Note: written on the plane (with some tears) on the way home on Dec. 6.
I hate goodbyes. During our first summer of mission teams, I cried every time a team left. Now I’ve learned to not get too attached and to be thankful for facebook to keep us in touch. But after living with 22 other people for four months, getting attached was going to happen. We’ve laughed, cried, complained, trekked through mud with three days worth of clothes on our back and become a sort of a family. We know things about each other that just don’t come up in normal interactions. We’re most certainly a dysfunctional family, but we all know each other’s crazy sides and love each other anyway.
Last night we went out to dinner at a super yummy Mexican place and spent some time talking about our favorite parts of the program, reliving funny times and sharing sweet stories. Some things were funny, some made me tear up, realizing how much I’m going to miss everyone in our OTS family. We were extremely blessed all get along, quirks and all…I know I’ve made friends that will last a life time.
As I was trying to fall asleep last night I kept wondering if I’d taken advantage of all the opportunities God gave me to show love. I know I didn’t, and for a while that made me feel guilty as I realized how many times I’ve been selfish, how often I’ve been a bad friend, but then I realized that I was leaving Him out of the equation. I fail because I’m human, but he can take my feeble attempts at love and use them to bring himself glory in unexpected ways. I pray that my actions throughout the program showed Christ’s love and that in some way, that points to the immense majesty and love of God.
So goodbyes are hard, but coming home is sweet. I’m privileged enough to go to school with seven of the amazing people from this trip; I’m excited to spend time with them next semester. Everyone else had better come and visit!
