Brin and I have some college friends who have been serving as missionaries in a muslim country for 6 years. They have 4 girls who have only known life in their adopted country. A few months ago we got word that they had been deported, we heard only that they had since relocated to another country, waiting reassignment. Recently, Brin received an update, with their permission we are posting it on our site so more people can hear their powerful story and the journey of faith they have been on...
"I packed up our home and we said our good-byes in 6 days. The summary is that we were in the best year that we had been. We felt like we had been stripped and pruned and had gone through some fires to get out the human junk we kept holding onto. (Not that it doesn't continually happen, but we saw a a good season of it). Then we took a new position as leaders over the rural south. We began making contacts, picking the city we would move to, and visioning/strategizing etc. We had our first true church occurring and seeing how God was moving. Our home was finally becoming a home. We painted each of the girls rooms and added to our pets (2 cats). We had just returned from a networking trip down south with some partners in the States. Cal and I were excited. Since I was more than 7 months pregnant and our passports were going to expire in about 6 months, but we needed them in January for visas, we decided to go ahead and get new ones before the holidays and the baby coming. Cal got the new passports and went for our 1 year visas. It all seemed routine. Who knew what that day would hold.
"Anyway, after applying for the visas, Lydia received hers. Then Calvin was called into the secret police. He was held for about 3 hours. They didn't do much except ask him weird questions and following him to the bathroom. They told him to come back in a week for the visas. They then took his mobile phone number. This week we prepared for the worse (being deported), but not believing it would actually happen since no one else had ever had it done. (Others who have been denied have had the male stopped at re-entry at the airport with wife and children allowed in.) Calvin went back and then he was held the entire day by secret police. He was sent from office to office with a personal guard. He eventually ended up in the illegal resident section with everyone else handcuffed. They said his guard was sufficient for him since he was American. Then his guard fell asleep on his shoulder. I told him he should have ran at the point! ha ha By the end of the day, they said his visas were ready. He went back to the "public" section of the building and then the high officer of the secret police took him. Anyway, they then said that we had six days until we would be deported on violation of overstaying our tourist visa. We still do not know the "whys" of it all. We have ideas, but nothing concrete. This deportation was both for him and me. Calvin came home and we cried. It was a hard blow. The blessing was he was able to help this emotional big pregnant woman pack up the house. The bad was that I had to leave within days also. We changed our phone numbers and our building guard harassed us to no end for them. (He was informing the police about us.) We also had plain clothed secret police outside our building entrance for the last week we were there. An intimidation technique and a shaming for us to the neighborhood.
"It was really hard on our girls. They couldn't understand why we had to rush and get our things packed. Sell some of their toys. Leave their newly painted princess rooms. Then when we could only take a few suitcases with us, of course, what they wanted couldn't all fit. Lydia was the worse because she understood what was happening. Also, she had just had a birthday. We had to leave her new birthday bike. That's everything for a kid. Also, the previous month, two out of three new kittens had died. (also a birthday present) Now we had to give the new 1 week old kitten away to another family. Saying good-bye to friends and comprehending never seeing them again. This had been her only home. She was 15 months when we arrived in country. It was tough times on her. When we arrived in Jordan, not only the crying, but lots of anger from the kids. They were forced into many situations they had no control over. They knew this wasn't right, even if they couldn't explain it. The first night in Jordan we put Alia into pjs and asked for her to go to the bathroom. She said she did. So I turned to dress Kinzy. Then I saw Alia squat and just pee on the floor, pjs and all. With all of the hormones, I just lost it. I dropped 7 pounds in that last week and went into early labor due to the stress of everything (physical and emotional). Calvin broke out in Shingles along his cerebral nerve 24 hours after he was released from the police due to the stress. So the last week he was lifting boxes/suitcases and just would fall to the floor in spiking pain. He eventually got on morphine which helped. And of course you know the end of that story, every two weeks until Christmas, one of the girls broke out into Chicken pox in Jordan due to the Shingles.
"We had our baby girl, Noelle, here in Jordan. She came only two weeks early. That was good considering I thought I would have her in Nov. We brought her home from the hospital and laid her in a small laundry basket. I had to leave her nursery back in our other country. We are in temporary housing here and there just isn't much. (We are now borrowing a pack-n-play from some people we met.) Christmas came and we enjoyed it as a family. During these weeks there was a lot of crying and grieving. Sometimes it was for our home, or our friends, or the loneliness we felt. At times it was for the death of a dream and of a vision, or for the feelings of being the outsider again. Many times it was over the hurt we saw our girls experiencing and being helpless to heal it. It was all gone. We could do nothing to get it back. It was taken away by the bad guys. It was our love. Then the realization of all of the time we wasted hit us. We were losers, just great big zeros for the missed opportunities. For not preparing the believers for our departure. For not building up their community so they could perserve together. For not training others enough so that the lost would continue to hear. Then we cried even more. It was a lonely Christmas. Pretty empty. We tried to get several family or friends to come visit, but none of them could.
"We then went into a leadership training here in Jordan for the whole month of January. It was a sweet, sweet time with the Lord. And now it's February. We are finally feeling like we are getting going and moving somewhat normal again. We did not go back to the States during this time. With being so late in the pregnancy and having the baby and no passport, it was impossible. But then we went into the training. Honestly I had very mixed emotions about it. I wanted so much to go "home" and be pampered and someone watch my kids so I could just sleep in depression! ha ha I wanted the comfort of all that was known to me and my family around me. Yet, since we didn't go back and we knew no one here, we were forced to do nothing else but be alone, be still and listen to His voice. It was the most amazing healing we have ever experienced. His Word was like a soothing salve on our hearts. Each day the Lord gave just enough mercies so that we were able to sleep and wake the next day for a new dose. We sang through tears. We praised even when it hurt. We held our children and told them of God's faithfulness to our family. Of His faithfulness to our believing friends. Of His love and faithfulness to our lost friends. His sovereign will is for our good and for his glory. I didn't even know what grace and sovereignty was when I was seven. I saw in Lydia's eyes and life, she was not only understanding but experiencing it daily. (Of course, I didn't know what an ocean was either at that age.)
"One night I kept waking up and I audibly heard God say I am faithful and true, I am faithful and true. Over and over as I woke throughout the night. Then as the morning came, the voice said, Hope in the Lord! I knew God was speaking to me. Hope in the Lord is not like earthly hope. It's not a crossed finger hope. It is a confident hope that expects to see His victory and promises fulfilled. So that is how Noelle was named, Noelle Hope. I really believe that if we would have gone back to the States, our comforts would have been worldly. Because that is what I was looking for. Mmmm, double chocolate chunk fudge.... But praise God, He used barren times to be the most wonderful time of healing and comfort. When trials come in abundance, so does His comfort."
Ava and Ella where able to participate in a skit, my only fear is that they will be typecast as obnoxious younger sisters. Also in this photo: Chelsea, Marilda and Angelica.
Brin playing a game with visitors.
