I look at my sweet cat, sleeping and stretching on the end of the bed. I think about the lady, now my friend, who has worked for me and with me for the past 2 years. I think about the music that I have loved in our little church and the satisfaction of learning and playing those songs of adoration to the Lord. I think about the kids in my homework time with their bright faces and eager smiles and warm hugs. I think about my team members and all that is starting with our Cusco Mercy Ministries. I will miss the cool non-humid weather, with its dry and rainy seasons. These things are the tip of the iceberg of what I will miss when I leave here after living in Peru for 3 years.

But I will go home to friends and family, catch up their lives, visit my former cats Molly and Otis Lee, sing praises to the Lord in English, and have a heck of a lot more dining choices. :) I will once again have the freedom of driving my old beloved car. I will meet my great-nephew for the first time, and see how much my two great-nieces have grown. I will spend holidays with family in a setting that is familiar. I will hear sermons in English, and I won't have to work so hard just to understand what someone is saying to me.

We have so many choices in our culture, in our country. Its one of the bazillion things I love about the US. But at the same time, I am somewhat nervous about my re-entry into the US Culture. I don't live in poverty, but the poverty here at times is overwhelming. And yet, it keeps me grounded. How will I react to the materialism that so easily draws me in, and that I enjoy? How will I react being around people day in and day out, the majority of whom do not really have material needs and for that reason don't see their spiritual needs? Will I lose that edge? Will I become a judge?

I cannot even begin to compare myself to a soldier who has been to war, fighting for our freedom, for the horrors they have seen and experienced far outweigh anything I have seen or experienced. And yet, that is what comes to mind as I think about entering back into my culture. I've seen things and experienced things that ensure that I will never be the same person who left the US 3 years ago. Some of those experiences are so absolutely precious and deep that I can't imagine sharing them out loud when I get home. And on some level I know that many people at home will expect me to walk back into my life there and pick up where I left off. I don't think that is going to happen.

That isn't all bad. God has a way of taking all that we know and learn and making that a very beautiful part of who he has made us to be. Praises be to him, for he is the one in whom I trust, and rest.

Please pray for me as I prepare to leave my life here, as I prepare to step back into life in the US to raise support (for a year, more or less), and as I embrace all that God has taught me and is teaching me. Your prayers are as important as if you were laboring beside me here on the field. :)

God Bless,