Going Home

Last month marked the 3 years anniversary of this blog! At this time in 2015 I started making plans to quit my job, sell my stuff, and move to Africa. Now three years later, I find myself again in a period of transition, making plans to return home in August. With 4 months still ahead of me on the ship it feels early to blog about the conclusion of my time with Mercy Ships; however, it is often on my mind.

I can't believe I've been blogging for 3 years!

In June, I will enjoy one last sail with the ship as we travel from Cameroon to the Canary Islands for our annual period of maintenance. On the way, we will stop in Senegal, where plans are being made to host the ship for the 2019-2020 field service. After a bit of traveling on the way home, I will return to the States at the end of July. I am excited to spend time reconnecting with friends and family all around the US and then settle in the Minneapolis area. I chose Minneapolis because I like the big city (thank you Houston) and it's only 1.5 hours from where I grew up and I'm ready to be near family.



I alternate between sadness about leaving my community and excitement for what lies ahead. The ship has been an amazing home; I love the spiritual vibrancy of this place, how easy it is to make friends, and the shared purpose and commitment of the crew. I love the adventures that await in each new country we travel to and the opportunity to meet people from all over the world. For these and so many more reasons, it will be incredibly difficult to leave the ship.

Why am I leaving? There are still dreams and goals I would like to pursue beyond the ship, the most significant being foster care/adoption. And so I am preparing to say good-bye to a place and people I love. To ease the pain of leaving, I'm collecting a list of things I'm looking forward to in this next season of life: being in driving distance of my family, being in the same time zone as my best friend, choosing my own food, getting a dog, living in a neighborhood instead of a port, having more access to nature, cool weather & the 4 seasons, learning to skate ski, not taking malaria medicine, and taking showers that are longer than 2 minutes.

When I first came to the ship, I missed a lot from home. I caught myself thinking, "When I go back to the U.S., then I'll have ________ and then I'll be happy."  This was counter-intuitive, since my decision to come to the ship was based on these thoughts: "When I live in community, then I'll be happy." Maybe one of the best lessons I have learned from living on the ship, is that in every season of life, there will be blessings and challenges, happy times and times of grief. So I try to remind myself, when I feel especially sad about leaving the ship, that there will be wonderful things about going home and hard things too, just as there are on the ship.