Here are some blog posts that I am just finally getting to that will tell you about the trip I have been on since January! You will see I am just getting the hang of this medium- inserting pictures is going to take time to learn!

January 5- January 30, 2013

Finishing and Closing Out.  My last day at San Antonio Community Hospital as a Social Worker went well. What a strange feeling turning in my badge.  Four last Sundays and three last Mondays at Pilgrim Congregational Church, UCC.  What an amazing church; joyful Spirit-filled worship and wonderful, caring, capable people.

HRH Princess Glorria Jinn

Alexander Roschenko

I had last meetings, last lunches with friends, preparations for commissioning, preparations for the house to be rented and my beloved kitties to be cared for, and preparations for friends Val, Nancy, Gordon and Linda to come for stays way too brief, and for the run up to departure to South Africa.  Too little time to get it all done, must let some things go and remember to focus on what is really important- relationships and people…


Gordon and Linda strategizing...



Only a cat could nap in the midst of chaos



Dad's chair goes to a good home!



Sorting and tossing and packing up things to save in the shed.  Where in the world did all the stuff come from?!  I eventually realized that I was in the process of sorting through my life.  I was thankful I started the pruning process last year, going through the shed where I found all the usual holiday stuff (and had to whittle that down to the “family heirlooms”), but also sorted through the stuff of the first years of my life.  That didn’t really take that long; but the most recent years, especially ten years of of seminary books and notes and the whole house were a different story!   I have to reexamine the image I have of myself as a fairly non-materialistic person.  Not that I have expensive stuff, just “treasures.”  And those are the things of memories and those things are very hard to let go of.  My brother stated it well, “We want to keep things because they remind us of people.  But do we need to keep 40 things?  Can we just keep one?”  Indeed, if things evoke memories, which memories and people are most important to me?  What things should I save?  Can we save things that are useful and use them?  What if they get broke or used up?  Does it mean we fail to honor the people or what they have meant less to us?  Which things will people keep to remind them of me when I am gone?  And what about the things that just bring pleasure- things that are just pretty things.  I found I didn’t have too many of them.  Almost everything I picked up I found had a memory of a person or a time with a person and a feeling.   Some bad.  I wondered why I kept them.  Some very good and they were the really hard ones to let go. 

Almost empty office

Boy did I give Linda a headache! Three 50 lb suitcases and 120 lbs of books!

Letting go is especially difficult if you do not have something to look forward to.  I am fortunate and grateful; for the adventure to come is so exciting that I am finding relief in making room in my life for the new experiences and people and memories.   But just some room.  I saved all the pictures of course.  Now that I am here with four suitcases and a shed full of stuff I know I still haven’t gotten close to the essentials, and a simpler life.

Packing.  What do you pack for the trip of a life time and a move across the world to a place you have never been and where you cannot get a whole lot of information about?  I have such high data needs sometimes!  Thank God for friends such as Val, Linda and Gordon and family who research, and suggest and support and help shop and toss and pack and pack and pack.  Do you know how many times you need to pack a suitcase before you can be sure it is perfectly 50 lbs?  (Or more accurately how many times Linda had to pack?! Linda packed and repacked my suitcases several times in three days to get them to 50 lbs.  She has it down to an art form. Not one wrinkle or broken item!)  I found myself wondering many times, what will truly useful in Namibia.  What I would need to take care of myself and what I could take to share with the people I will meet.  In the end I am convinced I will open my suitcases there and wonder, “What in the world was I thinking?”  I trust that the people will be patient with me and that I will learn what I need to know from them.  There are moments when I feel completely unprepared and other moments when I trust that God has called me for a purpose and part of that is to learn from and rely upon others who know so much more than I do.

Preparations and Resources.  Ouch!  Both in the arms and the pocket book.  So many people were so generous in giving me funds to support my trip.  I also got a great camera thanks to Linda and Gordon and they shipped my precious books to Namibia.  Well, in addition to a great big THANK YOU I can assure you that your funds were well used to pay the bills for shots and medication that I definitely needed, and to buy, fill and ship suitcases which have vital items like; anti-malaria medication, Bible, water filter, good shoes, insect repellant, sun screen and hat, winter clothes and summer clothes, robe and stoles, computer and a few gifts.  In addition, there was the last minute visits to the doctor for health certification and police department to assure I did not have a criminal record.  For those who wonder: the fact that I did not know where the police department was answers the question I think.  Thank you all for the finances to pay the bills!!


Rev. Gail Benson and I in commissioning liturgy



Rev. Dr. Jim Manley Musician extraordinare leading the wonderful Pilgrim Pickers

Lyle and I, memories of IUCC days and Donna's Ls!

 
 

"Mom and Dad" Jean and Harley Jones



Salma and Afzul bid me goodbye

Leslie baked two beautiful and yummy cakes for my last day at Pilgrim CC, UCC

The youth sang and gave me wonderful gifts to remember them by!

Global Ministries colleague Jeffrey Mensendiek from Sendai, Japan at Pilgrim CC, UCC

Travis, Halley and Bill, my family jokers!  ILY!

Going away celebrations and commissioning.  Fantastic!  Amazing!  My dear friends and family, colleagues and church members, how can I thank you???  There was the family gathering with pizza and chocolate cake.  (Thanks Bill, Robin, Halley, Travis, Glenn, Robin, Tyler and Kyle!) There was the Mexican restaurant and Animal Planet party complete with a cake with the flag of Namibia! (Thanks Mom Jean and Dad Harley!) There was the elegant afternoon reception.  (Thanks Gordon and Linda!) You all made me not want to leave but sure I had loving me and "family" supporting my journey. And there was the commissioning service with the music of Jim Manley and the Pilgrim Pickers, worship with people from so many churches, friends and Friends, missionaries and lay and ordained ministers, and scones and tea.  It was everything I hoped and dreamed and more!  There was the worship service and ritual of farewell and celebration at Pilgrim Congregational Church, UCC, perfect with our missionary from Japan Jeffrey Mensendiek bringing the message and connecting us to the people of Sendai and Global Ministries. And then the youth singing “She’s got the whole world in her hands.”  I could not have had a better send off!  What wonderful friends and family I have been blessed with!  Relationships and connections and partnerships were the themes.  Love, support, encouragement, friendship and appreciation were given and received and are returned to you all!  Thank you!!

Linda and Gordon Crocker AMAZING support and packers!!

January 29- 30, Tuesday and Wednesday.  A 24 hour trip plus a 10 hour time change!  Welcome to Loletta’s Wild Ride! (Adapted from Mr. Toad's Wild Ride) Wasn’t that an adventure getting to the airport?!  Linda, Gordon and I must have been sound asleep to not hear the alarm.  But then who really wants to get up at 3 am?!   We woke at 4:22 which we said was the absolute latest we could leave for the airport.  Thankfully we had my car all loaded and I drove to the airport, because I didn't want to have anyone else panic.  We still broke Linda's travel mug because she had set it on the roof of the car and we forgot it.  I don't think I broke too many speed limits but it at least gave me a pedal to take out my anxiety! And Linda and Gordon now know a whole different side of the passivist Loletta- the aggressive driver.

One last look- Bye House!!  Thanks for being home!

Tearful goodbye with Glorria- she hated it and Alex went and hid and avoided it altogether! 

Got there in plenty of time, thank goodness because there was only one person working the counter and when I used the machine it said there was no ticket or confirmation for my trip!  I was a wreck by the time I hit the gate and stayed right there until we boarded!  Wrote all my thank you notes (50) and then found out that there is nowhere in an airport to mail them.  A nice information volunteer took pity on me and hopefully put them in the mail for me. 



Johannesburg airport hallway, very sparkling newand clean

 Flights were mostly uneventful except for the usual 1/2 hour delay in boarding due to a mechanical problem with the airplane's door, turbulence that made my thank you cards look like chicken scratch for the first 6 hours, and the ubiquitous- not one, but two crying babies (one seat ahead of me and one seat behind me) on the 7 hour flight from DC to Dakar.  One got off there so I had only one for the 10 remaining hours.  I love babies I love babies I love babies.  It is their parents I was not too happy with, but then they didn't look too happy either!  The flight attendants were absolutely wonderful in helping especially when the 2 year old got sick all over herself, mother and seat on takeoff. They kept spraying nice, soothing, pretty smelling stuff and bringing things for the babies.  And gave me as many bottles of juice and water as I wanted; kept this baby quiet at least.  I arrived at the Johannesburg Airport early, got through immigration and customs easily and was met by a delegation of four from the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa.  Good thing they all came to help with my bags.  Bad thing the bags almost didn’t fit in the car!  But off we went and I got to see the lights of Johannesburg.