Divine Voyagers

In the middle of April, I started to write an update for this blog along the lines of, ‘it’s been a year since we paused everything missions related and we’re keen to get back in the saddle!’ Sadly, there was then a significant breakdown in our relationship with our team-mates in the Basque, and as a result, we will no longer be joining the team.

This came as a huge shock. We’ve been processing it for about a month now, with support from our church leaders and from Pioneers in Australia. We are sad, bewildered and deeply disappointed. Having worked towards this for two years, it feels like we had planned a wedding and now, slowly, we have to cancel all the vendors and notify all the guests. That’s a bit like what this post is.

I’m tempted to say that we’re starting from square one, but that’s not true. It reminds me of 2 Corinthians 4:7-11.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. 

This month, whenever I have been tempted to say this is ‘crushing’, I remember we aren’t crushed. Whenever I have felt despair, God turns it to perplexity. Whenever my heart has felt destroyed, I remember this has knocked us down but not out.

We have explored a few teams now, each with their own beauty and complexities. We have met so many wonderful people and seen how mission might look in a hundred different ways. We have learned so much, about how we might best serve as missionaries. We are different people than we were when we said yes to the Basque (we are parents!) We have the same calling, but have been shaped in ways we couldn’t have imagined, and God will not waste anything.

The day that I found out I was pregnant last year, Tom found out he had gotten a job at Moore College. He has grown so much in that role, harnessing his love for knowledge and his skills with resources. I have recently started teaching English as a second language online to some people from Indonesia, stretching my teaching muscles and developing my TESOL. Although this is not what we planned, we know it isn’t a deviation from God’s plan, and we’re keen to keep growing and serving at our church, in our community in Sydney for the next little bit. We still believe we are called to the mission field, we just don’t know what that looks like yet.

For the first time in a long time, we don’t know where we’re going. Once we have had a bit more time to process, we will start exploring again, and that’s tiring but also exciting in its own way. This is the best place to keep up to date with that journey. 

I just wanted to say thank you for supporting us so far. 
If you have been praying for us, keep praying for us. Pray for guidance, peace and the Basque. Pray for our daughters, Jemima and Violet. Pray that God’s will would be done, and his kingdom would come.