Starting Again

Setting up newcomer's house

As we walk down the main street, we’re pointing out shops and landmarks. We come up to a few women sitting on the side of the road, so we quickly say our greetings and then take a few steps away, letting our newcomers try out their few simple phrases in the local language. We can’t help smiling at the enthusiastic response they get from islanders, even as we know that our newcomers can’t understand a bit of it.

Our new teammates are grown mature adults, but in this culture they are a lot like young children.  Life is a mix of excitement and difficulty. Everything is new and so much is unknown. There is so much to adjust to and so much to learn, But they can’t learn it all at once, even if they want to. They will need lots of help.  Everything will need to be repeated again and again.  They can’t handle too much.  They can only digest one piece of information at a time.  They have to be patient.  They have to work hard.  But they also need to know that they are safe and to be encouraged and no matter how independent they may want to be, they are going to need some hand holding.  

In the same way that our new teammates are starting something new, for us we are starting again.   
It means going back to basics.  It means returning to the fundamentals of who we are, what we do, and why we do it.  In a way, it’s a lot like becoming parents—again.

As parents, our kids are getting big now.  The youngest is eight and we see how much they have grown in independence and ability.  They genuinely help out around the house.  They can be sent on errands.  We still love them, and help them grow, but they do not require near as much attention as they once did.  We’ve been feeling that way as team leaders too—our teammates are all grown up, independent, self-sufficient.  We lean on them now as much as they lean on us.  Our last new teammates arrived over three years ago, the batch of teammates before that was over seven years ago.  

Learning to wear traditional wraps

But now we have new teammates again. As team leaders it is our privilege and challenge to guide our new teammates through the process of growing up in island culture and language. It seems so long ago that we had to help people with this initial adaptation. The experience and knowledge is all back there somewhere, but there’s a lot that has been forgotten. We have to re-remember the steps we went through. What did we teach? What order did we go in? What rules did we have?

Thankfully we still have some of our notes and we also have the strength of our veteran team members!  We’re not doing it alone and can benefit from their memories and experiences as well.  Our teammates help out, pick up the slack, and often do things better than we could have done it.  What a joy to be able to work together with them to welcome new people together.

New people, just like a new child, are an investment.  They will need help and it will take time for them to find their way.  But at the same time, this is an investment with some immediate benefits. We have two new wonderful women with whom we get to interact and study.  We get to reignite our passion and vision for the islands by sharing it and teaching about it. Plus there is the wonder they have for the islands and islanders around them—as they experience island culture for the first time,  we  smile and remember how much we love the islands and islanders too.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Our two new teammates got their negative COVID tests, made it safely to the islands and had no trouble at immigration/customs! Unfortunately the same-day connection to Clove Island didn’t work out, but our teammates and colleagues worked quickly and were able to organize their stay on the big island for a night. Now they are safely settled into our house and partway through their orientation time! We feel very blessed to have them and can already see the wonderful asset to the team they will be. We are feeling all better from our run-in with COVID! On the small island at least, it seems the COVID surge is fading away— we hope and pray that the other two islands will follow that trend.

Our now bigger team!

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Please pray for our two new teammates as they get used to the climate, culture and language of the islands. Pray that our team will adapt well to welcoming and supporting them. This whole week will be full of orientation and then they will move into their own home. Pray for good transitions and that everyone will continue to be healthy. Pray for us as we go into the season of Lent that we would be drawn more into God’s heart and plan for us and the islands. Pray for our team and various colleagues as we have opportunities to pray for the sick and grieving. May we see great moments of power, healing and truth. Pray for all kids on the islands while all the island schools are closed (with no online schooling), they have little to do. Pray also for all the island teachers who aren’t necessarily getting paychecks and are struggling to get by.