The Lost Blog

It happened. I thought I lost a whole blog (journal entry; short for “web log”)…one that I’ve been working on for a while…writing, then saving as a draft, then writing again, and saving as a draft. Ugh. Justin and I were working on our newsletter and I thought we could use a line from the blog. I went to look it up…and it wasn’t there. We looked. Justin tried to Google an archive of it, but it was gone. Just gone. Aside from a major drop in my stomach upon its discovery (or lack thereof), I’m fine…but now I’m saving all of my blogs in Word! And now, feeling a little sheepish, I realize that I just listed the wrong date on our website, and therefore went looking for an entry on December 28, and the blog I wanted was right there on November 17. So, sorry to those of you who saw our website (www.brickeys.net) and saw a link to a December 28 entry…it wasn’t there. It prompted me to be concerned about our other blogs, though, and the possibility of losing them. I think I’ll be backing those up in a Word document over the next couple of days.

This blog thing, while a little sketchy when it comes to saving drafts, has been a great tool for keeping everyone informed and also for logging our journey. About a week ago I read through some of our first blogs from this time last year. And it was therapeutic to get back in touch with the path we’re on…to be missionaries in Peru.

We will live in an apartment in a secure community in Lima where most missionaries and ex-pats live. We’ll be within walking distance of familiar chains like Starbucks and McDonald’s, and it’s urban…very urban…with parks and activity. But blending with the edges of the urban setting are communities filled with people who came to the city after being driven out of the jungles by guerillas. These people flooded a city that couldn’t accommodate or afford them in their sheer volume. I think I got that right. I’m still learning, constantly learning. The logistics of their arrival don’t matter so much as the fact that they exist, they’re starving, and Food for the Hungry has a development strategy to help them achieve lasting change in order for them to help themselves.

So reading our past blogs helped put things into perspective. A year ago we were revved up for support raising. We sent letters and presented to a few churches, and things seemed to be moving quickly. So quickly, in fact, that we set a departure date for January 2006 thinking we’d be ready to go long before that. At first we received lots of encouraging emails, cards, and phone calls. We had meetings and planning sessions, and we felt alive. Then we had a summer of mega-travels that halted our support raising efforts, but blessed us with training and time with family. In June we spent three weeks in Minnesota, then we were home for three weeks (during which we had a church yard sale/carwash and visited family in West Virginia), then we were off to Thailand for 4 weeks in August/September. It was like we resurfaced in September and realized three months had slipped by with little change in support levels. We put it in high gear for October and November. Justin had a week of training in October, but we still met with a couple of individuals and visited some supporting churches. We presented at one new church in November, and then moved into December…the frantic month where everything regular gets cancelled only to be replaced by a frenzy of Christmas parties, church events, and family gatherings. We got our monthly newsletter out in mid-December, and then made a conscious decision to just take a break and enjoy the holidays…but that was a little weird for us. You see, we expected to be packing for Peru over Christmas. We email with our future co-workers more and more, and sometimes it feels like we could be there tomorrow. So, while we were physically home for the holidays, we were mentally a world away.

We get an occasional letter of encouragement, but the high of our first efforts has changed, and the depth of the ministry has mingled with our spirits. The idea of living in Peru has lost its newness, and now it’s a deep reality in our hearts…like in marriage when you move from the honeymoon stage to the stage of oneness when being called “wife,” “husband,” “Mom,” or “Dad” is part of your name and not some distant concept. We are support-raising missionaries.

Now we’ve entered the New Year and days slip through our fingers like “sands through the hour glass.” We are putting together plans, talking to people, and getting ready for a new start to support raising, uninterrupted by travel and training. God has been working in us through this year and through the challenges we have faced in support raising. So now we begin anew with a growing reliance upon God and humility that comes from knowing we cannot do this without Him in the lead.

I guess I’m glad I thought I lost that blog. It prompted me to write this one, and think about how I write my entries. I am sometimes too mechanical, too “informative,” and not very Gillian (ie: random and externally pensive). This has been a quick write, and hopefully an easy read. I just want you to know what this process is like for us…or for anyone going out on a limb to do something not-so-mainstream. It’s not easy, but it’s so worth the work to see how big God can become in our lives when we let Him. When our family finally gets to Peru, it will be by the strength only God can provide through the Holy Spirit. Thank you for joining in this ministry through your interest, prayers, and finances. There’s no way to express what you mean to us and this ministry.

Blessings,
Gillian