This is it. It turns out blogging on the mission field is a lot harder than it sounds. But this will most likely be my last blog post until I return home.
Four countries. Nine months well, 267 days to be exact. That’s how long I’ve been away from home. That’s the amount of time that it took to shape the new person I have become. That’s the amount of time it took to become a family with a group of people who were once strangers. That’s the amount of time God took to completely reshape my perspective and ideas of who He is to me.
At the time that this blog actually gets posted I will be returning in around a week. I am beyond excited. I have missed my family and my friends more than you know. I have also missed Cosmo’s Pizza and Cafe Mexicali more than I thought I would. I’m also extremely nervous. The person that left Colorado nine months ago is not the same person that will be returning. Sure, I look the same and I will still be Zach but, the Lord has changed how I see the world and how I react to it.
Over the past nine months I have helped at an orphanage that takes care of kids with AIDs, worked in a home for kids whose parents can not afford to care for them , worked alongside missionaries in Malaysia, volunteered at an organization in Costa Rica that basically does it all (daily child care, home for foster kids, has a doctor, has a dentist, and is a church on the weekends), spent a month building a wall around a shelter for victims of sex trafficking, and ended my time on the field by volunteering in three different schools in Quito helping teach English as well as sharing the gospel.
This has been an experience that I will never forget. From forming a new family to being the most frustrated I’ve ever been in my life, I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
When I get home I would love to hear from everyone and share my stories as well as catch up with what you have been up to over the past nine months. But, please know that it might be somewhat overwhelming for me and I might not always know how to articulate everything I’ve been through and experienced.
If you want to hangout or talk then text me! Odds are I will probably want to as well but, I will be busy trying to remember how the U.S. does things. Give me grace as I try to remember how to: drive, walk…ing into Walmart and being shocked at how much stuff there is, realizing that the people around me actually speak English, and accepting the devastating fact that movies still cost $12 in the states.
Thank you for all the prayers and support. It’s one thing to live out a dream but, it wouldn’t have been possible without the love, care, and support I have received from everyone. It truly means the world to me so, thank you. See you in a week.
– Zach
