Missing "Kahan"

Is this only the third journal entry since I got back? Or maybe the fourth? Either way, I’ve been back a little more than a month and haven’t written much.

But I need to.

Today, I really missed Panna, Maya, Hema, Geetu, Neetu, Pooja, Ramesh, Aunty, Uncle, Pryanka, Meena, Vimal, Nirmal, Ganga, Anita, Deepa, the mailman, Joshi, the shopkeeper upstairs, the photo shop gang…everything inside me wanted to be back there, just for a minute, in Panna’s village again – watching her kids play, drinking chai, bringing water up, walk with Deepa to the store and back again. I cried for them too. I think for the first time since I’ve been back, I really really miss them.

It’s at a time like this when I wonder about next steps, and wonder if I should go back to Kahan. I have the language, the friends…and yet, I know at least in this moment, it is purely an emotional draw, which is not usually the best way to make a decision!!

I just read my journal from last year November – the first entry about the mountains and missing people and the mountains is so true.

Taken from my journal Nov 26, 2006 - "...As I watch the sun rise over the mountains across the valley, I thank you Lord for the sun and for the mountains. Especially the mountains. Like you, God, they are always there. Every morning, no matter what, they are there. I think besides the people, the mountains will be what I miss most of all from my life here. It is like a daily reminder of your faithfulness. A daily encouragement that you are the same today as you were when you lead your people through the Red Sea..."