The Land of Living Stones

As John Denver relates in his famous and oft-covered song, “I’m leaving on a jet plane, don’t know when I’ll be back again.” While I am not leaving the country until August 16th, I start my week of training today in Akron Pennsylvania where I will be driving momentarily with my family. Hopefully I will return in about a year, barring other opportunities that could arise. So perhaps Denver’s tune isn’t accurate exactly, but it certainly conveys the hesitation of leaving behind all that you love for a new chapter of life. Don’t get me wrong, I am completely thrilled about my upcoming SALT term, it’s just that the process of leaving, of reunions that become goodbyes, has made me realize just how much I am loved and supported right at home. Ironically, it takes a long departure to get such a sense of belonging! Nothing short of my journey to distant (and for some feared) lands could inspire so many relatives and friends from all over to make pilgrimages to my house, to see me before I go.

But I am satisfied that I have said all that I need to say to everyone I needed to see, and I am ready. Ready by the means of $500 worth of doctor bills for checkups and vaccines, ready with pounds of purchased travel odds and ends, journals, photos, and mementos. Ready for a blitz of meetings and greetings, for making new friends and being hit with a barrage of the unknown and unfamiliar. I go with a great deal of support, from house church and my home church, with my contributions paid and thank yous sent. Will a year be long or short? Probably both.

I have eaten many ‘last meals’ of my favorite foods, with a few snacks for the road. My bags have been packed for days but don’t fit all that I want to bring. The preparations will not prepare me for what lies ahead. I’ve done it before and I know that I don’t know. I will likely feel profoundly alone at times, lost and afraid. Dwelling on what I cannot expect or change is something I habitually do, but which has not overwhelmed me yet. I am so very happy to be going to Bethlehem, in what seemed like home when I first visited a year ago. I am glad to be able to help in any small way. I am excited for all the things that I will learn, and I will not be the same when I return  Thank you all for your support–keep reading!