Happy Halloween: The We-Wu for October 27-31, 2025

Mine was not a Halloween-celebrating family. That’s probably not unexpected considering my status as a Preacher’s Kid. The few times that I did get to dress up, I always wore something simple. I believe I was a pilgrim one year, and then I was a ghost until it got too unwieldy.

Honestly, I didn’t really miss it. Much like Santa Claus, Halloween just wasn’t something I thought about. (Pretty sure I broke the news about SC to some people without realizing it. Oops.) I still got candy because my parents didn’t want me to miss out, but they bought it for me and could control when I ate it. Theoretically.

Now, I actually find it quite fun to dress up. I rarely get the opportunity, but it’s something I really enjoy. I get to pretend for a while to be someone else. Or that I live in a parallel universe.

It is a bit hard to fulfill this impulse when I work at a mission organization. But there is a variety of clothing out there that can actually work as just enough of a costume to calm the inner nerd. In fact, a lot of the clothing is based on one of my nerdy fandoms - The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Marvel, etc. I don’t know if anyone noticed this week, but I did pick a different dress each day that honored one of my favorite Intellectual Properties. It’s just something fun, and it is actually okay to do fun things for yourself every now and then. (You know what I don’t have much of? Narnia merch. I feel like they’ve locked down that IP, which is good, because there have been some abominations released in the name of LotR, Marvel, and other fandoms. I’m concerned about the upcoming series from Greta Gerwig. I’ve liked some of her stuff, but she can also be super feministic, and that’s not what Narnia is about. There was a rumor that Tilda Swinton was going to voice Aslan, and I will actively boycott the show if they do that.)

I’m still working my way through “The Life and Ministry of Jesus” weekly guide from Phase 2 of VCP. It is both easier and not than the spiritual formation guide. There are fewer nested lists in this one, but there are more questions, and the references are many. I’m trying to limit the number of times we reference a page number because they never correspond when it comes to translation. Even when you go out of your way to do it like we do with Train & Multiply. I can’t guarantee the same page numbers, and it’s annoying and I hate that I have to explain it every time and very few people think it matters until months later when they actually use it and realize that everyone is working off of different pages.

Not that I’m bitter.

The other notable thing that happened this week is that a dear friend and fellow missionary passed unexpectedly. Honestly, I’m still in shock. I will miss Patty very much. She was so lovely to me during my year in the Development department, and we bonded over her dogs that I got to sit for. My last time seeing her was so hurried. I figured we would catch up the next time. I guess that’s going to be a bit longer than I thought.

There has been far too much death this year. I feel like I now must treat every interaction with someone as the last time I will see them, and that can probably be quite nice or incredibly stressful. Or both. Perhaps we just need to make every moment with others something worthwhile. I’m getting older, and this is only going to get worse. Hug your loved ones, everybody.

I think that’s where we end this week. Likely no we-wu next week, but we’ll see. Take care of your small stuff and tell your people you love them.

Bye!