How Long?

 It is amazing how much having a timeframe in mind from the outset can change your perspective:

How long will the car ride take?  In the US, we will have lots of car trips and we try to be careful and not underestimate how long the trips will take when we talk to our kids. Our kids can be content for hours in the car, but only if they were expecting it.  If they came in expecting just 1 hour, then patience will start to run thinner once that hour is up.

How long will they sleep in the car?

How long has this pandemic been?  Several people have mentioned to us about how the pandemic years seem to blend together in their memories. They are constantly surprised to realize that things that happened at the beginning of the pandemic happened over two years ago! Is that confusion because we all expected the pandemic to just be a handful of months?

How long will I commit?  When we are looking for new team members for the islands, we ask people to commit to 2-3 years initially, but we are hoping for a longer term perspective. We want them to at least be open to God calling them to the islands beyond that or at least to have a heart for this kind of work for the long term, because this is not short-term work. It is important to recognize that the first 2-3 years is a foundation for further work. 

How long will this hike take?

How long will change take?  We hope to be catalysts of change on the islands. But change on the level that we are hoping to see doesn’t come quickly.  We once heard it said that for someone coming from a background like islanders, it usually takes around 7 years from hearing about the good news, for people to actually make a decision for change. As we have been sharing with people in the US about that 7 year average, a couple people have balked and marveled at that amount of time. Seven years can seem like a long time, but we’ve gotten used to playing the long game. Seven years may seem long, but at the same time, it also gives hope. Hope that just because we haven’t seen change yet, it doesn’t mean that change isn’t coming. It gives us hope because some people might say that change is impossible. But that ‘7 years’ means that change is possible!

How long has it been?  We received an email from the US head of our organization last month, congratulating us on 15 years with the organization. I found myself immediately counting to make sure he hadn’t made a mistake. Has it really been that long? But he was right.

How long will it take? Fifteen years (13 of which have been on the islands), has shown us the value of perseverance. It has given us a perspective that continues to encourage us and renew our hope. The longer we stay on the islands, the more opportunities we get, the more change we see. Perhaps at the beginning, we were hoping for amazing change to happen within a couple years, perhaps there have been times we have been frustrated with how long it takes some to make a decision. We hold that desire for more change in tension with patience and surrender— the change isn’t up to us—we aren’t in control— the change will happen and whether it happens now or in 7 years it will be a miracle.

How long ago did Tom propose at this viewpoint?

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We had a great time reconnecting with a small group that adopted our family. Our kids got to go on a fun youth group event (a first-time experience for them).  We had a wonderful visit to Vermont this weekend.  The weather was great, the mountains were magnificent and the people were wonderful and kind.  It was so good to reconnect after six or seven long years.  We made it safely up to Vermont and down to DC. An island sister sent us an audio message joyfully sharing the news that her daughter and adopted daughter had both made decisions and been dunked under the water this weekend! We rejoice with all of them and pray for their growth and changed lives! Our medical team colleagues got the remaining paperwork done to start work and they have also had a breakthrough with a language helper sharing stories with her husband and family.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
The persecuted sister’s situation seems stable for the moment, but continue to pray for her longterm living situation.  We fly out to CA on Wednesday morning, please pray for safe travels, for Megan’s back to be strong and pain-free and for a good time reconnecting with people there. We are hearing stories of hard times on the islands with the widespread and high inflation. Rumors are that a taxi-strike will start tomorrow. Pray for relief and solutions, especially for the poorest islanders worst hit. Pray for the checking process in the translation project, for good communication, the right questions and that a great translation would be the result!