7 - A Number of Perfection

Next month I will/would have been with Wycliffe for 7 years.

When I was 9 I told my mom that I would grow up to be a missionary in Africa.

I think I originally thought that that calling would last longer than 7 years.

It's not even that that calling has ended, but the face of it definitely is changing in ways that I do not yet fully understand. Beginning next month I will no longer be a missionary with Wycliffe. (I first wrote about this here: Upcoming Changes)

In the Bible, 7 is a number of perfection. God even rested on the 7th day of the week. While I didn't originally think that I would be with Wycliffe for only 7 years, God has given me great confidence that it is time to leave and strike out in a different direction. He even allowed me to finish the primary projects that I was working on before I left Tanzania (A Bunch of Checkmarks).

I still don't know in what direction I'm headed exactly but I have absolute trust that God will continue to lead me and direct me. He hasn't let me down once yet.

There is something that I do know about what is coming my way...I'm headed to Israel on January 30th. Some friends are studying in Israel and need a homeschool teacher for their kids. My background with Hebrew, having lived in Jerusalem, and being interested in education made me feel comfortable volunteering my services.

I am truly looking forward to this adventure and believe that by the time it ends (June/July) God will have shone a light on the next step that I'm to take.

Upcoming Changes

In December I was excitedly telling a friend that I expected to finalize the Zinza, Jita, and Kwaya orthographies by the end of September. These were the three main projects that I'd been working on for the better part of 5 years. They suggested that September would, therefore, be a very natural and convenient time for me to end my time with Wycliffe. At the time I was strongly drawn to that idea, but more strongly drawn by my desire to remain in Musoma, so I put the idea away.

Over the past couple of months God has brought that idea and timeline back into focus and I am now convinced that it is God’s timing for me to leave Musoma, and Wycliffe.

This has been a hard decision, I didn’t feel ready to move on. I can point to several events over the past year+ that should have clued me into this plan, but I didn’t want to see them. The amazing thing is that now, having made the decision, I feel so much peace and even joy and excitement about what God is going to lead me into next.

So, I will be coming back to the States in early October, and back in Tulsa by December.

I would appreciate your prayers as I seek God’s leading on what is next for me. I do believe that it will include studying the Bible in one way or another and moving into some type of discipleship or teaching role. I have two ideas that I really love, but I still don’t know if either of them is where God is going to lead me. If you want to know what they are, I’ve described them briefly below:

1) YWAM and their DTS program followed by their School of Biblical Studies.  This would be an intensive inductive study of the whole Bible. I would be equipped to work in discipleship and bible studies and various other work along those lines.

2) Polis: The Jerusalem Institute of Languages and Humanities; MA in Ancient Philology. This would be studying the biblical languages as living languages so that I would be well equipped to read the original texts of the Bible and study theology from there.

These are two completely different programs that I could see God using in different ways in teaching/discipleship training. One is non-academic and the other is academic. One is a religious organization, the other isn't. But, both are exciting to me and have drawn me in a bit. So, please be praying about this. And if you hear some thing from God for me, PLEASE pass it on!

If you have ANY questions about this upcoming change, please feel free to write and ask me! My email address is available in the contact section of this blog.