We still consider ourselves to be new missionaries even though we’ve been with New Tribes Mission for about 5 years. We had still never packed for the infamous “Home Assignment” and we were a bit overwhelmed at the thought. We needed to pack for 9 months which would include two-months of road trip, travel to the Northwestern US in winter, a new baby, and summer in California. Thankfully we didn’t have very much in the clothing department that was still in good enough shape to bother taking with us, so it made packing light a bit easier. It is too expensive to ship things home, so we decided to just bring what the airlines allowed and no more.
We went through every room in the house and just pulled out the most important things and set them inside open suitcases. The things we left behind needed to be packed in such a way that they wouldn’t mold or get eaten by pests in our absence, so we put them in another pile which we would later seal in containers with desiccant.
Then there was the issue of the house itself, our vehicles, dogs, etc. It is very likely that the house would be broken into by thieves if we just left it without a caretaker. We had to arrange someone to watch the house, cut the grass and pay the bills. We also had to sign a new rental agreement on the house to be sure it would be ours when we returned, and we needed to arrange for someone to care for and exercise the dogs regularly. After that, we arranged for a couple of people to drive our vehicles periodically while we’re gone, someone to register them, a way to get insurance updated, and a means for transferring money to those who are helping us, etc, etc, etc.Needless to say, leaving for 9 months was a daunting task and a very expensive one. Thanks to a wonderful community of missionaries and Filipino friends, we were able to make the necessary arrangements and get packed up with time to spare. Things will most certainly come up that need our attention while we’re gone, but we now have one more major “missionary” experience under our belts.