I’ll be the first to admit that Christian missionaries are some of the weirdest people on the planet. I mean, come on. How many human beings up and walk away from their families and friends and familiar culture and go to a foreign place of their own volition, powered by the inaudible calling of an invisible God who made Himself known in a tiny country in the Middle East thousands of years ago. It doesn’t make much human sense.
So I when I tell you about the couple we met for the first time by driving an hour each to a mutually agreed upon McDonald’s location in a random place in the middle of California, you shouldn’t bat an eyelash, right? Even if the town is called Yuba City, right?
We’re on one of little “home assignment road trips” right now, and yesterday spent time with four different couples who live in the Sacramento area. Each visit has been completely wonderful and an awesome blessing to us, but I want to tell you about the last two families we saw today.
First, the Yuba City McDonald’s people. We first heard about Karl and Laurel in Africa about three years ago. Our co-workers at the time were thrilled that a young family from their home church in Paradise, California (Really? People would leave “Paradise” to go on the mission field? It’s true.) was considering coming to Rift Valley Academy in the future. Well, God led this family along to a place where they are just three months away from starting their first missions experience in Africa. Having connected with them through this blog and on Facebook, they knew about our trip towards their neck of the woods and suggested we get together.
The middle ground between Paradise and Sacramento? None other than Yuba City. And where is the center of American culture, the very locus of our nation’s heartbeat? What institution brings people together and christens new friendship like no other? The Golden Arches of course.
Our visit went great, but I’ll spare you the details of keeping five children entertained in a fast food restaurant for two hours. The main topic of conversation was Rift Valley Academy. They had lots of questions about this place they’ve never visited (we hadn’t either when we went in 2005), and we got to hear their excitement and apprehension about this monumental life change. For us, it was sheer joy, not only to be making new future friends, but also to help unveil the fabulous and rich world that awaits them around the corner.
Fast-forward two and half hours to our next visit. (Although Brian and Erin live just 45 miles from Yuba City and there was no traffic, it did take us 150 minutes to get to their house. Don’t ask. Just accept that 1996 minivans don’t have GPS, and I’m a moron.)
Brian and Erin are friends from Rift Valley Academy who worked with us during our first four years there. When they came back to the U.S. to have a baby in 2008, their home church suddenly dropped four missionary families from their payroll (in favor of short-term summer trips) and finding new support was impossible. After a decade on the field, they shockingly found themselves no longer missionaries, by no preference of their own. (I write about them in Part Three of my new book Winter Spring Summer Fall: Living and Lasting in Missions, available May 1 through Father’s Press. Shameless plug.)
Our visit with them was quite different. After a year and half away from Africa, they just now feel like they are beginning to settle back into America and accept fully God’s will for them. Although they’ve sensed God’s presence all along, they’ve struggled to overcome passionate desire to be back in Africa. Our conversation with them didn’t involve any convincing or easing their doubts about living in Africa. They had been there, and they and their kids knew how great it is.
Our first visit involved a family perfectly settled into America and transitioning to Africa; our second a family perfectly settled into Africa and transitioning to America. Both families talked about sadness and grief over what they were leaving, apprehension and uncertainty about the limbo land in which they are living, and excitement and anticipation about what is to come for them in their new areas of life and ministry.
But despite the different directions these families lives are headed, it was particularly settling to hear testimony of the leading and the provision of God for each. God is indeed in control.
(P.S. Karl and Laurel are still raising support.
Click here to help them get closer to Africa.)
