Some of you have asked for us to post this, so here it is! Our family remembers Christmas 2005 to be rather unusual. While many people spent the holiday season acquiring gifts, we spent a cold December weekend hosting a garage sale, selling practically everything we own.
We are preparing for a major life-changing journey to Africa, for our first thirty month mission assignment.
We will work with Serving in Mission (www.sim.org), a 100+ year old international ministry that sends missionaries to more than 35 countries in the Americas, Africa, Asia and Australia. We will be stationed at a mission school, teaching and ministering to children of missionaries, ex-patriates and dignitaries.
Our family’s journey, however, does not begin when we leave. It actually began in the summer of 2005, when friends alerted us to the need of mission schools in Africa. Fully staffed mission schools allow missionaries to be able to pursue their calling without the concerns of their children’s education. However, some of the mission schools are in great need of teachers. This need eventually became our call.
We both graduated from Christian international boarding high schools in N.C. and TN. Our classmates were from dozens of countries outside of the U.S. while others were children of missionaries. This experience, along with mission trips, provided a breeding ground of compassion in our hearts for missionary children.
After being made aware of the need for workers, each day and night, Africa constantly invaded our minds until we could no longer deny the Holy Spirit’s calling. During this time, we know that the Holy Spirit provided a “blessed unrest.” Finally, on one Sunday afternoon after much prayer, Jon prayed, “We are willing to go as long as You, Father, open the doors.” Jon admits that we both “felt such peace once we surrendered to His calling.”
Over the next few months, our family experienced events that we believe to be the open doors that provided the assurance of our calling onto the mission field.
A three-day seminar in Charlotte, N.C. that involved a series of interviews, exams and psychological evaluations began the process of becoming a missionary with SIM, During this weekend, our calling was confirmed and we were accepted by the mission.
Selling Jon’s lawn-care and landscaping business was one of the first big steps in preparing the family to make the move to Africa. The final papers of this transaction were signed one Friday afternoon in October, and an hour later, we departed for N.C. with our three children, Lauren, 15, Mattie Grace, 11, and Naomi, 9. Here we went through a two-week training program that included intensive courses on prayer, contextualization, Bible study, support-raising, survival techniques and more with fellow missionaries.
While in NC, our family began the required immunizations which consisted of about 10-15 shots/pills for each family member. Although only one of us passed out during these shots, we are thankful that those series are now complete. Antimalarial will be the only medication needed while on the mission field.
However, between now and the moment of departure for Africa, much still must be done. We continue to raise funds for our stay, which will cost an estimated $2,600 per month and $25,000 in one-time expenses. We are also in the process of selling our house and finding storage for a few keepsakes. We must buy supplies that we cannot get in Africa. These include everyday household items, extra clothing, and plenty of sunscreen!
We admit that our lives have already changed even before we head onto the field. We are just beginning to realize what is truly important in life. We pray that we will each be able to say with confidence that, “for me to live is Christ and to die is gain.” Philippians 1:3.
