Goodbye for now...

The goodbyes have started in earnest this week.  A few of our coworkers are out for our last week at work, so it began early.  Everyone has those days of counting down to the next vacation, or thinking the last thing you want to do is go into the office this morning, even if you have your dream job.  Then suddenly, here we are saying goodbye to people we’ve seen every day and grown to care about, and it’s so hard.  Next week will be our official going away parties, and we’ll be emptying out our cubes.  So, five working days left… four… three…

Today was our last day at church.  We were so humbled by all the encouragement and prayers both in church and at a small, celebratory gathering with a few people afterward.

Even as our excitement to go builds with each passing day, the last few years in Pittsburgh have been good to us.  We’re both glad and sorry to see the time end, and it’s going too fast.  We visit with friends, knowing it’ll be the last time, at least for a while, and we promise each other, “in two years…”

We’re so grateful for the send off and the knowledge of all the support we have going with us!  These last things are so hard to get through, even though we know that on the other side of it is a new, exciting adventure that we’ve been so looking forward to, but we promise to come back to visit!

Last night we went to the PAPCA (Pittsburgh Area Peace Corps Association) welcome back/send off dinner and had a great time talking to other invitees/nominees and past volunteers.  For the first time we were told malaria is not necessarily inevitable – good news!  We also heard again and again that it was hard, sometimes frustrating, that for the first six months you can’t get a thing done because you can’t understand anyone or make yourself understood, and that every one of them would do it again in a heartbeat, that it was all worth it, and that it was one of the most rewarding experiences they’ve ever had.  That sounds good to us.

It’s also been so exciting for us to watch our faith in God’s timing come into fruition.  We are boldly going where many have gone before us, but many of you know that this time came much more quickly than expected, leaving us only three weeks to say goodbye to our lives and home here so we can say goodbye to our families elsewhere.  Today furniture has started walking out of our apartment!  We thank God that he has all these details worked out, and that we get to watch as things fall into place each step of the way.

So, whether we’ve said it recently, or will be saying it soon: to our Pittsburgh friends and loved ones, goodbye for now.

Our address in Cameroon will be:

Peace Corps Trainees

Corps de la Paix

B.P. 215

Yaoundé, Cameroon