Re-Counting the Costs

All new workers to the islands must read and respond to a certain document we send them. One of the objectives of this document is to get people to think about what they will be giving up in coming to the islands and anticipating what sacrifices and difficulties they will face here.

Our older kids just got back on break between terms!

Ultimately, we want people to have counted the cost, prayed about the cost, and to have found some God-granted peace before coming. By coming with eyes wide open, they will not be blind-sided by the hard things and will already have that assurance that God led them here and will be with them through the difficulties.  

As a team, we are reading and discussing a book by an overseas worker about facing risks and danger. In one chapter, the author challenged us with the need to re-count the costs, or at least to be sensitive that others may need to recount the cost, even if we feel like we have already done so. She focused on the different family situations— single vs married vs having young kids vs older kids, and the different roles— new workers vs team leaders vs regional leaders, and the changing circumstances and difficulties that might have been unforeseen and unexpected.

Basically, she is challenging us to acknowledge that we can’t have anticipated everything— our lives and our circumstances are complex webs— and we might find that there is a cost that we hadn’t considered or found peace with before.

Son in costume for the play

For many workers, they had to recount the cost when the COVID pandemic hit. The shutting of borders around the globe was unprecedented— we may have had peace about the islands’ lack of medical care when we came out, but before you could always fly to another country if necessary. With borders closed that wasn’t really possible.

Other things that makes us count the cost again are changes in our health or aging parents or other family needs—all change the cost of being overseas. Sometimes as people recount the cost, they find that they don’t have peace about staying anymore and they feel that God is asking them to pay the different cost of returning to their home country.

In reality, every decision has a cost, and just as we see prices of produce rise greatly on the islands because of too much rain this year, so we see the new or higher costs of our decisions as circumstances change.

A newer cost for us has been having kids at boarding school. We were aware that it might be something we’d want to do when we first came to the islands, but our eldest was a baby then. It was far off and didn’t really feel real at that time. After several years that cost became real and we had to acknowledge the cost, grieve the sacrifice and find peace with it.

This past month, that cost felt a little more expensive. Our daughter is in choir and had a tour. Our son was playing basketball and had games.  He also had a role in the Jr. High drama production. Before, I would have said that our kids being involved in activities like sports, choir and drama is one of the great benefits of them going to boarding school (and it is), but having our kids do these extra-curriculars and rarely being able to be there in person to watch them and cheer them on has been a heavier than expected load.

With his Wood Tech creations

It doesn’t mean we don’t have peace with our decision of living on the islands or having our kids at boarding school. But we have to acknowledge the cost and recommit to being here in spite of it. We have to place our burdens down at the feet of the One who can carry them much better than we can. It’s a process and the process teaches us and prepares us for the next time we have to recount.

We hope to prepare so that new workers facing difficult situations can say, “We knew this was part of it. We knew this was going to be difficult. This isn’t a surprise.” But even when the surprises come, we hope the experience of counting the cost and seeing God faithful will help us to say, “If this is what He wants, then we can have peace through this too.”

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Our two older kids made it through their end-of-term exams and projects. They arrived back to us yesterday after a long trip (3 flights) to get back to Clove Island. We are thankful for the different adults that were able to help them along the way. We are thankful that we will have them with us for the next 4 weeks!  We are thankful for the opportunities this month of fasting give us and our colleagues to share the good news of hope and forgiveness.  We are encouraged by all the people who join us in fervent prayer this month for islanders as this is a time when many may be seeking a deeper connection with God.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for everyone on the islands celebrating the Easter holiday this upcoming weekend, which is made more difficult during the month of fasting. May it be a wonderful time of celebrating the new life we have available to us! Pray for those facing persecution this month. We’ve heard that a group on the big island had police enter and stop their normal weekly meeting, even though they had federal permissions to exist.  The local mayor forbad them to meet in that town. We also heard of an island sister whose landlord is threatening to kick out her family because of her beliefs. Pray that these situations could be turned into opportunities for more people to hear and be impacted by the good news.  Pray for our youngest son as he finishes up his local school exams and then for all our kids to enjoy a break from schoolwork. Pray for us as we try to find fun ways to celebrate our older son’s birthday (most of his preferred options are difficult or not possible during the month of fasting). Pray also for the increasing number of cholera cases on the island (most islanders don’t believe the reports that it is on the island). Pray that islanders would take sanitation seriously and would get treatment at the first sign of symptoms.