Ready to Engage

We are gearing up for our first orientation. This one is with Wycliffe who we will be official missionaries with. Now I know you may have the question of “wait I thought you were joining Jaars?” you're right we are, but Jaars is run by Wycliffe, so we are joining Wycliffe. We will officially be Wycliffe missionaries who are working in the JAARS department. This orientation will be a chance for us to learn the inner workings of the organizations and get fully setup with the organization. We will figuring out our mission budget, meeting our partnership development coach, learning what missions will look like, and catching up with some people we met before. One very exciting catch up will be with a speech pathologist who was really encouraging toward Anna. She took some intentional time to meet with Anna and explained all the ways speech therapy could help people on the field. this was encouraging because what Anna would be doing while I work on planes was a really big question for us, and it can be a big question for others too. at the beginning of our journey, missions was mostly my dream and while she was very encouraging, Anna had lots of questions as to what her part would be in all of it. Would she just sit at home until I get back? would they want her to fill a boring desk job at an office? or would there be opportunities for her to do what she loved? Sometimes we don’t know how our skills, talents, or passions will be used to partner with what God is doing. But if we are patient in our asking he will show us the way. It turn out Anna’s skills will be incredibly useful overseas. Many countries don’t have the educational or medical infrastructure for a field like speech therapy grow. School in remote areas don’t have access to people with the knowledge who can help them create programs or curriculum to help kids who are struggling with speech impediments. Teachers may not know what to look for when attempting to help a kid whom they know is struggling. Having access to some one trained int he field can be vital for a community. There will also be opportunities with the children of missionaries who are at the missions schools. There are a number of cases where whole families will be sent home because their child cannot gets the services they need. Anna will be able to continue to use her training to advance the gospel in all of these arenas. Personally I and ecstatic that she will continue to have the chance to do what she loves as we step into this next phase of our life.