A season of loss

Transitions are difficult.

The Simpsons made it successfully to Ethiopia in the face of influenza, some slight baggage problems and sickness. I will let them update you as they are able. 

For the Yates family, it has been a season of loss. Some of them silly things, some of them not, but all of them real.  Our sweet puppy, Domino, died last November, then Adam's stepmom Penny died of leukemia, then our very good friend Tim and Leona Okeefe moved to Nepal, and Mackenzie Slater moved to Honduras.  Finally, our partner, the Simpsons, moved to Ethiopia.  Although each loss is different, we have still been experiencing it as loss.  Instead of stuffing down all the yucky feelings of loss and grief, which I am very good at, recently we have been encouraged to grieve each loss as it is and ask God to meet us there, in our sadness, our loss and our emotions no matter how bad.

This morning I was encouraged by this passage
John 11:33

When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews that had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in the spirit and greatly troubled.... Jesus wept.

It is sort of funny to think about Jesus greatly troubled.  He already knew that Lazarus was going to be raised from the dead.  He already knew that it was for "the glory of God, so the son may be glorified through it".  Yet he wept.  Jesus was a man of perfect faith, perfect knowledge of the future and perfect intimacy with God... Yet in spite of those things he was deeply troubled.  He has great compassion.  Lord, in this season of grief it is so encouraging to see that grief is not a sin, it is not unbelief, it is a human emotion and natural.  Jesus wept because he was sad, sad in the moment, sad about the loss for his dear friends despite the glory that would come from it.  Lord, please help me to encourage those around me and myself to experience the loss just as Jesus did... And then after a time of mourning to look to God's glory.

Simpsons Family send off

Off to Ethiopia.

Yesterday, January 17, 2014, the Simpson Family took off for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
They left from Los Angeles with an overnight lay over in Dubai to arrive in Addis. They will stay there for a week of orientation from the Gabrysch's (a fun couple living in Soddo already...http://jeremyandchristina.blogspot.com/) and then start their life in Soddo. 

Everything was on target to leave this past week, when Asa Simpson, the youngest, came down with a horrible fever... up to 104°F from Influenza.  With a week until their departure, it made plans and packing much more stressful. 

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
    whose trust is the Lord.
8 He is like a tree planted by water,
    that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
    for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
    for it does not cease to bear fruit.”
Jer 17:8.

Praise God, his fever broke the day before their travels and everyone else in their family remained free of illness. After some slight rearranging of bags, they left last night at 4pm. 

Taylor, Kavi, Elias and Asa, we will miss you! 

A Season of Goodbyes

This season has been filled with many goodbyes.  Being committed to this life of international work we will invariably have many more, but recently the goodbyes have been rough.

Our family is in the midst of saying goodbye to the Simpson family as they leave for Ethiopia this week. They of course are in a huge season of goodbyes to all their family and community here as they prepare for to start a new life in a new place.

Why are we saying goodbye to our partners? Well, the Yates and the Simpsons families are on slightly different timelines to get to Ethiopia. The Simpsons will be go ahead to prepare some very important work for our team: our house! Taylor will be starting his first construction project in Ethiopia, a Duplex that will house Missionary families at Soddo Christian Hospital. The project is really exciting and will be a valuable asset to the work of SCH for generations! We have the honor of being the first families that live in the Duplex, so we are particularly excited to see the project go smoothly. The Simpson family will be living in temporary housing while construction commences, delaying language school for a little while to make sure the project gets a good start. The Yates family will be coming soon behind them.

This goodbye is especially challenging because our plans before were to go together and support each other through the many transitions. God had different plans and we are blessed to see them unfold. Michelle and I have had a sweet time of preparing our hearts and our marriage to withstand the challenges of over seas life and ministry. God has been so sweet to bring us to a closer bond and deeper trust for the tasks ahead.

One sad, but ultimately blessed part of all this new schedule is that we were able to be focused on our family in the month of December. At the beginning of December, Adam's step mother, Penny, was diagnosed with Leukemia. After a short and brave fight against this disease, she died on January 1st. We were able to focus our energy and time on supporting his Dad and Penny through a challenging hospitalization and being their for his Dad after Penny passed.  Last week we gathered with our family to remember Penny. Even as I write this, I know there is so much more to be said about the past month, and about Penny and her love and support of our family. We are both so sad about this loss and my words seem like only a shadow of the whole story.

We thank God for his gracious plan to delay our leave date, so that we can face this family tragedy with our full attention. We thank you for your love and support and prayers as we go through this journey.

Penny and Mark loving their grandson Cole at Thanksgiving. Penny is already sorely missed.