A farewell...for now.

So as most of you already know, I have now landed back in the United States. My homecoming has been bittersweet. So wonderful to be home with old friends and family, but so sad to be away from my new friends and family in Paraguay. Leaving was a mad rush to take care of all of the “business” of going home as well as saying good-bye to all of the important people in my life there. It was a busy time, but it also felt very blessed. I had some wonderful times with friends in the city and at the Hogar. While it was hard to stay in the moment and enjoy those last days without being sad, the Paraguay culture helped me out. It is very much an attitude of “chin up—there is work to be done and fun to be had.” Leaving is also easier when you know that you will be going back. I do not know when or for how long, but it is the desire of my heart to return.

When I look back on the past six months, there are certain themes that stand out as important in my mind. And there are a number of things that I am sure I will continue to process over the upcoming weeks and months. But one of the most important and consistent elements of my time in Paraguay is a strong sense of gratitude—for the hospitality shown to me, for the support of loved ones at home, for the friendships and experiences, for provision, for time spent together, for the love of children, for the conversation of adults, for the innumerable kindnesses shown to me.

While in Paraguay I was reading a work titled “Gracias” by Henri Nouwen, a Dutch priest who traveled and served in South America. Often times his words seemed to perfectly and poignantly echo (albeit more eloquently) my own thoughts and emotions. This is what he has to say about gratitude:
“I am more and more convinced that gratitude is one of the more sublime of human emotions. It is an emotion that reaches out far beyond our own self to God, to all creation, to the people who give us life, love, and care. It is an emotion in which we experience our dependencies as a gift and realize that in the celebration of our dependencies we become most aware of who we truly are: a small but precious part of creation and above all of the human family. Today we can say: It is good to ‘just’ be human, and it is in our common humanity that we can recognize God’s love.”

So thank you, all of you in the U.S. and Paraguay. I look forward to sharing more with you in person...sooner or later.