The final week of classes flew by. While still very academically challenging, it was a great week in many ways savoring time with the people that have become friends in such a short time. Enclosed are a couple pictures of graduation day with teachers and some of my fellow students.
It is amazing how in just 5 weeks you can forge great friendships and make strong connections.
On Tuesday I participated once again in the weekly Soccer Night. It was a fun night being run off my feet while playing soccer with Gringos and Ticos. We even had both a former and a current Tico professional soccer player join us, so you can imagine how intense the games were. It has been fun to improve my skills and understanding of the game over the weeks here. ("Professor/Profe," is the former Tico pro player, and he enjoyed taking me under his wing and "coaching" me over the weeks here. He and I both know that I'm not fast and I can't kick hard, so instead my strength as a player lies in being a feisty-InYourFace-unafraid-scrappy defense person. Had a blast!)
On Wednesday I went to the Children's Home one final time. It was great to see and help the workers and children again, especially since I was not able to go the week before. This time they had me help mostly with feeding and holding the infants, which was fabulous, but I felt sad for the older ones who wanted me to play with them give them attention. With God's help, I was able to take care of the babies and also talk with the other children over the short wall between baby area and the play yard. Saying goodbye was hard and all of us (kids & me & staff) wanted to avoid it.
On Thursday, a bunch of us went out to lunch with our fellow student and Chinese friend Catherine who took us to her favorite Chinese restaurant here in Costa Rica. It was a bit surreal to talk to our waitress in Spanish while ordering Chinese food. Catherine also went and talked to the cook and ordered some items not on the menu so we could experience authentic food from her part of China. It was an awesome experience and so much fun!!!
On Friday, during the graduation ceremony, two of my classmates and I sang a song in Spanish and shared (in English) about our experiences at the school. The teachers also shared and it was an all-around great time.
This week I experienced once again a small taste of what those who serve in other countries experience often: the bittersweet and often difficult process of uprooting, transition, and goodbyes. To be blunt, goodbyes STINK. There is the natural tendency to emotionally distance oneself from others in the days leading up to saying goodbye so that it won't be as difficult or to try to avoid goodbyes, but this also means you miss out on the final opportunities to spend time and have joy together. There were a few times this past week I caught myself in this area.
Can I just share something? Here is a way you can be an even greater blessing to missionaries when they visit your church or home. Recognize that even though they are still US citizens, the USA is no longer their "home." When these families come to the USA, they go through major transition and have just had to say lots of goodbyes with all the dear people overseas that they have been working with. They also are going to go through "culture shock" as they try to integrate into life in the USA.
This goes double for the children. These kids are "Third Culture Kids" (TCKs). They are an amazing blend of cultures, and that means they face unique challenges but also have unique opportunities/abilities to connect to people in the nation their families are in. Their identity is not tied to a specific nation or even place. Rather their identity and sense of "belonging" is tied to people, the people they have formed connections whether in the country their parents serve in, or here in the USA.
The parents and children may struggle with a sense of "not fitting in." Focus on being friends with them and helping them connect and make friends, focus on asking about what is special to them in the nation they serve in, ask how you can help make the transition easier. Offer to go to the store for or with them.
Be sensitive to their need for "down time" to rest and process all that they are encountering.
And Please, please, please, don't ask "how do you like being home?" ;-)
A missionary to the far East summed it up quite well: "I told her the good news and bad news. The good news being that cross-cultural workers catch the idea that the world is not our home. From the time we experience life in a different culture and realize we don't really fit there - but neither do we fit in our home culture any longer - we recognize that heaven is where our eternal citizenship is and where we truly belong. The bad news is that life can be uncomfortable in a world that is not our home. Constant hellos and good-byes fill our lives as those who work across cultures; changing homes and switching countries and assignments . . ." ~ Sue Eeningenburg "More Screams, Different Deserts"
Yes, while I enjoying going new places and meeting new people, saying goodbye STINKS. So
Saying goodbye to my teachers, the other students, and especially my host family, was not fun. To my surprise, my Tico mom cried when I left (and she doesn't strike me as a crier). And in the taxi on the way to the airport, even I started to lose it. Yes there is an element of grief to goodbyes, and as a speaker shared in chapel, it is important to recognize this, face it, and let the grief be expressed. As I felt these emotions, I began to Thank God because it was a reminder that He has given the gift of friendships and relationships; that He gave me the opportunity to meet these people. "Gracias a Dios" = "Thanks to God"
And now I'm on my way to Pennsylvania for training at the mission agency headquarters. I will be there for the rest of June.