Where is home? That's a funny question to ask. But as we spent the last two and a half months in Montana- the place we have called home all our life, the word "home" became a blurred vision of something that had been so simple and concrete in our minds just a year ago. But as people we met this summer asked that fateful question phrased something like "Where are you from?" or "Where do you live?" I struggled to find the right answer.
The answer should be obvious right? Well it depends. We were raised in Bozeman but we are from Los Fresnos, Texas. We are living in Los Fresnos, Texas but our life has always been in Montana. And if you are asking where will we live in the next 1-2 years, I can't say anything more enlightening that "I don't know". Those are the realities for this new life we lead, this missionary life. That doesn't make it any easier, especially for a guy who loves to have the 3-month, 1-year, and 5-year plan laid out in all of its wonderful predictability.
However, there was an unexpected joy and excitement our family found returning to Los Fresnos. We were excited to be home. This is home for us right now. That doesn't mean that our family and friends back in Montana don't hold a very special place in our hearts. They do! But it does mean that God has been so gracious to us over the past year that we are eager to engage the life and friendships we have formed here in Texas. At this time last year we were struggling with the shock of this very hot and very flat place. I still vividly remember Evelyn asking with all the concern of a 3 year old- "When will the mountains get here?" We were struggling with the reality that you hear as much Spanish as you do English, Wal-Mart trip takes an extra hour and there is always sand in your car from the beach even when you haven't gone for two months!
Those very things about our new home were the very things we were excited to get back to. They weren't scary foreign concepts anymore. We enjoyed seeing the palm trees as we entered Los Fresnos and the Stripes gas station that has awesome homemade breakfast tacos (typically awesome food and gas stations don't go together but they do here). We enjoyed hearing one person speak Spanish and the person respond in English and seeing a whole family out doing their shopping together even if it's a little slower shopping for us. And of course we loved building our first sand castle of the second year here.
All this has helped me to realize one thing- God gives grace to help us understand the things that seem foreign and different are not bad, just different. Not only that, He can help you to LOVE where you live and thrive there, not merely survive. This is such as sweet realization as we spend our last year training for the mission field. There will be culture shock as we move wherever the LORD directs us but there is also real hope that the same gracious God who made Los Fresnos feel like home will do the same in the future wherever we are as a family.
Upcoming Posts-
- Summer Highlights
- South Asia Trip
- Preparing for our Final Year of Training
