Eric and Pam* and their three young children now live in East Africa. They had been living in North Africa until two days before Christmas in 2016. Intense fighting broke out very close to them and they had to evacuate to East Africa. This made the third time in eight years they had to evacuate North Africa. Each time their home has been looted and they have lost everything in it. Pam wrote in their May 2017 newsletter:
As I look back on the past eight years, I realize that the one thing we are learning is how to let go and how to hold on.
There are things that we have learned to cling to for dear life no matter what, to grip so tightly no matter how fierce the shaking or how deep the cutting into our hands. Regardless of what country we are in, who our neighbors are, how many times we need to re-buy the kitchen cutlery, we are still committed to North Africans (two specific language communities in particular), to literacy and Bible translation in these languages, to family movie night, to life in community with refugees, to family worship time before bed, to Jesus.
Then there are the things that we are learning to simply let go of. Despite the impulse to tightly close our fingers, we are learning to release and set free things like our ideas of ideal ministry conditions, dreams of stability and decades in one place, the homemade quilt from my grandmother, several computers, teammates and dear friends, false senses of security, and control of gobs and gobs of stuff. It has to be let go.
Whenever we feel the temptation to hang on a little too tightly to those things we could never keep in the first place, we feel scarred hands encircle our own and gently press us to loosen our grasp and to simply let go. When we feel the frightened temptation to let go of those things that are forming us and others in eternal ways, those same hands wrap around ours and squeeze tightly. Hang on. Keep hanging on.
Not a single one of us knows what tomorrow will bring, but sometimes I think we experience that in a uniquely acute way here. So for us, the practice of letting go and holding on has often looked a lot like not taking a moment for granted but rather savoring each one to the fullest. Today, sitting far away from North Africa, I am so thankful for every conversation, every guest, every spontaneous walk to the river, every baby held, every sunset watched, every cup of tea, and every prayer. While we take the time to grieve the losses along the way, we are also encouraged to see the moments before us here in East Africa.
So we fasten our grip around the only things we can take with us when we go, and the only things we can really give to those we leave behind, and we face each day with peaceful expectation. Jesus said in Luke 17 that if you cling to your life, you will lose it, and if you let your life go, you will save it. This sounds a bit crazy, but despite our best resistance to this idea, we are learning that it is true.
*pseudonyms for security purposes
Thank God for keeping Eric, Pam, and their children safe each time they had to flee.
Thank God for the spiritual growth they are making through the difficult experiences they have gone through.
Thank God for their persistence in translating Scripture and developing literacy materials for the two North African language groups they serve even while living for the time being in East Africa.
Pray for the violence in North Africa to stop so they can return to the people they love and continue their ministry among them.
Pray for the other missionaries who have had to evacuate North Africa to be able to return.
Thank you for your prayers, Gerald & Ruth Denny Coordinators of Prayer Ministries Pioneer Bible Translators
