The End

Well, since last time I posted, a lot of things have happened. We wrapped up the final few weeks of training, which offered a great chance to look back and see how far people had come from when they got here. God has done some amazing things here over the last few months, and it has been great to be a part of it. On the last day of training, we had a short wrap up session, using an old Gambian tradition. The tradition is that when you leave you village, you tear off a piece of clothing and hang it on a tree at the entrance to the community. The trees are a measure of the health and vibrancy of the village, because it has people coming and going (an empty tree would indicate that those in the village are old or sick). So we put up a tree branch in the back of the session room and had each participant make a little something that represents themselves to hang there until they return. It will be a good reminder to those of us who stay here to pray for those who have gone.

As of yesterday, we have said goodbye to five of the teams and sent them on their way. The Guatemala team will leave tomorrow, and the China team on Sunday. As the teams left one (or two) at a time and we said goodbye, it took me back to a year ago. The same atmosphere, the same excitement, the same sadness. Change. A large group of people that you had spent almost every day of the last three months with breaking up and spreading out across the globe, everyone awaiting completely different experiences and completely different challenges. I begin to realize that what we've had the past three months will never happen again. Yes, they will be here for re-entry, but it will only be half of them, and even more so, everyone will have changed, molded by their experiences. It will be great, but it will be different. So I have to remind myself that as much as I wish everyone was back to eat a meal in the crowded dining room, to have one more game of flag football, and to crack HDC jokes with, it's time to move on. Yes, to remember and celebrate the past few months, but not to dwell on them and wish things were the way they were then.
Things will certainly be different without a training here. Our roles will change a bit, we will be stretched in different ways, and we will get to do new things. I don't know what that will look like, but I look forward to a change.