…piled up in our room. We leave on Thursday! It’s that time again…to say goodbye, to organize, to cull through whatever material things we’ve accumulated, to reflect on the experiences of the last three months. Although, truth be told, we haven’t had much time for reflection! So here are the facts:
-The FIS lecture phase went really well, I think. It certainly had its challenges, but I can’t imagine a more quality bunch of people to work with. I’m very interested to hear what kinds of things the students will do in the coming years. This final week is a preparation week for the ‘practicum phase’ of the school. One team will be working with an immigrant community in the UK, and the other team will be working with various ethnic communities in Amsterdam. After that, they’ll scatter to various parts of the world. Some will return to their projects at home (UK, Amsterdam, South Africa, etc.), and others will be moving on to new locations in the Middle East, Europe, etc. It was a great experience, and I’m thankful that our team here was finally able to pull it off! Many thanks to those of you who prayed for the FIS and have supported us so we could be a part of it.
-Becka had a great experience leading her TESOL practicum and loves teaching English as much as ever. I handed in my thesis, defended it, and now I am waiting for my final grade. It will probably take a few months to process everything, but from our side we are finished with this part of our education. It’s a good feeling…it’s been a long journey. For me, this process goes back nearly 10 years!
-We are going to miss Amsterdam and all our friends and colleagues here. We had pretty much decided before we came that we would only be staying for three months, but now that the three months have come and gone, it’s a bittersweet feeling. We are excited to be moving on and it has become increasingly clear that this is the right decision. But it’s still sad to say goodbye to our team and all our wonderful Dutch friends. (You guys better come and visit us!)
-We are returning to our country of origin for an undetermined amount of time. Yep, we are actually going to live in America! (At least this is the idea that is currently in our minds…although it is hard to imagine giving up traveling so I hope I don’t have to eat these words later.) The next year will no doubt be one of transition. What we are transitioning to remains to be seen. But we’ve known for a while that we want a change. More stability…physically, financially, emotionally, etc. Maybe not a ‘normal’ life (whatever that is), but something a little closer to it than we have had in the past few years. We are ready for something new. Something that still has purpose and mission, but is more consistent with the people we have become and want to be. I know that’s a little vague, but it’s vague for us too. For those of you who live on other continents, you can continue to keep up with us here on this blog.
So there you have it…back to packing now. Again, a big thanks to all of you who have prayed and supported us over the years. We’ll be sending out a final newsletter sometime in the coming weeks with a closing report on our activities in Amsterdam.
