I'm Home.

Dear friends and family,

I am writing this post to signify that I am home.
After being gone for nearly 11 months, God has safely brought me back to my base camp, back to MY ground zero, back to my roots and my family... back to Saranac, Michigan, USA.

If you'd like to contact me, please email trazylyn@gmail.com or call (616) 328.3749



Through good and bad, this year has changed me. Looking back on this year, I am reminded of the traditional wedding vow:



to have and to hold from this day forward

from this day, I begin holding onto my experiences in a new way. While being away, I could only hold onto them in the present and look at them as a flashlight allows us to look at only one part of a dark room. Now that I've come out from this year, I hope to start turning on more lights and start realizing what it was that God taught me this year.


for better, for worse

it's easy to think things are better on the other side of the ocean. For 11 months, I often found myself thinking I would be doing so much better at this if I were back home. Now, I will be telling myself that I would be doing so much better if I were back in Hungary. Comparisons are inevitable at times, but very very unfair.


for richer, for poorer

In Hungary, it was often thought that I was just another "rich American" on vacation. Now, I go back to my life as a "rich American." I will be living in a society where it's not just normal for a family to have ONE car, but to have one car for EACH PERSON over 16 years old. I know what it's like to ATTEMPT a simple lifestyle in a city that seems far from simple. I've seen real riches and real poverty in both a financial sense, but also in a mental/emotional sense.


in sickness and in health

My mother will agree that this was the year for sickness for me. I never seemed to get used to Hungarian air. Between migraines, head-colds and tooth infection, there were moments when I wondered how I could survive for a whole year with only using maybe HALF of a bottle of aspirin prior to this year... but looking back, there were no real injuries or major health issues that couldn't be dealt with on a local level.


to love and to cherish

I truly believe this year has been one to love and to cherish. Each moment that I spent on the balcony chatting with Silvia, each pajama party with Silke, each chance to meet with the other volunteers... each placement's kids and the smiles they brought to my face or the smiles I brought to their faces...St. Columba's Church and the family they provide for those without family... each Hungarian that impacted my life - the ÖDE office, Judit (the language teacher), each foundation director, the ex-volunteers and the future volunteers... each memory will be one of fondness and love.


till death us do part

I pray that this year stays in my memory until God calls me home, where I will surely meet some of these people again.

Thank you, Hungary.