Where does the beginning of August 2024 find our family? Well, geographically, we’re in middle Tennessee this week, spending some time away as a family in what we hope is our final month in the US. We arrived last night after a lovely summer drive through the Kentucky and Tennessee countryside. This morning, my kids got to swim in a lake, dig in its sandy beach, and scream when they saw a snake casually swimming through the water. My wife and I, for our part, are soaking up all the greenery we can before we head back to a land where the trees don’t grow quite so tall and quite so thick.
As far as timeline, the goal at this point is still to move back to Central Asia the first week of September. Our housing runs out at the end of this month and the kids’ new MK school starts the second week of Sept. So, between those deadlines and our eagerness to get back, we’re hoping to make it on a plane first thing next month.
Financially, can this happen? We’re not ruling it out yet. By God’s grace, 75% of our total needed funds (including both monthly and one-time setup costs) have been raised. This means only 25% is left, a lump sum that my fundraising spreadsheet today tells me is just over 34K. That’s certainly nothing to scoff at, but neither is it insurmountable. We have complete flexibility at this point to raise these funds through either one-time gifts or monthly giving, so it could be as simple as twenty more friends signing up for $100 a month plus five churches giving one-time gifts of 2K each.
It’s interesting to be this close but also to know that it’s going to take a significant push to get to the goal. It reminds me a little bit of when in high school we climbed the highest mountain in our Melanesian country, a peak just under 15,000 feet tall. We couldn’t see the summit for most of the hike. Then, at last, we rounded a spur of the mountain and could finally see the peak. We were encouraged because the destination was now within sight – but it was also clear that it was going to take another couple of hours of serious hiking to get up there.
We’d love your prayers for our fundraising efforts this next month. And if any of you faithful readers of this quirky missions blog (or your churches or businesses) want to help us meet this goal, we’d love to have your partnership. For those who have already started giving, we’re incredibly grateful.
How are our hearts right now? Feeling some of the uncertainty, but also resting in God’s good sovereignty. Of course, we very much hope to make it back to Central Asia in our preferred timeline. But the Lord knows if our current plans are sound or if what’s truly best is a little more delay and transition. We will seek to trust him no matter what.
I recently heard John Piper share about joy in suffering. He called when this happens for a Christian “an emotional miracle.” We definitely wouldn’t say we’re in a season of intense suffering right now. It’s more the normal everyday difficulties of missionaries in transition – the waiting, working, combating anxiety, planning, undoing your plans, trying not to get ahead of yourself, trying to discern God’s timing and our own responsibility to bring things about. But if asked if we could also use an emotional miracle of joy in the midst of this unique season, we would say yes.
Our kids could look back on this month of uncertainty and remember Mom and Dad as distant, stressed, and busy. Or, they could look back and remember August 2024 as one of the most content and joyful times of their parents’ lives. How wonderful that, in Jesus, it really could be the latter.
Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:11-13)
If you would like to join our support team, reach out here. Both monthly and one-time gifts are very helpful right now. Many thanks!
For my list of recommended books and travel gear, click here.
Photos are from Unsplash.com
Entrusted to the Dirt 