A Significant Amount of Time

Tom, friend and short-termer

We saw the ex-pat workers bristle at our suggestion that they had not been here very long. We had said, “It’s been less than a year, right?” But they quickly corrected us by saying that it had been just about a year now. Unfortunately for them, that did not strengthen their argument for us that they had been on the islands a long time. We’ve seen lots of people come and go on the islands, but we find they still have a lot to learn after only one year here. What seemed to them a very significant amount of time, to us was not terribly significant considering the complicated situations they were in.

We remember planning to come back to the islands after our second son’s birth and pushing to get back as soon as possible. Ultimately we were back on the islands with a two week old, even though I had had a c-section and hadn’t fully healed yet. My body was rejecting the stitches and my incision became infected on the islands. Looking back our rushing back seems a little foolish, but at the time it seemed like we had already been gone for over 6 weeks and we wanted to get back as soon as possible.

Other teammates have also struggled with being gone from the islands for a such-in-such number of days. They work to shave a day or two off their time away, but then they talk to their island friends. These islanders don’t count their time away in days, they count time off-island in months. When we told our island neighbors that we were going to Madagascar soon, they guessed, “So will you be gone for a month or two months?” We assured them that we wouldn’t be gone THAT long, but it was obvious that (to them) being away for a month is pretty normal—not really significant.

A couple months ago we talked to some potential long-term workers, thinking of coming to Africa in 2020 and interested in our team. We had a good, long talk about our team and the work, but when we said that we were looking to welcome new workers in the fall 2020, they looked discouraged. They were really hoping to come to Africa in early 2020. It was obvious that the difference of 6 months was a closed door for them—they’d have to look for other opportunities. It reminded us of, well, us…

When we first came to the organization, we were hoping to go to the field in mid-2007.  At our orientation week in mid-2006 we learned about the opportunities: there was one team starting in 2006 (too soon, we thought). But the next team would not be starting until mid-2008. We were so disappointed. It felt like such a long time to wait—another year!

Tom with his good friend's kids

But then we met a veteran couple at orientation week. (They were there to share their experience and help give some perspective to Africa.)  Not knowing our situation, they shared how they had come back from Africa temporarily for their son’s education, probably for around 4 years. They talked about it like 4 years was nothing and we expressed our surprise. Four years was certainly a long, significant amount of time! But then the man said, “Well, what is 4 years when you think that we have 20-30 years of work ahead of us?” Suddenly our complaining about a one year delay seemed small and immature.

But even as we write this post, there is a part of us that cries out that even a single day can be significant! Didn’t we just write a few weeks ago about how our short-termer’s time here on the island, while short, was significant. People’s lives can be changed in a single summer, one month, a week or even a day. There are certainly times in my life that were short but very significant. We’ve even balked a few times when people have suggested delaying coming to Africa (even though they’ve felt called) to get more education or to get some work experience. We caution them about waiting too long and losing their vision. Some people delay and then get comfortable at home and never leave. “After all, a lot can happen in a couple years!” we’d say.  So are we just being hypocrites and calling an amount of time insignificant in one situation and in another considering it highly-significant?

As I’ve thought about it, it seems that we can only determine if a time period was significant after it has long passed. Who’s to say if this day or summer is significant until we give it a few years and we see if that time is still informing our thoughts, ideas or decisions?  Sometimes we think we know when something life-changing has happened, but the proof comes when our life is really changed and stays changed afterwards. If our life quickly goes back to normal, was it a truly a significant experience?

At our local airport, heading to big island

There is a time for everything under the sun.  A time to go quickly and a time to go slowly.  A time to wait and a time to move ahead.  The trick is knowing what time you are in and allowing times to be significant and life-changing when they are meant to be.  Thankfully, our Father is ready to guide us.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Various travels have gone well so far. Our pregnant island sister made it safely to mainland Africa. Our short-termer is now on the small island. We had a good and encouraging day on the big island with our country leader (and old teammate), as well as our old friend Ma Imani. Our other teammate is safely on her way home for her brother’s wedding! 


PRAYERS REQUESTED
There have been some divisions and disagreements in the body on the big island. Some of these are exposing some long-unhealthy areas in the group. One of the sisters from Clove Island went over to mediate this weekend. We haven’t hear how it went, but thank God that these things are coming to light and pray for good patterns of mediation and reconciliation to be established and for true forgiveness to happen. We made it safely to Madagascar, pray for Megan’s family as they travel to join us. Pray that Megan’s back would stay strong as we travel around a lot in the coming days. Pray for our teammate who is staying on Clove Island alone for the next two weeks, that it would be a good chance to lean on her island friends and neighbors and deepen relationships. Pray for a good friend of our team. She has been trying and praying for a baby for several years and is pregnant. She just made it out of her first trimester but we’ve heard that she might be miscarrying. Pray for her, the baby and her husband.