The ministry in Equatorial Guinea seems to have been made for our passions and gifting. That is not the hard part. The difficulty is the stress and strain it is putting on our family.
First off, our 19-year-old daughter is in her second year at John Brown University in Arkansas. She has experienced some difficulties in the past year. While she has been recovering and doing very well, she still has ups and downs. With Erin and Mike moving to Central Africa we will be seven time zones and 20+ hours travel from our daughter. It absolutely feels like we are abandoning her. Our daughter is strong and she has blessed our move, but it is hard to leave our baby. We know God is a better parent than we will ever be, but moving to a place where we will have little communication with our daughter is hard.
Second, Mike and Erin are stressed about the difficult lifestyle. Purifying rain water, solar electricity, sporadic and slow internet, crazy bugs and animals, aggressive diseases, witchcraft and more. This all has us a little on edge. Moving from the US to Central America was hard 8 1/2 years ago, now moving to Africa is playing havoc on our brains. In our late 40s, when many peers are contemplating slowing down, we are making our lives harder. We love the ministry, but the lifestyle is an anxiety builder.
Third, the move is emotional. Honduras is our home. Selling our belongings, giving away our dogs and leaving a culture we love is a stress. For the second time in 10 years we are reducing our lives down to a dozen Army duffle bags. Thinking about what makes the cut and what doesn’t is emotional.
This move is hard on our family. There is no way we would make this move if it wasn’t clear it was from God. But, since we know it is from God, there is no way we’d not go. Please pray for peace in our hearts.
Remember Paul’s last missionary journey. He continually received warnings (from the Holy Spirit!) that his trip to Jerusalem was not (in the eyes of the world) going to end well. He was obedient to God and may well have been released in Rome and have made a trip to Spain yet before his martyrdom. What we do know is that he is in heaven and so will you be some day. Look at all the people who hear the gospel through his preaching and teaching, all the churches he personally planted and how God was able to use him to spread the gospel, first to Europe and then to the world. You may even say that your very mission is an outgrowth, centuries later, of his life and work. Study the Acts of the Apostles and remember the introduction: what is going on in the world and in your life is still Jesus working through His church. Have you ever heard of Johanna Veenstra? She was placed before my generation as a role model. She went to Africa on her own to be a missionary and spent the rest of her life there. Much Christianity in Africa traces its beginnings to her.