Another Month of Despedidas

A year ago, I wrote about the goodbyes I made as I was leaving New York, and the series of "despedidas" for interns who were finishing up their year at the mission when I arrived in Peru. Now, a year later, it's my turn to say goodbye to Peru, and it has been surprisingly difficult. It seems that the connections I made in our small missions community in Trujillo have made up in intensity what they lacked in duration.

I saw many of the missionaries here multiple times a week, and other interns and Peruvians in our church/English school community almost every day. We worked together, had fun together, went to church together, and supported each other through homesickness, burnout and personal tragedy. It felt like nothing so much as an old-fashioned family – one I did not pick and choose nor confine to one area of my life, but whom I was constantly around and tied to through good times and bad. I was surprised at how much emotion I felt leaving Trujillo, and it wasn't so much for the end of a life-changing experience as it was for the people I met.

Sadly, it seems to me that this type of community will be very hard to replicate in the US. We're so mobile, and independent, it would be hard to reach this level of reliance on each other even if we tried (which plenty of people wouldn't!). However, I am forever grateful to the people at Peru Mission for what they've taught me, and I will hopefully find ways to foster community, wherever I end up back home.

with the missionary wives...

& with some of Peru Mission's interns and Peruvian church members at the bus station, the night I left Trujillo.