A Sequel to, Stressed Out!
Two weeks ago, I sat down with my coach and the Director of Support Services from Papua New Guinea. We were hoping to pin down some details about the trip, like when it was going to be.
The complication in pinning that down was that the Branch needed to figure out where it was acceptable to send an unmarried man and woman into the jungle to get some village living without there being a scandal!
"It's a shame," said the Director, "that you're coming before you get married. It'd be so much easier if it were after."
"Right," I said, "but PBT won't let us leave the country for a year after we get married."
"That's not the rule!" she exclaimed. "You can't ALLOCATE for a year after you get married."
(Here's the difference: an exploratory trip is a visit. Allocating is a move. i.e "We can take an exploratory trip to your mother's house, but we are NOT allocating there!" short-term vs long-term)
And suddenly like a tornado of beautiful lights and colors and sounds, I saw the wedding invitations I still had to finish and TIME to do so. I saw the apartment my husband and I would live in and TIME to set it up. I saw the 30% of the funds needed for this trip and TIME to raise it. I saw my wedding in May and TIME to enjoy it. I saw a glimpse of dealing with reverse culture shock 2 weeks before my wedding and it vanished!
Now let me tell you the other ways in which this plan is beautiful and clearly from the Lord.
When we came to this meeting, no one had even considered pushing this trip back. It was prayed at the beginning that we would let the Spirit fill us in this conversation and it appears that He did.
My coach has seen my trip get pushed back a number of times, as you my supporters have, and he knows I DO NOT handle it well. So he took a deep breath before he suggested pushing it back and braced himself for me to bite off his head.
But I didn't. For the first time ever, I was filled with peace instead of turmoil at the suggestion. The whole drive from VA to TX I was thinking about how foolish this trip was, packed so closely to my wedding, but I believed that it was now or a year from May. And I didn't want to wait that long, but it was going to be so stressful to go now...
So the Lord had been working on my heart to accept this suggestion, and that had my coach pretty much convinced that this must from God.
So we decided to part until the next week and see what praying about the idea brought us to. And upon reconvening everyone was more sure than ever that this was a good plan.
(Although the Director of the Branch proposed that if it pushed back allocating why not just skip the exploratory trip and wait to allocate. But I nipped off that idea right there!)
So the new plan is to go for a 60 day period sometime between Aug and Nov. When the Director figures out which village living scenario would be best for the non-scandalous married couple, those dates will be pinned down.
Peace has filled my fiance and me.
Jacob's found a job, I'm looking for an apartment.
And peace abides.
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