The Long View

 In our blog and often in our updates, we give you news.  We tell you the latest exciting things that are happening.  And it’s good to know that things are happening, but we don’t often give the long view.

Megan with grandmother/granddaughter

Yet our work—most of our goals—are slow to come about. That’s because we work with people and people are a slow process.  In a movie, character development happens in an instant, we see that moment of change and it feels like flipping on a light.  But the reality is, for every moment of major heart change there is often a long road of development.  We forget that sometimes.  We look to the moment of change and forget what came before.  But what came before is part of the story.

Forty years ago a foreign woman married an islander and came to the islands to live.  She had no family on the islands and her husband did not support her, yet she had many children.  She clung to her faith and her children.  Along came a group of expats who saw this woman’s plight, saw her tenacity and her need. They gave her a job and began to support her.  They lifted her out of poverty and mentored her in the way of truth. They invested in her daughters, meeting regularly with them, loving them and teaching them.  The daughters were strong in character and life. There was hope for great things from them, that as they grew into women that they would be faithful and true.  

But in time the expats had to leave.  The daughters grew.  They were each married off to island men.  Most of the marriages were failures of abuse, infidelity and abandonment.  The seeds that had been planted were choked and stunted and dying.  It seemed like very little had come of the investment.

Fifteen years later, one of the daughters would become our house helper.  On first impression, she can seem rather timid, but once you break through that initial timidity, you discover that she has a lot of energy. We had the delight of learning language from her and becoming friends and seeing the ember that had almost gone out relight.  The fire returned bit by bit.  She was growing in wisdom and truth and started passing it on to her own young daughter.  Slowly, we began to see change in her life and a desire to meet and grow with others.  But then she left our island.  Circumstances in life caused her to move to the big island, and though our friendship remains, we no longer have the influence from afar that we once had weekly.

Our daughter at event

On the big island things seemed to go on as before—slow, sometimes almost imperceptible growth with glimmers of something more.  Our friend was surely growing, but it was hard to see the results of that growth.  This time it was a British colleague who began to connect with her.  For the past couple years they have been mutually encouraging each other and just recently there have been some exciting developments and fruit—a boldness and courage, an assurance and steadfastness, a maturity and strength that we have not seen before.  Something that had been developing—perhaps waiting for the opportunity to break forth.  She saw a stranger in a dream and then went to the village from her dream and searched that person out.  She learned of an old man in another village who wanted her to come and visit him and share with his family and so she has.  She, a small woman from another island, now has gone, shared, studied and answered questions in two villages on the big island! She is excited by how she is being used and so are we!

These stories are so exciting and encouraging, but getting there was a journey (one that continues!). Seen in the long view, these recent exciting developments had a lot of investment behind them and a lot of slow change leading up to them.  

We don’t really appreciate slow change.  It’s hard to measure, hard to motivate, hard to manage.  It is not exciting.  It happens so gradually that we are tempted to miss it and think, “Hasn’t it always been this way?” or think that nothing is really changing at all.  It’s important to remind ourselves of the reality sometimes, to think back and remember what has come before.  Has it always been like this?  No. It hasn’t. There has been significant change.  

New lego creation!

In speaking of the long view, John Newton said it well, “I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, I am not what I hope to be in another world; but still I am not what I once used to be, and by the grace of God I am what I am.” May it be a comfort to those journeys that haven’t reached their exciting parts yet—slow change can still lead to great things.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We are very thankful for these stories of boldness and our good friend going and sharing in new villages! The translation team was able to work through ten chapters despite the heat and some technical issues- next week will begin another set of checks! So far it seems that all the new workers on the islands are settling in well. Our daughter was able to do her annual educational testing and she is doing well! We had a good week with our visitor and she made it to the big island!  We have had some good discussions and a few decisions come together for those future considerations we mentioned. Our team has been handing out our proverb calendars which has led to some good interactions.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for more exciting stories of islanders reaching out to others in truth and love— pray for slow and fast change to lead to lasting fruitfulness. Island sisters are hoping to gather and support one of their own who had a baby. Pray for a good gathering (as COVID has greatly limited those) and a new pattern of meeting regularly. Pray that our visitor will get her negative COVID result and that she will have safe travels to another possible work location. Pray for wisdom and clarity for her and our team about whether she should join us here or go elsewhere. We are joining in discussions about what team leading and team support look like in our organization—pray that we would communicate well as we share some of our ideas and that only the good would be heard and implemented. Our family has continued to have some tummy troubles— pray for calmed bellies and healthy appetites. We are planning on restarting our English Club this week. Pray that we would do that well while abiding by masking and curfew rules. It has forced us to change the time that we meet which will be more difficult for us as a family. Pray that reconnecting with these English students would lead to good conversations.