Farewell, but Not Really Goodbye

Argh! The last day! How can it have arrived so soon? Didn’t we just get here?


The troops met up at Immanuel-Zion in the morning to speak to parishioners during the Sunday School hour, during which we expressed our profound gratitude for the hospitality shown to us, explained personal highlights from the trip, and described how we had witnessed God at work during our journey (like Steve Bygland bringing us CAFFEINATED coffee this morning!!!). Expect reflections upon the latter category (minus the coffee) later in the week.

Immanuel-Zion's sanctuary before worship.

The “Breaking of the Bread” and “Sharing of Peace” during a celebratory worship service with the IZ folk preceded the “Breaking of the Doughnuts” and “Sharing of Goodbyes” after worship. Many of us were close to tears as we smiled, laughed, and exchanged well-wishes with some of our host families and many others who had helped to make our adventure so memorable and inspirational, including and especially, Pastor Mike and Alison.

Patricia with her last host family, the Lees.

Lyn Bygland, Patricia, Alpha, Kaila, Steve Bygland, and Becca pose for a farewell photo.

Then, for the last time, we piled back into the van (which I swear still smelled like the feedlot) and made the two hour trip back to the Omaha airport, pondering the transition ahead of us.

Lorin, Alpha, and Patricia ponder how the journey just completed may impact the journey ahead.

It felt so strange to think about plugging back into our very urban existences after ten days visiting churches, driving and walking through corn and soybean fields, and enjoying overwhelming rural hospitality. It was unreal to watch the sea of lights rolling away in every direction as we descended in to Chicago-Midway airport, to realize as we exited the plane into the terminal that there were probably ten times as many people in the airport as there were in the county we just left… and upon returning to campus, it was bizarre to hear a siren for the first time in ten days. Welcome home!

We have two free days for working on final projects, then two days of classes for presenting the projects and collectively reflecting on our trip. Pastor Mike and Bev Adam will be flying out to join us for the two class days.

You, my faithful and diligent readers, can expect at least two more blog entries later this week: one related to the upcoming classes and our projects, and a final wrap-up entry. Stay tuned!