We will miss seeing you

Back in March we mentioned that we were examining our possibilities for travel - moving any possible dates to the Fall of this year. We usually make it back to the US every three years to visit family and church family, reporting on our lives and work here and catching up on the lives of everyone in the US that we see. 

Usually this would have been in the Spring of 2022 since we were last in the US in 2019. But travel restrictions and uncertainties made it nigh to impossible to plan a trip as we usually take it for the Spring. So we looked at some other options and considered the Fall. Now it has become clear that the Fall is not really an option either. 

As most have already experienced, costs of all sorts have risen in the past months. This especially includes gas prices. As most of our trip would mean driving around the US, this would increase our costs prohibitively. Rental car prices have also risen quite a bit, from what we can see. So our costs would increase past what we felt was prudent. 

In addition to these concerns, we have to think about what a trip does to our health. Shirley has been experiencing hip pain for quite some time. It may be that she needs a new hip. Traveling for hours on end in a car would not be conducive to good hip health. And trying to get things settled before we would need to leave would also not be possible. 

So after thinking, [raying and taking advice, we have decided to move our next Home Assignment (the time we travel in the US) to Spring 2023. We pray that some costs will be lower and that health concerns will be cleared up. We would love your prayers for this thoughts as well. 

In the meantime, this means that we will go ahead with plans for outreach and activities there in the Fall that we planned on delaying for our trip. This past week we enjoyed a Singing Day in Antwerp where Luk Brazle and Scott taught the songs they had put together as video’s during the corona years. These songs were used by plenty of congregations to make singing possible, even online. Scott is looking at organizing another Song Workshop in the Fall now, and we look forward to some potential new songs for the church.  

We will miss seeing so many of you. We will miss seeing our family. But we look forward to seeing you in 2023. And we look forward to how God will use us in the coming months.