our plans

Nearly two and a half years ago, we arrived in Ixtlan. It was just the two of us. Hannah held the role of English teacher at the church school and Grant helped out where he could with driving, Bible studies, and construction projects. We committed to staying for at least two years and then seeking God's direction to know where to go from there.

Life has changed tremendously in the last two and half years... mostly due to two little kiddos. The difference between being a couple and being a family is tremendous, and as a family, we have different needs, routines, challenges, and roles. In the time that we have been here, the Ixtlan church has gone through it's own changes, including the addition of some strong believing families who moved here from other places. It is less and less a mission, decreasing the need for "missionaries". (Of course, the need for strong believers, either American or Mexican to work together and support one another still exists and always will exist).  As our needs changed, Hannah left her role as English teacher in order to be at home, and as the needs of the church changed, Grant went into business on his own as a way to occupy some of his extra time. 

However, these changes left many questions that needed answers for us to be able to continue with life. Yes, God called us as a couple to the mission field, but did he call our family to stay on the mission field? Now that Grant is working as a carpenter, should we leave our monthly stipend and try to be self-supporting? How long should we stay here? If the goal is a Mexican church, is our presence as an American family hindering Mexican families from finding their place in church?

These were "big picture" questions that affected our everyday life down here. Without a long-term vision, we found ourselves struggling in figuring out how to live day-to-day.

Living in the States this past summer took us away from the ups and downs here in Mexico, which helped us be able to think more clearly and less emotionally in praying through these questions. As we sought out God's leading, we both felt a peace about moving back to Princeville next year, in the summer of 2015. Acts 11:26 came up in our reading several times - it talks about how Paul and Barnabas spent one year in Antioch assembling with the church there. Through different situations, we felt that God was telling us that we, too, should spend one more year in Ixtlan.

We have talked through our plans with the missionary team here and our counselling elder, and have just recently started telling our friends in church. It's hard to know exactly how much to say in order to set appropriate expectations about something that seems so far away, but we felt a need to be open with people in order to be real in our relationships.

We don't have an exact date yet - just a plan to move home sometime during the summer. But it helps tremendously to be working towards something. When the woodshop is slow or days get long caring for Ivory and Titus without family close by, we know that this is only for a season. Also, we are able to focus our attention on certain areas of ministry where we can make an impact even in the short term. Developing a more sustainable Sunday School organizational structure, encouraging Roberto to push through and have a strong finish to his school year, and just simply listening to people's dreams and concerns about the future church are ways that we've found ourselves useful here for right now. Ironically, we're also finding that our children - two of the primary reasons we began thinking about a move back to the U.S. - may also be the "parts" of our family that God is using the most here. Ivory's smiles and Titus's need to be held have earned them many friends here, young and old, and we feel blessed by the love and support that we feel from our Ixtlan church family. 

We are also grateful for your love and support and trust that you'll continue to pray for us through this transition, and also for the Ixtlan church as it asks many of it's own big-picture, vision-related questions. Our hope is that God will use these next months in ways that we never could have imagined to draw us and this church closer to Him.