Every missionary arrives at that day when he and his family find themselves standing before their home church for the last time before heading to the field God has called them to till. That day was filled with so many emotions, excitement, sadness, joy and uncertain expectation. I remember clearly our Pastor’s charge from Romans 12:9-21, the elders gathering around and praying and those last hugs and goodbyes from dear friends.
So off we went to Ukraine with our eighteen year old daughters and sixteen your old son. Few mission boards would risk sending this couple in mid-life to the field. How would our teenagers cope? Would they even adapt to life in a foreign country?
Now we fast forward seven years. Today we again find ourselves in our home church but in Ukraine, however only our son and his wife stand before the congregation to receive blessings and prayer before they leave for America. Our son, who was reluctant to move to Ukraine, has mastered the Russian language, graduated from the Tchaikovsky Conservatory of Music, became skillful at playing the vibrofone, married a beautiful Ukrainian young woman at age 20, worked for the National Philarmonic Orchestra of Ukraine and has led praise music at our church. Now in just two weeks, at age 23, he will begin study at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.
Once again my heart is filled with so many emotions. As a father the emotion I feel the most is joy in the blessing of a son who has become a man who knows and fears God. Our desire with all our children was to teach them to be independent, to think, to make decisions based on the Word of God and be caring others oriented adults. We wanted them to understand God created them for a purpose and gave them gifts and talents to use in His service and the service of others. As Jamie played and Dasha sang for the last time in Kiev for awhile and listening to our pastor speak for the congregation about their service to our church, we know God enabled us to succeed and answered our prayers.
So now we stand in the congregation of our Ukrainian church, praying for God to continue to be at the center of their lives. As our American church sent us, our Ukrainian church sends them back to America. We remain continuing to till the field God has prepared for us and we eagerly look forward to learn what God has prepared for them. We say “goodbye” knowing God has been and will be faithful.
