This past week we said good-bye to the next CR's as well as an MCC'er, Megan. It marked the end of a busy time for MCC Ethiopia and Wanda & I. Starting with the visit of my parents and sister in December we have been hosting or trying to keep up with the demands of the job for 7 months. For the first time since November (and maybe even further back than that) we can finally breathe again.
People who know us know we enjoy hosting so this wasn't a trial in that sense. But when you combine the high season of MCC work (January-February is reporting and budget time and March-April is EARM travel and hosting supervisor time) with special hosting, yep it was a lot of work. But along the way we were privileged to host Steve Yoder and his son Levi as they trekked for 6 months across East Africa and the Middle East, we enjoyed visiting with Craig Schloneger and Melissa Hand of Ten Thousand Villages as they visited artisans and sellers to TTV here in Addis, we saw our friend Bruce Guenther again as he helped us out of a PME jam (writing a proposal with our partners for CIDA funding), we met our successors Dan & Karin as they spent 7 weeks in language and orientation.
We hosted our final Mennogroup and to some we said goodbye for we probably won't see them again. Others have said they'll stop by for one more goodbye. We led our final worship service together on June 5 that included communion. I led my final church council as church chair, happy to be giving up the reins to another person. We said goodbye to friends who left in the past month for home (be it in Europe or NA).
I was happy to say goodbye to my good friend Loren Hostetter because it meant that he was healthy and free of injury. Our family and friends heard from us about the horrific accident that Loren was involved in at the beginning of May (the same weekend that we were in Harar). His vehicle was totaled, he was scraped up but amazingly nothing more than minor bumps and bruises, thanks to the air bag and seat belt. But he hit a donkey cart with 3 men on it. Two of the men were killed and another badly injured. Loren's external scars healed quickly but his internal ones will take longer. A number of us friends went with him to spend a day with the two families who lost their loved ones. One was a single young man and the other was a father of 6 children. Negotiations were held (between elders representing the families and elders representing Loren), reparations were made by Loren to the two families and the injured man and we witnessed an amazing grace in spite of the pain of loss.
Loren left for the States at the beginning of June to see his wife Glenda after a month apart and to see his oldest daughter graduate from EMHS. Of course I was sad to see him go but the joy was that he was fine. As the people of Arsi Negelle said, it wasn't his time.
So we have been checking events off our list over the last month. When we are finished hosting an event or people, even as we have mixed feelings about this being the 'last time' we also have said quietly to ourselves, 'check that off the list'. And our load is lessened, our burden is lighter.
There's not much work or school left. All that is left is to say the final goodbyes and finish packing.
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