Why Are We Here?

Why is a wonderful question.  It’s amazing how why can open up a Pandora’s box of questions.  One of the best “why” questions out there is “Why do we do that?”  It’s amazing how often we don’t think about why we do something.  Why do we drive on the right side of the street?  Why do we yawn? Why do we say, “I’m fine” even when we aren’t fine?  So often we don’t even know the answer.

Our daughter explaining Island dress

For this blog we want to answer the question: “Tom & Megan, why are you here in America?”  “Why do you take time every few years to leave your place of work for a number of months to come to America?”  Now it may seem obvious to you, but we have found that it is not as obvious as it may seem.  We’ve also discovered that there are often misconceptions about why we come back to America.  So we thought we would take a blog to help set the record straight.  

Why do we come back to America every few years?  Through our conversations with people here it has become clear that all of the following are reasons people assume for our coming to America.  Most of them are misconceptions or half-truths:

Many people think we are here because:
We are on vacation: Actually, being in America means a good deal of work for us.  Most of it is relational, and consists of meetings, emails, and making connections.  We do take vacation time while we are here, but rest assured, we are busy working too.  Vacation time is not why we come to America.
We are on sabbatical: A sabbatical is defined as “a period of paid leave granted to a university teacher or other worker for study or travel,”  As nice as a sabbatical would be, that is not what we are doing. Although, when we can, we try to do some study (like the online course we completed last month) or time away (like the prayer retreats we hope to take) this time is not sabbatical and not why we come to America.
We miss America and want to see our friends and family:  We certainly do miss our friends and family, and look forward to seeing them when we are in America, but that is not enough of a reason for us to leave our normal life, our work, our team, our responsibilities for months.  Homesickness is not why we come to America.
We are required to do so by our organization.  This is true, we are required to come back to the States every so often by our organization—but that is not why we come back to America!
We are raising funds.  We do have financial needs that God faithfully provides for through contacts, friends and groups. If a workers’ funds become insufficient for them to continue, they may be required to come home.  But that is not our situation.  God continues to provide.  So while we do enjoy the opportunity to thank people who support us financially and we are often amazed by how God puts our financial needs on people’s hearts, that is not why we come to America.

Helping rake was harder work than anticipated

So though all of the above have some truth to them and they are valid reasons to come to America, none of them is our main focus when we come to America.   

When we come to America it is to inspire a passion for the work on the islands and for the work right here in America too.  Likewise, it is to be inspired by what God is doing through and among the people here.

We have the privilege of being ambassadors. On the islands we seek to be ambassadors for the good news to islanders. At the same time, we are ambassadors for the islands and for all that God is doing there to people back home. As good ambassadors we don’t just want to be representatives, we want to be learners. We want to learn from the islands and from America and be better for it.  We want to cross-pollinate, in the hopes that we all become healthier and more fruitful from the practice.

Island show & tell

This cross pollination happens to a limited extent through our blog/updates and the emails we get in response,  but we find this happens best when we see people face to face, when they ask their questions and we ask ours and the intersection of ideas and perspectives and thoughts blossoms into something new and transformational.  We walk away from our times with others changed, and it is our prayer and hope that they do as well.

We are excited to come back and do this.  We are impassioned to talk to you and hear from you.  We want to inspire you with insights from the islands and in turn be inspired by your thoughts and questions, so that we build each other up and have a bigger picture and a brighter flame for the work of the good news in our lives, in our neighborhoods and around the world. That is why we come to America.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We made it safely out to California without any problems! Megan’s back is doing okay.  We are enjoying connecting with California friends and family.  Plus fun experiences: our daughter got to go horseback riding and our son got to go to a college baseball game.  Our medical tea colleagues actually went to work last week!  We are so happy to see this long process finish and work to begin.  Our island teammates carry on and seem in good spirits and good health.  Some have traveled and arrived at their destinations safely already.  

PRAYERS REQUESTED
A number of our island teammates and colleagues are off-island or traveling soon. Pray for all the comings and goings, that people would stay healthy and that the teams and work left behind would continue to thrive in their absence.  Pray for a family on the big island who have just about finished their study guide and are close to making some important decisions.  Pray for the island sister who is guiding them in the process and continuing in study with them while our colleague is off island.  We are hoping to see a husband and wife start studying together this week.  Pray that it would happen and that hearts would be open.  Pray for a believing island couple who are having serious conflict.  Pray that they would love and forgive each other and that our teammate could be a good influence in their lives.