Marc and I with Han at her school musical. I was very impressed with how good a junior high musical could be!
Han with Mimi and Poppy (my parents, for those who read this but don't know them). I am pretty sure they are enjoying every chance to be with the grandkids. :)I will give thanks to You, O LORD, among the peoples, and I will sing praises to You among the nations. For Your lovingkindness is great above the heavens, and Your truth reaches to the skies. Psalm 108:3-4
As my entire house is still asleep except for me (I did sleep until 5:30--amazing for me!), I have time to finally post something about where we are headed when we return to the field. This post, my friends, has been a long time coming, and it has been an interesting faith journey for our family, because we have not known the place to which we would be returning until last week. So here's the story, not only of where we're going, but how God has used this uncertainty in our lives.
When we left the field last summer to return to the U.S., our understanding of our future was that we would be in Moscow. Our family serves on the Forward Communications Team of the European Peoples Affinity. (WOW! That's a mouthful.) Our team is spread all over Europe, living in the places where we work. So we have people in Germany, Spain, Czech Republic, and until recently, Ukraine. So we would be in Moscow, because Russia is our main area of service. (Our other responsibilities are with the European Diaspora Cluster, which is groups of Europeans outside of Europe, so there is not one main place where we serve that cluster.) We were fine with that, as you can imagine. If you spend five seconds with us, you're more than aware that we love Russia and Russians and people who speak Russian. Can't help it, we just do. So we were okay with Moscow. Not long after we returned to the States, the plan seemed to shift to putting us in Kiev, Ukraine, because our responsibilities were going to grow to include a good section of the former USSR, Ukraine included. (Have you gotten a good look at Ukraine on the map? Not a small place.) And we were okay with that, because we LOVE Kiev. Love it. Such a beautiful place, and no new language for us, and the people are honestly lovely and kind. So all was well for us if we were headed to Kiev. Then, about five months ago, the team started to talk about all coming together in one city. And that's when things got complicated.
We had the benefit of serving for a year on a church-planting team. There is something about being on a team with other people that is unbelievably beneficial when you're living someplace that is not your own. But then, as was planned, we transitioned into our "real" job with the Russia field. And that was a different business altogether. Not having a team in your city means that you can feel (it's a feeling, not the truth at all) like you are alone. We did enjoy our job when we only served the Russia field, but there was a sense of isolation from everyone else in the city, who were serving on teams, having team meetings, team dinners, team ministry projects. (The exception to this were our friends who serve the deaf affinity, who are also not on the city team.) So we had known both sides of the "team in the same city/no team in the city" equation. And we were honestly completely okay no matter what was decided. If the IMB put us together in one city, great--we love our team members. If the IMB didn't put us together and had us spread all over Europe, great--we'll dive in wherever they put us and make our way.
After some time of prayer and thinking and talking (and consulting with the IMB, of course), it was decided that our team would, indeed, come together in one city. And then things got REALLY complicated. Where do you put a team of five or six families? There was talk of several different places, with each place having benefits and negatives, too. Some families felt very strongly about one place, some another. But above all, we all wanted the place that God wanted for us. So in February, in a team meeting in Prague (Marc stopped there before heading on to Russia), the gathered team (minus spouses--lots of children on our team, and someone has to take care of them) prayed for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. And out of nowhere, with not a single team member having their eye on this particular city, came Vienna, Austria. When Marc sent me the list of the final four cities, and Vienna was on the list, I was dumbfounded. Shocked. Vienna?!?! Whose idea was Vienna? But as the team talked and prayed, and especially after three of the five wives on the team visited Vienna, we all began to believe that Vienna was the place. A great school, a city team who is excited about us coming, a language that one of the families already speaks fluently, and (for us) a desire by the strategy team for someone to minister to the large Russian-speaking population in Vienna were all benefits we could not have foreseen in a possible move to Vienna. We began to, very cautiously, be excited. When we got the news that Vienna was, indeed, the place...well, let's just say there was a little noise in the Hooks house. (Although Sarah Beth swears up and down that she will not be twirling around on the hills outside of the city when she visits. Spoil sport.) Lots and lots of rejoicing here, not only because Vienna is a beautiful city and a nice place to live, but also because it was clearly God's movement that placed us there.
If you know me even a little bit, you know that I am a planner. A serious, serious planner. Checklists are an every day thing for me, and they make me super happy. So you can imagine that months and months of uncertainty was...hmmm...a little discombobulating to me. (And yes, that's an actual word.) I wanted to know. I really, really wanted to know. But I didn't NEED to know. I felt like I needed to know, but that wasn't really the truth. What I needed to know was that God, not Kellye, was in control. And just before the meeting in Prague--in fact, Marc was on his way there when I came to this one morning--I realized in the midst of my daily time with God that it didn't really matter where we were. What mattered was our obedience to whatever God put in our path. I know from experience that God's absolute best for me is deeply rooted in obedience to His call and a belief in His never ending faithfulness to us as a family. And with that knowledge comes the strength to wait on Him. And His Word tells me clearly that those who wait on Him have their strength renewed. They walk without becoming tired. They have strength like the young. And those are all qualities I'm interested in having.
So we continue to wait on the Lord. We think we're headed back in September, but we don't know that for sure. We have some medical things to take care of before we head back. But we can wait with patience and endurance because we know whom we have believed, and we know that His faithfulness is beyond measure. Wherever you are in the world on this Good Friday, I pray that you are waiting on the One who loves you enough to die for you, and that you are so grateful that He didn't stay in that grave. Blessings to you and yours!
His,
Kellye
As my entire house is still asleep except for me (I did sleep until 5:30--amazing for me!), I have time to finally post something about where we are headed when we return to the field. This post, my friends, has been a long time coming, and it has been an interesting faith journey for our family, because we have not known the place to which we would be returning until last week. So here's the story, not only of where we're going, but how God has used this uncertainty in our lives.
When we left the field last summer to return to the U.S., our understanding of our future was that we would be in Moscow. Our family serves on the Forward Communications Team of the European Peoples Affinity. (WOW! That's a mouthful.) Our team is spread all over Europe, living in the places where we work. So we have people in Germany, Spain, Czech Republic, and until recently, Ukraine. So we would be in Moscow, because Russia is our main area of service. (Our other responsibilities are with the European Diaspora Cluster, which is groups of Europeans outside of Europe, so there is not one main place where we serve that cluster.) We were fine with that, as you can imagine. If you spend five seconds with us, you're more than aware that we love Russia and Russians and people who speak Russian. Can't help it, we just do. So we were okay with Moscow. Not long after we returned to the States, the plan seemed to shift to putting us in Kiev, Ukraine, because our responsibilities were going to grow to include a good section of the former USSR, Ukraine included. (Have you gotten a good look at Ukraine on the map? Not a small place.) And we were okay with that, because we LOVE Kiev. Love it. Such a beautiful place, and no new language for us, and the people are honestly lovely and kind. So all was well for us if we were headed to Kiev. Then, about five months ago, the team started to talk about all coming together in one city. And that's when things got complicated.
We had the benefit of serving for a year on a church-planting team. There is something about being on a team with other people that is unbelievably beneficial when you're living someplace that is not your own. But then, as was planned, we transitioned into our "real" job with the Russia field. And that was a different business altogether. Not having a team in your city means that you can feel (it's a feeling, not the truth at all) like you are alone. We did enjoy our job when we only served the Russia field, but there was a sense of isolation from everyone else in the city, who were serving on teams, having team meetings, team dinners, team ministry projects. (The exception to this were our friends who serve the deaf affinity, who are also not on the city team.) So we had known both sides of the "team in the same city/no team in the city" equation. And we were honestly completely okay no matter what was decided. If the IMB put us together in one city, great--we love our team members. If the IMB didn't put us together and had us spread all over Europe, great--we'll dive in wherever they put us and make our way.
After some time of prayer and thinking and talking (and consulting with the IMB, of course), it was decided that our team would, indeed, come together in one city. And then things got REALLY complicated. Where do you put a team of five or six families? There was talk of several different places, with each place having benefits and negatives, too. Some families felt very strongly about one place, some another. But above all, we all wanted the place that God wanted for us. So in February, in a team meeting in Prague (Marc stopped there before heading on to Russia), the gathered team (minus spouses--lots of children on our team, and someone has to take care of them) prayed for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. And out of nowhere, with not a single team member having their eye on this particular city, came Vienna, Austria. When Marc sent me the list of the final four cities, and Vienna was on the list, I was dumbfounded. Shocked. Vienna?!?! Whose idea was Vienna? But as the team talked and prayed, and especially after three of the five wives on the team visited Vienna, we all began to believe that Vienna was the place. A great school, a city team who is excited about us coming, a language that one of the families already speaks fluently, and (for us) a desire by the strategy team for someone to minister to the large Russian-speaking population in Vienna were all benefits we could not have foreseen in a possible move to Vienna. We began to, very cautiously, be excited. When we got the news that Vienna was, indeed, the place...well, let's just say there was a little noise in the Hooks house. (Although Sarah Beth swears up and down that she will not be twirling around on the hills outside of the city when she visits. Spoil sport.) Lots and lots of rejoicing here, not only because Vienna is a beautiful city and a nice place to live, but also because it was clearly God's movement that placed us there.
If you know me even a little bit, you know that I am a planner. A serious, serious planner. Checklists are an every day thing for me, and they make me super happy. So you can imagine that months and months of uncertainty was...hmmm...a little discombobulating to me. (And yes, that's an actual word.) I wanted to know. I really, really wanted to know. But I didn't NEED to know. I felt like I needed to know, but that wasn't really the truth. What I needed to know was that God, not Kellye, was in control. And just before the meeting in Prague--in fact, Marc was on his way there when I came to this one morning--I realized in the midst of my daily time with God that it didn't really matter where we were. What mattered was our obedience to whatever God put in our path. I know from experience that God's absolute best for me is deeply rooted in obedience to His call and a belief in His never ending faithfulness to us as a family. And with that knowledge comes the strength to wait on Him. And His Word tells me clearly that those who wait on Him have their strength renewed. They walk without becoming tired. They have strength like the young. And those are all qualities I'm interested in having.
So we continue to wait on the Lord. We think we're headed back in September, but we don't know that for sure. We have some medical things to take care of before we head back. But we can wait with patience and endurance because we know whom we have believed, and we know that His faithfulness is beyond measure. Wherever you are in the world on this Good Friday, I pray that you are waiting on the One who loves you enough to die for you, and that you are so grateful that He didn't stay in that grave. Blessings to you and yours!
His,
Kellye
