For the past month I have
been on home assignment! So for the past month I’ve been mostly in Northern
Ireland, minus a little trip to Wales and England. And I’ll be here until 29th
December, minus a little trip to England.
So what is home assignment
and what am I up to?
Every two years or so
missionaries are often required to have an extended period of time in their
home country. In June I passed the two year mark of living in the Czech
Republic, but with May-September being so busy in terms of ministry, I decided to
postpone my home assignment until October.
This time of home assignment
has a couple of purposes. It gives me time to reconnect with my family,
friends, home church and supporters. One of the hardest things about being a
missionary is being so far from family and friends so it’s wonderful to have
this extended time with them.
This is also a time of
rejoicing – during my time in the UK I’m speaking in my home and sending
church, as well as in a couple of other churches, and sharing about how God has
been at work over the last two years. I’m also spending time with my
supporters, thanking them and telling them how God has used their resources and
prayers in His kingdom.
Finally this is a time of
raising (I had to keep with the r theme!). After serving for two years it is
natural that some of my financial support has dropped a little and so I’m
asking people to prayerfully consider partnering in this ministry prayerfully
and financially.
My goal for this time is to
be on mission well here, so I can be on mission well in central and eastern
Europe. This means I hope to reconnect with people well, and raise my
additional support needs. It also means going to things like dentist
appointments and receiving chiropractic care (something that’s not available
where I live but that is oh so good for my back!).
This is not “time off” – in
fact in many ways it’s a whole lot busier than my life in Czech as I’m still
doing my international role, just from a distance, in addition to meetings and
talking in churches.
Home assignment is such a
weird time. In the last two years Czech has very much become home, which is
such a gift of grace. And so both are home in some ways and in some ways
neither are home. I miss both. I love both. I have culture shock in Northern
Ireland and at times being able to understand every single conversation
happening around me just feels obnoxiously loud.
It’s weird to be outside of
my “normal routines” and there are so many people I miss. I also miss ginger
and lemon tea and my wonderful girls in my small group Bible study have
promised to keep me some Christmas cookies. I got to speak Czech in Belfast on
Friday night and oh how it did my heart good to speak a language I’m still very
much learning.
And, at the exact same time,
I cannot communicate the joy it has been to see so many friendly faces and talk
about the many things God has been doing. It has been so wonderful to sit with
friends, catch up on their lives and hold new little people that have been born
since I left. Home assignment has been going so well and I’m excited to
continue to be in the UK for the next five weeks and then head back to Czech
for the next two years before another home assignment!
Please pray for the
remainder of my time here – as I share in churches and with individuals, and
that God would abundantly provide partners for this ministry. And that I would
go back to Czech refreshed and excited to continue to serve there!
