Well… it seems that the time for us to leave this country is sneaking up on us rather quickly. Every time we turn around something is happening for the last time. For instance, today is Memorial Day. Happy Memorial Day! This is likely to be the last time we celebrate Memorial Day in the states for who knows how long. By the way, our family is celebrating this holiday by sorting through all of our stuff and getting ready for a humongous garage sale this weekend when we’re selling off the vast majority of the things we own… another sign that things are changing quickly. As you know, Memorial Day is the officially the unofficial beginning of summer. Personally, I love summer. So this is good news. Especially since this is going to be one LONG summer. We leave for Costa Rica in August and will be there until what would be the end of spring next year… and since Costa Rica doesn’t really have a “winter” as we know it… for us, it’s going to be one long summer! Things like this become obvious to us each and every day. There is always something that is the “last time” before we leave every time we turn around.
One of those big things happened recently. The team traveled to the Lake Brownwood Christian Retreat to do our last training module with the Halbert Institute for Missions before we leave. Last fall I quit my job and began working full time preparing for moving to Peru. We moved to Abilene and the whole team was together and working together everyday. Working with Halbert and the great leadership there. We had several training modules and this was our final one. Sometimes it all seems like a blur.
This retreat, like the others, was a great time together. This module included our team as well as missionaries preparing to follow the Lord to Russia, Africa and Hawaii. We had the pleasure of being lead by Dr. Sonny Guild, Dr. Kent Smith, Dr. Gary Green and Larry Henderson. The wealth of wisdom and knowledge held by these men is incredible. This particular retreat we particularly focused on the influence of how we identify with God and how the impact our intimacy with him has on our ministry and community. It was a powerful few days.
It was great, as usual, to be together as a team. And continuing with the theme, it is likely the last time we are all together before the week we leave the country.
