Postscript

On March 1 we completed packing, moved all of our belongings out of our apartment, and boarded a plane to head back to the USA.  After four years in Africa, it’s time for our home assignment.  It took almost a full day of travel (a 16 hour flight followed by a six hour flight), and we touched down at our destination in the USA.

Every three to four years staff with our organization return to their home country for home assignment (also called furlough).  This time is designed for reconnecting with ministry partners, family, and friends, rest, working on next steps with our ministry, and also continuing to do some work for our organization.

Home assignment is not a vacation or an extended break.  While we will have some vacation, much of the next few months will be quite busy. Our time will be split between both coasts of the USA with stops in the northwest, southwest, southeast and northeast. I will be doing at least a portion of my work leading the Wycliffe News Network.  We’ll both be involved in sharing about our ministry in various locations.

If you’ve been praying for our ministry, here are six topics for prayer for this time:

• Transition:  Many people upon return to their home country after an extended period away experience reverse culture shock.  Pray that God will help us connect with the resources we need to handle this transition well.
• Housing and Transportation: We need to find affordable housing and a vehicle to use in each of the locations where we’ll be staying.  Short-term, furnished housing can sometimes be difficult to find, and finding a vehicle to use for 2 to 3 months can also be hard. Pray that God will help us find the housing and transportation we need in each location.
• Connecting: We’ll be connecting with many of our current ministry partners.  Pray that we’ll have good times to share with them and that God will use us to encourage them in their participation in missions.  We’ll also be connecting with friends and family we haven’t seen in a while.  Pray that God will give us good times of reconnection.
• Sharing: We’ll be sharing about our ministry with many people over the next few months.  Pray that our stories will glorify God and clearly show how he has been at work in our lives and in the lives of those we’ve served over the last few years.
• Finding more partners: Our ministry budget is increasing, so we need to find additional ministry partners for our ministry team.  Pray that God will give us guidance as we plan our activities – that he will lead us to the right places and the right people at the right times.
• Balancing: Our home assignment time will be very full.  Balancing our work to develop new ministry partners, connect with existing partners, doing some of our regular work, and trying to find times to rest will be challenging. Pray that God will help us balance all of our various activities and that he will help us find times of refreshment.

We are beginning our time in the USA on the west coast.  As our plans for time in other parts of the US come together, we’ll keep you informed.  You can find a schedule of all of our public meetings on our calendar.

Thanks for your prayers!

* Photo provided by iStock photo.  To use this photo yourself, purchase it from iStock.

It’s been a while since I’ve been back in North America, but last week I was there.  I went to Canada to participate in meetings with communications professionals in Wycliffe.  This meeting included communications leaders from each of the Wycliffe areas (Africa, Americas, Asia-Pacific and Europe), members of the international communications team, and some representatives from our offices in the USA and Canada.

We covered many different topics including learning together about some new computer systems that will soon be online and will help us share publicity information with each other more easily.  We did some training together, gave reports on progress, and planned some future work.

We had a free day on Saturday and several of us went together to explore the Canadian Rockies.  The scenery was amazing!

We were able to get home for my dad’s funeral and memorial service and spend some extra time after the events with my family.  Sadness mixed with joy throughout our visit. It was good to be able to be home.

My dad finished well.
I’m thankful that his battle with cancer is over.
I’m proud of how he allowed the Lord to lead him.
I’m glad that I can look forward to being reunited with him someday.
I will never cease to be grateful that he and my mom are followers of Jesus and that they guided me also towards a relationship with Jesus.

To see more from the last three years of my dad’s life, visit the blog we kept about him: http://trustthelordandtakeheart.blogspot.com/

We spent a good portion of January and February this year back in our home areas in the US.  It was time spent reconnecting with family and friends, time to connect with some work colleagues based in the US, some time for connecting with ministry partners…and some time to reconnect some of our favorite American foods…and to do some shopping…

It was a whirlwind that took us from the west coast, to several places in the mid-west and concluding on the east coast before we returned to our home in South Africa. Here are a few highlights from our trip:

On January 23 we spoke at Orcutt Christian Church in Santa Maria, California.  Shortly before the service started, Jeff looked into the congregation and saw a couple of familiar faces from his past–two people who he knew from youth group at his home church. Marcy was a youth leader when he was in youth group, and Liz was in youth group with him.  It was great for me to get to know them both, and Jeff enjoyed reconnecting with them.

We shared a little bit of South Africa with our families and friends by making a typical South African meal for them–bobotie and yellow rice (served with spicy chili chutney).  We also shared some of our favorite boxed cookies from here.  Food and fellowship are a good combination .  It was a new meal for everyone, but they all seemed to enjoy it.  It’s something we enjoy, too, so we didn’t mind having it a few times while we were home.

Jeff spent several days helping his dad dig out and dispose of rocks from their back yard.  It was a huge project that between the two of them they were able to complete quickly.

I brought my sister to New York City.  It was her first time there.  We visited with one of my friends, and she was able to see a good portion of the city in our short time there.

We were also able to be with my dad on his 69th birthday for a celebration with our immediately family and for another celebration with friends.

It was wonderful to be home and to see and visit with everyone.  It was the longest we’ve been in the US since we left for Africa more than two years ago.   Skype, facebook and other tools of technology have keep us up-to-date with everyone, but none of those replaces face to face time…even if it’s compact!

One part of traveling that I enjoy is trying new food.  While I was in El Salvador, I tried a traditional Salvadorian dish called pupusas–yummy.  It’s like a stuffed corn tortilla.  From what I saw it comes in three varieties: cheese (queso fresco); cheese and beans; and cheese, beans and beef.  The last one was my favorite.

We went out for them twice, and the first time we ate them was at a Mister Donut.  It was the fanciest Mister Donut I’ve seen with a multiple page menu that included not only doughnuts but also breakfast, lunch and dinner meals including a selection of traditional Salvadorian foods.

The pupusas and the Salvadorian horchata I had there were great.

Towards the end of my time in El Salvador, we took a trip to a pupuseria.  Take a look at the video below to see how pupusas are made.