Saying goodbye….what is it, exactly, that makes this so hard? Winnie The Pooh once said, “How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”
Well I have to say that bear many of us once loved is completely right.
January was a tough month in more ways than one. The holiday season is over and gone as things get back to a slow, unexciting pace.
Charissa was with us for five months in 2021, went back to Tennessee, and The Lord led her to return to Zagreb and serve a full 1-year internship from Jan 2022-Jan 2023. She is a tremendous young lady, great servant, and she became a part of our family so much so that many people thought she was our daughter. We will claim her! But on January 9th, she returned to the US. We miss her greatly but it is that close relation- ship that makes the goodbye so much harder. Please continue to pray for her as she seeks The Lord’s perfect will for her life and that is exactly what we want for her as well.
January was also a time that we said farewell to Francois’ family. A different culture, different skin color, and different language and Google Translate always in the middle of any conversation but we grew to love this family. On January 20th, we put them along with some luggage on a bus. Im glad to report that they are safely in France and getting settled in. She has already applied for political asylum and they have received assistance from the government with housing.
You may recall that after the invitation a few months ago, Negus came to me to say that he had surrendered his life to The Lord and wanted to grow and just do whatever The Lord wants him to do. I was able to present him with his own copy of the ABC’s of Christian Growth in French for him to take with him. Please pray for Negus and the rest of the family.
