I've always had a tendency to procrastinate and writing on the blog since we returned to the US has sadly, fallen in that category. Brandon and I have discussed numerous times doing a final or closing thoughts post about our trip to Guyana. We have never sat down and formulated how we should write it though, because I guess you could say we've been distracted. Distracted in a very good way!!!
We are in the process of planning our next big adventure! After getting a taste of need-greating for a few months we knew we wanted to do it again and for longer, even before we got off the plane in the US. Some things happened when we returned to our home that we were not expecting. Both Brandon and I felt so completely detached from our home and our possessions that as strange as it sounds, we didn't feel like they were ours. We both couldn't even remember where we kept some things in the house. It was very strange to be in our own home we had owned for 9 years and feel like it wasn't ours. I guess that is when we started to realize that not only did we not NEED any of our things but, we didn't really want it either.
As we started processing these strange and unexpected feelings, it began to bring to the forefront of our thoughts more and more often in the first few weeks we were back....how long could we realistically be gone, back to need-greating? At first we thought 4 - 6 months. But as we reasoned on how that would affect our business and mostly the children in school, we thought longer would be best. But how? So we kept praying and praying to Jehovah, expressing our desires and knowing he would help us identify how to reach our goals. Or even if our goals were realistic for a family with 3 small children.
Within a month we had determined both from prayer and from talking to experienced and wise brothers that it was not irresponsible but actually biblically correct thinking to SELL OUR HOME, POSSESSIONS AND MOVE TO A FOREIGN LAND WHERE THE NEED IS GREATER!!!!!!
There is something freeing and thrilling about thinking of that as our goal. Remembering positive bible examples of those who moved their entire lives to further serve Jehovah and received blessings not just for Abraham, for example but, for his ENTIRE family. Jehovah took care of them all. This was reassuring and comforting to us. (We recognize there is absolutely nothing wrong with owning a home, or remaining in one's congregation and still being very pleasing to Jehovah. We just enjoyed a touch of the missionary lifestyle and want to experience it on a larger scale)
So began the undertaking of planning our move. Jehovah is a God of organization and therefore we used the process that is put into place for those wanting to serve where the need is greater. We first wrote the Branch in Guyana as it seemed the most obvious place for us. We already had established dear friends and connections as well as a house to rent. It seemed as though everything was falling into place. We prayed constantly to ensure that we were making the best decision for our family. We wrote the Branch in Trinidad again, this time outlining our long term plans. We received a response from them about a month later indicating that they didn't think Guyana was the place for our family to relocate to. We were crushed but, not giving up our goal. We immediately began thinking of other countries we may be able to move to. It took a while between sickness and life's distractions but we managed to get another letter from our Service Committee and formulate our own letter of interest. This we sent to the Mexico Branch early last week. We were not expecting a reply anytime soon but had hoped. In the mean time we have continued to make advancement in every way that we could to move toward our goal. Both spiritually, financially and even just in our daily decisions.
So we sent the letter on Monday and Friday morning (4 days later) we received a reply from the Branch. Wow!!! It was an encouraging and beautiful letter. It gave us 6 congregations in 3 separate countries we could choose from, that were in need, in the English field.
Soooo, we are currently trying to narrow down where we should go.
The countries are: Costa Rica
Panama
Nicaragua
We are open to suggestions and/or anyone who feels they have information that may help us decide the best place we can serve. Please feel free to email us at bajkbates@gmail.com
So now we have the task of selling our home and all of our "stuff". Again, relying on Jehovah for direction we are looking forward to seeing how things work out. We will try to keep the blog up to date on what's happening. Our goal is to move before 2013 and possibly the fall of 2012. Naturally, a lot of different things will have to happen first but, if they should happen quickly...we will be ready (hopefully) =)
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