So grateful to have Papa Cliff back home, but also missing the company and friendship of L— I didn’t realize how much having a friend from back home would mean to me 💛
Yesterday, power went out at our home for a number of hours. Who knew that a packet of Chinese noodles brought by Cliff from his overseas trip would bring so much joy to our girls? I never imagined a day where something as simple as having good noodles (impossible to find here) in our little garden would bring so much comfort, so much delight 💛
Somedays I feel guilty for not being able to provide more for our kids— we live in a small town where other people find it hard to imagine that finding things like thick colored paper for crafting or white glue is challenging. But a garage sale we were invited to yesterday by missionaries who were leaving encouraged us so much— our girls found so much joy in a box of Crayola chalk. 💛my heart is full.
While I miss L deeply (we weren’t even very close to begin with, but this trip certainly drew us close together), her visit also gave me confidence to receive future friends who might be interested in serving cross culturally. There are so many needs here, and I think we underestimate what individual willing hearts can do, even without skills in healthcare. There are schools, rehab centers etc to give your time and talents towards.
Also forgot to share one of our favorite encounters our guide passed on to us during our hike with L💛
But this week, beyond the highlights, also came deep disappointments.
I received a question from a follower from Instagram—
The truth is, cross cultural service is difficult because of such vastly opposing worldviews and values. Even simply living in a culture that can come across as having “no baseline” for several things like noise, sanitation, communication, expectations from our workplace or issues faced at our kids’ school… can cause so much heartache, stress and disappointment.
But I guess it always comes back to the question— what are you here for?
It reminds me of what I learnt about the meaning of marriage— that if we’re in it to get joy out of it, we’ll be sorely disappointed. But if we’re in it, to discover what it means to be better people, polished through fire, then we’ll find purpose in it, and courage to push through heartbreak.
