Sunday, September 12, 2010

Missing England

Three years ago today I boarded a plane to Atlanta, GA, heading to training camp before starting my First Year Missionary experience with Adventures in Missions; after training camp, I was heading to Manchester, England, to do ministry for 8 months. 

I was more than a little freaked out that day.  I was about to be more than 3,000 miles away from everything and everyone I knew.  I had been away from my family while I was in college, but there was only an hour and a half car trip between us then...  They could easily come and visit or bring me home if needed.  Now there would be an entire ocean between us.  I said goodbye that day knowing I wouldn't see them again until December.

I left behind friends I had known for less than a year.  I feared that they would have moved on by the time I got home... that my place would have been taken by someone else.  I was just starting to find a community like the one I'd had in college, and suddenly I was leaving it.

At the time, I had no idea what God had in store for me during my time in England.  Looking back, I'm amazed to see all that He taught me about himself, about myself, and about ministry.  It was an absolutely exhausting experience... and yet it was the most fulfilling period of time in my life (to this point).  I was so far out of my comfort zone that I had no choice to but to listen to and rely on God.  He used that time to begin breaking down walls in my heart, exposing lies I was believing, and freeing me from chains that had held me for so long.  I was involved in ministry that required everything of me.  My talents and gifts were stretched to the max, and I discovered areas of gifting I didn't even know I had.  I met and worked with people with all kinds of experiences and stories.  I learned how to define success in ministry in God's terms instead of man's.  I learned how to truly listen to people with different viewpoints, to find truth in what the Church often calls secular, and to be open to new ideas because I'm not always right (shocker!).

Over the last few months I have often found myself missing England.  I miss the beauty and the history of the country itself.  I miss the people I met and worked with.  I miss the Americans I came to know as my family as we lived together for 8 months.  I miss the food.  I miss being a part of something that was so much bigger than me.  I miss having my job being investing in the lives of others and in my relationship with God.  It was an absolutely wonderful experience.  I'm so glad that three years ago I had the guts to get on that plane and follow God into a great adventure.

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