{"id":3020,"date":"2014-03-06T18:22:24","date_gmt":"2014-03-06T18:22:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/?p=3020"},"modified":"2014-03-06T20:49:33","modified_gmt":"2014-03-06T20:49:33","slug":"how-did-that-happen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/2014\/03\/06\/how-did-that-happen\/","title":{"rendered":"How Did That Happen?"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week we bought tickets to return to the states this summer! \u00a0 We will arrive in Portland August 1st. \u00a0We couldn’t be more excited and yet…<\/p>\n

A few days after purchasing the tickets Ethan was on skype with his Grandma and he said that he didn’t know whether to be excited to be in Portland or sad to leave her here in Africa. \u00a0As he was saying this I was watching his face and I could see his little brain processing. \u00a0Since the day we stepped off the plane over two years ago he has looked forward to when he was 7 and we would return to America. \u00a0However somehow over these past two years he has changed and slowly adapted. \u00a0I could tell at this moment he was realizing that it was not going to be as easy to leave as he had thought. \u00a0He was excited to see friends and family and relive memories, but he knew that he was used to and comfortable with life here.<\/p>\n

Joel experienced some of the same emotions upon arrival in England. \u00a0After being here so long you forget how different life is between the two worlds and that crossing between them takes adjustment. \u00a0It was weird to him to be in a land of so many choices, that ran so efficiently. \u00a0He came back reminded that we will have to make an effort to adapt back to America and that it is an important effort to make.<\/p>\n

My experience was actually at our mission when I stood in front of the microwave and couldn’t figure out which button started it. \u00a0I really sat there for 5 minutes as I looked at all the pictures and none of them made sense to me. \u00a0My mind immediately said, “Oh no, this is a bad sign!”<\/p>\n

It is still crazy to me to think how this happened. \u00a0How did we change so much in such a short time? \u00a0How did a life that was so foreign become so familiar? \u00a0How did things that were so familiar become so foreign? \u00a0It was so gradual that we didn’t really notice it, but now it is screaming at us. \u00a0We are so much the same and so different. \u00a0 \u00a0We are living between two worlds and yet not in either. \u00a0 We are excited to take our first jump between worlds and also nervous. \u00a0Will we be “those weird missionaries” or will we adapt? \u00a0Will we embrace the changes that took place while we were gone, or struggle to accept them? \u00a0Only time will tell…only time will tell.<\/p>\n

Joel’s Time in England<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Joel was very thankful for the time he had in England<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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He definatley felt like he was in another world<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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But sometimes it is nice to step on a different road for a while<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The conference he was at was very interesting and challenging for him<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Plus it was a great joy to share with the students at the missionary training center about our experience with our host family<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The last day he took a train to London<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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To be a tourist for the day<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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He toured around on a bus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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And saw as much as he could in his 24 hours<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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so that he could bring back pictures to our boys who were dying to see what England looked like<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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His time went fast, but it was well worth it!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week we bought tickets to return to the states this summer! \u00a0 We will arrive in Portland August 1st. \u00a0We couldn’t be more excited and yet… A few days after purchasing the tickets Ethan was on skype with his Grandma and he said that he didn’t know whether to be excited to be in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":830,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2545],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-updates-and-news","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/830"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3020\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}