Our furlough is now over and in only a few short days we will be back in Bolivia. In total we have traveled over 50,000 miles and visited over 60 churches during our time here. While that is not that impressive compared to when we were on deputation, we averaged over 4000 miles per month which is quite a few. Furlough just like anything else has it’s positives and negatives but overall it has been a great experience and wonderful time for our family. The most difficult part for us was probably the long hours in the car while traveling. While four or maybe five hours was tolerable, when we had to travel ten or more hours the kids struggled and we did too. The positive side to that was that we were able to spend lots of quality time together and even do some fun things while traveling. The funnest thing that we did was probably when we visited Washington DC. We were able to ride the metro into city and see the capital building, the Washington Monument and some of the Smithsonian Museums. While many might be critical of the missionary furlough, I can say that it has been a time of reflexion, refreshment, and recharging for the ministry. Here are just a few of the things that I learned while on this furlough.
God Provides:
It never ceases to amaze me how God provides for our needs above and beyond what we can imagine. This is not only financially but also in protection and guidance. As we have traveled from church to church we have been treated so well that it has almost been embarrassing at times. Also the Lord has really watched over us while traveling with all the crazy drivers and even protected us during several close calls. Not only that but over and over again the Lord has put us in the right churches and with the right people to not only be blessed, but also to be a blessing and help to them. While some might count is a great sacrifice to go to the mission field, I can honestly say that our blessings far out way any sacrifice we make.
While there is no doubt that the church in America needs a great revival and return back to the fervor of what it once was, we have been blessed to see how the Lord is still using and blessing many churches today. This is always a concern for us because we know that the future of America and missions around the world depends on the local church. Many of the churches that we visited were truly being blessed by God and the future is bright. We pray often for our supporting churches and the church as a whole that the Lord will continue to keep His hand on them.
There is a strange phenomena that takes place every year that goes by. It is that people get older. We get older, family gets older, our children get older, pretty much everyone gets older. When you are away for years at a time like we are as missionaries, it is much more noticeable. When we see how fast time flies, it has to motivate us to take advantage of the time we have and not let it slip by. First and foremost this would apply to our spiritual lives and what we do for the Lord. I love the old saying, “Only one life, twill soon be past, only whats done for Christ will last.” Then I also believe that we should enjoy our time with our children and families and with our spouse. So we would like to encourage you to not waste a single moment.
Honor what you Want:
As we have visited many churches and especially our home church I have seen how each church emphasizes certain things and the things they emphasize is usually what they produce. At our home church the focus in every service is on serving the Lord and missions, so you can imagine what is being produced there. This is encouraging to me because when we return to Bolivia we hope to make this the focus of every service and thing we do in the ministry.