Cleaning out and last times

There’s lots of benefits to Mission work in El Salvador but I bet you didn’t know how clean your closets and bureaus get. The reality is that we’ll only need a little more than a weeks’ worth of light clothing while in El Salvador. For men it's mostly short sleeve T's or button downs and light jeans. For women it's the same but also skirts below the knees. For a hot climate it's interesting to note that publicly you rarely see people in shorts, shorts are for around the house. Sandals, good walking shoes and one pair of dress shoes is it for the foot apparel. Besides a light raincoat, there’s no need for coats. Looking at our clothes in this way made us realize what pack rats we were and we aren’t even clothes people. We gave away 7 bags of clothes and counting.  It sure makes finding the clothes and shoes you want to wear easy J.

 

 As we start to pack for our trip, it becomes apparent how little we will have compared to being in the U.S.  Sometimes it’s an unsettling feeling to realize this but we bring ourselves back by remembering we might not have much but in reality we’ll have everything we need. I wonder what it will be like when we return after 3 years of living “light”.   Will we just revert back into this style, does living light stick or do you just appreciate every you have in a different way.

 

The other benefit, although it doesn’t sound like a benefit, is that we are doing things for the last time. I’ve gone trick or treating for the last time with my granddaughter, as a family we’ve had our last Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s. Those are just major events yet the feeling also applies to our daily lives. The last few services at St Francis that we value so much, contact with friends and just seeing our local merchants is coming to an end for a while.  My point is that we enter these contacts with a heightened awareness and appreciation. Everything we do we want to fully experience and enjoy, when you plan on that it’s amazing how it becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy.  It’s a lesson that we hope to not forget and we hope you can take it to heart.

 

As we finish up with the “lasts” we look forward to all the “firsts”.

Salud


Tom & Dianne