Our First Setback

My house looks like a salad.

Every little thing, paperclips, fruit, dish detergent, socks, they are all hanging out with each other in this big bowl we call our house. It helps to take time to sort through things, but then we get into another task, or something really important comes up that NEEDS attention, and the salad remains. Today my friend Laurie came to help me sort through the salad. I got a lot more accomplished with her here.

I just heard last night at 2am that we need to wait before moving to Aukland. Too many practical obstacles and needs: immigration, finding renters things going on back in NZ.... I don't want to bore you with those details.

Truly, things aren't happening as quickly as we thought they could. I have heard over the years that this is typical of mission work. It is as if developing patience and learning to adjust is all part of the training. There seems to be a skill to dealing with this particular roller coaster ride. It's not one where you just sit back...or forward... and "enjoy" the ride. We must be in the process of developing a skill. Uncomfortable at times, we have to just bear it while we grow into new roles.

Do you remember the story Karate Kid? He learned to wax cars before he learned to defend himself. At first it didn't make sense. It even made him angry. Over hard work and time waxing cars developed muscles that helped him in his sport. One day, today's obstacles will look different. It will make perfect sense, or even better, things will fit together so well that we won't have a thought about those past worries.

It will take longer to get to the end of this rainbow. All practical and real, and in its core are good lessons, and maybe even comforts. But for now I have to try to understand what kind of setback we are talking about. More than a month?  Right now I don't know. A lot of things must take place before we leave the USA.

On the bright side, we will perhaps get to spend more time with our parish of Saint George which we love so much. We get to test our problem solving skills, our patience and faith. We get to continue our efforts with a little less pressure. All that can be a valuable gift.

Oh and by the way, today July 23, as we remember St Pelaghia of Tinos, my husband was released from the Archdiocese of America and officially belongs to the Archdiocese of New Zealand.

(Look for photos at the bottom of this page...still learning how to set up these pages)