Michael Pagedas: One More Week

I’ll be spending my July 4th in a way that most people probably wouldn’t--by flying to the very country from which we declared our independence! And so my journey to Africa will begin. In the span of just of a couple of weeks, I went from thinking, “When am I getting out of here?” to “I wish I had more time to get ready!”

Now, with only a week to go before deployment, the major things like my visa, health insurance, and transitioning my condo and bills over to the renter have been taken care of, leaving me this next week to buy supplies, organize my luggage, and say goodbye to family and friends. This next week will not only move faster than any previous week I have ever lived, but it will be a veritable sprint to do every last-minute thing I wanted to do, such as that final trip to the zoo and one more take-out order from my favorite Thai restaurant. Considering that I am about to take my life in a completely different direction, I am surprisingly calm and not going through pre-departure withdrawal, which means I’m either emotionally ready to move on or that everything will hit me at once when I land in Africa. I’ll let you know when I get there.

In the midst of trying to make final arrangements for everything, I remembered that I have a lot of thank-you notes that still need to be written to members of my support team. There is a chance I may not get to all of them before I leave. If you have sent me a donation, are reading this, and have not received a thank-you note from me, please forgive me and understand that every donation is much-needed and appreciated. As I have said in my parish presentations, I regard members of my support team as an extension of my ministry in Tanzania, and I look forward to taking you along for the ride. I hope to supplement these blogs with video, pictures, and audio that will provide an even more comprehensive look into the mission work we’re doing.

If you have any comments or suggestions for what you would like to see on the blog, please contact me at m.pagedas@ocmc.org.

See you in Africa.