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I wasn’t prepared for how much work it would take to get a missionary out in the field. Lissa had been working on preparing things for months, and I had been procrastinating. As the departure date drew closer our lives became more overwhelmed with getting things ready. The whole family chipped in, including this angel helper. It takes a lot of planning and effort to prepare for this kind of adventure.

Stuff

It takes a lot of stuff to leave home for a couple of years.  We have done enough shopping in the past couple of months to last me a lifetime. Of course I hope to get to do it several more times, maybe somewhere down the road I’ll even learn to enjoy it? I tried to take on some specific items I thought would fit my interests better.

We wanted to send him with a camera he could use to document things along the way. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to send him with one of our old cameras, that I think would have been perfect for the job. I was able to find a couple of reviews for point and shoot cameras that were reasonably priced. It’s difficult, because there can be a lot of theft, so I didn’t want to get anything too nice, but I did want him to be able to get decent pictures. Hopefully I found the sweet spot where he can do just that, and not be robbed.

Additionally we had to find all the missionary specific items; white shirts, slacks, shoes, suit cases etc. The ties worked out well, we have the connection with zuzu. We did gather a few items early, but there was still a lot to do right up until the final couple of days. Even things that seem like they should be so easy (ie. picking luggage) can take hours of your time.

On one of our final days, we set up an assembly line. We were pulling tags off shirts, spraying all the clothes with a bug spray, and getting the final preparations ready to go. Our sweet little girl was out in the sun helping to dry these shirts after they were sprayed. When the family comes together we can get a lot done in a short time. Everything worked out great, and we avoided getting down to the very last minute.

Did we need to get him rain boots? We didn’t make that happen. He may have to figure that one out in country.