REMEMBERING OUR CALLING: BOTH TO FIELD AND FAMILY
"Remember your calling!" These sweet words running through our hearts serve as a reminder that even in the hardest of days, we must remember the reason for all the sacrifices. The Great Commission given to us to spread the gospel to the ends of the earth comes with Jesus' promise: "And I will be with you always, even until the end of the age." These promised words have been a life-giving truth for our family.
When we trained for this position we were introduced to a metaphorical "bridge of transition." We learned how we will each travel at our own pace, while tied together, from being settled in America through chaos to being resettled in Brazil. Overall, the process would require at least two years of our time plus a ton of effort and energy. Our goal through it all would be that on the other side we'd be acculturated and able to navigate well our new world with a new language.
When the pandemic hit in early 2020 we were progressing along our bridge, even seeing the newly settled landing on the other side. Then suddenly, like a gust of wind halting our course, we were blown right back into the chaos and have been swirling around there ever since.
Two Weekends in 2021
This February we were looking back on our year that was. Our kids adjusted to nearly a full year of online school, but the plan was for them to return to in-person school when the new year would begin in Brazil in late February.
We ordered uniforms and books, and even got the required items the kids would need to follow pandemic safety rules. During that week we had read local news reports that a new variant of the virus that had badly hit the Amazon region was now circulating here in our state. As a result our area hospitals were starting to fill up. This was worrisome, so we asked others to pray for us for wisdom because it seemed that the daily life in our city, which was rather open at the time, was not matching this news.
But on that Friday, on the final summer weekend before school was set to begin, our governor brought the hammer down. We were locked down with the strictest measures yet. This was a disappointing blow to our daughters; they cried. They had already finished a hard year online, and the thought of doing it again was heartbreaking. And yet as parents we were a little relieved; we felt safer at home.
Throughout the pandemic authorities in our state had tried adding beds and facilities, but they still faced a shortage of supplies and staffing. Now we were hearing of younger people coming to hospitals too in droves. Within a week there were waiting lists of a hundred or more people to get a space in the ICU.
One weekend in March, as hospitals were overcrowded, our closest friends and colleagues got sick with the new variant. The husband was on the verge of needing to be hospitalized, but he was sent away from a few facilities because he wasn't sick enough to be admitted while they were already over capacity. Their final trip that night was to a private hospital that requested a lot of money just to admit him. Thankfully, he was seen by a doctor there, and it was recommended that he try recovering at home, and within a few days he was feeling better. Praise God!
During this time we also heard from others who lost friends and family members to this wave of the pandemic. One of them was an area pastor, husband, father, and a Kairos mentor. He was admitted to a hospital that was already over capacity, so he had to lay on a gurney in the hallway for two weeks before eventually needing to be intubated. He died shortly thereafter.
The death toll in our state and all of Brazil has continued to skyrocket to nearly 4,000 a day. Unless something unexpected changes, Brazil will surpass the death count in the States by August, although we have around a hundred million fewer citizens here.
More ambulances blared by our apartment in March than in any other month in memory. News reports were beyond depressing, but we would read them nonetheless. Somehow, celebrating small wins rang hollow. We were reading news...in Portuguese. Brandon began teaching a class... in Portuguese. We were launching Kairos with live students...in Portuguese. We were healthy. We had a safe home. We had all the supplies we needed. And still, we were fatigued and exhausted.
An Intense Conversation
We were told before moving here how hard it would be to move a teenager to the mission field. Our son was a freshman in high school at the time of our move. Upon arriving he leaned into the challenges he faced here. He worked hard at school to make friends, and he got involved in clubs and pushed himself in learning a new language. But in March of 2020 his school switched to online school, and since then he has found himself lost in a world in which he feels he doesn't belong.
One night last month he shared his heart with us. He lamented things such as how much he missed being able to talk to people and actually be understood by them. He shared about the hardships of doing school online and his sorrow in not having the chance to build a life here. This was not the whining of a spoiled teenager. These were deep hurts and losses of a missionary kid whose parents prompted him to give up everything familiar and follow them to a new country, but now due to the pandemic he has had little to no chance to build something new here. He will be a senior later this year, and meanwhile the pandemic is as bad as it has ever been in our city.
That night we realized that despite our best laid plans, we just were not able to provide even a reasonable high school experience for him. We moved overseas during his 9th grade year and the pandemic has already greatly affected his 10th and 11th grade years. We had hoped to give him a joyful experience full of new friends and new adventures as he did high school here, but online school for a third or more of his high school years just doesn't cut it.
This led us to to start to look at what's next. We began praying and talking to our closest friends. We started to process how best we could balance our commitment to the field here with the emotional and mental needs of us all.
What's Next?
When looking at the trend of Covid here, and the slowness of response by the government and vaccination rates, we realized that it was unlikely that things will reopen much this calendar year. With this reality we began a conversation with our field director and our conference's International Office. Together we have decided to bump up our home assignment from July of 2022 to July of 2021.
This decision addresses both the needs of the field here and of our family. Our prayer is that by the time we return to Brazil in July of 2022 many things will have already reopened: That churches will be open, the seminary and other schools will be meeting in-person, and that life and ministry can resume in a more normal fashion.
This decision was also for the mental and emotional health of our family. Each one of us has had our own struggles with isolation and the struggle of acculturation while in our apartment most of the time. The hardships of living in a new country have intensified with the pandemic, and our prayer is that this timing will also allow us some time to heal and rest.
Our base during home assignment will be Aurora, Missouri, and our kids plan to enroll in the local schools there: Daniel will be in 12th grade, Monica in 8th, and Olivia in 6th. Once they are finished with the school year, we will look to return to Brazil with Monica and Olivia, and Daniel will be starting college in the States at that time.
Prayer Requests
As we make plans, please pray with us:
We need a place to stay in Aurora, preferably with three bedrooms.
We need to acquire two vehicles: one that can fit all five of us and one for Brandon to drive on longer trips and leave behind for Daniel to use.
We need to comply with international travel restrictions and quarantine rules, which right now include proof of negative COVID tests, but these rules could change at any time.
We need someone to stay at our apartment in Brazil and take care of our cats while we are away.
We need to renew our work visas, which expire at the end of October of this year.
God is a big God, and he has been gracious to us, sustaining us every step of the way. Although this was not our plan, we can rest in the comfort of knowing that it is his plan for us.
One thing we are excited about is being with you again! We will contact you in the coming months and let you know when we will be available to visit with you, even if that means joining you for an online worship service or meeting!
Thanks as always for your prayers and support. We love hearing from you, and despite all the ups and downs it has been a privilege to begin this journey as missionaries. We think of this change of plans as our next step in the journey, even if it came as a bit of a surprise.
We are also thankful for God's gracious gift of perseverance. Through him we have been holding steady to a good purpose, keeping the end goal in view the whole time, no matter what delays, fatigue, and temptations to indifference may arise. There is a weariness that can come from our efforts, and we think of Paul's reminder not to become weary in well-doing.
We are in a marathon, not a sprint, so perseverance can look like adjusting to changes along the long course and wisely moving forward. Our end goal remains to come alongside what God is doing in southern Brazil. We are remembering our call, and we can still smile knowing that Jesus is with us right now and will continue to be with us even until the end of the age!