Epilogue (because I've always wanted to write one!)

Travel changes your mental metabolism. A part of you is perpetually wandering--a nomadic sheep--simultaneously seeking both the novel and a niche, a dwelling place, an abode of belonging. "Home was a moveable feast; you strapped it to your back, stuffed it in a jar, dried it in the sun, dug it from the ground. Home was wherever you broke bread with people you loved. You built it out of hotel rooms or the trunk of your car or couches in your friends' living rooms. You coaxed it into existence by reading books and cooking food and learning languages, by sharing meals and words with others. You carried it with you, folded up like a picnic basket, and spread it out wherever you happened to be" (Annia Ciezadlo, Day of Honey). Travel is leaving your footprints all over the landscape of the globe and planting pieces of your heart in the soil of the souls you encounter along the way. When He guides your steps into His countries, you find they are all your home because they are all His! I am beyond blessed by the opportunity to teach and serve the Lord in Laos this summer. 

Although I came to bless others,

It is I returned blessed.

Although I came to pour out my life,

It was mine whose life was poured into.

Although it was I who came to teach English,

It was my students who taught me the universal language of love!

This summer in Laos has been unforgettable,

and I hope to return to the States indelibly changed.

As World Vision program leader Thuso Mpholo in Lesotho, South Africa, so eloquently expressed, I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart but my heart has no bottom as no duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks. 

Kop jai lai lai! Thank you!