Friday, April 26

No Longer the Newbies

The missionary community is one that is constantly changing. 

One of the great things about our lifestyle is the opportunity to meet so many people from different walks of life and learn from them. One of the sacrifices of our lifestyle is not the constant round of hello's ... but all the goodbye's that are inevitable too.

This week as a family, we lost our status as the 'newbies' in Dodoma after only two months, even though we're still in the transition and settling-in stage ourselves! We had the new family round to our house for dinner this evening ... our first official MAF hospitality duty. (Our home is roughly in the centre of this photo, four silver roofs, ours is second from the top)


Transition affects people in different ways. I've sat through many classes, learning about what to expect and how to cope with it. I know that taking in all the new stuff, culture, language, food, daily rhythm is a lot to get to grips with. I know that it can take months to fully adjust. I know that some people can be extra clumsy, some people over commit themselves and then crash ... and others like me and my hubby, and the family that arrived last week, just feel constantly tired as the brain tries to assimilate everything into the new normal!

Transition is not a bad thing, it's just a reality for us for the time being. No longer being the newbies is not a bad thing either. It means that as a family we're progressing and getting one step closer to the 'new normal'. It means that sometime in the next few months it'll all feel so much like home that everything that went before will be a distant but happy memory!

2 comments:

  1. It is so nice and good to read your blog! My husband and I are selected by MAF (not as a pilot but as a Finance Manager). In September we'll go to Bibleschool in England and in the summer of 2014 we hope to be real missionaries :P. Your stories make our future touchable and it helps me know what to expect. Thank you and I hope you stay write your stories. I love them :).

    Christien (from Holland)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Missionary Mum6 May 2013 at 21:47

      Thank you for your kind words Christien!

      Feel free to get in touch and ask any questions via Facebook or email, however big or little they seem. Do you know which project you will go to with MAF? And which Bible school in England? I met my husband at All Nations!

      Delete