Re-Entry: 1st Month in America

        Yesterday marks one full month of being back in America.  It was a fast, whirl-wind month full of warm greetings with familiar faces of family and friends.  It entailed time traveling up for two days of debrief with my organization and visiting friends and two dear siblings and their families in the north.
       Today marks the first day of three that I decided to "block out" of my calendar for rest and reflection.  It has been good to "unplug" a bit and truly allow my body to rest and my mind to unwind.  Today held some good moments of praising God, prayer, journaling, thinking, sitting, walking, and simply "being."  The pages in my journal began to fill with memories and notes jotted down.   These scribblings serve as reminders of the last two years.  There are some things that I may never really be able to understand the "big picture" of why things happened or what God was doing.  Other things however are very clear.  Some lessons I learned I will carry with me the rest of my life.  They will serve as a rich treasure box of lessons on God's faithfulness in hardship, His comfort in perplexing times, His call to surrender my will to His, and His joy in seeing many seeds planted in lives of those who had never heard before.
        The faces of friends are etched in my mind.  I will remember the faithful dedication of teammates and their gentle love shared in daily life.  While on the field, I experienced a real taste of what it means to live out the "one anothering" exhortations (written to the early church) in everyday life.  Whether it was a warm meal shared, a time of praying together in perlexing times, a kind word of encouragement, or the firm resolve to love and be patient when things were hard -- I got to experience God's grace and love lived out among us.  It was a very special thing.
        At moments something triggers memories of the burdens and hardships we faced together in SE Europe.  This Sunday I was not able to sing all the praise songs at ch/rch because I was holding back tears as I recalled the small fellowship gatherings I took part in among dear brothers and sisters far away from here.  I remember the sweat bond and fellowship we shared.  I remember the hard times of discouragement when I felt overwhelmed at perplexities.  I remember the feelings of being isolated and sometimes alone during difficult months.  Yet, I was never truly "alone."  Even though a small team, we shared each other's burdens and we learned to walk through hardship, sometimes just by observing the quiet testimony of those around us.  As I looked this Sunday at a room full of believers singing together, I was amazed at contrasts.  Here in America there are so many believers -- so much potential for working together.  (And a lot of people are working together and faithfully serving).  Yet the context is different here and we are faced with different struggles.  Yet when I consider it carefully there are many similarities.  This reminds me of a verse we held to, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."  (from Gal 6:9).
   
       Some other random things that still feel different are:
-- the air conditioners and fans -- I'm still not used to them ;-)
--the ability to drive everywhere -- it still feels strange because I used to walk everywhere.
--the fact that you can throw TP in the toilet -- you couldn't all ways flush it in SE Europe.
--the informal passing greetings -- in SE Europe you always stopped, shook hands, kissed the sides of the cheek (if I was greeting a girl), and/or gave a hug.
--the mono-language setting -- it still feels a bit strange being able to understand every conversation clearly and not hearing Albanian in the background :-)  I miss my Albanian friends.

    That is enough reflections for this evening.  Overall, the transition is going well and I am thankful for all the people I have connected with here and all those I will see in the coming months!