Transience

One of the many books we read before deploying overseas talked about the difficult nature of relationships amongst ex-pats. While it can be easier to make friends overseas, when people of a similar cultural background are fewer and more inclined to seek one another out, those relationships may not last very long. At least in person. People come and go. Fast friends may leave for other locations or their home country in 2-3 years. Or less.

Singapore exemplifies this reality in some ways. It’s a magnet for some of the top minds around the world who are given opportunities to contribute their gifts and skills in exchange for living in a garden paradise and impressive wages. Of course, those impressive wages are matched by an impressive cost of living, but still, the chance to work in such a vibrant and exotic locale is certainly an appealing draw to many people from elsewhere in the world.

So it wasn’t necessarily a surprise but certainly saddening when Amy announced at our gathering a few weeks ago she would be moving on from Singapore by the end of the year. After four years or so in Singapore she feels it’s time for a change, riding on the accomplishments her research position has enabled her to garner in terms of professional publications. While I’m happy for her personally it’s disheartening to lose someone when our little group of faithful is so small.

But that sorrow was tempered somewhat this past Friday night by the introduction of someone new into our midst. Annabelle arrived in Singapore just a day or two earlier from the US to serve a one-year internship focusing on international food regulations. She’s LCMS and was thrilled to know there was an opportunity to gather in her new and temporary home-town. She’s adjusting well to her new environs, although she admits she’s still in the ‘honeymoon’ phase of living abroad, when everything is still new and exciting and exotic. But she clearly has a good head on her shoulders and it’s exciting to have a new face in our midst.

Please pray for Annabelle’s transition. It’s a huge blessing to have not just a supportive work environment but brothers and sisters in Christ to assist in the transition. Pray her internship is rewarding and prepares her for the next stage of her life vocationally and otherwise!