15 Years, 30 Years

Sunset on the island

This past week was our 15th wedding anniversary.  It feels like a milestone, and yet it feels like the time has gone by so fast.  Was it really fifteen years ago that we gathered with friends and family among a little church in the redwoods of California to promise to share our lives together?  But here we are…

When we tell our students, neighbors or friends that we have been married for fifteen years we get looks of awe and wonder.  Marriages are so broken and families so fractured that a marriage making it to fifteen years is really something of an anomaly here.  It is a sad truth and we hope that our commitment and love to one another will shine out as a light to people longing for trust and steadfast love.

As you know if you’ve been following our blog, these past weeks have also been hard weeks.  We’ve seen two teammates go home unexpectedly, which has left us with a much smaller team.  We are grieving the loss of our team as it was and the departure of our friends. 

We’ve also been dealing with a dear island friend who has been far away from us for almost a year and who is now very sick.  Ma Imani is a good friend. When she originally traveled to the big island for her daughter’s health, we thought it would only be a month or two.  Now a year has passed and she has gotten sick with some strange infection (it’s hard to know exactly what’s going on from far away.)  But we’ve been doing what we can with phone calls, and connecting with her family to try to help get her the care she needs.

It’s times like these that we feel tired and drained.  Our hearts are heavy from the stress and loss.  But even in these moments there are reminders of the good.  We are thankful for the way brothers and sisters have rallied together to help Ma Imani.  It shows a new strength and vitality in the community that we haven’t really seen before.  We’re thankful for the way our teammates who have left are still being cared for and that we have all weathered this storm and are still standing.

15 years ago

And then there’s our anniversary.  I (Tom) was visiting my old friend.  I’ve been sitting and talking with him on his porch for years now.  When I told him about our fifteen year wedding anniversary, I was surprised to hear him say he’d been married for 30 years!  I hadn’t known that.  He went on to say that people should know the person they’re going to marry.  They should know them well.  He and his wife grew up together.  They were friends in school.  He knew all about her before they got married.  (Just in case you don’t know, this is pretty counter-cultural.)  It may be a little thing, but it’s nice to hear of a success story once in awhile.  30 years together!  We are thankful for our fifteen years and look forward to 15 more!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Our teammate made it safely home and has had some good meetings with people so far.  We pray that the rest of her interactions and transition back will be as encouraging. We are thankful for our visitors this past week— our old teammates made it safely home to the French island after connecting with lots of old friends and neighbors and our other guest over the weekend had a good time and there seems to be clarity about where she should serve in the future. We are thankful for our anniversary and for our teammates who have agreed to take our kids for a whole day and overnight so we can celebrate (in couple weeks). 

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Please pray for Ma Imani— she is being sent to Madagascar for medical care. Her family is not wealthy and they are doing all they can to get the funds together for both the airfare and the treatment. Pray for peace for Ma Imani— she has never traveled, she only knows the island language, she’s scared and intimidated by doctors and she is having to go alone (leaving her two daughters on the islands). Pray that God’s presence would be powerfully with her. Pray for her daughters that they would be protected and cared for (especially her toddler who is very attached to her). Pray for good medical care. We’re convinced that her care on the islands has been questionable and unfortunately care in Madagascar can be questionable too. Pray for good and honest doctors that will do what is right. Finally pray for healing and that whatever is wrong would not be as serious as her family fears. Pray for our team as we try to decompress and get back into good patterns. Our two teammates are taking a prayer retreat this weekend— pray that it would be restorative for them both. Pray for us also as we reconsider our future planning and consider how we should move forward. Tomorrow is a big holiday— pray for good opportunities to share truth as we interact with island friends and neighbors.