We wanted to start this update off in a little bit of a different tone. A lot of times we share all of the positive and “cool” things that God is doing and that we humbly get to participate in. But sometimes, we don’t share the “crappy” things that we also get to participate in too, which could create an incorrect view of missionary life. So here it goes…a few crappy things that happened in a week…
Just a few weeks into Richard’s trip out of the country, Santiago started having these weird episodes where he would see blinking lights and intense pain, even waking him up at night. He started just have a few of these, which then turned into multiple episodes throughout the day. This meant trips to the ER, Ximena having to deal with all of the stress and Richard just wanting to be home. Then, having dear friends ask how Santi was caused Ximena’s stress and worry for Santi to go up even more…even Lani started to be unable to sleep, thinking something would happen to him. During that same time, Richard was bit by a dog and was helping some of our missionaries debrief after a very difficult time on the field, which has a very strong emotional and spiritual low period attached to it. A few days later, Santi’s episodes continued, meaning that Ximena was having to go to different doctors. Richard was spending 12 hours outside of the ticket counters at an airport, because his flight didn’t leave until 4AM but the ticket counter didn’t open until 2 hours before the flight. Sleepless nights, time zone "fun," no hot water, stomach problems, no wifi, inability to communicate with each other, heat on one side of the continent and very cold/heater going out on the house on the other, Turkish toilets (if you don't know what this is, you have to Google it!), loneliness...it can get a little overwhelming at times and leads to us not exactly exhibiting the character of Christ. I'm sure that's never happened to you either, right? Haha...but it is life!
You might be thinking, “So now can we get to the better part?” Well, actually the previous part is the best part! We have been reading through Habakkuk with our pastor and the question was posed, "Will life ever be so difficult that you would turn from God?" We are actually more nervous of "Will life ever be so easy that you will forget about God?", so even though it has been ridiculously difficult at points, we have seen God shown Himself to us in incredible ways during what we consider to be the difficult parts. These times are actually just moments where He is drawing us closer to Him.
October started off with Richard leaving to a training called Pastors to Missionaries in North Carolina for a week and then an evangelism training through our church in Memphis in Barcelona. The first training continued to cement some great things that he has been able to do through pastoral care to our missionaries as well as areas that are still lacking. The best part was an intensive training into conflict resolution, which was definitely a highlight…although I know most of us run from conflict. Now if he can only put it into practice at home! And at the end of the conference, he realized that he had misbooked his flight, which actually ended up being an extra day to process the conference and take a hike up into the mountains.
The second training in Barcelona was learning how to evangelize everyone you come into contact with, especially focusing on immigrants living in the area. The training included learning how to share your testimony in 15 seconds and how to share the gospel using the 3-circle method. Also, the training itself was so fun as it was done in Spanish, English, Urdu, and sometimes translated into French just showing how big and great is our God. As an introvert, it definitely pushed him outside of his usual limits, but it was so liberating. There really is an urgency with the gospel that we tend to forget, not thinking that the person that we are sitting next to could be needing to hear the gospel in that exact moment…or they could completely reject it…but is it our right to judge who deserves and who doesn’t deserve to hear it?
He was able to speak with people from Morocco, India, Pakistan, Cashmere, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Spain, Honduras, and Mexico. One of the highlights was going into a barbershop and wanting to share with them, but they said that if we didn’t get a haircut, then we would need to leave. So he got a haircut!!! He realized how hard it is to talk when they are shaving your beard, but it was an experience!
After Barcelona, he headed to South Africa to spend a few days with our missionaries, Damon and Sandra. He had a suspicion from his regular conversations with them that he wouldn’t be doing much of the “pouring into,” but he didn’t realize how much they were going to minister to his soul! It was so beautiful to see a couple who is walking with the Lord and creating space to be able to draw closer to Him. They decided a few years back to get rid of the TV, so now they fill that time talking, reading, and watching the birds that fly in. Like any missionary, they have doubts and big steps of faith coming on the horizon, as well as the difficulty of living away from their kids and grandkids, but they are so confident of His leading, sharing story after story of how He provided in the exact moment of need, even without asking.
We ended up cutting our visit a day short, as the missionary family who Richard was going to be visiting next ended up having a medical emergency. So he went to spend time with Mark and Les for a few days in South Africa and then travelled back to Mozambique with them. Since Les had a hernia operation, she was supposed to be laying down for a few weeks…she only lasted about 2 days! But as we started to discuss stressors, she shared that one of hers was the finance situation. They have been dealing with cyclone recovery and aid for the past 6 months, which means that they have been living out in the bush with no internet or time to do anything besides being there and helping build houses. So we spent an entire day pouring over bank statements, playing around with 3 different currencies and their exchange rates (dollars, rands, and meticais), and trying to get it to work out in QuickBooks. Honestly, as a one -year accounting major, it was a lot of fun figuring it out!
Then we headed to Mozambique for a few more days…cue the dog bite as soon as we arrived! (It was a friends’ dog, who seems to do that occasionally) Richard learned his lesson! The next few days were spent trying to get Les to rest (even though that was a constant struggle that her husband and I didn't win often!) and just sharing life. They have been through a lot over the past few months and had a lot on their emotional plates. It was an honor to be able to listen to them and to hear their desire to draw closer to God through it all. The last day we were able to attend church together and just listen to worship in different languages, worshiping our creator through song and dance. It was a beautiful end to our time together and such an encouragement. Right after leaving Mozambique, Richard received a message from Les, sharing how she was going to be working on finishing a few projects, but really felt God telling her to stop in the middle to just spend time with Him…and she did!
Then, after a few really long layovers, Richard headed out to a country in West Africa. This was a very important trip to him, because it was the last missionary family that he hadn’t visited in their home and a family that he really desired to connect deeper with. Even after just the first day there, it was amazing to see how many things their family had in common with the way Richard grew up...cue milking goats. At the same time, they are in an entirely different context, raising their family in a dangerous country in the Sahara desert where they have to be careful with every word they say. They have seen so many teammates leave the difficult field they are serving on, even having one of their teammates assassinated for their faith. It was such a blessing to get to know their kids and connect with them. It was also so beautiful to see the vulnerability that they were able to share with us, which then has completely opened up the conversation of the journey for caring for themselves, their marriage, and their family. These visits are so incredibly important, because as we show them that we love and care for them enough to pay out of our own pocket to visit them, they in turn are willing to open up about the hurts and difficult situations that they are living through. We can't post any identifying pictures, but the picture of our missionary on top of the dune is one of our favorites! It was right before he rolled all the way down, which is definitely an interesting experience!
Three of the missionaries visited sent us these encouraging words, one of them was Les. In a "Les-only-style" it was, of course, written upside down by accident, which gave both Richard and Ximena such huge smiles! We wanted to pass these on as encouragement to each one of you so that you can see your involvement with the ministry. It is amazing what can be done as the body of Christ and these visits would never have happened without your involvement.
"We have felt very very alone recently... Richard our 'brother hearted' co-labourer flew many hours and at huge personal expense to come sit with us in our own home and to talk. What solidarity we feel with him. He encouraged us so much by lending a listening ear and his compassionate understanding."
"Since we are not “on the way” to much of anywhere, thank you for taking the trip to visit us in our overseas home. Thank you for caring, for listening, for sharing so well while knowing that your own son was struggling unexpectedly with headaches and that your wife had to handle his needs without you while you were here. Thank you for “wandering question lane” with me regarding deeper matters, such as those of being sons of overseas workaholics and trying to live and transmit love and a different mode of operation to our families, how to build solid foundations and how transformation may come to a nation over multiple generations in the midst of an increasingly impatient global society with its typical transience of international workers, of how we might persist toward health and fruitfulness in a context of overwhelming needs and little obvious “fruit” for our labor. I will admit that I was surprised to find out your age – I thought you were older -- but that may be partly due to you having raised adopted teenagers, but also reveals your pursuit of wisdom and a solid path to honor God and to clearly encourage others onward through the thicket of confusion and troubling issues that comprise our current world. (You must admit that you probably get a lot of confused looks when you tell people your oldest is 28!) Your visit came at just the right time, not when things were ready for “showcase” but when we really needed encouragement and a caring ear and to know that we were not alone during these challenging days. Thank you for coming!"
Prayer Requests:
1. Santiago: We have the official diagnosis that he is a kid who will have migraines, but with very little direction regarding how to prevent these beyond really strong medicine with very strong side effects. We have heard from a few different people ways to help him manage and we need wisdom as we pursue what is best. Thankfully, it has been 2 weeks with no migraines so far!
2. Our family: We are going to be heading to Mexico at the end of the month with all of our kids!!! This is the first time that our family of 9 will be able to have everyone under the same roof in 5 years!!! (Special thanks again to the Klaus family who is flying 4 of our kids from Ecuador!) We are going to be serving for the week of Christmas at the orphanage in Queretaro where Gustavo grew up and we served for 3 years. Then, we are going to head to Mexico City for a week to spend time as a family for New Years. Please pray that we would have a really sweet time of community as well as time to have deep conversations that lead to Christ, as each one of our kids has their own struggles and we feel led to increase our vulnerability with them.
3. Younes: One of the guys that Richard shared the gospel with has been heavy on his heart. He is a man who turned from Islam to become Atheist and he is hurting. Please pray for wisdom on how to continue to minister to him as well as a longing in his soul that he can't deny. Also, pray for his wife and his son who is supposed to be born in a few months, as he feels like he would be rejected by his wife even if she found out that he is atheist. (He is the one holding up 3 fingers in the pictures up top)
Ways to get involved:
We have 2 different ways that you can get involved with our ministry this month.
1. As we’ve shared, we are going to have our first family mission trip and vacation in Mexico. We would really like to find 7 families who are willing to "adopt" our 7 kids for Christmas by writing a special note and sending a Christmas gift to each one of our kids (Gustavo-28, Erick-20, Mayumi-20, Nico-20, Inti-17, Santi-10, and Leilani-8). They already know that our Christmas presents to them this year are paying for the house/car in Mexico, while each one of them are saving up to pay for their meals. So none of them are expecting Christmas presents, but we we would like to surprise them. If you are interested, contact Ximena
2. If you are one of our financial supporters, you are going to receive a letter from Orphanos. The letter you are going to receive is regarding a campaign called Double December. Since Orphanos provides services to us for free, every year they ask us to encourage our donor base to make a year-end gift to help cover their administrative expenses. The idea is simple. If you are a regular supporter who gives $100 per month, then think about providing a year-end gift of an additional $100 for Orphanos. If all of the Orphanos supporters were faithful to do this, then Orphanos office expenses would be 100% funded for the year. The gift is completely optional, but we also wanted you to know Double December revenue is very important to cover the daily expenses at the office and consequently for us. If you can participate, that would be great!
and select Double December)
Comments