A New Beginning

Getting this blog off the ground has been difficult. I am not new to blogging and I faithfully chronicled our 6 year assignment in Burundi that ended almost exactly 3 years ago (pamosley.blogspot.com).  Our new assignment with the Mennonite Central Committee is in Tanzania where I will the Health Programs Coordinator, and Rebecca will be a program assistant with various responsibilities.

To talk about the 'water under the bridge' between the last assignment and this assignment would fill a book, and maybe in future entries I can fill in the backstory. This will be a short entry though as this is our last evening in America, and I knew if I did not start it now, I  would not be able to say anything about our departure. But it is getting late and there is still a bit of re-packing to do now that the kids are in bed.

To backtrack a bit and add some photos, this was our last Sunday at North Baltimore Mennonite Church where the congregation gave us a very touching commissioning, as well as 'releasing' Rebecca as an associate pastor there. It was followed by a potluck. Rebecca might say a bit more about it here.

Leaving our congregation has been honestly very painful for me. I have loved this congregation through many seasons of my life: I was aware of its planting in the 80s, attended as a young adult in the late 90's, got married there in 2003, and joined as a member in 2008 before we left for Burundi. It was always the church we wanted to be part of when we returned to Baltimore. Here was the problem: I was hoping to return to pastoral ministry, but NBMC already has a really wonderful pastor. The incredible and unexpected gift of the past two years was the invitation of this church to serve as associate pastor alongside our lead pastor Dave Greiser. It has truly been a joy to work with Dave, to receive his counsel and mentoring and benefit from his experience. I also have felt grateful and honored that he has regarded me as a full colleague through this time, and that we were both able to work more effectively and thoughtfully for the community because we could work as a team. I am grieving as I leave my fellow workers in the vineyard, also including our administrator and many, many wonderful volunteers to carry on with the work we have started. And now it is time to trust that Jesus loves this church far more than I ever could. God will lead and guide and bring new people to fulfill a unique vision for this community. 



The weeks leading up to this day were spent primarily preparing our house for renters. To make a very long story short, we were able to rent our house to an Ethiopian family, friends from Burundi, actually, where he was working with CRS while we were there with MCC! They unexpectedly showed up here about two months ago having moved  here to take a position at CRS headquarters. They were looking for a place to rent in a good school district for their daughters. With a little help from our realtor, we were able to rent them our place. They settled in yesterday after we had an 'open house' on the lawn in front of our house to let the neighbors get a chance to meet them. It went very well. They will probably need some neighborly support to know what days are trash and recycling day as well as when to mow the lawn. I realize how much of suburban life in the US comes from cultural osmosis over many years. I am not sure they would have 'mulched' a garden in any other context. (In Burundi we all had gardeners who did everything with a hoe and machete.)

Oren at orientation in 2008.

We have also been getting various vaccinations and doing other preparations. This included a 10 day orientation in Akron, PA, MCC headquarters, where we met other service workers heading off on assignment. It was somewhat comforting that we were in the same room we inhabited in the 'blue house' (as Oren called it when he was 3) as we were when we left for Burundi in 2008.

You can see from the photos below that he is definitely a lot bigger now. The kids have mixed emotions about going. David is generally excited if for no other reason than he has been told he will be inheriting a pet hedgehog from the family we will be replacing. Oren is more wary and has been adamant in his objection to going. He is aware of losing friendships, especially his cousin Gabriel who lives up the street, and his other neighborhood friend Roman, and church friend Jacob.

David at orientation learning about Tanzania

Oren at orientation 2017

We have had a tradition, on our last day in the US, for all of our overseas trips, to go down to the little Gunpowder river and fish and play in the rapids. It is just a few miles away from Rebecca's parents' house in Fallston. We had a nice dip and had our 'last supper' hotdogs, sweet corn, garden tomatoes and ice cream. Next entry will be from Tanzania.

We fly out on the solar eclipse which I will take as a good sign. As they say in Swahili Safari Njema! (safe journey)