Persevering

 Today we leave mainland Africa for our onward flights to the islands.  We had a wonderful time in the US, but the time was short and we didn’t get to see everyone we would have liked.  At the risk of sounding a bit repetitive, we thought we would dedicate this blog to sharing the things we were sharing with all those we did get to see, so you might be up to speed on where we find ourselves, our hearts and our work.

Final family breakfast in the US

In trying to give an update on the past two years, the word that came up again and again—becoming a theme of our sharing—was the word “perseverance.”  Perseverance defined by google is “persistence in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.”  The definition draws out two paths of perseverance that we see.  There is perseverance through difficulty—like the Olympic marathon runners using their last ounces of strength for a final kick to the end and then collapsing over the finish line .  And then there is the perseverance through long delay—like the years and years of practice, day after day, month after month, year after year, it took those same Olympians to get to the games.

We have known both kinds of perseverance in our years on the islands, but in thinking over the past two years, we are thankful for the fruit of perseverance through long delay.. It is not a plodding perseverance we wanted to share, but rather a hopeful one.  We are seeing and sharing the answers to many prayers, many of which have been long in coming.

Traveling through Doha

We are thankful for fruit of perseverance among the island family.  In the past two years we have seen them take steps to identify themselves as a community and commit to regular meetings, offerings, and prayer.  What a wonderful thing to have happen.  Moreover in the past year we have seen the fruit of the long hard road of translation, resulting in actual physical books to read!  Neither of these things came about quickly, but required many years of patience endurance.  But neither is this work finished.  One small group, one small book, is not the goal.  Our hearts yearn for much more and so we know that the call is to continue to persevere.

Another area we see the fruit of perseverance is through our personnel.  In the past two years we have seen many of our long-serving colleagues called away to new fields, but we have trusted in God to provide new workers to come and join us.  He has done so abundantly and we hope to welcome this year as many as 9 new workers including from three different African nations.  So we persevere through these changes and remember that God will provide.  But it will not be easy with all this change and the multiple cultures to integrate, respect and love.  This too calls for perseverance going forward.

In his new dorm room

Parenting is another area that takes perseverance.  In the past two years, we have watched, rejoiced, prayed and grieved as our two older children have gone off to boarding school, far from our island home.  It is not easy having our kids so far from home, but we see both the fruit of our years together and the fruit of allowing them to be guided and mentored by others.  We are so thankful to see them thriving at school and growing into a man and a woman of God.  But there are many years of school ahead going through adolescence and now battling illness. This calls for continued perseverance.

Lastly, there is our island home and community.  Here we experience both types of perseverance.  We are thankful for the ways our long presence there has meant many deep relationships— relationships that continue to deepen and hearts that continue to open.  But we also see the need to hang in there.  The islands have suffered greatly from global inflation, seeing their hard lives made that much harder as the little they have does not go as far as it used to.  We hear far more stories of people not being able to feed their families than we used to.  The political and economic situation continues to decay through poor governance, corruption and laws and practices that hurt growth and industry.  There are more shortages of everything from rice to electricity.  The ecological toll of over-farming, tree removal and pollution have seen a vast loss in yearly rainfall resulting in water shortages.  In short, the islands can be a difficult place to live.  But in this too, we persevere, knowing that good news is not just hope for the soul, but for the community and that these big problems can turn around when people join together in unity.  So we persevere and ask you to continue to persevere with us.  Change comes slowly, but it is coming!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Our final days in the US went well and we felt like we got the needed things done. We made it back to mainland Africa with all our bags (with God seeing us through a short connection). Our daughter and Megan didn’t have significant pain during the travels. We saw our daughter’s rheumatologist and have an updated treatment plan to hopefully get rid of the remaining disease activity in her joints. We had a nice afternoon at our kids’ boarding school, settling them into their new dorm rooms and meeting their dorm parents. The school has lots of great people serving there and we are very thankful for them all.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for our remaining travels back to Clove Island, still 3 more flights to go! Pray that we could reconnect well with colleagues on the big island as we pass through and ultimately for our readjustment into life and work on Clove. Pray that our house is ready to receive us since they have replaced the roof/ceiling in our absence. Pray for our older two as they start a new year at boarding school and adjust to new dorms and roommates. Pray for our daughter as she begins injections two times a week for her rheumatoid arthritis— pray that she would tolerate the medication without side effects and that it would clear up her remaining symptoms. Pray for our time reconnecting with island friends and neighbors. We will see a lot of people this coming week, pray that we would have the energy we need and be lights back into our island community. Pray for the marriages of our island brothers and sisters— there was a wedding just this weekend on the big island- pray for this new union. At the same time, we have heard that another marriage is falling apart, pray for God’s grace and guidance for the family involved.