~Ecclesiastes 11:4 (The Living Bible paraphrase)
It’s been easy for the last few weeks to find examples of why this isn’t such a great time to be heading to Ghana (new boss, new territory, new team, challenging economy, not enough time to prepare, etc.) but the verse above has been speaking to my heart. Will it be better for me to embark on this adventure some time in the future? Only God knows. Since IBM has not canceled or postponed the program, I still plan to go. And I leave in 10 days!
Instead of focusing on the challenges, I am choosing to focus on the positive things that are happening for this trip. In reality, 1Q is probably the best time to be gone from my job. And since I have been in this job for over a year, it really is a decent time despite the new territory, new boss, and new team. My visa arrived this week (even though I ended up sending two different pictures for the 4 copies the application requested, and even though I didn’t start the process until “too late” because I was waiting for my passport renewal). And many colleagues have been very interested and supportive.
This weekend was filled with bittersweet moments. Dawn called me from Paris, and we weren’t able to avoid the reality that I am going to miss her wedding because it takes place on my first full day in Ghana. I spent a wonderful 10-hour day with my Little Sister Makiah, during which we took a break from the rain to duck into a bookstore so I could show her on a map of Africa exactly where I’ll be going. My being gone for such a long time is a bit challenging for her 8-year old mind, but I told her I’ll mail her a postcard. At happy hour with friends, I realized afresh how blessed I am to have such good friends, who are loving and fun but who also speak the truth in love. Karoline and I are trying to figure out how I can see her (and her newly-showing pregnant belly!) before I depart for Africa, despite the 75 miles between us. And this morning in church, I was a little sad to realize that I am going to miss more than half of the sermons in this current series.
The good news is that I had a great weekend, as it was very relational and productive. I’ll have great pictures and stories to share with Makiah when I get home, and I told her I’ll try to take a picture of her fav animal (a zebra) on my travels. If I can get into a groove this week and make progress on what I need to do, the upcoming President’s Day holiday might present the perfect opportunity to see Karoline. I caught up on a lot of the required pre-work reading this weekend, and I finished two loads of laundry. Saddleback will post the sermons online, so I can listen to them when I return.
I am particularly lucky in terms of the logistics on the home front. When I travel internationally, my family is accustomed to not hearing from me unless it’s something important like Mother’s Day. For this trip, I will try to call them periodically, but they’ll also be reading this blog to know that I am alive & well (and to see what I’m doing). Having a great roommate is always a blessing, and it’s especially true right now! Chelsea will be getting the mail out of our mailbox anyway, so I don’t need to worry about that. She’ll be living here so I won’t need to worry about having someone come water the plants and make sure the condo is okay. She has also agreed to mail bills for me, so for every bill that I have written in the last week, I addressed another matching envelope so she can mail them at the right time in my absence. Luckily, many of my bills are automatic so that helps minimize any issues if I don’t have good internet access when I’m in Ghana. And on the financial side of things, I filed my taxes this weekend and found that, despite my best efforts (last year I increased my W-4 allowances significantly) I am getting a tax refund. So that money can sit in my bank account as a buffer while I’m gone, which helps alleviate any concerns I might have had about bouncing checks. All in all, I am in good shape there.
In a few hours, we have a call with Barbara from CDC to clarify some logistics for Ghana and to discuss the statements of work. For the coming week, in my free time I plan to focus on completing most of the pre-work, getting my new computer (expected to arrive this week) up-and-running, and considering some of the details for my vacation at the end of the assignment. For now, I’m off to bed so I can be refreshed for our Monday morning call :)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment