Grandad’s Island Memorial

Tom speaking at memorial

Everything was ready.  The coffee was made.  Dates were arranged on a plate and the napkins were folded.  The gift bags for the end of the memorial service were wrapped and waiting in a big hamper for distribution.  The room was arranged:  a cloth hiding the kitchen, chairs moved to the edge of the room, mats laid out on the floor,  everything clean, everything ready.  Now we were just waiting for the people.  And at 3:30, with only a few there, and some awkward silences, we were starting to wonder how long it would take the others to arrive.  It was at that moment that something inspired our daughter to quietly sing some worship songs on the porch.  They gave us strength to wait and trust. A little after 4pm we began the memorial service for Megan’s grandad with the room full of people.

The plan was simple.  A prayer, a talk about the 2 kingdoms, a reading, a talk about Megan’s grandad, another reading, a song and a prayer.  Yet for all it’s simplicity, it felt kind of groundbreaking.  All of it was done in the island language and in culturally appropriate ways.  But as we talked about Megan’s grandfather and all that he loved and stood for, the things we shared were things many of them had never heard before.  The words that were spoken, the readings, the song—all of it was new.  Looking around the room, it was hard to know reactions.  Some smiled, some were clearly listening.  Others wore unreadable expressions, were they bored or maybe even concerned.  But as we drew the time to a close, the smiles and thanks were broad.  I think they understood that we were sharing a part of our life with them—they are special to us, and so was Grandad—and bringing these things together was a delight to our hearts.  I think they understood.

Megan sharing at memorial event

But what will they take away (other than the standard goodie bag of treats)? All our copies of the song lyrics were taken. Someone asked for the written out copy of the readings. Someone even demanded that they were taking the copy of Grandad & Grammie’s wedding photo that we had printed out for the event. Beyond those physical remainders,  will they remember the things Megan spoke about her Grandad?  How he gave up big things for the sake of his Father; how he showed love to people in prison for 40 years; how he lived a life that shone with light?  Will they remember anything about the 2 kingdoms and that there is only one day to leave the kingdom of darkness?  Will they desire to live in the kingdom of light?  Will they meditate on the words of the song and sing them for themselves?  We hope they will, and we hope in the coming days we will get the chance to ask them about it.

Kids going back to local school!

PRAYERS ANSWERED

The Memorial Service went extremely well.  We are very thankful. Thank you everyone who was praying.  More than 30 people came.  It was very well received and it all went smoothly.  We’re also thankful for the islanders that helped in the planning. The kids started school this past week!  And it went well!  So glad that our kids seem happy to be back, that so far they like their teachers and classmates.  We are so thankful that they are going to school willingly and come back saying they enjoyed it. 


PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray that we would have opportunities to ask people what they thought of the memorial service and that it would lead to many good conversations.  Pray for our brothers and sisters who attended and that we could have some good conversations with them too—that it would spark ideas for future events!  Please continue to lift up Megan’s family as they still have many difficult questions to answer in the coming days.  Tom got hit hard with that virus—his tummy is doing fine now, but he regularly feels muscle fatigue.  Ibuprofen helps, but it’s still not fun.  Keep lifting up our sister with the difficult marriage.  One of the people helping with the language project has had to travel to renew his passport, pray that it would be renewed quickly so he could return without delays.