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June 24, 2007
Hello from Louisville, where we are finally getting some rain! Last night was filled with the sound of a mountain stream or bacon frying or distant applause, and we felt like applauding, too. Everything had been turning brown around here. Deer were wandering the seminary campus looking for something green to eat, and Lora interrupted her walk one morning to move a wandering box turtle safely off the road. But now the air is fresh, and just breathing is a delight!
Yesterday we delivered Emily to the Governor’s Scholar Program (which Emily calls “Nerd Camp”) at Morehead State University, over on the eastern side of the state. GSP is a program for high-achieving students just completing their junior year. The kids get to spend five weeks in a community of learning, Morehead gets to encourage kids to look over the campus (and possibly decide to stay in-state for college), and parents get to worry. This will be the longest time that Em has ever spent away from us. We wonder if she’s ready. We had to squeeze in some last-minute shopping for things that she had forgotten: a hand towel, some laundry detergent, some snacks. What else has she forgotten? What have we forgotten in our parenting? Emily is tightly tied to us, partly because of moving away from her friends in Montana, partly because of our living overseas where she had no close peers except her sister. Is her background too different for her to find a comfortable niche? Is she self-reliant enough to make good choices about her time, her friends, her hand towel? Will she be happy?
There’s a lot of guilt that goes with parenting, and we’re sure that we have fallen short of the mark. We feel like apologizing to Emily, who cries as she hugs us goodbye. She says that she loves us, and we’re grateful for that touch, that unspoken forgiveness for the past. Then she runs off to her dorm, uphill all the way, her grocery sack slapping against her leg.
Lora and I have always hoped to go back overseas after the girls take off for college next year, and now there is a new position in Ethiopia that the Africa office and the recruitment office have started to look at together. They think it might be the one for us, the one where our skills match the local needs. This is not an official announcement, but we would like to share with you this time of discernment and possibility. We are confident that the church will find us the right match—we learned that in Vanuatu—but your prayers would be appreciated, for our children, for our health, and for wisdom during this time of creating plans.
One other obstacle must be faced: if this appointment is confirmed, Lora and I must raise funding for our position. Missionaries to new assignments must raise pledges for an entire three-year term before they can be sent. We ask you to consider coming alongside us, just as we will come alongside the partner church that we will be helping, in joining to make this call a reality.
It’s ironic for us to be asking for personal support, since that’s exactly what we have been doing for other missionaries for the last year and a half. Mission Challenge ’07, the denomination-wide effort that Lora is leading, is really taking off. Over 80 percent of PC(USA)’s presbyteries are now committed to hosting a mission speaker this October. Lora’s office has a big wall-chart showing speakers and hosts, and we are trying to get the last few sticky-notes replaced by commitments in ink. We find that there is a lot of enthusiasm across the country to support mission.
- Columbia Church in Middle Tennessee Presbytery is taking up a special collection for missionary salaries, not just once in October, but the first Sunday of every month.
- Central Florida Presbytery has produced a compact disk of missionaries and is showing it in every church to promote support.
- Northern Waters Presbytery, in Minnesota, is excitedly preparing to host only the second missionary to visit in 25 years. (Their first was just last year!)
We’ve even had a couple of presbyteries that originally turned down our invitation call and ask if it’s too late to join. No, never! It’s not too late to pray for missionaries, it’s not too late to send letters of encouragement, and it’s not too late to support them financially. Come on and join the celebration! I’m reminded of some of the great psalms of rejoicing, the “Songs of Ascents” that were sung as the people climbed toward the Temple. “Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers and sisters dwell in unity!” (Psalm 133:1). On good days, that’s how this job feels: ascending.
Looking back on this letter, it seems to me that we have shared a church service. We started with praise for rain, then a confession of our uncertainty, our fears, and our shortcomings. Pardon was assured and prayer requests made. We called for an offering, shared stories about the joy of our work, and read a Scripture passage that illuminated and summarized our theme. So now, it’s time for a benediction:
May God bless you and keep you,
May God’s face shine upon you and be gracious unto you,
May God grant you peace,
And may you make each day a gift of worship.
Love and peace,
Bruce and Lora
The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer
& Study, p. 259 |
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