EMOTIONS! Whew, what feelings I'm experiencing. The past: just all the things I have seen and done and relationships developed and am leaving and the culture etc. etc.! The future: a bit of apprehension about culture shock, some dread of going back to the materialistic, fast-paced society I left behind, having people understand or at least accept some of the ways in which I might have changed, and, of course, the financial situation I come back to. To top it off, I now have the only toothache I think I've ever had in my life, and "get" to have a root canal upon return. Believe it or not, with all of this going on, most of the time I am pretty blissful and just feel happy that I came here, and am happy I am going home, knowing that I am in the best of hands. God has and always will look over me and everything will work out fine.

We have a little closing ceremony tomorrow and hope to be able to post a photo of that later. I likely will share some post-service thoughts after I return to America.

Thank you to all my readers over the past 27 months. This has become a nice journal for myself and I hope your life is a bit richer for reading my blog and learning about this amazing country I have been privileged to be a part of.