New Context, Same Mission

Charlie, a Re-Entry Weekend Participant and former missionary in Chile.

After returning from mission in Chile – from the visits, the commotion, the noise, the bustle and vibrance of the neighborhood – I am home. I have returned to be once again with my family, girlfriend, and friends, back in the same places doing (almost) the same things. Naturally after having lived such a different and powerful experience of both mission life and COVID life, I am not the same person that I was when I first touched down in Chile in fall of 2019.

Now, just about a month and a half after returning home, I had the last part of my mission experience – the “Re-entry Weekend” in Brooklyn. Entering a Con-solatio home again, though not in Chile anymore, still has the same warm and embracive feel. Crossing the threshold of the door, you can feel the presence of God emanating out of every corner.

Taking the time to return to the context of mission, only a few hours from my home, helped to put things into my new context. It helped to establish the link between living out the mission while in Chile and living out the mission in my everyday life now – to remember that the mission lives in all of us and in everyone we meet.