As of tomorrow I have one month to go before I leave for Field Personnel Orientation in Richmond. I am mostly excited, and occasionally nervous because of how much I will be out of my element, even though I'll still be in the States! For me, being "comfortable" doesn't have as much to do with geography or even how much I like something as it does...I don't know. Familiarity maybe? One of the things that was really weird for me was how missions-oriented everything was at the job conference back in February. It was a missions job conference so it should sort of be a no-brainer that everything was about that, but I was totally out of my comfort zone being with SO many other people that were pursuing overseas missions.
Even blogging is not something I'm used to. Maybe I should make a habit of blogging now so that it will be one less thing to adjust to in South Sudan! I don't consider myself a writer, I don't journal, but here I am with a blog and lots of good intentions to use it as a way to communicate with friends/family and as an online memory book. This is new territory!
I just got back from Senegal on Monday. A lot of people know how much I love Senegal and this trip was just as good as I was expecting, but in different ways. The relationships I have because of my various trips there mean a lot to me and I was able to have some good closure with some key people who have shaped my attitude towards overseas missions. The whole reason I started the Journeyman process to begin with was to do a J-term with a team in Dakar, Senegal. Obviously God had other plans. While I fully trust that God knows what I want better than I do, I was grateful for the chance to say goodbye and kind of close that chapter of my life for right now. So far, most/all of my experience has been with Islam and here I go to a traditional African religion setting--another thing that I have no experience with! The gospel is good news in Senegal AND South Sudan and I love it no matter where I am. I'm glad I have these eight weeks in Richmond to learn all I can about how to be most effective in a place I know so little about!
Because I've had sort of the same conversation with lots of people recently, I've answered a lot of the same questions over and over again ("Where are you moving? Where is that? What will you be doing? Are you scared? Can you come home? Will you have air-conditioning?"). I've realized that most people don't know much about Sudan, and mostly what they know is not good. Trying to keep up with the VERY complicated politics of an unstable third-world country (that is about to split into two countries!) is hard, so maybe people that read this blog will take the time to do a little research and then look for current news about Sudan and South Sudan so that they can stay somewhat up-to-date with what is going on.
