heading "home"

Tomorrow Sheila and I head back to Dhaka. Yesterday and today we’ve been talking about how we feel about that/if we’re ready (not that there’s a whole lot we can do about it…plane leaves tomorrow, ready or not).

The reason I’ve been thinking about it is cause last time I did a visa run (when I lived in Mumbai) I had a great vacation, and had tons of fun – but didn’t really rest, or allow God to work in my heart in any way. It was an escape – not a time of rest. I went back into the same hard things w/o having allowed God to restore my heart. Without resting.

This visa run has been different. Sheila and I have “been” a lot, but we haven’t “done” a lot. I’ve read (both fun books, and learning books), I’ve studied some (had to learn that stack of vocabulary that I didn’t learn my last week in Dhaka), I’ve journaled. I’ve listened to music. I’ve rested. I’ve been silent. I laid in a park in the grass. I’ve had leisurely meals with great conversation, and pretty good food too. I’ve observed 2 amazing rain storms (one with pretty intense hail) from inside our hotel room – that was windows on 3 sides (I loved it). We’ve met some interesting people – and also had some great time with people we already knew.

I have rested.

And while I’m not certainly not looking forward to the 100 degrees and humidity that I know are waiting for me in Dhaka – it will be good to be back. I’m ready to learn some more, and it will be really great to see our friends again – our American friends, our Bangladeshi friends, our Pakistani friends – it will be really good to see those folks again.