November 21, 2008: Signing Off

Dear Friend,

Thank you, friend, for taking this journey with me. It’s not quite over, but for now I’m putting the blogging on hold. Today I leave for Kosice, Slovakia, where I’ll spend Thanksgiving week with my good friend (and Northwestern alum of 2008) Kristen Moss. She’s tutoring for a missionary family, as I understand it. During this time I’ll be leaving my anvil of a laptop behind in Romania and enjoying a much postponed midterm break. Yeah, it’s kind of late in the game.

For those of you who will be interested in knowing about my adventures in Slovakia, you’ll be able to find out after I return. I’m planning on keeping some kind of personal journal, though I’m not sure how that’ll play out. I’ll add it to the blog under some section epically titled “The Slovakia Chapters” or something corny like that. “The Lost Chapters.” I’ll think of something. Suffice it so say, you won’t be left out of the loop for very long. I may transcribe them after I return to the States, but you’ll be able to read them. I’m simply leaving my laptop behind firstly because it’s unnecessary weight and secondly because the main reason for this blog is to fulfill my internship requirement of journaling each day’s activities and how they apply to what I’m studying. My internship is complete, so I don’t need to journal for the internship. However, I will journal for the blog and add them later.

Also, I’ll probably journal on the days I get back from Slovakia before we all leave to return to Orange City, IA. Depending on the availability of Internet access when I return, you’ll be able to find out what’s going on until the end (though, unfortunately, not right before we get on the plane.)

Okay, enough logistics. This entry started with a “thank you” and it’s going to end that way. Your prayers and support, friend, have been of immeasurable value to me. It’s said that people don’t really appreciate what they have until they don’t have it anymore. Not that your love and friendship ever ended while I was over here, but your immediate presence was certainly put on hold. And even, friend, if we remain physically apart after I return, please still know my gratitude. I’ve learned a lot of sentimentality is rooted in the love of Our Father in Heaven, so I can say with all surety and without feeling like I’m using a cliché that we won’t always remain apart. If we all – you, I, and our loved ones – can draw near unto God, there we will be together. Keep the faith.

Blessings.
Kailen