Transitions

“Time is a gift, precious and rare, take it and make of it all you can, use all you can, there's not a moment to spare...”

This is a quote from a fantastic children's movie titled “The Phantom Tollbooth,” and it expresses my feelings about the upcoming few months. We have now been here in Asia for slightly over four months, with just under three to go. Our schoolyear ends in less than a month, and then we will be left with only a short time to meet with as many pastors as possible and prepare for our return to the States. We are now in a time of pretty major transition, which I will explain momentarily. But first, a brief update on my travels!

The adventures began shortly after New Years, when our team joined a staff retreat with the teachers we work with on Monday and Wednesdays. We were able to take the weekend to travel north to a lake and some mountainous towns with lovely views and exciting markets. We enjoyed spending time with our teacher friends and getting to know more about them!

A few days after returning from this short trip, I had three visitors arrive from the United States! It was amazing to be able to travel throughout the country with them, seeing amazing sights, and taking time to simply be a tourist and explore new places. We e-biked to, and ballooned over, some neat old pagodas, went on a three-day trek through lovely forests and farmlands, visited a lake and some caves, and climbed a couple mountains. I appreciated the chance to catch up and spend time with friends I value and have missed since September. Kaytlin and Peter had guests at the same time, so they were also traveling throughout the country and taking a break from teaching.

And now we are transitioning back to our everyday life here in the city. Our visitors have gone, and we have classes to teach and planning to do. We want to finish out our schoolyear strong, while looking ahead to the tasks we wish to complete during summer vacation (March-April). Since we will no longer be teaching at a school two days a week, we will have extra time to focus more on the partnership between our church back home in the USA and the local church network right here. We hope to meet with many more pastors throughout the summer months, learning about them and also helping with their English if necessary. We plan to continue teaching at the orphanage, and exploring what other ways we can serve Roger's network before we leave Asia.

During this time of transition in focus, our team itself has changed. Gwen has moved back to the United States, and is currently updating our church on our experiences and perspectives from the last few months here in Asia. Although we miss her, it is good to know that she is able to share what we are learning with our church community back home.