Friday, July 25, 2014

threshold

I haven’t written a blog in a long time. A long, long time. While I have various reasons or excuses, it ultimately comes down to me not having anything interesting to say.

When I first came to Mozambique, I had high hopes that I would have super exciting and thrilling adventures and take lots of cool pictures and share lots of awesome stories. And then I would capture all of these tales on my blog. I certainly had story-rich, adrenaline-filled days.

But as the days turned into weeks and the weeks quickly turned into years, I realized that I was just simply living my life. What started out as “I can’t believe…” or “my first time doing…” gradually just turned into life. And I discovered that I was learning to live life all over again.

I’ve learned how to function in a different country. I’ve learned how to adapt to different cultures. I’ve learned how to cook kale. I’ve learned how to make friends in the biggest city I’ve ever lived in. I’ve learned how to vacation alone in other countries. I’ve learned how to drive in absurd traffic. I’ve learned different ways to measure success. I’ve learned vocabulary for wedding receptions in Portuguese. I’ve learned how to live with a boy. I’ve learned how to grieve. I’ve learned skills I never knew I had. I’ve learned that pistols can be turned into peace signs. I’ve learned how to orient and walk alongside people new to Mozambique. I’ve learned not to take hot running water or wireless Internet for granted. I’ve learned to slow down. I’ve learned how to be part of a new family. I’ve learned how to not just live, but to thrive.

MCC was the reason that I came to Mozambique four years ago. I highly doubt I ever would have come here if it wasn’t for MCC. But I think that in all of these lessons, God was preparing me to be able to stand on my own two feet, apart from the loving care of MCC Mozambique. MCC gave me a vast collection of experiences and lessons learned, and for that I am truly grateful.

Today marks the end of my four years of serving with MCC. In exactly a week, I’ll begin my time at the American International School of Mozambique where I’ll be a teaching assistant for grade five. But I know that despite being expected to help teach, I’ll be doing a lot more learning in this next year.

My boss described this time as a threshold. I really like the imagery of being on the brink between two great opportunities. It’s not that the door is closing on MCC, or that there’s greener pastures in some other job. I’m not anxious to move on, nor am I clinging to memories of the last four years. I’m also not in some transient abyss where I feel lost and confused.


Instead, I have great peace. MCC taught me what peace in action looks like. Mozambique has taught me what expectant hope looks like. So as I’m in the threshold, I simply take the next step.