Family Visits and Packing

In less that a week Lauren and I will be on our way to Tanzania. Over the last few weeks we have been staying with our two families. We have tried to make the most of this time by spending most of it hanging out and doing stuff with them. It has been like we are packing three years of visits with our families all into one period of time. Although it has been good to visit for a longer period than we would normally, a longer stay really doesn't seem a sufficient substitute for not seeing everyone through three years worth of changes. We will miss our family and friends, but this is what we feel called to do, and we are happy to go even while we are sad to leave. 

We have been spending the rest of our time making the last minute preparations to leave. There are a lot of things that need to be taken care of before you can leave the country for three years. In fact, there are so many things that for the first time in my life I needed a to-do list. Yes, I know...don't be too shocked. I have never been a list person; I often have a series of things in my head that I know need to get done, but I don't make lists. Anyway, there was so much to do that I caved and suggested to Lauren that we make a to-do list. It was so bad that this list included the entry: 'make a shopping list'. A to-do list that calls for another list, if I don't watch out I will become a planner :).

As of now we have checked off most of our list. We have been taking care of banking, getting our computers and kindles in order, shopping and most of all figuring out exactly what we are going to take. We can each take two fifty pound bags. That one hundred pounds apiece goes faster than I would have hoped. There are a couple of things that make packing difficult. First of all it is not as if we are simply going to visit Tanzania; we are going to live there. This means that we are trying to take stuff to make a home there. Also, we don't truly know what all we should bring. While we have talked with many people who have been on mission and have been communicating with the Lay Mission-Helper couple that is currently in Mtwara, we have never been to Tanzania and cannot foresee what we will wish we had brought. 

In the end I need to remember that all this worry about lists and packing doesn't really matter. Our choice to go has been and will continue to be an act of faith. We should try to go with the spirit that Jesus sent his disciples when he instructed them not to take an extra tunic. We will find what we need, maybe not always what we wanted. If we forget anything, we will find it there or we didn't need it in the first place. 

- Justin