New Beginning

"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end."  -- Semisonics 'Closing Time'

And so it begins.  The blog and the journey.  Moving to New Amsterdam, Guyana, South America.  Time to remove 37 years of accumulated stuff - donate, give away, sell, store what's left.  Once we got our heads around the notion of getting rid of most of it [pretty much anything that we could reacquire if needed on our return], the actual doing should be easier than deciding what to keep.
  And today is Mashramani in Guyana -- the national celebration of independence.  Otherwise known as carnival, a good excuse for a party.  I think it's good we miss it this year, so we will know more when it comes around again next year, but from the youtube vids it looks like a good time. 
  We have moved before, but this is different.  Different culture, different climate. Different, I suppose, only by degree, because we are moving from one Lutheran parish to another.  So the ministry will be different, but the mission will remain the same: to proclaim the Gospel - preaching and sacrament, word and deed. 
  We all think about the new place; sociologists call it 'anticipatory socialisation.'  It can be very helpful, as long as you realise that it's not likely to be the way you imagined.  But now it's time to stop imagining and start again with the packing, donating, etc....