A sweet "adieu" I bid to you

This is me on my birthday. I'm wearing the most traditional Mizo puan,
called a puanchei. This is the principal of AICS (Mom). We are at
the restaurant I wrote about in my previous post. Goodbye Mizoram!

I came to Mizoram expecting to grow and to learn, but I didn't expect how difficult it would be! I knew that growing meant I would be stretched, but I didn't really think about what that would look like. Looking back, I have grown and learned much more than I ever anticipated. Yes, that came with struggles and tears and frustrations and confusion, but I've come out on the other side, and I am a little wiser and a little more knowledgeable than before. :) I will be leaving Mizoram tomorrow afternoon (provided the weather is clear). I'm sure I will cry. Being here has definitely had its tough moments, but I have found church family here. The AICS community accepted me with open arms. I have laughed, cried, broken bread, worshiped, taught, and learned with these people. I have made friendships and acquaintances that will last far beyond the next 24 hours. What an experience. I thank God for blessing me with this opportunity. It has certainly brought me closer to him, but it has also taught me a lot about other people and about myself, not to mention providing me with ministry experience that will help define my future endeavors. Wow.

Before I left France, I made a list of things I will miss and things I won't miss about my three months abroad. I am going to do the same, although my "things I won't miss list" will not be exhaustive as to not offend anyone here. :)

Things I will miss:
- Fresh tropical fruit (lychee, mango, and pineapple)
- Fresh corn (picked the day prior to eating)
- Fresh meat and vegetables (no storage facilities or growth hormones here!)
- The Mizo people I've met (especially Jenny)
- The beautiful, hilly, lush green landscape
- Singspiration and the passion of the AICS community
- Bamboo shoot!
- My students
- Tea all the time (one good thing brought by the British heehee)
- The crazy awesome rain and thunder storms
- The jungle noises that make up the background to daily life
- Delicious meals for $1
- The tropical flowers (I've never been to Hawaii, but the flowers must be similar)

Things I won't miss:
- The slow internet connection and the choppy phone calls
- The diesel smell in the city and black fumes coming out of vehicles (SMOG testing is unheard of haha)
- Rising early for 7am chapel every morning
- Ants in my tea and bugs in my food (lol)
- Bucket showering
- Instant coffee (pretty much no one has drip coffee in India)
- My bags/things getting mildewy (monsoon season + humidity = mildew :/ )
- The mosquitoes! (and all other ridiculously large bugs)
- Scary landslides that kill people
- Having the occasional upset stomach
- Not knowing what anyone is saying half of the time
- Frequent power outages
- Rice (haha)

That's all I came up with. I'm sure there are a ton of other things I could add, but I still need to pack and I have one more class period left. Thank you all for following me during my adventure. It was encouraging to know that people cared about me and were praying for me and thinking about me over these past few months. And so, the season changes...