"Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. 'The Lord is my portion' says my soul, 'Therefore I hope in Him!'" Lamentations 3:22-23
These were powerful verses that ministered to my soul this past month. These verses coupled with a week long series of messages from Isaiah 43 really comforted me and filled my tank. Joe Wheat, pastor at Village Seven PCA church in Colorado Springs, Colorado spoke to us about the fact that God's love is Possessive, Protecting, Proactive, Pardoning, and Promising.
These sermons came while we were at our MTW Area Retreat. At the beginning of April we had the opportunity to join a few hundred other fellow MTW missionaries in Athens Greece for our quadrennial Area Retreat. It was such a blessing. Not only did we have good preaching and teaching to get "recharged" but we also had time to reunite with other brothers and sisters laboring on the mission field in Europe and Africa. It was like a week long family reunion (without the big ugly Aunt who wants to pinch off your cheeks!). We laughed, cried, prayed, talked, strategized, reminisced, laughed and cried some more. We praise God for the way that He used the Retreat for not only our own well being but that of many other fellow missionaries.
Besides the refreshment that it brought to all of us, it has also given me some time to reflect and refocus on what my "main job" is for now and the days to come. Pray for us to be able to focus my energy on these in the coming days.
We would also like to have you specifically pray for our nine year old son, Ben. He has been having a hard time lately. He has been more moody than usual. He does not like to talk about how he feels and in some ways doesn't even know how to talk about what is bothering him. Finally, the other day, Marti was able to help him verbalize these feelings. He really misses home. And he doesn't feel like he has a good friend here who likes him for who he is and not just for what he has. Once again, thanks for your faithful prayers on our behalf.
Praises:
1. Praise God for a wonderful time of fellowship and refreshing at the MTW Area Retreat.
2. Praise God for how well our travel went.
3. Praise God for the continued interaction with the medical students. We had a great time of fellowship here at our home a few weeks ago. Marti fixed a huge feast of spaghetti that these 5 single guys devoured!
4. Praise God for the safe arrival of Marti's folks. They will be here working in short term missions for another agency for about 3 months.
Petitions:
1. Pray for Ben to work through his feelings of separation from home (the U.S.) and for some good friends here.
2. Pray for our continued transition period.
3. Pray for Marti's ear. She still has the ringing that is bothersome.
4. Pray for my work with the Medical Students.
5. Pray for language learning. It is coming along.
Blessings,
Tim
As an MK myself, I can relate to what Ben is going through. I struggled with the same thing and I have heard other missionaries and missionary kids say they have too.
It often felt to me like my national friends were more interested in what they could get out of the relationship including access to material things (like a Nintendo) or the perceived status a relationship with an American brought them in their culture.
My best national friends were ones who were on a similar socio-economic level.
But it wasn't just that... we of course had different cultural backgrounds as well--which made for major differences in humor, games and activities, how we related to our parents, food likes and dislikes, values, world view, conflict management, personal space boundries, expectations for friendships, etc.
Even though it was hard at times to invest in friendships with nationals, I am glad I did, and looking back now, wish I had more. I wish I had realized better then the amazing opportunity I had to show Christ's love in those relationships. I've learned that MKs have the opportunity to be missionaries too.
Posted by: Peter | May 03, 2005 at 12:35 PM
I'm not a PK or MK, but never the less really identify w/ Ben's feelings. God's gifted me w/ lots of mechanical and technical skills, for most of my life I've found people show up when they need something fixed or want some advice on a purchase, but have little interest in me otherwise. This realization left me feeling depressed a lot, esp. during college. Since going to a different church a few years ago I have a different perspective on life and my place in the world. This combined w/ a short stint on an anti-depressant has really turned things around for me. Recently God brought a couple cats into my life which helps a lot too :-). I often think pets are the closest thing we will find on earth to unconditional love.
BTW, on a totally unrelated note what do PCA and MTW stand for?
Posted by: Stevo | May 05, 2005 at 12:38 AM