When we saw that hopes for going to England were dwindling, we sought some advice from our missionary friends to India. Angie and I have looked up to the Maddock family ever since we were interns. They got their degrees, started a family, and are now full-time missionaries to India. When we looked to the future, we hoped that our lives would look something like that, already sharing the same passion and interests.
Brice took us out to breakfast, and we just kind of spilled out our hopes for the future."Get to the field, no matter what it takes." That, for the past few years has been our mantra. With England not happening, we immediately thought that maybe it was time to get back to India. But after a long conversation with Brice, we were challenged by a few things.
First he challenged us to live life a little, enjoy marriage, get a little more life experience. He explained the challenges of the visa process in India as well. Only degree holding foreigners get leniency when it comes to staying in country for extended periods of time. (Things that have definitely changed since Angie and I were there.) He challenged us to finish our education, study something that a foreign government would accept as beneficial to their country (education,social science,medicine,business,ect)
We were kind of awestruck by the end of our conversation..."you mean...don't go yet?" But we clearly got firsthand experience saying if you want to do this long-term, then long-term preparation is required. It was a big pill to swallow. We've never cared for work outside of ministry, and always viewed school as something we'd eventually get to. But this time, it was definitely presented as an essential, not optional, if we wanted to go long term.
So for now..we're working like crazy, and will enroll back into school as soon as possible. Angie is working part-time at Ganze & Co. and I'm holding down two part-time jobs at Kohl's and Boys & Girls Club of Napa. I am still playing drums for a few services a week, and Angie is on our youth leadership team. We signed papers today for an apartment, and feel like we're finally settling in for a while. It's a new season in life for sure, but we're both excited for where it will take us.
We'll do our best to keep the updates coming!
