Times of transition hurt. It hurts to change, even in a situation that is bad...But our situation has been awesome! This year has provided for us many things. Upon quick reflection some of the items are:
- The chance to spend a great deal of time together. I do not know too many married couples that spend so much time together and get to know their spouse. What a blessing.
- The chance to learn to minister and learn what God is doing around the world and in another culture.
- The opportunity to communicate well in another language (though Kevin still has a good ways to go.)
- The opportunity to make strong relations with people from another culture. These people will be like family. (This means we have three families - our parents, in-laws, and Mexican family.)
- The opportunity to explore missions as a full-time career.
All these things grew our personal lives, our marriage and our faith.
As earlier posts stated, we feel the call to begin a program, similar to the one we just completed, in Spain. This is a very exciting time for us as we have already run into many potential contacts to help our ministry there.
Yet we have to say goodbye to what we have here in order to follow the current call of God. This means tearing ourselves from a family that took us in and loved us. We are not so unique, however as our Mexican sister and her husband, and their two children are also moving away, almost as far as we will be (before we move to Spain). This is hard for our family, but it shows us that our Mexican family, like our own parents and siblings will be our family forever. That is fantastic. It still hurts to say goodbye.
But...
WE ALSO GET TO SAY HELLO!!!!!
Upon returning to Los Angeles we get to see my sister, Jennifer. We will also get to see some friends. Then after a day or two, we head north to stay with Kevin's parents in Cupertino. Some time with them, then we head to Discovery Bay where Leah's parents will be flying in and staying for a week. In that time I (Kevin) get to fly to Portland and say hello to my virtual classmates who I have yet to meet, and spend time with a very long-time friend (I've known him since he was born.) After this we will head to Los Angeles and decide the next portions of our lives.
With every change there is a sour side. The more intense the experience the more intense the pain when leaving, but the more you've been changed. It also means a sweet return.
It is a trying time, but necessary and beautiful. Sometimes shedding beautiful tears helps to grow even greater smiles.
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