Congratulations on having completed all your growth goals, integration reports, and the trainings that are required prior to the departure clearance process. You have done well, and we praise God and rejoice with you!
Keep up the good work as you move from 82% to 100%, gaining more financial partners on your ministry team. As you know, we want you to be fully funded at 100% per WorldVenture figures before you receive departure clearance for Indonesia.
The email goes on to outline the next few steps that I will need to complete before I can buy plane tickets, which of course includes being at 100% in support. Please be praying with me that the remaining amount can be raised quickly. At this point I am pretty much out of leads and am just waiting on the Lord on to provide!
I recently got asked the question again. (Well ok actually this blog post was written back in early January, but I just haven't gotten it edited and posted.) Anyway back to the question...
As part of my testimony with groups I usually share a bit about how I was living my plan for my life and how I had it all figured out. It was the typical American dream of having the perfect family and perfect job. Then God interrupted that plan. So, I recently shared that testimony with the youth group at one of my supporting churches in White Salmon, WA. During the question and answer time I got asked the question. It usually goes something like this, "so how do you feel about not being married" or sometimes it has a bit of an edge to it like "so you are planning on living in a place like Indonesia and you aren't married."
There are times when the question just rolls off my back and doesn't bother me. There are other times though when I struggle with the question and with the fact that I am not married. It seems to go in cycles. There are times when I am completely content being single and other times I struggle with being single. There is that dream as a woman of marriage and children. A dream that
doesn't end but becomes less likely because I will soon be leaving for
Indonesia. As that realization sunk in during December I began once again to struggle with my singleness.
Once again though God brought me comfort. In December, I was blessed to take some time away at the Oregon Coast for some spiritual rest. While I was there I received an email from a friend who had also served as a single woman at Bethesda Hospital. She is now married with two children and continues to minister in Indonesia alongside her husband. I had written an email to her recently expressing some of those thoughts and feelings. Her reply was a great reminder and part of the Lord's response to my worry and fear. He reminded me through her words that living this life is an adventure and one that I don't walk alone, even as a single woman. I was reminded of the countless Indonesian babies and their moms that I will be blessed to spend time with and care for.
The lyrics of this song by Francesca Battistelli really sums it up well...
Oh and as an added bonus to keep me busy, there will also be 180 Indonesian teenage nursing students who would needs lots of love and mentoring :)
As I mentioned in my last post, this training I just finished was my last! The purpose was to help us through this transition and to help us prepare to live that first year well. So we had sessions on things like good mourning, how to say goodbye well, and learning about the transition/chaos bridge. I will share more about some of those topics in the future. We also spent time talking about how to help kids transition (for the parents) and about some of the pitfalls of this transition. There were definitely some moments when reality sank in that this journey has not and will not be easy at times. There will be moments of loneliness and grief. There will also be moments of joy and laughter. Many of these emotions will be intensified because of the transition we are experiencing. It is good to know and hopefully remember the lessons we have learned here at this training during those times.
Our Group with our IMDs
There were two very special times during this training that I will remember for a long time to come. One I will have to share about later because it deserves its own blog post. The other though I want to share about in this post.
During that first afternoon all of the appointees gathered in a circle and we were surrounded by the International Ministry Directors (IMDs - see previous blog post if you don't know what that is) and the home office staff we have been working with closely during this time of preparation. They laid their hands on us and prayed for us. They have been through this transition and have years of experience, so they have an intimate knowledge of this journey. Because of this experience and knowledge there prayers were full of encouragement and wisdom. Here are a few pictures of those moments.
This training was a great reminder that WorldVenture cares and that there is power in prayer. They care not just about the work we are going to do, but they care about us. They know that this transition will be rough at times but they also know through prayer we will not only survive but thrive.
A big thank you to Josh Tokar for sharing his pictures from pre-departure training!
