I think about village life daily. I miss it. I miss the slow pace, the naps on mats and the children I grew to love. I miss the inescapable heat, navigating a market and the hospitality of the people I lived with.
Before I left, one of my team leaders told me that I was going to feel as if I were going from a solid state to a gaseous state--and she was right. This past year has been filled with more transition than I have ever known. Learning what a schedule was, how to operate in a context in which those around me had not experienced what I had was hard. Learning to communicate those differences is something I still struggle with at times.
When I started school in the fall I was preparing to go to Journeyman Expo and prayerfully apply for a job in a country that I would serve in for two years. Simultaneously, I began dating Ryan Marks and praying through what that relationship looked like.
In a span of a month, my family lost my precious grandfather, Ryan and I started dating, and I went to Virginia to look at jobs.
At the end of those four days, I turned in my application with the feeling that I would go--just not yet.
Fast forward a few months, through prayer and seeking counsel from those who know us best, I decided it would be best to hold journeyman and Ryan and I would get married.
A few months after that, he proposed. After a crazy few months trying to graduate in May, we will get married on July 20.
If you would have told me when I got back from africa that this same time next year I would be planning a wedding, I would not have believed you. My family nor friends would have believed you, either.
But I'm so thankful because Father has taken two lives and brought them together so that we may go and serve Him together. I'm so thankful that God is sovereign, and that His ways are higher than mine.
I'm sure this next season will be filled with transition and change, but I know that it all serves a purpose, and we will learn so much through it.
I'm excited for the journey, and I can't wait to see what's in store for us. :)
