Welcome to California

We are in Anaheim.

When we left Mexico, Dwayne said that we were going straight to Anaheim and we were going to stay there until every last one of us felt better. He was starting to feel run-down and we wanted a place where I could take everyone that was healthy and leave him any other 'sickies' at the hotel for rest. What better place to do that than Disneyland?

We left Hermosillo two days ago. I cried pretty-much from when we were saying goodbye to Greg & Shelli and Lane & Sherri, through Arizona, and into California.

I am just so bitterly disappointed.

I'm disappointed that we came all this way for 'nothing'.

I'm disappointed that I only even talked to two, yes two, Mexicans from the church before we were house-bound and then left.

I'm disappointed that we went to experience Mexican culture and we barely got a glimpse, except from the inside of the hospital.

When we were still in Hermosillo, I was feeling a bit ashamed of deciding to come home - like we were slinking back with our tails between our legs. I didn't know how we were going to tell our church family that we went down there for that. Just as soon as I started thinking those thoughts, one of our church leaders - and a dear friend - emailed us to ask how they could help ease the disappointment of coming home.

They knew.

They knew without telling them that we weren't 'giving up' because we couldn't hack it. They knew that it was a prayerful decision and that we needed to come home. I should have known better - I should have known not to doubt how they felt about us regardless of what we do or how we 'perform'. I am so thankful for the whole bunch of them. And thanks Craig and Tonia for clearly reminding us.




1 comments:

Mummy McTavish said...

I am so glad that your first contact with the ones you were worried about disapointing was positive and encouraging for you... what a difference that can make. God might not have been using your trip for the same purpose you intended... he may have been using it to teach you, to shape you into a different family, to help your church better understand the "other side" of mission work. So often people only want to hear about which programs that the missionaries are running are the most successful... sometimes it's good for churches to be reminded that mission work may have God's backing but it's not always going to work out the way we think it should. I know that you would have been an encouragement to the missionaries you spent time with, just knowing that people support them enough to make that trip and that your church supported you enough to send you would have encouraged them to keep going.