Short-termer Impact

Tomorrow we will say goodbye to our intern.  Our intern came out 2 months ago for a short-term assignment with us.  He’s a young man in his 20s, from the States, going to college, interested in linguistics and this kind of work.  Having him here has made us reflect on the benefits of having a short-termer around.

Goodbye party for our intern

We prefer short-termers that can stay more than a month, because over that time there is usually some point where life becomes less exciting. It might be brief, but they get a taste of what “normal life” is like here on the islands.  This usually comes with a level of disappointment—realizing that even on a remote tropical island, the adventure eventually wears off.  It often comes with the sense that, they can’t do very much.  They don’t speak much language.  They can’t share with everyone they see all the wonderful things on their heart.  They realize that if they wanted to truly have an impact, the road would be long and hard.  These are important truths that are worth wrestling with.  But at the same time we like to encourage them with a wonderful truth:  they do make an impact.

Someone has said that most short-term trips have the most impact on those who go rather than on the ones they go to.  That is true.  Short-termers are given the opportunity to experience and see things they’ve never seen before.  Their cultural boxes are challenged.  Their ideas about the world and its people are expanded and God uses it mightily to awaken us to the opportunities, the wisdom and the needs of other cultures—and that is an impact that can often be of life changing significance. 

Helping with English Exams

But even as we invest in our short-termers and expand their horizons, we value their impact on our team, on our work and on islanders.  As a team, we greatly enjoyed having a fresh face, with new ideas and insights added into our team.  In practical ways, our intern has helped us with some tasks that needed an extra pair of hands, feet, and eyes on the ground.

Our intern/short-termer possesses a gift that that I think is key for anyone coming out to the islands: flexibility.  We promised him a few important things.  We promised to orient him well and to give him good support—multiple times in the week for checking in, prayer, rest, and study.  But beyond that he had a lot of freedom and could expect the unexpected.  That was certainly the case this summer.  Now we would have preferred to keep our short-termer settled in one place, but our own travels meant, we sent him off to the little island for three weeks, where our island colleagues graciously supported him. There he lived with an island family, experienced the small island’s unique culture, and learned their dialect and accent.  When he came back to us, he definitely had picked up a bit of the little island accent!  Back with us, we quickly sent him off to live with a Clove Island family.  Our short-termer took it all in stride.  One islander remarked, “that guy could live anywhere.” I think that is high praise in this line of work.  Flexibility is key.

When an island family agreed to take in our intern, they were agreeing to let a different sort of person into their house.  He carried with him a light and a love that they had possibly never known or experienced before.  They had almost certainly never had someone like this live so closely with them.  All their preconceived notions about how they thought people like us live, think and act were being challenged.  The experience of having a responsible, kind, loving, faithful young man living among them may change the way they think about people of the light and people of darkness.  And that may have a mighty impact indeed.

Sitting down to dinner at Fakhadi's

But beyond his own relationships with islanders, our intern has also helped to impact our friendships with islanders, by being a catalyst for deepening those relationships.

A couple of days ago, our friend “Fakhadi” (whom we’ve mentioned on the blog before), invited our whole family to his family house as a sort of going away dinner for our intern.  We’ve known Fakhadi for 7 years, but this was the first time he has invited us to his home and given us  the opportunity to meet his extended family.  This was no small thing and something that wouldn’t have happened if our intern hadn’t made friends with him and provided a reason for the invitation.

Now, we have only had a handful of short-termers in our years on the islands. It’s an investment to get them here and to support them properly without knowing exactly what the impact will be. But that is where we trust and celebrate because surely short-termers have an impact on the islands, and the islands will have an impact on them as well.

Could someone you know be our next short-termer???

PRAYERS ANSWERED
One of the men that Tom has been studying with has started to share the stories and things he has been learning with his wife— this is very encouraging. Pray that it would continue so they could seek and study together. We are thankful for the evening with Fakhadi and the chance to get to know his many sisters, nieces and nephews. May it lead to more interactions! Our teammate is on track to leave the UK and be back on the islands by the end of the week- we pray for her travels and are encouraged that her medical check-ups didn’t reveal any new problems. Our short-termer’s final week has gone well and we have been very thankful to have here this summer.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
As we were posting this blog, an island sister was in labor at the hospital. She had been very anxious about this delivery because her sister recently had a traumatic still birth. We just got word that the baby was born, but don’t know yet how it went or if everyone is okay. Pray for health and safety of both mother and baby and quick recovery! Another island sister has recently been confronted about her beliefs by her brother. She invited him to come and talk to her about it and she is still waiting for that visit. She has never had a direct confrontation with her family before— pray for peace, wisdom and the right words for her and for a softening of her family’s hearts (especially this brother). Our organization’s leader for all the islands is in Kenya and will have surgery at the end of the week— pray for a smooth surgery and quick recovery. Pray for our short-termer’s travels back home and that he would be a successful ambassador for the islands and get people praying! Tom is going to start an English teacher training course in a far village— meeting every weekend for the next month- pray for the logistics and that it might be a link to spreading light to that village. Tom is meeting with an island brother tomorrow to study— pray that it would go well as their first meeting a couple weeks ago was a little rough because Tom didn’t know ahead of time that he had a low literacy level. Tom has a new plan for engaging him, so pray that it goes well.

Island Karate

 “Ku-Sho-Dan!” We shout as we stand in the ready position for the first “kata”.  Then, in unison, we move gracefully through a series of steps, punches and blocks.  Next, our teacher pulls out a punching pad and we all line up to punch and kick the pads as hard as we can.  The kids and I are doing karate!  It’s a lot of fun. 

Practicing at home

We’ve been at it for almost two year now. And I think we’re getting pretty good—at least at katas. Our teacher looks on quite pleased.  “Sensei Brucelee” is a wiry, athlete who appears to be made of muscle and rock.  We think he’s in his sixties, but he moves like a much younger man and his passion is karate.  He doesn’t talk a whole lot.  As near as we can tell, he was trained by Japanese visitors with whom he had very little language in common, and so he has learned to teach karate in the same way.  Most of his instruction is wordless, made with gestures and alternating between correct form and incorrect form.  

His “dojo” is a simple room with concrete floors that is used for other purposes and is rarely swept or mopped. All it takes is a little karate and we have “karate feet”! But that doesn’t mean rock-hard feet that can crash through walls, it’s actually the black color the bottoms of our feet get from being barefoot on the dirty floor.  

So it isn’t the ideal context for learning karate. With concrete floors and no mats, we don’t do any take downs or falls. Sensei Brucelee is meagerly supplied with only a few punching pads, but he is so eager to teach what he can. He hasn’t even asked for a cent all these months, he just loves to teach, welcoming to anyone who comes in.

Its funny the things that get popular in a small secluded island nation, but martial arts are actually a pretty popular sport.  I wonder if it is connected to the fact that you really don’t need much in terms of materials.  Go to the beach on a weekend and you’ll probably see someone doing some kind of marital arts move (sand works well in lieu of mats).  I have been surprised to learn just how many of the men I know have, at some point in their life, studied martial arts.  

For example, we’re on the beach at a picnic, and unfortunately no one thought to bring a ball, frisbee, anything.  So I ask if anyone knows karate.  Soon enough I’ve got a couple of guys who have done it before showing me their moves. 

Sensei Brucelee works with our sons

“Go ahead, punch me,” my new found friend says, so I give him a nice easy jab toward the stomach. Before I know it he has flipped me onto my back and I am staring up at the blue sky with sand in my hair.  I’m not used to actually being flipped, since we don’t practice with mats, so I definitely appreciated the soft sand (although it could have been a little softer).

I have another set of friends who have taken to making martial arts videos.  They post them on facebook.  The story line might be thin, and the footage a bit amateur, but the karate looks pretty impressive.

So, we’re not at the “our hands are lethal weapons” or “make a martial arts movie” stage yet, but we’re getting pretty good.  It’s good exercise, helps us to connect with some people, and gets the kids some extra-curricular opportunities (which are few and far between on the islands). We have so much fun that we’ve managed to convince most of our team to join us! 

At the beginning of our karate adventure (end of 2018)

So now, it’s not just the kids, but 5 adults, punching, kicking and yelling “HA” at appropriate moments.  I’m not sure what it will all amount to, but we’re in better shape, more flexible, and maybe slightly more dangerous than we were before.  

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Our daughter was able to go to the big island this weekend to visit one of her best friends and practice some independence (it was her first time traveling alone). She has had a good trip and comes home tomorrow. Our teammate (currently in the UK) was able to get a quick repeat COVID test and was released from quarantine.  The new pair of men Tom is meeting with have had a couple of good meetings, lots of thoughtful answers and good engagement.  May it continue.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
This week there is a big religious holiday on Wednesday. This holiday isn’t celebrated as much on our island as it is in other countries, but pray that it will lead to good conversations and opportunities to share. Tom’s friend Fakhadi plans on taking Tom and our short-termer to visit his family on the holiday and has invited our whole family for dinner over the weekend. Pray that these overtures would lead to a deepening relationship and more opportunities with Fakhadi’s whole family. Pray for our short-termer— he has one more week on our island. Pray that he’d get opportunities to share with those he has gotten close to and that God would be clearly guiding his future. Pray for two our former teammates: first our teammates on the French Island are expecting a son in September and she has been put on bedrest— pray that the rest of the pregnancy would be smooth and that the baby would get into the right position and wait until after 37 weeks to be born. Pray also for our old teammates from our Chad days— one of whom has heard that a mole she had had removed is melanoma— pray for peace and healing as they wait to learn what stage it is and what the treatment will look like.

The Underlying Why

 “I learned how to be annoying!,” our youngest told me proudly with a mischievous smile on his face. 

Our son contemplating whys? Or looking for dolphins?

“You just keep asking questions, like ‘why, why, why’!” he explained.

While I expressed my disapproval of intentionally annoying people, I couldn’t help but agree that the question ‘why?’ can push buttons.

Why-questions can be frustrating and problematic because we don’t always know the answer. Or sometimes there is an answer, but the answer is so complex that it actually distracts from what is important. So sometimes our answer to a why-question is an exasperated, “Because that’s how it is!” or “Because I said so!” or “Just because!”….While not fulfilling answers, sometimes we encounter realities that we just have to accept and move on. Like our English students, who ask, “Why are rough, through, though and cough all spelled the same but pronounced differently?” There may be an answer to this question that explores the sociolinguistic history of these words, but ultimately the answer will not help a beginner English student— better that they just learn how to say them and move on.

We can do lots of things without knowing why. The who/what/when/where/how are often concrete realities, but the why is often more abstract. Someone doesn’t necessarily need to know why in order to do things. But sometimes we don’t know the answer to the why-question and we should.

The why can provide meaning and purpose to actions. Empty rituals can be transformed into powerful reminders if people know the ‘why’ behind them. Tasks that were once done begrudgingly can be done with a new motivation if people understand why they need to be done. Sometimes we wonder why the faith and values of the parents aren’t passed down to the children.  Sometimes this is because all the children learn are the forms and traditions and they never learn the ‘why’ that can make those forms and traditions beautiful.

Kids playing during women's gathering

The other thing I’ve learned lately is that while we may not know the underlying why’s, our minds love to supply theories. We observe the who/what/when/where and our minds supply the possible motivations and reasons behind what we are witnessing. Then depending on the why-answer our reactions to things changes. For example if someone is unusually quiet in a meeting— our mind could come up with lots of explanations of ‘why’… they were quietly fuming and withdrawing from the conversation, … they were distracted with something going on with them personally, … they were daydreaming and not engaged. Depending on the ‘why’ that our minds latch on to, we might react with annoyance, hostility or compassion.

The islands are having a bunch of shortages right now. People have different theories as to why— COVID, incompetence, corruption, greed, the government. Some answers allow people to just accept things and move on, other answers stir up unrest and could motivate people to action. The why-answer is powerful in that way. An unclear or mistrusted why-answer leads to controversy, conspiracy theories and conflict. While a trusted why-answer can bring peace, purpose or motivation.

Our need to know the underlying why has a lot to do with trust too. If you trust someone, you don’t need to know the ‘why’ of everything they do. If we trust someone, then we can accept their why-answer without our minds exploring all the different possibilities. Trust can help us to move on from the frustrating and problematic ‘why’.

Personally I love to explore the whys. I’m also often challenged to be clear on my own whys. Am I just making choices and acting without a thoughtful ‘why’? Could my actions be made more powerful and meaningful for myself and others if I was intentional about the ‘why’ and shared it with others?

Megan & a new bride

Whether we are trying to infuse new meaning into an old island tradition, or we are trying to control our gut-reaction to our teammate’s unexplained action, or we are encouraging island brothers and sisters to be intentional with their kids, or we are exploring our own daily habits, we  have been exploring the underlying whys around us and celebrating the depth it can provide.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Tom has two new opportunities to study with interested islanders on a weekly basis. Pray that these new opportunities would be fruitful. One of the men found another island man to join the study. The other man didn’t bring anyone else to the first study, but he is also not very literate which will challenge Tom to adapt how he usually studies. Newly translated and printed picture books are being used with kids in families of island brothers and sisters to share with their children in their own language! This is an exciting development. There are a monthly women’s gathering this week (this month at our house). It was a nice time studying about prayer and hopefully was an encouragement to all those who attended.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
One of our island sisters is pregnant and has come to Clove Island for the birth so she can have the support of her adopted mom— her own sister had a traumatic still birth not too long ago which has made her very anxious about her own pregnancy and delivery. Pray for peace for her and a safe, easy delivery. Our teammate at home in the UK for a health check was disappointed to hear that the COVID test that would get her out of quarantine was botched— many more days isolated while she retakes the test and awaits results. Pray for a quick turn-around so she can get all the visits done that she had planned.

Third Culture Kids

“Where are the kids?”
“They’re downstairs playing with the neighbor kids."

Kids with neighbor friends

“Where are the kids?”
“They’re downstairs playing with the kids who live in the apartment building.”

“Where are the kids?”
“They’re downstairs playing with the other kids.”

Sometimes it is tempting to think about all the things we have given up by coming to live on the islands—all the opportunities for family, fun, and fellowship—and regret their loss.  It can be especially tempting to feel this way about our children.  There are so many opportunities to play sports and pursue passions in the US.  There is a summer camp for every sort of interest—boys camp, girls camp, sports camp, space camp, dinosaur camp, etc.  Our kids miss out on that.  And sometimes we feel sorry for them and for ourselves. 

Friends made at big island conference

But there are other times when we are given a glimpses of the benefits.  For all the things we’ve had to give up, there are things they have gained.  I think we’ve written before about how blessed we feel to know that our children have experienced the diversity of multiple cultures, the tremendous gift to be able to grow up speaking more than one language, and the empathy and understanding they are able to feel for people who are different.  But this month we were struck by another strength this life has taught them.  Indulge us for a moment as we brag on our kids:

This past month we were in Kenya.  We rented an AirBnB for most of our time there.  The apartment building had lots of kids—Kenyan kids—playing around outside.  After a few days, our kids were playing with them.

We went to a meeting on the big island and there was a family of 5 kids, whom our kids had only briefly met years ago.  Yet all of them were fast friends and kept each other occupied through the whole weekend.

Back at home now on Clove Island, there are kids in our apartment block visiting from France for the summer.  Our kids are downstairs playing with both them and the neighbor kids (whom they call their best friends).

Friend made on a weekend visit

I know kids make friends easily.  I know some of this is dependent on personality.  I know there are some kids who could make friends with anyone anywhere, but I was not that kind of kid.  I was intimidated by other kids of the same culture, and I’m convinced I would have been even more intimidated by kids of a different culture.  I don’t see my kids as especially outgoing.  I think this is a skill that they have developed living on the islands.  They have learned to make friends across cultures.  They are less intimidated by different languages, clothes or accents.  They pick up on the local games and they share games of their own.  In short, they are more adept at navigating across different cultures.

Kids are always growing and changing.  Whether they will always be as comfortable moving among different cultures as they are now is an unknown.  But I’m convinced the lessons they are learning today will be a benefit to them as they grow.  

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Our teammate made it safely to the UK.  She has a lot to do while she is there.  Pray that all her appointments and things will be able to happen.  Our short-termer seems to be having a good time in the island home where he is staying and making good connections with the family.  We are quickly getting back into our normal day rhythms, which includes classes, team days and picnics.  Tom was at a picnic yesterday and on three separate occasions got to share about the Kingdom. Since getting back, we’ve heard several encouraging stories of islanders sharing with other or studying and growing together.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
An old friend who Tom studied with ages ago recently came around asking to set up a time to study again.  A few days after that another man came by who also wants to study.  Pray for all the logistics of these opportunities to work out.  We prefer not to study with one person, but in small groups, so pray that these men would be able to find others with whom to study.  Our house-helper’s pregnancy has advanced to the stage where she is no longer able to work.  Pray for her health and the health of her baby and that we would figure out what to do in the meantime.  Continue to pray for peace, justice and stability on these islands.  A recent tax increase on all imports is making life more difficult for everyone and there are shortages on some staple supplies. Across Africa we are hearing reports of third waves of COVID, pray for mercy on these countries and had the islands could be spared.

Better isn’t Always Easy

I leaned my head again my hand as we were talking after the meal and my Kenyan colleagues both instantly asked me, “What’s wrong?”

Beautiful scene from the big island

“Nothing is wrong.”  I responded.  “I’m just listening.”

“When you put your head in your hands like that, it is a sign to us that something is wrong.”

“Nothing is wrong,” I assured them.  “It just doesn’t carry the same meaning for us.  Look.”  I pointed around the room to various Westerners happily carrying on conversations with their heads resting on their hands.  

We both had to laugh.  “All these Western teammates must be very troubled.”

But the thought occurred to me, how easily this could be misconstrued.  Imagine if my Kenyan colleague were giving an engaging thoughtful talk and I and other Westerners decided to rest our heads on our hands.  What would we be inadvertently communicating to him?  That we were bored or upset?  Heaven forbid!

Did you know that most cross-cultural workers go back to their home countries because of other workers? That is at least the often-repeated statement that we’ve heard many times. Many things can be difficult about working overseas— the strain of being away from family, the struggle to understand a new culture, the frustration of learning a language. I think we often assume that our relationship with other workers will be the easy part— that everyone will naturally get along and understand each other and be a support-system for each other. And sometimes that is how it is. Sometimes workers come together in unity, God does amazing things and it is beautiful.

Enjoying coast with colleagues

That’s how it should be. We should be able to find unity and work together for a greater purpose. Sometimes in our desire for unity, we seek conformity. We mistakenly think that conformity is the source of (or at least will help ensure) unity. But we are meant to seek unity in the midst of diversity not through conformity. We read about people from every tribe and tongue coming before one throne, of many parts with different strengths forming one body. One of the things that drew us to our organization is that it included people from different backgrounds and sought out partnerships with like-minded people and groups. We love that!

But here’s another secret— working amidst diversity and still finding unity is hard. We understand the desire for conformity because respecting diversity is difficult.

We’ve just come back from two larger group gatherings. First in mainland Africa we went to a gathering of team leaders from around the continent. Then back on the islands, we joined a gathering of cross-cultural island workers. In both places we were celebrating and praying for more diversity. We want to be serving alongside people from different nations and with different mother tongues. It is so much better when we do! But at the same time, we talked a lot about how much harder that is. It is so easy for one culture to dominate and either silence or alienate those from other cultures. Our group has long been dominated by western (and often American) culture, so there are a lot of habits and ways of operating that have to change for us to truly welcome in workers from other cultures.

Navigating different languages, cultures and customs will mean we make mistakes. We will offend, misinterpret and confuse each other sometimes. We have to have a lot of grace for one another and assume the best of one another. We have to believe that it is better that we work together. It won’t be easy, but it is better. It is worth it.

Boys attempting volleyball

Across the four islands, we have workers from North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Africa (we’ve had Australians in the past too!). I wish I could say that no worker has ever left the islands because of other workers, but that unfortunately has happened. But we can say that we have been blessed by the amount of unity and true desire for godly partnership that we have seen on the islands. We truly share one vision and the same values. By one Spirit we who are many continue to work together.

Unity and diversity have to be fought for, have to be prayed for. This doesn’t happen in our own strength. Will you join us in praying for it?

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We got our passports in time! It was a close thing and in our minds we were already making plans to change our tickets and extend our stay in Kenya, but God is good and we got the passports when we needed, got our negative COVID tests and were able to return to the islands as planned! Thank you so much for praying. All the logistics fell into place nicely and we were able to fully participate in the meeting of workers from across the islands. The new worker who was rushed to the hospital with breathing problems last week is doing much better. The meetings went well and we were blessed to get to know all the new workers who have come to the big island in the past few months. It is exciting to see the group grow and diversify! Our kids had fun playing with all the other worker kids from other islands. 


PRAYERS REQUESTED
Continue to pray for more African workers to join us in the work on the islands. They have unique cultural insights and are able to adjust to the islands in ways that we can’t. Pray for the current new workers to adjust well and to thrive. Pray for workers to continue to be united and to have grace and forgiveness for one another in the midst of disagreements and misunderstandings. Our teammate has taken her first leg of travel to get back to the UK— after much difficulty and a long overnight boat ride, she is on the French Island, only to be told that her next leg has been canceled! Pray for peace for her as at every step she has encountered difficulties. It has been exhausting. Pray that the airlines would take care of her and help facilitate solutions. We just sent our short-termer to stay with an island family for a month— pray that they would take good care of him and that he would have opportunities to be a light to that family.

Good Service

 The whistle blew.  The air brakes hissed.  The train was ready to leave the station.

Sunrise on the coast

“Okay, just get on the train right there.  They will help you on the way,” the man said.  
We hustled into the train with our bags.  Moments later it pulled away from the station with us standing in the aisle.  Would we have to stand the whole way to Mombasa—a six hour train ride?

It all started when we ordered the tickets online.  Something went wrong and though it accepted the payment we were never issued proper tickets.  We called and emailed but never received a reply.  Finally we were able to make contact with someone and they assured us that everything would work out fine at the train station. But when we got there, it was not fine.  “Invalid” the electronic ticket dispenser read.

At the ticket window, they couldn’t explain it.  Clearly we had paid, our information was in the system, but we had never been issued tickets.  We had no seats on the train.

“Don’t worry,” the woman assured us as she wrote down all the information and had me sign.  “Follow me,” she said.  With the signed document we walked over to security where she ushered us through, but we still had no tickets.  “Just go,” she said.  “They will help you over there.”

So we went on and as the train started to board we heard them asking, “Tickets, please.”  We explained again that we had no tickets, that the woman had ushered us along.  “Oh, don’t worry.” the nice train attendant said, “Just wait here.”  So we waited, with our bags, on the platform as the minutes ticked by, as all the passengers got on, as the platform emptied and as the departure time drew nigh.  No one told us what was going on, but just told us to not worry. It was just a few moments before leaving that we quickly pushed onboard the train.

Enjoying holiday on the coast

Once inside we heard, “Tickets, please.”  We don’t have tickets, we explained again.  There was some walkie-talkie talk and we waited again.  Finally a man came to us and said, “Put your bags anywhere.”  After depositing our bags under various seats he hustled us through the whole train all the way down to the dining car.  “You can sit here until we find you some seats.”  After sitting in the dining car for about an hour we were marched through the train again and given seats normally reserved for the staff.  

After that the train trip through the African countryside was very pleasant.  We saw animals: camels, cows, giraffe, elephants, antelope, and wildebeest.  It was comfortable, smooth and easy.  But my heart wasn’t easy.  I had thoughts of writing reviews on TripAdvisor—talking about how badly treated we were, how stressful the whole situation was.  But then I started to reflect…  Was the service really so bad?  Hadn’t we made the train?  Hadn’t they found us seats?  Hadn’t they kept us together?  Hadn’t they gone above and beyond to meet our travel needs?

And it struck me that this might be an example of cultural understanding.  If we had come to the train station in America without valid tickets and the train was full, what would they have done?  I think most likely they would have apologized and put us on the next train.  Or perhaps they would have given us scattered seats around the train.  Either way, we would most likely have not been on that train or not sitting together.  But in Kenya the priority was to get us on the train together.  They achieved this.  It meant bending some rules probably, but they got us to our destination.  

In America, they probably would have explained a lot more of the process to us.  “Your tickets weren’t issued because…”  “Due to the train traveling at maximum capacity…”  “Since your tickets were never issued, we will have to…”  We didn’t get any of this kind of information from the Kenyan train staff.  Mostly, “Don’t worry.  Just wait here.  Just come this way.”  I think this is also cultural.  In America, I want to know all the details.  “What exactly is going on?”  In Kenya, it was seen as sufficient to just let us know there was nothing to worry about.  And really, if we had trusted those words, we might have been less stressed, because in the end—they took good care of us.

Happy Father's Day!

Today we took the train back again.  No ticket problems this time.  Everything ran very smoothly.  We’d recommend it!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We are thankful for a relaxing vacation.  The kids loved swimming in the pool, but we also got in some beach time, and sight-seeing.  It was great having one of our teammates join us too!  Thank you for praying for Tom’s dad— he is out of the hospital and doing better, though still without a clear diagnosis of what caused the episode (we’re praying it was a isolated incident). We’re thankful for Megan’s parents celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary! We are also thankful for all our fathers this past Father’s Da


PRAYERS REQUESTED
Passports!  If we don’t have some assurance that our passports will come Wednesday or Thursday, we will have to change all our tickets and we will miss out on the gathering of all our fellow island workers.  Pray that the passports would come in tomorrow!  Pray for the gathering of island workers this coming weekend— that it would build unity, clarify vision and inspire us in our work.  Pray for our teammate who needs to get back to the UK for health check-ups and is encountering lots of logistical hurdles— pray for a clear path forward. One of the new island workers on the big island had some sort of asthma-like attack and was rushed to the hospital. Pray that the medicines would do their work and that she would be able to breathe easily. Continue to pray for justice on the islands— we’ve heard that there are new laws saying you cannot say anything bad about the president and that one journalist and has already been convicted. These are not encouraging developments.

The Coveted 52

 When we started a blog, we knew that consistency was key. If we wanted people to faithfully follow us and for them to faithfully pray for the islands then we knew we needed to be faithful in keeping the blog updated. We knew from experience that we checked other people’s blogs less and less if they weren’t updated. So it became a discipline.

Making a new friend

Over the twelve full years that we’ve been blogging from the islands, we have averaged 51.5 posts per calendar year. Seven of those years, we posted the full 52 posts- one for every single week of the year!

Some weeks the idea for the blog is in our minds pre-formed and the post simply writes itself. Other weeks we don’t know what to write. We brainstorm ideas together, but then it can feel like pulling teeth to get something on paper. On those weeks the other person often has to rewrite large sections to make it passable. Which leads to another common question? Who writes the blog?

More often than not one of us has an idea and offers to write. Otherwise we hash around ideas until we agree on one and then decide who is best placed to write it. But still we usually write in a way that obscures the main author because it is really both of us writing. One person is the initial author, but often the second person comes and edits enough for it really to be both of our voices. People often try to guess the main author. Tom has been congratulated for a post mostly written by Megan and vice versa. We don’t mind. It’s a combined effort and after a decade it has become a part of our weekly rhythm as a couple.

There is some pride involved that keeps us writing every week. We’ll admit, there is something satisfying at seeing the 52 next to the year on the blog’s side panel that announces that we didn’t miss a week that year, but it begs the question…do we ever take a break? Tom is tempted to say that it isn’t a good thing that our yearly average is so high. Writing our blog is work, shouldn’t we take a break sometimes? We believe that rest from work is very important for health and sanity. God wants us to rest. But we also remember that one of the purposes of our blog is to get people praying for the islands…don’t the islands need prayer every week? Aren’t there always new requests of which we want people to be aware?  

Where’s the balance? How do we find weeks to rest while still getting prayer requests out there?

Our kids on the train heading out on holiday

Well some weeks, we actually think of more than one blog idea or we think of a blog idea that is timeless— it doesn’t really matter when it gets posted. We often go ahead and write up these blog ideas when we think of them. Then we save them, for a week when we want a break. A week where we can just add a few prayer requests at the end and call it done.

For a week like this one.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
All of our meetings and appointments went smoothly. Megan finally got the all-clear to stop getting follow-up blood tests and scans, as it seems most likely now that her abnormal bloodwork is from a rare, benign condition. Tom got to visit a school for African cross-cultural workers and share about our work and the islands (some were excited about possibly working on the islands in the future!). We’ve been able to check in with our teammates back on the islands— things remain calm there and our team is doing well.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
This week we had a scare when we got news that Tom’s dad had to be rushed to the hospital and ultimately ended up in the ICU after being ill for a couple weeks. Thankfully he has stabilized, is out of the ICU and should be heading home soon. Cancer has been ruled out, but the exact cause of his troubles has not been identified yet. Pray for a diagnosis and for Tom’s dad’s continued healing. We are starting a week of vacation— pray that it would be restful for us and our kids. Megan has been sick with a cold, so pray that she feels better. Some of our teammates are also heading towards some holiday time this week— pray that they would get the things done that they need to in order to have refreshing breaks. Also a big prayer request— we were disappointed to learn at our Embassy appointment this past week that our whole family will have to stay in Kenya until the new passports are ready (we had hoped/planned on Megan staying to collect them if the new passports were delayed and had been told we could do that). Now that we all have to stay, we are praying that they are not delayed at all! We need the passports by Thursday, June 24 (although for the sake of our nerves we’d love them sooner) if we want to get back in time for the meeting of all the island workers on the big island (not to mention avoiding the headache of more COVID tests and changing flights). Finally, our colleagues on the small island are having trouble renewing their visas. Pray that they would find favor with the necessary officials and that this wouldn’t be an indication of future troubles for the other two islands getting visas.