What I'm Going to Miss...

Well...I've started to debrief for going home, Kate suggested that I write a list of all the things that I'm looking forward to for going home, and I'm going to do that...but first I'm going to write a list of what I'm going to miss, I was going to do the 2 in the same post, but I think that it might get too long.

So here goes....

I'm going to miss the singing of the CICC churches, the mamas hitting the high high notes and the papas keeping the songs going on and on. I'm going to miss kaikais, tables heaped with good island food, smells wafting from one end of the room to the other. I'm going to miss the sound of the sea, waves desperately crashing on the shore, trying to take the land back into its relentless grip.

I'm going to miss my family, the people that I love, have laughed with, cried with, fought with. The people that have seen me grow and grown with me. I'm going to miss their smiles, their faces, their support. I'm going to miss the love of a family that chose to stick with me, not related by blood, but related by heart.

I'm going to miss meeting new faces, hearing stories of peoples from around the world. I'm going to miss seeing new things of God in every culture. I'm going to miss late-night airport runs, walking into the airport barefoot, because I never remember my jandals.

I'm going to miss calling my flip-flops jandals, calling garbage rubbish or candy lollies. I'm going to miss people making fun of my accent or not knowing what my name actually is.

I'm going to miss fundraisers and feasts, those days when you work til midnight the night before, walk up at 4 or 5 in the morning to keep making food, and keep working til you finally fall into bed exhausted at midnight that day.

Speaking of midnight, I'm going to miss midnight swims with my girlfriends, talking and laughing about all sorts of crazy things, learning from each other, building each other up.

I'm going to miss the beach in general, frayed hammocks swinging in the wind, watching the locals go fishing at low tide, walking on white sandy beaches. Watching sunrises, watching sunsets.

I'm going to miss 5am prayer services while on outreach. I'm going to miss outreach.

I'm going to miss the colours of the South Pacific, the languages, the faces.

I'm going to miss the smell of guava, the smell of eis, the smell of salt.

I'm going to miss the heat, sweaty, sticky, oppressive heat, little trickles of sweat running down your body long into the night. I'm going to miss going to the refrigerated section of the store to but chocolate, or having to drink a cold nu because water just doesn't really hydrate you.

I'm going to miss driving on the wrong side of the road, with the steering wheel on the opposite side, still after 3 years getting into the passenger side of the vehicle when I'm actually supposed to be the one driving...

I'm going to miss so many things...I could keep going...always going...

But what I'm going to miss most of all, is seeing the move of God here, in this place, in the country He poured His heart out on me for. I'm going to miss God waking me up at 4 am to go look out at the brilliant southern sky and just intercede for the nation. I'm going to miss running along the beach and have God stop me to point out something that needs His heart here.

I'm going to miss the Cook Islands, funny, because I never felt called here, but I asked God to give me His heart for this place, and now it's not just a step in my journey, but it's part of my heart, it's part of my home.