You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace.
I know you are probably thinking, “I just got a newsletter from the Schwabs last month. Why are they sending me another one? They must be spending their kids’ inheritance on postage.” Which would be partly true. We did just send you a newsletter, but we’ve got new news and it isn’t going to be what you think it is, so keep reading!
Because we can’t resist an adventure
God must have been chuckling when I wrote that as the title of our last newsletter. Wouldn’t you know it, He had a huge adventure waiting for us just around the corner. Something totally NOT on our radar screen!
Jason and I attended a marriage conference outside of Seattle in the middle of November. After the conference we were feeling renewed and united in our marriage and our ministry. The day after we got home we received an e-mail from the chief pilot in the Philippines.
Would we consider coming to fly in the Philippines for a year?
It went on to say that the flight program needs a pilot to cover the island of Palawan while the family there returned to the States for their furlough. The pilot who was scheduled to relieve them has been delayed for about a year which would severely inhibit the church planting works in the tribal locations.
At this point in the story, I just have to declare God’s goodness. The fact that my first response was excitement about going back to the Philippines is a testament to the power of healing and grace that He has showered out in my life in the last year (even if initially it was for something as shallow as being near a beach and in the sun—hey, you’ve got to give a northwest girl a break!).
As Jason and I talked through the opportunity, our excitement grew. Even though we could think of things that could be difficult, like getting our house rented out and the possibility of homeschooling (insert ‘deer in the headlight’ stare from me), we weren’t able to come up with a single reason why we would not pursue wholeheartedly the chance to go back. Even the kids are ready to go!
We would be going back to the island we left, where Jason flew and already knows the airstrips and we know the town. We would be able to live in the house and borrow the car of the family that we will be relieving. We feel like it would be an amazing experience for our kids to see what life outside of the States is like and to see what we do as missionaries overseas. Jason would be back in the pilot seat. We are hoping that it is even an encouragement to the students in the Moody program to see us willing to serve again in the Philippines. There are so many things to be thankful for.
We feel like going back will be another step towards proclaiming healing in our family. We love the thought of going back full of life and power and ready to be an encouragement to those we will work with, which is such a contrast to the brokenness and emptiness we left the field with 5 years ago.
Besides benefiting us personally, our ability to serve there for a year is extremely important to the work in the various tribal areas that is currently going on in Palawan. One team has JUST started teaching through the Bible and would not be able to remain in their village without flight support. Being pulled out of their location at this point in the teaching would be detrimental to the years of work that have led up to this exciting point in their ministry. One of the tribal ministries that has been on Palawan for the last 20 years will be printing and delivering the first copies of the translated Bible to the tribe for the first time. They need flight service to get the Bibles into the tribe and continue discipleship. In January of 2013, a team will be moving into a new tribal location to start their ministry. This requires the use of the airplane and their start date would be delayed without flight service available to them. We are NEEDED and we are willing!
Can you tell we are excited?!
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