On May 13, we arrived back on US soil, concluding our international service as workers of the Christian and Missionary Alliance. I remember back in1992 when we left for Costa Rica and Chile still seemed like such a faraway goal that would never arrive. Nineteen years later we are experiencing the same feelings about our leaving that country of which we knew hardly anything.
The two most characteristic words for the final days were sadness and thankfulness.
We feel sad because of all that we left behind. We leave friends, fellow-workers and the church family that so kindly ministered to us as we served among them. We also leave Chile, its rich culture and warm people, the land that adopted us and which our sons call home. I will miss the daily drive along the coast, taking the boys to school. There were many tears shed and probably even more that were held back.
Yet we feel thankful, also because of what we left behind. We left a church that is now larger, stronger, more unified and more mature than when we arrived four years ago. There are more equipped people to carry on ministries and the church has moved to a stage where it can continue to reproduce disciples in a healthy way. We are thankful, because that was our desire for this fourth and final term in Chile.
