Well, I can finally tell the news.
We're moving back to the States next week.
After much prayer and waiting 8 months for God to give us a clear direction, we feel that we are being called back to the States. It has been a long, difficult year of uncertainty and change. John is doing much better, but if we were to stay here, he would have to live on medicine because of all of the parasites and other things. And he would not be able to go out and do the village work as we were supposed to do.
John has accepted a call to come as Minister of Evangelism and Missions at a church in my hometown. We actully did our stateside assignment there 2 years ago and love the people dearly. They have a wonderful pastor and youth minister and John is really looking forward to serving with them.
It's such a bittersweet week for us. We are thrilled to be going back and are very excited about our new ministry there, yet at the same time, we are so sad to be leaving the mission field. That's kind of all our children know. They've been to the States, yet they're MKs at heart. We love living on the mission field and will really miss our friends and the culture. Plus, it saddens us to know that our neighbors are still not Christians.
I have been packing this week and the movers will come one day this week to crate it all up and send it on to the States. It's not a typical move where you put it all in a box and take it from one house to another. We have to pick and choose what we are taking and get "X" amount of space to fit it into. We won't really know what will fit and what we can take until they are here crating it. So, we've had to go through every little thing in the house to kind of pre-sort and pre-pack as much as we can. Missionary moves are interesting..........you fill every tiny little crack with something to maximize your space. So, when you receive it on the other end, it's not really the most logical assortment of things in each box. : ) We are thrilled to get to take anything at all though. We thought we might have to leave it all behind. If so, it would be ok, but I felt so sad to think of it because we have little sentimental things from each country and it's all we have left of our "former life". What a blessing it is to take some of it with us!
Yesterday, I was teary-eyed for most of the day. Listening to the girls outside playing with their friends and seeing their friends look funny when they realized we were packing inside the house. It seems the missy life is one of constant change and goodbyes. You kind of get used to it, but it's still hard. There are so many "perks" though too---- we have friends literally all over the world and have been blessed so much by our relationships and experiences as we have lived in 4 different countries. How many kids can say that, right?
The exciting thing is that we'll still be "doing missions". And John will be doing exactly what he is gifted in. God has truly blessed us with this opportunity and we are very excited about the possibilities. And who's to say we won't have more of an impact this way than if it were just our family of 7 on the field? : )
Right now we're praying about the pets. We thought we would be flying Continental and it was not going to work out to bring our dogs. The kids were devestated. (me too) But, now we're flying Delta and it looks like it should work. We'd like to bring the cat, but we'll have to see what the regulations are. The kids really want to bring her. She really is a sweet, good little cat. (and a great mouser, obviously!) John and Isaac may have to drive from Atlanta with them. I'll fly home with the rest of the kids. We'll know for sure tomorrow what we're doing.
Isaac is excited because we're flying home on his birthday. Sam's is the next day. What a present, right? They get to go home and see Grandma and Grandpa!
So, in a few months we should be nice and settled. This has definitely been our wildest year yet.
None of this was planned or expected. We never dreamed we would leave the field before retirement. But God has other plans and His are always best, so we'll go with them. : )
We're looking for a home to buy and actually have a few favorites picked out already. We're working with an agent and plan to go look at them next week. Hopefully we'll be able to sign on one right away. Then we can begin the homestudy process and come back for Carmelita.
It has been truly amazing to see God's hand in all of this. We have already had some ministry opportunities/experiences there because of our upcoming move. We are praying we will not get in the way of any of God's plans and that we will be true servants willing and able to be used by Him in any way.
It's also nice that we know the area and many of the people. It feels like "going home" even to the kids (even though they've only spent short amounts of time there) and the adjustment will be much easier. Although, in about 6 months it will probably really hit us--- the reality of being back for good.
We appreciate your prayer this week especially as it will be a hard week for us. And for the upcoming weeks and months as we step into a new minstry and follow God's leading for this new journey. We have truly loved being missionaries and always will be. We don't feel as we are leaving the field............we like to think of it as "just changing fields".
I'll keep you posted.
