Coming Home

By the time most of you read this, I will probably be back in the States. I have done a poor job of keeping you all informed over the last 3 months and for this I apologize. However, I thought I would take a few minutes to fill you in a little before I get back.

Yesterday I finished up my work here in Peru. The last week was full of "despedidas" which are pretty much goodbye parties. I had one every night last week, with 3 on Wednesday and two on Sunday. When you work with so many wonderful people, it is really hard to say goodbye. At times while I was here, I felt like I wasn't really doing much, other than just taking up space. Over the last week, with all the kind words that everyone had to say, that is all I needed to do. It is amazing how much of an impact you can make by just being you. With so many churches to work with and so many things to do, it was hard to make a lot of one on one connections. I did preach quite a few times and aome people were able to get to know me through my broken words, but it was hard to form close relationships and that is something that I regret.

But that is not to say that I didn't form any. No church will ever take the place of MPC, but in each and every church I worked in here, I felt welcome the first time I walked through the door. I never felt like a forienger, as much as I stood out. The people here taught me what it truly means to be family in Christ. Some times I know that I take for granted all the things that I have, my family, my friends, but here I have learned that those are the most important things that one can have.

While it was hard to leave my family, friends and church family behind last August, I left them knowing that I would be returning in a year, what seemed like a long time then. But I have found that it is even harder to say goodbye here with people that I have grown to love because I don't have that assurance of coming back in a year. In saying goodbye here, I can't say, "I'll see you in a year." But I know that God has a plan for my life, and that he has a great plans for the Church here.

Thanks for being devoted readers of my blog this year, even if I wasn't a devoted writter. I look forward to sharing much, much more with you in a few short weeks! Now, I'm off for a week or so trek in the Amazon! See you soon!