Pioneer Bible Translators – Jan 2017 Prayer Partner Letter – The Hard in Coming and Going

The Prayer Partner Letter is a publication of Pioneer Bible Translators

January 2017

Dear Prayer Partners,

The lives of missionaries are full of big transitions. There is their initial transition to the field, leaving all that is familiar and going to an unfamiliar culture and language. Then there is their initial return from the field after their first term is completed. Many changes have taken place in their home country while they have been gone. Then it is back to the field. Katie, one of our missionaries in West Africa, recently shared what it was like returning for yet another term of service with her husband, a preschool boy and a baby girl. She entitled her article as follows:

The Hard in Coming and Going

Going is hard. Coming is hard. The coming and going between here and there is just … hard.And I’m not just talking the heart–wrenchinggood-byes. The missing family so much it hurts. Physically and logistically, it’s difficult to comeand go in either direction, too.

Arriving in the States or in our village in West Africa involves a long trip; then it takes time to get unpacked and settled, get communicationsystems set up, and reconnect as we establish daily patterns for our family.

Naturally, all that’s a lot easier to accomplish Stateside, with the blessing of family and friends and high speed internet at one’s fingertips. Here, though … for starters, there’s the moving back into a house in the tropics that hasn’t been occupied in almost a year; it takes weeks to clean and fix and unpack. Lately, with a new baby in tow each time.

Somewhere in there, we manage to greet our neighbors, reconnect with village friends and our Scripture Guys*, get communications going, and get ministry outlets up and running.

A month later, we’re finally hitting our stride. On our first day back in the village, as I attacked a layer of dirt on kitchen appliances, I had wondered just how many more times I could dothis–the coming and going. To my chagrin I realized that, by God’s grace, we’ve been spared to this day the sickness and trauma thatoften means the going and never coming back for some people in ministry.

Sometimes, I just want to go and not come back because … I just miss my family. And well, living here is uncomfortable. Doing everything incontext of a foreign culture and a foreign language, where nothing makes sense and everything takes more time. And one is just hot and tired and dirty. And grumpy, for good measure.

However, those seem like lame excuses, and God has knowingly chosen not to give me “better” ones. So we’ll just keep coming and going, and look for pearls in the midst of all the uncomfortable dust.

Thank you for your prayers,
Gerald & Ruth Denny
Coordinators of Prayer Ministries
Pioneer Bible Translators

Thank God for Katie’s obedience to God’s call on her life, even though it is hard.

Thank God for the same obedience in each missionary who perseveres through each hard transition.

Thank God for each potential missionary now in training who knows the road ahead contains many transitions that are hard to make and yet considers it a small price to pay to help enable Bibleless people groups to receive the Bible in their language and have the opportunity for life eternal.