However, we have been blessed to re-connect with many of our friends while we have been here in the U.S. We are making so many more connections with friends we just had simple acquaintances with before we left 3 years ago. Some of our friends from those BSA (Before South Asia) days have moved on in their lives. Others have matured in the fact that they understand what we are doing and want to be more involved in what we are doing but do not know how. The main thing is that we pull ourselves off the pedestal that people place us on (and sometimes place ourselves on) for being missionaries overseas and show them that we are normal, real people. We like to have fun and laugh, watch movies and tv shows, be frustrated with our sports teams (Michigan football is in rebuilding process, and I am okay with that), and just hang out with friends and show that it doesn't take perfect people to make an impact for Christ- it is Christ who works His perfection through our weakness to gain glory for Himself, and we rest in that and simply try to be ourselves.
With some frequent flyer miles I was able to fly to Sedona, AZ to visit my dad. It has been a long time since we have been able to just hang out and have father-son time. (I wrote about him in this earlier blogpost- Remembrance.) I was proud to go hiking, talk about and watch sports together and take a golf lesson, to which I completely forgot about when we got to the course!
Another huge re-connection happened with my half-brother. My mother and real father (not the one I visited in AZ) divorced when I was young, and my real father re-married and had a son. When I would visit my dad, I got to know him, but only when he was 3. My father then got divorced, and I lost contact with his ex-wife and my brother. For many years I tried to find him, but never could. Every now and then I would search the internet to find him but ran into dead ends and would not try again for long periods of time, and then would run into more dead ends. Just recently, I found his mom on Facebook, and was able to send her a message, not knowing if I would even get a response. Well, 26 years after I had seen him last, we were able to connect through email, and then by phone. We spent 2 hours talking about our lives up to this point and sharing hardships and similarities we shared. Our lives sort of mirrored each other as far as our relationships. We sent pictures back and forth of each other and were amazed at how much we actually do look related. This is all new territory for us, and we will meet personally soon. We live about 10 hours away, and have agreed to meet half-way somewhere. I really can't wait to meet him finally.
So, God has really held us here for some good connections- I shudder to think that if we had been in Thailand already, I would not have the opportunity to meet personally with my brother. So I am thankful for a God whose timing is perfect in every way.
Recently, I have also begun to teach discipleship to a group of college age students who are living in a low-income housing project that our church has been involved with over the years. There are many internationals living in this housing area, and the students are engaging them through an after-school program with the children and building relationships with the families they are living around. The teaching I am giving them is the same that was taught to me and the same I taught to church planters in South Asia. Their attitude, even though they are busy with college and part-time jobs is amazing. I thought they would be too tired to listen and learn this stuff, but they are so eager and hungry for this that it just blows me away. 3 guys and 3 girls sit and listen to me teach and challenge them to be all they can be for Christ. One of the guys came forward, and though he has been a follower of Christ for some years and it has changed his life, he realized he had not been baptized. He said that if he was going to make disciples and baptize, he ought to be baptized. This came from sound biblical teaching (not from me) but from God's word. Sunday, we went, as the group, to a lake area and he took baptism in front of the body of believers he knows will hold him accountable before God. It was an awesome step of obedience and maturity in this young man, and God was glorified by what he did. I look forward to the things he and the rest of the group will do for God among the people they are trying to reach. It was also an incredible picture of the body being the body outside the walls of the regular local church.
We are busy, and though we want to be where we are supposed to be now, God is showing us that geographic location does not matter- we can make an impact for God's glory where we are.
