TUESDAY, AUGUST 16, 2011
"We have nothing to fear for the future,
except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us...in our past..."
E.G.W., Life Sketches pg. 196
What a Tuesday!!! I had been anticipating (and dreading!) this day for a couple of months. When you first began to talk about going as a student missionary, Jen, I was excited. After all, being the daughter of missionaries, I had personally benefited from the ministry of SMs in my youth. And though I never went as an SM myself, I know what a vital role they play and how their personal lives can be impacted in a positive way by a year of service to others. Living overseas gives one a broader view of the world and matures a person in a way that nothing else can. I was a bit worried about you being homesick (among other things!), but I believed that the positives would outweigh the negatives and that it would benefit you in ways we couldn't really begin to imagine. You chose Blantyre, Malawi as your personal mission field, and your call was quickly approved by the various boards involved. Now, since it was a call for two, all that was left was to wait and see who else might want to teach there.
And so we waited. And waited. And waited.
And then we heard that student response to Africa calls was down this year. No one seemed to want to go to Blantyre, Malawi...except for you!!!
When you first approached Jonathan with the idea that he join you, he was positive about it. And then, Jonathan, when you asked, ARISE was willing to postpone your acceptance there for a year. But it was a total change of plans and direction for you, and you waffled back and forth about it for a while. After about a month, you made your decision to go ahead and walk down the student missionary path, and began the application process. But you were late in getting started with the whole thing (wasn't it July by now?), and you were only eighteen, not even done with your freshman year of college. The boards kept on delaying your acceptance.
And so we waited. And waited. And waited.
We put off buying airline tickets. We heard that the people at Blantyre wanted you--a brother/sister team--and had taken the call off of the docket in order to reserve it just for you, but the conference boards couldn't seem to make up their minds. The wait was excruciating, because Dad and I didn't want to send you alone, Jennifer, and yet it seemed that you, Jonathan, might not get to go. What to do?!? The days were creeping by, and we still hadn't bought tickets. Finally, Jeanne assured us that whether the conference approval came through in time or not, Walla Walla University would accept the responsibility of sending Jonathan. And so we bought the tickets.
Now we began the packing process in earnest. What should we send with you? Which items would be available there and which would not? What about books, and musical instruments, and food? How many suitcases could you take, and how much could they weigh? You both needed medications for malaria to last for a year, and immunizations, and wisdom teeth taken out... The list seemed never-ending!!!
Finally, just exactly one week before you were to fly out, the boards came through with their final approval for you, Jonathan, to go. If we had waited until everything was finalized before we had begun to prepare things, there wouldn't have been time to get you ready. You would be here now, instead of there, and I'm not sure where you, Jen, would be, because Dad and I were not willing for you to go alone. God answered our prayers and worked all the timing out just perfectly!
And so Tuesday, August 16, dawned. The day I had been anticipating and dreading for several months. Dad headed off to work, and we began to put the finishing touches on your packing. As we worked, I was fighting off panic. Because, as you remember, Malawi had begun to have demonstrations in July (In fact, while we were sitting at the Travel and Immunization Clinic in downtown Portland in July, there was a new travel advisory put up on that exact day by the State Department for Malawi. Eighteen people had been killed during demonstrations on July 21. And as you know, this set me off on a quest to see if it was even safe to send you there, and after talking to many different people and organizations, Dad and I decided to go ahead and send you). But now the opposition leaders were planning another demonstration on August 17, and you were scheduled to arrive in Malawi on August 18. You weren't arriving directly in Blantyre, though. You were arriving in Lilongwe where you would catch a taxi to the bus station, and then you had a four-hour bus trip to Blantyre, where you would be met at the bus depot by Dr. Guarino, who would take you to your new little house. All of that time on the road in an unfamiliar and restless country. Frankly, I was terrified!!!
Throughout the day I kept on praying. As the waves of panic would come over me, that was all I could do. Of course, I was trying to hide this from the two of you (how did I do?!?). I was praying that God would have His hand over the situation there in Malawi, that His Spirit would fall on the people there, and that the demonstrations might not happen, or that they would be peaceful this time. I was also praying that Dad would get off work at a reasonable time and be home to help us finish up what needed to be done. When I spoke to him by phone, it looked like he would be busy until 5 or 6 pm, at least. Then, sometime in the early afternoon, the phone rang. It was Dad. One of his colleagues had offered to cover for him so that he could leave early, and she would stay and finish his day. I called the hospital to leave a message of thanks for her, and ended up crying on the phone. I was overwhelmed by her kindness!!! And God was just beginning to answer our prayers...
After Dad got home, the last of the packing seemed to go more smoothly. As you know, we were trying to send you with four, fifty-pound suitcases, a fifteen-pound carry-on for each of you, and Jonathan's guitar. We kept on switching things around, trying to decide what was necessary and would be most helpful to you in Malawi. In the end, with most of the suitcases weighing a couple pounds more than they should, and with prayers that the airport employees would be kind to you, we loaded the van and headed off to the airport.
When we arrived at the airport, we parked and walked in as a family. No dropping anyone off at the terminal to wait with the luggage--every moment together was precious now, even if it meant we had to cart those bags around!!! Miraculously, there was no line for departures. We were able to go right up to the counter and begin checking in. The man who started checking you in seemed a bit grumpy, and I was worried about the weight of those suitcases. But then--wonder of wonders--they all weighed a bit light!!! Dad was even able to run out to the van and bring in your backpack, Jonathan, and stick it into one of them so that you would have a way to travel light while over in Malawi. We were so relieved!!!
During the check-in process, a woman came over to help. I don't know what her job title was, but she was an angel (if not in reality, then in deed)!!! When she saw that you were going to be in Malawi for ten months, she asked you, Jonathan, if you were going as missionaries. When you answered in the affirmative, she offered to give Dad, Jo, and I security clearance passes so that we could go with you through the security checkpoint and wait with you at the boarding area. We were amazed and thrilled with the offer--we had never heard of or expected anything like that!!! It wasn't even an answer to prayer, because we had not thought to ask for it. It was a totally unexpected blessing from a loving heavenly Father!!! And for the second time in one day, I was brought to tears by someone's kindness.
Those extra couple of hours with you were amazing. We were able to relax, get a bite to eat, enjoy each others' company, and pray together one last time. We even had time to people-watch a bit... A young mother was going through a bit of drama, trying to get on the plane with her two small children. They were able to move someone to the next day's flight so that the little family could travel together that night, but they weren't going to be sitting together. We watched her story with interest. By the time you actually boarded, we felt pretty strong and ready to say goodbye.
Dad, Jo, and I watched from the window there until the airplane was pushed back to go to the runway. As we left for home, we saw your plane lifting into the sky, beginning the first leg of your journey to places far, far away. We felt both sadness at missing you, and exhilaration at the way the Lord had given evidence of His goodness already. When we got home, Jo went to get ready for bed, Dad went into the living room, and I stopped to do a few things in the kitchen. As I was standing at the sink, I heard Dad's voice from the living room, "They've canceled them. They've postponed the demonstrations!" When I finally understood what he was talking about, I could hardly believe my ears. Could it be? That was no small thing--it was something that affected the entire country of Malawi!!! And then I started crying again... I had asked God to act, and I knew that He could, but I wasn't sure that He really would in this instance. And yet He did!!! It was as if God was showing us in as many ways as He could that He was supporting you on this venture of yours!!!
That night Dad, Jo, and I all slept in the living room. It didn't start out that way--we were just watching your progress via the computer. When you called from North Carolina, we were so glad to hear that your flight had gone well and that leg one (of four flights) was completed safely. And then we heard the rest of the story... That you, Jonathan, had one of the young mother's small children across the aisle from you, and that an older woman traded seats so that the child could be near his mother. That that older woman struck up a conversation with you in which you mentioned where you were going, and then the lady on the other side of the older woman joined the conversation. That lady number two was an Adventist who had been a missionary in Blantyre with her dentist husband twenty years ago. That she spent the rest of the flight telling you many things about the country and city to which you were going. That she ended up giving you a hundred dollar bill as she said goodbye. We didn't pray for you to have an experience like that--but God gave it to you anyway, just because He's good and because He can!!!
At this point, you were already really tired. I was praying that you would be alert and awake, that you wouldn't miss anything important, that you would make all your connections smoothly. And then we heard from you right after you boarded your cross-Atlantic flight to Ethiopia. And you told us how you nearly missed that flight because you were sleeping as you waited, but woke up in time to be two of the last three people on the plane. Thank God for answering another prayer, and for keeping you from missing that flight!!!
And then we waited. All the next day, while you were flying, I was praying as I went about my work. And after you landed in Ethiopia that night, I kept an eye on the computer, watching to see if you would leave on time for Lilongwe. And that was when my next panicked moment came. I found out that you were going to have a stop in the Democratic Republic of Congo. What?!? We didn't know anything about that!!! It wasn't on our itinerary!!! What if you got off there and ended up in the wrong country?!? I tried emailing both of you, in case you could access your emails from Ethiopia. I tried texting you, in case your international phones would work. I tried to call the airport in Ethiopia, and did indeed get through, but nobody on the other end could speak English. In the end, it was like sending messages into a black hole. There was nothing I could do but pray (which was, as always with things of God, more than enough!!).
At four in the morning that second night after you left, just when I was close to panic, the phone rang. Jennifer, it was you. I was never so glad to hear your voice!!! You were on the ground in the Democratic Republic of Congo, still on the plane--you hadn't gotten off. You guys were okay!!! It wasn't until later that I found out the rest of the story... That as you sat in the plane, you looked out the window. That you thought you saw them take Jonathan's guitar off the plane. That you woke him up, and he talked to a flight attendant. That they sent someone to check, and that, indeed, it was his guitar. That they brought it back to the plane. I had specifically been praying that God would help you keep track of all your luggage, that if anything began to go astray, you would see and be able to rectify it. And here was a direct answer to my prayer--another evidence of God's goodness, and of His hand in your venture!!! How else could one explain the fact that you were on the same side of the plane that the guitar was taken off of, that you looked out the window at exactly the right time, that you were even awake?!?
The rest of your trip went exactly as we had hoped and prayed. You found the Adventist taxi driver easily in Lilongwe. He got you to the bus station in time. After you got on the bus, you called me. And there in the background, playing over the bus speakers, was "This World is Not My Home." We didn't ask for that, but God did it (maybe just for me, because that was exactly what I needed to hear right then. I needed a reminder that our home on this earth is wherever God wants us to be, which meant that you were indeed home, at that exact moment, in a foreign country!!!) That your bus trip was uneventful, and when you arrived, Dr. Guarino was waiting there to take you to his home, where they gave you a warm, home-cooked meal before they put you to bed in their own home. That you lived in that home for a week, being fed and cared for, until the renovations to your little cottage were completed and you could move into your own place. That the phones we bought for you worked as they were supposed to, and that we could talk to each other and keep in touch. That you have been able to get internet access, and that God is continuing to work in obvious and active ways in your lives there.
This is a really long post, but I'm not going to apologize. Not this time. Remember when God opened the Jordan for the Israelites to pass over into the land of Canaan? Remember that Joshua asked one man from each of the twelve tribes of Israel to bring out a stone from the bottom of the riverbed, and that they built an altar from them? At that time, Joshua said, "In the future when your descendants ask their father, 'What do these stones mean?' tell them, 'Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.' For the Lord your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over...He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God." Joshua 4:21-24
This is my altar. It isn't physical, but it's a memorial just the same. I don't want to ever forget the things that God did in our family's history this year. I want to remember, because He has been so real and so active and has been speaking in a voice that we cannot mistake, and I am so grateful to Him. I so want for all five of us to know that the hand of the Lord is powerful enough to meet all our needs, whatever they are and wherever they are, and I so want for all five of us to always fear the Lord our God!!!
"For this God is our God forever and ever;
He will be our guide even to the end."
Psalm 48:14
