5 Things You Must Do When Moving

Packing things

Almost every year or two, we move to a new place. As missionaries, moving is nothing new to us. But it is still stressful every time we move. So to help ease out the stress, we do some simple things before we move to a new place. Let me share with you five things we observe to reduce our stress.

1. Search out the new place.
 - You can visit the new location and get familiar with the area. Familiarize yourself with the area and with the people too. We attended worship service in the closest church to our new home in the area just to familiarize with the people as well. If this is not physically possible, you can always check the place online.

2. Say good bye to the place.
- It is important to acknowledge that we are leaving a certain place and must bid it farewell. These places have special memories to us and oftentimes it has emotional attachments to us. Weeks before we left, we include in our prayers saying goodbye to the place and the memories it holds for us. This is where I taught my kids to ride a bike, celebrated Christmas and New Year together and other memories. Saying goodbyes help put closure and eases the stress on the emotions.

3. Say good bye to friends.

Goodbye Cards

- Or at least inform them that you may not be seeing them as frequent as before. People might hate saying goodbyes, but kids need this kind of activity to put order and closure in the part of their lives. We had our kids set one day to send goodbye cards and gifts to their teachers and friends as they will be moving to a new school. It is important to emphasize that goodbyes does not necessarily mean the friendships will end but that staying in a particular place does.

4. Move at night.
- Traffic is bad. But traffic eases out during night time. So plan to move your stuff at night time. I also love the image of moving at night and finishing all the transfers as the dawn breaks. It just sets the setting where God prepares something new with the new day.

5. Bless the household before moving in.
- As in literally before moving in, you must bless the household. Not just the house and the place but the people in the household. More than the new place, the people involved - the parents, the kids, the relatives who are moving - needs God's blessing and guidance. Before we even open the door of the new place and put the first box inside, we prayed together outside the new place and ask God to bless the household. God provides the comfort and the peace to remove all the stresses involved in moving to a new place.

We're moving today. Happy moving.