If I Settle on the Far Side of the Sea

“If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.” Psalm 139:9-10.

My heart feels like it’s just been beaten with a tenderizer.

This week of training became a lot more personal.  Dealing with topics such as values, conflict handling styles, transition, lifestyle choices, handing stress, Sabbath, etc. required a lot of introspection.

I learned that introspection can be very tiring (at least to my personality type)! Having to take the time to consider how I react under different circumstances, quantifying what values are important to me, listing my biggest fears about moving to Albania – just to name a few of our studies, combined with participating in intense simulations followed by times of Bible study, feeling the conviction of the Holy Spirit as places of disobedience were exposed …  training feels like it’s just been ratcheted up and I am drained.   But it’s good.  We know it’s so important that we consider all of these issues and be prepared for what lies ahead.

I love that at least once per week the children come in and participate with the adults for a portion of the morning training session.  There’s something about the sense of teamwork and support conveyed corporately that’s very, very encouraging and draws our families closer.

This week the children joined us for a discussion on transition.   We were given the analogy of a chain bridge with five sections, each representing a different stage of transition.   At each stage we had to list positive and negative words associated with each stage, then circle the word that most appropriately described our feelings about that particular stage.  Words listed above the bridge are positive associations, words written below the bridge are negatives.   If you look at my worksheet below, I could not think of a single, positive word associated with chaos!  Yet others in the group relished the chaos!  (Nathan’s circled word for chaos?  Adventure!)

Tim (the facilitator) took volunteers to represent the roles of ‘mom’, ‘dad’, ‘child’, and ‘single.’  He then put them in harnesses and linked them altogether. Single file they had to navigate a ‘bridge’ devised of office chairs (the first two squarely on the ground, the next two on narrow wedges so they teetered back and forth) and exercise balls.

He then called everyone else up to serve as support or ‘spotters’ for those walking across the bridge representing transition.

Reni's favorite person this week.  It's adorable.  I think she might be his first crush.

There is something about watching a demonstration that helps abstract principles ‘stick.’  Some of the conclusions drawn from the exercise included:  

• walking across was impossible without the help of the spotters (our supporters, family, and prayer partners), 
• because they were tethered together, one person failing to accept help and thus fail to navigate transition fully could bring the whole team down, 
• the team could only advance as quickly as the slowest member,
• upon reaching the destination the exertion of transition will leave the traveler exhausted, and
• we all have different attitudes approaching each stage…

Interestingly, it was pointed out that upon settling on the other side of transition, it may take years (if ever) to reach full capacity/productivity.  And while uprooting, navigating chaos, resettling and finally reaching ‘settled’ can take a different amount of time for each individual, the average is about two years – which is why many agencies have policies against permitting missionaries to come home earlier than 2 years.

   

As for where we are on this transition bridge, I don’t know that I could tell you (yet).  The ‘airport’ might fall at the beginning of the ‘chaos’ stage, in the middle of that stage, or somewhere altogether different.

After the team navigated the bridge, the rest of the children were permitted to have their fun walking across the bridge, unharnessed.

While we grown-ups were debriefing on the exercise, the children were downstairs creating their own transition bridges out of popsicle sticks.  Here you can see Ellie’s (the American hand has a picture of her “American flag cup” and the Albania hand has a picture of the bird she is going to get as a pet when we arrive).

Thank you, Lord, for this training to prepare our hearts and minds!  And thank you for your promises that your hand will guide us!

We leave for Albania in 16 days!