January 2012 Newsletter

Warning…
…the objects in your mirror may be closer than they appear. All of us have read this warning before, or something close to it. It is printed at the bottom of almost every side view mirror in the States. For us, it turns out that it is not the objects behind us, but those in front of us that are closer then we originally thought. In the matter of a few weeks, we went from thinking we had 2 years before our first home assignment, to 1 year, and finally to 3 months.

Most of it is Phoebe’s fault. That’s right. At just 5 months old, Phoebe is already causing all kinds of trouble. Not long after Phoebe’s birth, we started talking about making a short trip to the States so friends and family could meet this wonderful little girl. In fact, in our November newsletter asked people to consider giving so we could take that trip. After much discussion, we were still unsure how it would be possible to get enough money to fly our whole family back to Georgia, so we started praying.

We began praying and asking the Lord to provide a way for us to return to the States. In no way were we thinking, much less asking, that the Lord hasten our home assignment. That idea never crossed our minds.

It was only in, what we thought at the time were, totally unrelated talks that we discussed shortening our first term on the field from 4 years to 3. It seemed to be a better idea in relation to both ministry and family life. These discussions prompted an email to our international director, whose response shook things up even more.

It was in the wake of his email that we began to see a clear connection between what we had been asking the Lord for and our discussions about home assignment. Our director’s response was simple and very encouraging. He told us we already had 9 months of home assignment time built up. We had been a year and a half in France, and two years in Senegal, totaling 3 ½ years. For whatever reason, we had never though about it that way.

After more prayer and discussing things with our team, we decided to take our first home assignment at the end of the next school term- April 4th to be exact. We had been praying about a way to spend 3 weeks over the summer with family and friends and God responded by giving us from April to January.

“9 months of vacation?” That has been the question from several of our Senegalese friends. It has been a challenge to explain to them all the reasons for our return, but we hope they understand it is not 9 months of paid vacation. We have plenty of work to do.

While we are excited to see family and friends, and for them to meet Phoebe, that will not be the only goal of our 9 month home stay. We will be visiting supporters, taking a trip out to CrossWorld’s headquarters in Kansas City, looking to raise the support we are presently lacking, and be involved as much as possible in our home church. Our 9 months home assignment will not look like a 9-5 job, but we will have plenty to do.

We want to praise the Lord for His answer to our prayers. We know many of you all were praying for us in this matter, so please rejoice with us. God is such a good Father. He knows just what we need, when we need it. Even though we do not always know exactly what to ask for, He always knows exactly what to give us.


“Please say we’re finished!”
A sprint to the finish…that is how a good race with fit runners is supposed to end. The final straightaway is no time to give up. It is the moment when a runner gives everything that he or she has left inside. That is, of course, if you are a fit runner. If you run more like me (Eric), then you may convince yourself upon seeing the finish line that you have run far enough and call it quits for the day.

This is the temptation for us as we begin making plans to return to the States. It would be so easy to just stop now and cruise to the finish. We are on that final straightaway, but instead of kicking harder, we find ourselves wanting to walk.

It was with those thoughts in mind that we went to talk to our pastor here in Senegal. We wanted to let him know of our new plans, and we wanted to see if there was anything he wanted us to do before leaving.

Our time with him was really great. He was encouraged and so were we. He was also more than willing to help make sure that we do not walk across the finish line of April 4th. He gave me 3 Sundays to preach, including the last Sunday we will be here. With those three preaching dates, as well as Sunday school to prepare for, I will be plenty busy. My need to study leaves much of the packing and preparation for leaving on Amanda’s plate. Between that and the kids, she will be quite busy as well.

We would still ask for your prayers. This is our first home assignment, so it is a new experience for us. We want to finish out our time here well, and prepare well for our time in the US.