BIG Changes

Dear friends,

 

As all of you know: life is unpredictable! We have found that we learn a lot about faith and a lot about the character of God when change is thrown into the mix; although it is never easy.

 

Right now, we as missionaries in Guinea are facing some big changes. Two days ago our field leadership presented us with the idea of moving us to Dakar, Senegal to continue with our NCLA program (national culture and language), and it turns out that we will be making the move. We will continue in Dakar for a year (depending on our level of French/culture knowledge, as well as our involvement in our host church), and from there we will begin looking at village works throughout West Africa. Our goal of moving to a village to be involved in tribal church planting has not changed at all! It’s just a detour we have to take in order to get there.

 

Why the big move, you ask? Well, while at the moment things appear to be calm, there is still a lot of political tension between the military and the citizens, and even between various people groups within the country.  Elections are scheduled for the end of January, and there is no guarantee what will happen between now and then, and even after. If things take a turn for the worse, Conakry is the last place we should be.  Our mission feels that it would be a wise move to down-size to essential personnel only, such as those who are already in the middle of Bible teaching or Bible translation.

 

So what does this mean for us personally? This means that we will be leaving behind relationships that are very dear to us, and relationships that we have spent the last four months developing. That is the hardest thing for us to wrap our minds around! Also, we see the financial ramifications that this move brings to the table. We already owe our mission some money due to the set-up fees and moving expenses we had when we first arrived. It’s always expensive to move- especially when you’re moving to another country! We have furniture, a fridge and freezer, a car and some other items that we will either have to sell, store, or find a way to ship over later.

 

We realize that faith is in the details: we would have to fly to Dakar ($500 per ticket), possibly sell our car (it’s too far away to drive, and our car is too old to come into the country), we would have to pack up all of our things (again), find an apartment, a new host church, a new host family, etc.

 

 Wow- big changes, huh?! We know that you guys are good friends that care about us, and we know that you will pray on our behalf. This is an unexpected change for us, and it’s a bittersweet, stressful and exciting time. Thank you in advance for your prayers!

 

Always on the move (literally!!),

 

Shawn and Jenn DeAtley