They say that after 2 years on the field, people back in your home country start to forget about you. They say that your first term on the field will be the hardest and your loneliest. However, all of your emails, Facebook messages, Skype calls, and packages of small reminders from Home tell me this is not true.
Thanks to you all, we don’t feel forgotten or alone (I mean, really, I homeschool 3 kids, I’m never alone). I will be the first to admit that I am not great at communicating well with people in front of me—let alone around the world. I think about and pray for you back home way more that I reach out and write. I like to think you do the same. And when we do catch up, we just jump in with both feet. Yes, we have been broken-hearted over missing walking through life with you side by side. There are funerals of dear friends’ parents we have missed, so many births (and first years of life) we have not been a part of, and the holidays—those magical times of memory making that we won’t ever get back. But just because life marches on, no matter where God tells us home is for now, doesn’t mean we forget each other.
This is true for us, but we know it’s not true for everyone serving Christ overseas; so we wanted to take a moment before life gets even more busy and full this season to tell you THANKS! Thank you for the prayers. Thank you for talking about us when you see something that reminds you of something we once said. Thank you for your words of encouragement—written out or voiced in a message. Thank you for sending us cards, magazines, and (especially) bacon. On that note, thanks for spending $15 for candy and then multiplying that by 3 or 4 just to ship it! Thank you for believing in what God has us doing here, and for partnering with our ministry financially to do it, even though it means you are sending us away. Thanks to all of you that we know give sacrificially and give up things that you love so that we can serve here. Thank you for all these things and a million others, it’s because of these things that our hearts are still tethered to one another… and cannot be forgotten.
We hope this holiday season will be a blessing to you, your family, and community. We pray that you get to experience an even greater measure of God’s goodness and glory. We pray you are stirred by the Spirit to live life with open hands to the One who sent His Son so we could have Life. We hope this season holds you remembering us, those crazy people who live in Papua New Guinea, a place that many of you never thought of before all this, but just the same holds a family who speaks your name in fondness.
As this year transitions into yet another, here are some ways you can continue to be our village (Pray, Give, Go):
1. PRAY PRAY PRAY. Sometimes we don’t even know what to ask for in our prayers, but God does and he hears. Please just continue to lift us up to the Protector and Provider of all things.
2. We are still under 65% of the budget that Wycliffe has set for us to work and live here. Please tell your friends about us! You all have friends and churches that may be interested in world missions, but don’t know where to dig in. Please feel free to share our story with them and see what the Lord does. Thanks for being our advocates in the places we can’t reach! Please prayerfully consider giving an end of year gift if you are able.
Here is our ministry page link to use or share https://www.wycliffe.org/partner/thefamilycraig
3. Come and visit us. There is more than enough work for us all. If you are interested in a visit, a short ministry opportunity, or something even longer (!!!). We would be overjoyed to help organize that with you!
Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas!
Much Love,
The Family Craig (John, Kristi, Nori, Banner, & Millie)
