As we enter the Christmas season I can't help but wonder if this will be our last Christmas in Minnesota for awhile. Only God knows for sure if we will be in Tanzania this time next year but it is fair to say that at this point, we are hoping to be there by then. It grieves me to think of being away from extended family and church family, snowy Minnesota(well usually we have some by Christmas) and "home." I remember well when Shannon and I were in the military and stationed in California, away from everyone and everything we knew, how sad we were to be away. I can't imagine how much more diferent it will be to be in a completely diferent culture with diferent foods as well.
All of the missionaries I know recommend taking some of your holiday decorations(any holiday) along to your new home to help it feel more like home during those seasons. I suppose when I pack the decorations away in January I will need to sort them into "get rid", "storage" and "take-along" boxes. I have already found a few things I am going to put on eBay now, knowing they will be worth more now than next summer. Then there are those things like our huge 6-pointed Star of David that Shannon welded and we hang each year from our TV antenae. Obviously, we wont bring it along but if we leave it here with the house will the new owner use it and apreciate it?
As sad as it all makes me, the idea of spending Christmas next year with orphans that maybe would have nowhere else to sleep or eat is tremendously exciting to me. As we read the Christmas story to them, will it be the first time they have ever heard it? As we feed them Christmas dinner will it be thier first Christmas with a full tummy? As we cuddle and hug and put them to bed, wil it be the first time they have felt loved? These thoughts are what help me realize that even in Tanzania, we will still be home for Christmas.
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