Moving Forward

‘Time and sand’ – in the sense of God’s people on the long journey from Egypt to the Promised Land – was my watchword the last time I wrote, in December. Now I’m excited to tell you that if I haven’t quite yet entered the land God has prepared for me, I think I can just about see it from here. Lots of conversation back and forth right now between me, World Outreach (the missions arm of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, EPC), Fuller Seminary, and Serge (formerly World Harvest Mission) with whom I’m exploring the possibility of serving as a mobile theological educator, based overseas developing connections with and teaching in their partner institutions. No decisions yet but more details soon, I hope. Meanwhile please do pray for God to continue to lead the way and give everyone wisdom as we consider options and form plans. After two years of recovery and rest I can’t tell you how wonderful it feels to be moving forward again.

At the same time I’m grateful that God has already been moving, even while he’s had me holding (relatively… like, for me, sort of...) still. Here’s a recap of highlights in 2015:

In January I went before the Presbytery of the Mid-Atlantic in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church to transfer my ordination from the Presbyterian Church USA into the EPC. After hours and hours of examination in committee and in the general meeting I’m now the first woman ‘teaching elder’ (minister) in the EPC’s Mid-Atlantic Presbytery, which spans the Virginias and Carolinas. Whoa. But I have to say those guys have been really nice to me.

In February I headed to Orlando, Florida, to help Caroline with wedding plans. Happy mom! Just ten days ago, on May 23rd, we celebrated Caroline’s marriage to Will Swartz – himself a missionary kid born in the Philippines and raised in Slovakia. A few wedding pics below, thank you for asking! In July Caroline will complete her two-year internship with Cru as a globe-trotting pastor to missionary kids. She and Will are both middle-school teachers and their plans include a couple of years in Orlando teaching and enjoying life as newlyweds before exploring opportunities to teach overseas.

In March I picked up a couple of new clients in the (very) part-time English tutoring I do here in Charlottesville, VA. These are faculty members at the University of Virginia who are non-native speakers of English, one from Korea, one from Jordan. I'm helping them with their academic writing: anything from research articles to emails to end-of-year reports to course syllabi. It gives me practical experience for the MA in Teaching English for Academic Purposes (the higher ed specialization in ESL) I’m working on through the University of Nottingham, helps pay the bills, and keeps this global nomad happily engaged with internationals in my local community. I also continue to connect as host family for my two Chinese women grad students at UVA, one at the law school and another doing a PhD in education.

In April I began teaching my first ‘hybrid’ course for Fuller Theological Seminary. We're just now wrapping up ten weeks of ‘Introduction to the New Testament’: nine weeks online and one intensive face-to-face week at Fuller’s campus in Pasadena, California, the first week in May. Don’t want to tell you just how much fun that Pasadena trip was…

After that to Orlando for the wedding, and now I’m home in Virginia catching my breath before leaving on June 24 for China to spend the summer teaching English with English Language Institute/China (ELIC, elic.org). It’s practical experience in teaching English overseas, a wonderful opportunity to share life with these Chinese students, and a vision trip for me to learn about life and work in East Asia. After a week of orientation and training in Beijing, I’ll be part of an ELIC team in Tianjin, China, at the Tianjin Institute of Software Engineering. Thank you so much to all of you who are participating in this as my sending partners. I’m very happy and grateful to tell you that all the financial support I need is in!!

I’ll be back in early August in time for my niece Jessica’s wedding, then in September I hope to have meetings with EPC World Outreach and Serge (we’re exploring a co-operative arrangement between the two agencies). In October and November I’ll be back in Bangalore, India, at the South Asian Institute of Advanced Christian Studies (SAIACS). In October I’ll teach the same four-week hermeneutics course I taught last summer, and in November a new-to-me course on Greek exegesis of Mark’s Gospel. A big thank you to the church I grew up in, Kempsville EPC in Virginia Beach, for making this India trip possible!

And in December? Who knows. What I’m really hoping is that by then God will have revealed what this is all adding up to, what the longer-term plan might look like. Wherever he wants me to end up, I confess that the sand in my shoes is making me a bit itchy to get there...

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So grateful to God for protecting me, Caroline, and everyone else involved, four days before the wedding. But oh my poor car.

(Also grateful for good insurance)

But nothing spoiled the joy of this wedding! My kids: William & Linnea, Caroline & Will

 

Now just three weeks until I leave for China to take part in ELIC's 'LinkU' English language program, and then back to India in late September to be reunited with these students and meet a whole new batch

Time and Sand

Time and sand… That was my take-away from the MTI debriefing and re-entry seminar for cross-cultural workers I attended the week before last in Colorado Springs. I can’t tell you how great it felt to be with a roomful of people who ‘get’ you, who understand the feelings and upheaval that go along with returning to the US after years overseas, especially when you don’t know what the next stage of life will bring. We used Sara Grove’s song ‘Painting Pictures of Egypt’ one morning as part of our reflection, and I think it just about perfectly sums up where I am right now. Like God’s people being led out of Egypt and looking back with longing, there’s a necessary and transformational period of ‘time and sand’ ahead before the promised future. But no lie… it feels a bit dry.

From that perspective, my trip to Kenya in October was an oasis—despite the fact that my passport was stolen on the plane between Washington, DC, and Amsterdam making me a day late arriving, and then the taxi that was to meet me at the Nairobi airport was waylaid by an imposter before I arrived! Nevertheless I spent a week leading a wonderful team in an on-site visit to a seminary in western Kenya as part of their accreditation with the Association for Christian Theological Education in Africa (ACTEA). Then I had a few days to catch up with friends, former students and colleagues, and my church in Nairobi. Like a long drink of water from a well. Thanks, friends.

Now I’m at home in Charlottesville, Virginia, for about the next six months, continuing to learn what it means to live in America again. While I'm here I teach English occasionally, preach and speak sometimes, and volunteer a bit with Chinese international students at the University of Virginia. I’ve connected with a lovely small Presbyterian church nearby. I’m also trying to finish up my MA in Teaching English for Academic Purposes (the higher ed specialization within ESL), and I’ll be doing some writing for ACTEA and some editing for the African Journal of Evangelical Theology (AJET). In April-May I’ll teach an online course for Fuller Theological Seminary. So, lots of little bits and pieces, but mostly I try to rest and heal, and wait and listen for what the Lord has in store for my longer term future. I can tell you about three ‘way stations’ on the journey ahead, that I know about so far…

In late January, I’ll go before the Presbytery of the MidAtlantic in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church to be examined to transfer my ordination into the EPC. It’s a big deal, partly because on a personal level I’ve had nothing but good experiences in the Presbyterian Church (USA) so it represents another sad good-bye, and partly because it would make me the first woman ‘teaching elder’ (minister) in the presbytery. (Really?! Do I want to do that?) Eventually I’d like to apply to the EPC’s denominational sending agency, World Outreach, but their policy prohibits them from having a substantive conversation with me or giving me information about specific teaching opportunities overseas until I’ve been divorced for a year. That means July 2015. So I’m waiting.

Meanwhile from 23 June-2 Aug 2015, God willing, I’ll be in China teaching English with English Language Institute/China (ELIC, elic.org), a non-profit organization that sends Christians to teach in Asia. With ELIC's summer program I'll have a classroom full of Chinese educators who teach English in government schools throughout the country. But for me it’s also a vision trip exploring whether God might be leading me to Asia for the longer term, particularly since this is a part of the world where divorce is less of a cultural barrier than it is in Africa

Then in October 2015 I’ve been invited back to the South Asian Institute of Advanced Christian Studies (SAIACS) in Bangalore, India, to teach the same four-week hermeneutics course I taught last July. I love SAIACS, so this is a pleasure. I'm trusting that in his usual amazing way the Lord will provide the airfare. And then SAIACS will cover room and board while I’m there. More about all that closer to the time.

So that’s my bulletin from this stage of the journey, as you and I move together into the season of Advent and expectation. Slow, steady steps. Trust. Waiting. And lots of time and sand.

Autumn travels

No, really I wasn't trying to go to the Rijksmuseum that day, I was trying to go to Kenya. But who knew the museum was next to the American consulate in Amsterdam? New passport by 2:30 pm. Viewing the Rembrandts and Vermeers by 3 pm. #serendipity

And eventually I did make it to Kenya for the accreditation visit.

So lovely to be in Colorado for five days of debrief and re-entry, with people who've been there who can walk you through it (note boxes of tissues on tables!), our silly 'yay duck' and 'yuck duck' representing the 'pair-a-ducks' of gain and loss in moving cross-culturally, and a gorgeous view of Pike's Peak out the window.