Back in America!

About 14 months ago I moved to Paris, France to start my mission in planting churches there. Now I am back home after living overseas for a little more than a year. How fast time flies! After having adapted to a foreign culture, now I have had to re-adapt to my native culture (Filipino-American-Jersey).

So....

• goodbye city, hello suburbs.
• goodbye bisous, hello hugs...and fist-pumps?
  
• goodbye baguettes, hello portuguese rolls & bagels.
• goodbye tartines and croissants, hello fried rice and sausages (for breakfast).
• goodbye French, hello Tagalog.
  
• goodbye boots & heels, hello flip-flops.
• goodbye Metro, hello car.
• goodbye crêpes, hello fluffy pancakes.
• goodbye périphérique, hello Garden State Parkway.
• goodbye betteraves et carottes rapés, hello broccolli rabe and tomatoes.
  
• goodbye sandwich au jambon, hello hoagies.
  

Lemon pancakes in Brooklyn while visiting my sister. :)

Professional Friend, part II

Almost a year ago to this day I posted a blog entry entitled "Carissa, Professional Friend". In it I talked about how I found myself in a lot of new friendships and wondering to what purpose they may serve. More than just for my pleasure, I expressed in this post how these nascent friendships were hopefully for the greater purpose of encouraging others in their own faith and be to God's glory.
So did I see that happen? -Yes! It wasn't always easy but God definitely opened up a lot of doors to exchange and learning. The video here will give you a better idea of what this past year, in general, was like, too:

Planting the Church in Paris_Carissa's First Year from Carissa Monta on Vimeo.