Divine Voyagers

The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed we haven’t updated the blog in a while. 

Life has been pretty hectic – Tom went down to two days in order to focus on mission work, and had the chance to attend a conference focused around the mission principles from a book called ‘The God Ask’.
We started to organise meetings with people to talk about partnership.
We had our mission fundraiser and the chance to speak to all three congregations at our church in May.
And in amongst all of that, on the day that Tom found out he had been offered a new, full time role as the academic liaison librarian at Moore Theological College (he buys the books), we found out that I’m pregnant.
A few weeks later, we found out we’re having twins. 

The immediate shift from pumping through mission stuff to thinking about life as parents has been completely insane. 

Suddenly, our daily conversations changed from dreaming about the Basque to dreaming about things we will do with our kids. Our partnership conversations had to go on hold because Tom was back at work full time, and we also weren’t sure how to talk to people about partnership any more, other than slowly spreading the word that we’re now planning to move at the end of 2026 instead of 2025. On one hand, this means that mission has lost some of its urgency – we now have another year to raise funds, and I won’t be at work next year (although both hands will be very full!). On the other hand, raising a family and being able to do that while on mission has been a long-held prayer of ours. We laugh that our kids will know French better and quicker than us, we found some picture books at a French food festival we went to a few weeks ago, and we dream of them running through the bright green fields of the Basque alongside our dog, Luna. It’s not as though the vision has changed – the twins just blend right in. 

Although we have told a few people along the way, including our team mates Roger and Nancy, this may be the first time you’re finding out – I hope it doesn’t feel disingenuous if we have talked about mission recently. I wasn’t pregnant when we held our mission + music night in mid-March, but I was by the end of the month! And as I have said, the Basque is still the goal. Roger and Nancy have promised us they’re not going anywhere, and I’m excited to see what will happen for the church and the school in the next year. 

So, oft asked on this blog, where to from here? 

Through our conversations and presentations, we have consistently highlighted that any money goes straight to Pioneers to try and raise 100% of our budget, which means we don’t see any of it until we book flights.
If you have given, thank you. Our church has apportioned some of their ‘May Mission Month’ money to us, as our sending church, and we have already had some people sign up as regular partners. 

If you continue to give, that means we can continue to work towards that 100%, although we will be pausing active fundraising until next year. It takes some of the pressure off us when we do start again to know we won’t be starting from scratch. 

If you choose to suspend your fundraising or wait to start until things are back up and running, that’s also perfectly understandable and doable. Tom getting his dream job on the day we got the news about the pregnancy was a clear sign that God has, and will, provide for us, both on the field and before we get there.
And whatever you choose to do with giving financially, please keep praying for (all four of) us, and let us know how we can be praying for you too. 

This will probably be the last update here for a while.
Language learning, conferences and one on one’s will all start up again once we have a better idea of what life looks like, and once I can get through the day without a nap. If you have any thoughts or questions, please feel free to get (or keep) in touch! 

“The Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up.
The Lord sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts.
He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honour.”
1 Samuel 2:6-8