Kaitlin Nelson, a new ELCA Young Adult in Global Mission serving in Mexico, writes of her recent transition from college graduation to ELCA missionary in the latest edition of Cafe, Women of the ELCA’s e-newsletter.  Below, find brief excerpt from her article.   After reading the excerpt, consider these two questions (and share any thoughts they spark as a comment).
1.  When have you faced the need to “let go” to go?
2.  After a major sort of stuff, what are you glad to have shed, grateful to have kept or sorry to have tossed?
–Sue Edison-Swift
Mountain of stuff
Since I can take very little with me, I am going to have to get rid of stuff.  Sorting through items from my apartment at college (that now line the walls of my parents’ basement), I realize that the objects are valuable because of the memories they bring. They are reminders of gifts received from family and friends, quirky purchases, and hand-me-downs.  The items that I have to donate will go into one bin, things that will be discarded will go into another, and those that I will save are going into a third container.  Even though I will not bring this collection of stuff along, it has been a part of me and discarding it is not easy.
 As I wrestle with questions about what it means to be transformed by the new realities I will face, I trust that my faith journey could not be whole without doing this.  –Kaitlin Nelson