In early October, I found myself traveling from Togo’s hot climate to the US for furlough. Surprisingly, the weather in Georgia, where I started my furlough travels, was unseasonably hot, not unlike the temperatures I had left in Togo.
View from Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, while enjoying a hike with my two sisters
Over the next month and a half, as I made my way north, the warm temperatures quickly cooled, and I enjoyed watching the colors changing, which is a completely foreign concept in the savannas around Mango.
Views along the Blue Ridge Parkway
By the time I arrived in Ohio, and later Michigan, the colors were spectacular.
The fall colors hadn’t quite disappeared when a surprise snowstorm came to Ohio in mid-November. I braved the frigid temperatures to enjoy the snow-blanketed landscape the next day.
Thus, in just 1 ½ months, summer, fall, and winter transitioned one to the other so quickly that my body has been shocked, as I now sit cuddled under a blanket while writing this post. My life as a missionary on furlough feels like it transitions even faster from vastly different cultures and ministries between Togo one day, and in the US for furlough the next.
Melissa Friesen 