students “home” for the holidays too.
Ephesians 2:19-2219 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with ChristJesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
Mom, Dad, clay… you are my everything. Thank you for making both homes always so special for me to come back to. Thank you for emb
racing my obsession with Christmas. Thank you for always celebrating me in big beautiful ways. I miss you all so much and wish I could be home for the holidays.
To all my extended family… you are so special. I am so grateful for your love and the ways you make me feel like your own daughter. I think about you all everyday and always appreciate the ways you all love me so well.
