Wendy writes: While on furlough, how or how much do you keep in contact with those you have met on the mission field? This was a surprise for us when we returned to Canada. While in Mexico, it was easy for us to keep contact with our family and friends and we expected the communication to be the same with Mexico when it was time to leave. However, sadly it has not been so simple for various reasons.
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For me, Facebook, email, and Skype work best. However, with the time difference and our busy schedule while on home assignment, it was a challenge to keep in touch. Our furloughs are always about 2 months though, so we're not out of touch for you long.
ReplyDeleteSame here. We don't leave for long, and we pretty much don't communicate during that month that we're away. This last time was a little better, because more of our friends are starting to have computers, but it's still not easy to stay in touch with them. I did find that I used VK (the Russian version of Facebook) more than I usually do, but that's about it.
ReplyDeletei've found that friendships from the field are much the same as friendships with family and folks back home... some people are communicators and others are not. i am - and correspondingly i invest time and effort in letting people know what is up with us and in trying to find out what is up with them - but try and (metaphorically) hold my expectations of people's responses in an open hand. i've found that i've many who will follow me on our blog/on fb, etc., but never comment. yet, when we are back together, they know all about at least the public side of me and my gang... that gives me opportunity to ask lots of questions and listen, too, as we renew friendships in person.
ReplyDeleteWe used Facebook and Skype to keep in touch with friends back home (meaning back on the field). Our friends from our church here liked to keep in touch with us and we were really missing them so we made it a priority to keep in touch. We Skyped with our pastor and his wife several times throughout our four month home assignment and they also Skyped us several times with a larger group of people from our church. When I was going to miss the baby shower of a close friend, they asked me to send a video of me of me sharing a blessing for her and the baby. I was really thankful for technology during our time away!
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