At this point in our trip, we only have a few “tourist-y” things left. Then comes the challenge of sorting through all the things you have seen, the emotions you have felt and the circumstances you have witnessed. Where do you start? How do you start? This trip has definitely changed my life, but how, and for how long? How do you make the impact of a trip like this last a lifetime instead of letting them fade?
I don’t know the answers to these questions, and I may never know them. What I do know is that if you ever have the opportunity to visit Africa, do it!
Have you ever been on a trip like this? How did you answer any of these questions? (Let me know in the comments)
Ah, your blog post brought me back to last summer… when our family freshly returned from a missions immersion trip which included visiting our Compassion child & LDP student in the Philippines.
This is what I wrote upon returning:
http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2011/08/thoughts-reflections-where-do-i-even.html
And this… 8 weeks after returning:
http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2011/10/yet-i-still-dare-to-hope.html
It’s been a beautiful journey of being changed, of following Jesus, of a heart that breaks for the things that break His heart. It’s been hard to figure out how to live in this First World knowing my heart has been changed but through it all, His grace is sufficient.
I am finding that it is sometimes the weird things that will bring me back to a moment spent in Uganda. I think with trips of this type you never really finish processing them!
I have a journal that I began before heading to Belize….and made a point of writing in it every day while there….I am still processing what I learned there and about me since coming back–I think that it is continuing to help me process and keep accountable to the desire to continue the change that began as a result of what I experienced, saw and felt while on that mission trip. I still experience many ‘Aha’ moments….and it’s been several months since my return. Talking to others that have been on misson trips helps….they’ve been where you are….and while their stories are different some of the feelings are similar.
Jen and I also kept journals and mine will be helping me to process and share stories! We have also been talking with many others who have been on trips and how they processed what they saw and how it translated to their everyday lives!