We left off at the beginning of April. Over the next few months, some of our home life and ministry has been the same, but there have definitely been a few changes. Here is a little taste of our new normal!
For Richard, on the pastoral care side of things, he continued to reach out to each missionary, working through the experiences that they were dealing with and the regular challenges that came with border shut downs, city-wide lockdowns, and food shortages. Richard was an expert at Zoom, WhatsApp video, Messenger video, Skype, and a few other mediums, so thankfully there wasn’t the learning curve that most people had to go through. It really was beautiful to see each missionary adapting to their situation and serving those around them, even if it had to be done with a mask or on one day a week because of the travel restrictions. Also, being able to debrief some of the difficult things they were seeing or talk through steps they are wanting to take to personal growth was truly an honor. Richard was even able to take a course on coaching, which has enabled him to go even deeper.
It was also a great time to work on a lot of back-burner projects! Since we were working completely from home and didn’t have the added distractions of being at the office and driving to/from there, it allowed us to focus on a lot of the projects that had been put in the “it would be great if we could get to these!” pile. Also, Stephanie Wilkins had begun volunteering with Orphanos back in December, so it was amazing to see what the two of them could do! They were able to work with Risk Assessments for our partners in high-risk countries, have discussions about Healthcare options and Medical Evacuation Insurance with each missionary, and go deeper into their 6 Pillars of Support, which are their relational support while they are on the mission field. It is probably boring for most, but it was exciting for them to dive into these more practical areas of support.
For Ximena, she started back at the office one day a week. She was excited to be back in the office, because she was only able to do about 50% of her ministry from the house. It was a blessing to be able to take that added weight off of Denise, who was the only person in the finance department who was in the building when the first stay-at-home orders started in Memphis. They have now figured out a schedule and cleaning process so that Ximena is able to be the only one at the office on a certain day and she stays until she has put all of the checks for our missionaries into the system. Since she is working from home now, she has been available 24/7 to donors, as she has been using her cellphone to interact. Ximena is also like an octopus; she is in constant contact with so many people in Mexico, Ecuador, and all over the US. There is not a day that goes by that she isn't on a call or chatting with someone, seeing how she can encourage them or bring a smile to their face.
For our kids, it has been a different situation for each one. For Gustavo, he has been working up a storm. Since he works in an open-air market, it has been ridiculously busy and he has not stopped working. He also is dating someone that he met during this time and feels that he is really in a good place. For Erick and Nico, they are discovering what it is like to study online. Nico is really enjoying living with his grandmother, since the university closed, because he said that her food is so much better than what he could cook! For Mayumi and Inti, it has been fun to have them in our Zoom calls, as they are constantly joking and making fun of each other. Santi and Lani are doing really well too and love to play with each other. It has felt like an eternal summer in some aspects, so they act like lazy bums a lot of the time.
For our family, it has been fun to play games and do puzzles. We have discovered the game Parchisi on our phones and it is fun to connect up with all of our kids. Sometimes Lani will be playing Mayumi, while also talking on WhatsApp with her! It’s fun to watch. And we converted half of our dining room table into the puzzle area, which has been fun. A few of our neighbors have joined in the puzzle making, so we leave puzzles and books that the kids have finished in the box by the mailbox and our neighbors will come get them. We have also had a few of them reach out to us to let us borrow their puzzles too!
And just in case we got too bored, we decided to completely gut our bathroom a week before we were at home due to the stay-at-home orders. We thought that it would be a somewhat simple project, but it wasn’t! Richard was able to do the demo, plumbing, drywall, and tiling for the bathroom. Ximena wasn’t able to be as involved with the bathroom because of her asthma, but we had bought a used chest of drawers from the Salvation Army and she turned it into our bathroom vanity. It looks beautiful! Since we received the stimulus check, it covered all of the cost and we had funds to fix up a fence that was falling over as well.
Throughout this time, we had one friend who we were “quarantining” with who is Jose Alexis. He is actually our barber! So all of you know how good Ximena is with finding friends. And some of you know how God has placed such an extreme love for Puerto Rico and anyone from Puerto Rico! A few years ago, she became friends with a few Puerto Rican ladies who live in Memphis and we have had them in our home as well. She was then added as an “honorary” member to their Facebook page. One day, Jose Alexis, who is also from Puerto Rico, posted on there about his barber shop out of his garage. So Ximena, of course, forced me to go get a haircut! Thankfully, he is a master barber and offers great prices, so we started a beautiful friendship from there. He had shared how he works in construction, so we had asked for his opinion when we first gutted the bathroom. He said that he would love to help and would only charge hourly to teach Richard any steps where he didn’t feel confident doing it by himself. So during quarantine, he would come over for an afternoon after work and lay down a strip of tile or start on some plumbing and then Richard would finish it from there. We both have a renewed respect for contractors, as it is exhausting and we were so ready to be done, but we finished! Richard has some crazy skills in tiling and plumbing and Ximena in refinishing furniture and even grouting. And now, Jose Alexis has even started to teach Ximena how to cut hair and has spent some time hanging out on our back porch. It really has become a special friendship.
As soon as we were finished and thought we were done with work projects for a good amount of time, we received a call out of the blue from Jose and Shammah. They shared how God had placed it on their hearts to come for a few days and help us with whatever we needed. Since it was the beginning of June and we were beginning the process of “opening up” after quarantine, we said, “Absolutely!” There was a section of our fence that had been leaning for a few months, after an unfortunate incident with Ximena’s bumper, but we didn’t have the time or resources to fix it. So we did! They came with their two girls, which Santi and Lani loved having their first playtime with other kids in over two months. Ximena and Shammah were in charge of staining the pickets. Richard and Jose did the rest…well…let’s say Jose did the rest and Richard helped! It was such a sweet time to spend with them and just get to talk about life. After we finished the fence, we were able to go to a drive-in movie with the kids and it was a beautiful time with both families. We were even able to go to our first “restaurant” after quarantine, which is just a good friend named Esperanza who cooks tamales and gorditas out of her home.
After they went back to Texas, we continued to meet with a few close friends. We stopped by Jose Alexis’ house to give him some tamales, invited Jarrell, Erica, and Zaria over for an evening (another family that we met through Lani’s school), and had over William and Grace, who just moved to Memphis a few weeks ago from Corpus Christi. It was so beautiful to be able to be around people and get to have that closeness that we missed. Then, a few days later, we received the call that one of them had tested positive for Coronavirus. We felt so bad for that family to have to go through dealing with the virus, but it also meant that we needed to quarantine for 14 days. Sadly, during that time, we weren’t able to host William and Grace, who were hoping to stay with us in God’s Room while they closed on their new house. But Richard was able to go help out a few days ago with painting at their new home and continue to grow that friendship after the quarantine.
We have had a few visits in between quarantine times from people that Richard has known since childhood. Paul and Denise Lambert and a few of their adult kids came for a few nights (They are the missionary family that first introduced Richard to Pan de Vida and knew him since we was little). It was crazy to see their kids grown up and we had some fun puzzle time and great discussion for the time they were with us. Also, Elizabeth Girouard and her kids came through for a night and it was fun to catch up as well, even if it was for a few hours. So God’s room has still been a little busy during this quarantine time. We also received a beautiful donation from the Miller family of a new King-sized bed for God’s Room that Ximena was able to refinish. (It looks amazing!) And another friend who saw the need gave us an almost new mattress. We are so grateful that Wayne let us use the furniture from his God's Room for the past few years!
One big ministry step that is coming up in a few weeks is Richard’s 3-month sabbatical. This has been something that has been in the planning stages for the past year. A lot of the reason for even beginning the journey into discovering what a sabbatical looks like was sparked by a few of our missionaries. They had asked Richard what a sabbatical looks like for missionaries and Richard had to honestly answer, “I have no clue!” It has been 15 years that we have served with Orphanos, but never thought that we had the time to take a sabbatical. When Stephanie started volunteering with the Member Care department, the conversations started more intensely and it was decided that July-October would be the best time for this, as many of our projects are done and we don’t see international travel on the horizon. So for the past few months, there has been a lot of planning and soul searching on the 40+ hours of work each week that Richard will be doing over the next few months. This work, instead of ministering to others, is focused on going deeper in his relationship with God, sorting through the healthy/unhealthy roots in his life, and watering the soil. He has a list of books and podcasts that were always pushed to the side because “there was no time.” He is really excited about a few solo camping trips to disconnect and just be with God as well as a chance to mentor a teenage boy who is in residential foster care here in Memphis. Ximena has decided to not take a sabbatical at this time and will continue with her regular ministry at Orphanos and with our family, but we are looking forward to her having a sabbatical this next year.
And that has been life for us! Ximena is so glad that at least the construction projects are done! As with everyone we have talked with, it is a weird season of life, but we have loved the extra family time and getting to be in such close quarters with each other all the time. Ximena found a funny video of a lady slowly walking down the stairs and “getting back into normality,” only to run back in when she hears a siren. That is how we feel sometimes! We are still seeing how we can best love and serve those around us.
Prayer Requests:
You may or may not remember Marcela from our time in Ecuador, but she was one of the backpackers from Argentina who we had picked up from the side of the road (another one of Ximena's "We should help!" times!). Ximena has kept in touch with Marcela and she has messaged us when she got married and a lot recently. They are having difficulty having children, which has been a really hard obstacle, while at the same time bringing her to ask more questions about who God is. Please pray for divine intervention and the words for Ximena to share with her.
Please pray for Esperanza, who is a good friend who cooks for us out of her house. Ximena has been building a relationship with her over the past few years. She just had to go to Mexico to take care of some family members, so please pray for safety.
Richard is in the final matching process for mentoring a teenage boy at a residential home in our city. Please pray that the initial meeting and conversation will be a blessing and for wisdom as all of it will be via Zoom while restrictions are still in place for face-to-face visits.
For Ximena's grandmothers, who are both elderly and have health problems.
For Richard's sabbatical that starts on July 20th. Please pray that he will allow God to show up and speak truth and wisdom into his life, as well as create the space to listen and grow.
Also, we are heading to Atlanta this week, as Ximena's Ecuadorian passport expired and the closest consulate is in Atlanta. This will be the first time to leave our house since February, so please be praying for safety and protection.
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