I haven't written a blog in six years. So... if I accidentally make this my home page or something let me know. :)
Moving across town is one thing. Packing up and moving to South America is a totally different story! Which items are worth storing for a year? What do we want to lug with us through the airport? What items do the kids 'need' to have no matter what? How will we make our new place feel like home?
Mike and I have never really been attached to our apartment itself. As we packed we just wanted to get it over with and relocate our ministry to Chile. We weren't prepared for the tearful goodbyes from neighbors and the kisses from our elderly babushka from across the way. She delivered sheet cakes, pastries and canned goods once a week for our children that were "too thin". Then it sunk in a little more. We lived at Lincoln Way for 15 years. Our kids grew up there. All 3 learned how to walk, ride a bike, feed themselves, read etc in our apartment. We went through a major depression, joblessness and learning to live on next to nothing. A lot happened in that little place!
Looking back on our old neighborhood and the memories there, I've started to see how God has prepared me and my family to move to a different country. The things that I've been thinking about are all the similarities between Casa Esperanza (House of Hope) and the people around our neighborhood. There's a sort of feeling that goes along with living in a neighborhood that has a lot of issues in it. It's a combination of feeling worried, hopeless and stuck all at the same time. You want your kids to be able to play in a safe place without the worry of them finding a used needle on the playground - but you can't move. If you make more money you'll lose food and medical benefits. You can't go to college to get a degree because the apartments don't allow it. The list can go on and on. Once you come full circle, try everything, you know that you're stuck and don't have a way out. We know what it feels like.
Knowing this we've learned to be content in our circumstances. God put us in that neighborhood for a reason, and though we didn't know it at the time, we know now. We've been surrounded by many neighbors who don't speak any English, neighbors who speak Russian, Ukrainian, Korean, Dagbani, German... basically everything under the sun. Crazy cultural differences, like people screaming at one another - a common thing in Ghana, a grandpa chasing his grandchildren around waving a stick at them because they said a bad word. People have refused to talk to us because we wore jeans or had nail polish on. The neighbor kids would play soccer on the cement basketball court with no shoes. Over the years our house became a place where people could hang out, seek advice and ask for things without worrying. Even though we didn't have a lot to give, God always gave us enough to share.
Being called to serve in Chile wasn't a surprise to either of us. Mike and I have been praying for a full-time ministry for our entire marriage. We want to live out 2 Corinthians 1:3-7 bringing comfort to our neighbors in Chile and the hope that comes with a new life in Christ.
"Blessed be the God and Father of out Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort."
Thank you so much for keeping us in your prayers and encouraging us during this time of transition! We appreciate each of you so much!
