Home Assignment -
There are a lot of emotions that come and go in waves when it comes to home assignment (formerly known as "furlough"). Typically, when one goes on home assignment, they come back to the country that has been their "home" for at least a few years. After our first term of 4 years, it was a sad goodbye. When I say sad, I mean that in the best ways possible. We loved Senegal -- it's people, culture, and the community we experienced in our village and at the Christian International school we were working at in the capital.
Home assignment is a time for refreshment and being recharged. Visiting family, friends, and supporters. It’s a time to take a step back in the ministry that God has placed you in and see what He has done! Through the challenges, discomfort, fails, victories, joys -- God is in the midst of it all; He uses it all, for His glory.
When Jeremy and I got on to that airplane back to our passport country (USA) with our 3 littles in tow, we knew that it was time to move forward. The first couple of months of home assignment were spent traveling across America (NH -> TX -> AK -> NH -> FL -> GA -> NH) visiting our people. Now that the "work" part of our home assignment has begun, we've been able to process a lot of things -- trying not to focus on the "what ifs" and looking forward to what's next. When we left Senegal, we weren't really sure what was going to happen. Like, did we need to stay in our passport country for long, possibly get jobs there or get involved in ministry there?
We knew that we wanted to be in Senegal for at least a few years (mainly, so I could get to know Jeremy more because that's where he grew up most of his life). Little did we know, that's where we would grow a community and family of our own (our 3 biological children and all of our dorm girls who we will always consider a part of our family). We fell in love with the ministry of dorm parenting and could see ourselves doing that long term. Thankfully, the Lord sees our hearts and desires to serve Him in this capacity. We've had a lot of time to "grieve" (We were sad to leave our dorm girls) and process, but ultimately, we trust that God is the One who closes and opens doors.
I thought we would have some time to look into other options, but through an old friend of Jeremy's from high school (the high school we were currently dorm parents at), we found a new opportunity. Jeremy saw a picture of his friend with a group of teenagers wandering through what looked like the jungle. Jeremy reached out to his friend and asked what he was up to - turns out he and his wife are teachers at a school called Ob Anggen, or "Good Fruit" located in the highlands of Papua Indonesia, in the village of Bokondini. They are in need of teachers and dorm parents. Normally, I feel like transitions don't happen that quickly; but then again, God is anything but our definition of normal.
Overseas Transitions -
We took time this summer to be with family, friends, and supporters; eventually, we were able to connect with the director of Ob Anggen. Honestly, though we wanted reassurance of something we could look forward to after our home assignment, I wasn't expecting much -- the borders of Indonesia were closed, visas were impossible to get if you weren't already in Indonesia, and there wasn't even a physical dorm we could help with. Plus, the director was being straightforward and honest with us about what was happening in Papua: people fighting for freedom from Indonesia, attacks, setting government buildings / a missionary plane on fire. Nothing had been close to the school and the school had only received threats, never any physical attacks. Why not search for something else? Something more comfortable or less dangerous?
The director and leadership team at Ob Anggen School prayerfully considered and discussed us becoming dorm parents to middle and high school students. Sometime in August, they gave us an official "yes"! Jeremy and I prayed a lot, but we've only been given one life on this earth and we get to choose how we live it. Jesus died on the cross for our sins, He took the punishment and death for us all. When we understand what Jesus did for us, we understand that we owe Him our everything. When Jesus calls you, He doesn't just call you until life gets hard or dangerous or uncomfortable. He calls all of you. We are simply living day by day figuring out how to live out that calling.
They said it could take up to a year to receive our visas. We were thinking we would be stateside for a while longer. However, it seemed that things were and still are changing weekly in Indonesia. That would give us more time to connect with churches and find potential partnerships that would join us through prayer, encouragement, and financial support for us to go and be a part of what God is doing throughout the highlands of Papua; begin language learning, and take steps to get ready for when we could apply for a visa. With this news of more waiting, still, the director and other staff members at Ob Anggen continued to reach out to us via WhatsApp -- they made sure to make us feel connected to the community.
It was only a month ago that the borders opened up again, but visas weren't being processed if you were out of country. Then, just last week, not only were the borders opened, but we were able to get a sponsor who would work with us on getting our visa applications sent and processed. Our dorm and home should be finished in a few more weeks. We have all of our visa paperwork complete, and submitted. The new visa we are applying for should only take about 2 weeks to process instead of months! Now, our anticipated time to travel to our new country is right after Thanksgiving. Wow.
Challenges of Home Assignment-
Thankfully, there have not been a lot of challenges with being back in our own passport country. We have really enjoyed seeing our people. Being able to live and spend that extra time with Jeremy's parents in NH has been a huge blessing for us and our kids. When I talk about these seemingly small challenges, they really are small in the grand scheme of things. Nevertheless, I want to talk about them because one day I'll look back on this post (basically my diary entry, ha!) and reflect on what we went through in this season of waiting.
Our boys loved getting to fly on airplanes and see different places of America. Of course, it took its toll on them. We didn't realize the heaviness of their emotions of leaving our home in Senegal. That's all they knew though. For being only 3 1/2 and 2 1/2 years old they were able to express how they felt after living in about 8 different places while we were traveling this summer. "Is this our new home?" and "Are we living here?" "Do we get to see our friends from Senegal?"
Another challenge that I have struggled with while on home assignment is the waiting. Though I live overseas and like to venture out, I would consider myself a home body. I want to create a safe place in our home for my children, dorm kids, and people of our community to come to our home and feel welcomed, refreshed, and safe. Even though we were safe this summer, we moved around so much, I almost felt unstable with the lack of consistency - that's probably what our kids were feeling too. I feel compelled to unpack and make it "home," create memories, and establish some roots (however small). Like I said, living with Jeremy's parents has been a huge joy and blessing, but even so, it is not completely ours with our own routine.
The last challenge for us I would say is connection and community. We've been living in NH since August and we aren't from here. We were so used to a community we would do life with and see daily (my in-laws don't count, ha). We have been in search of a church we can be a part of, but for how long? Relationships take time here and it seems we aren't going to be around for much longer. I even met another mom at the park down the road, we chatted for some time, but I forgot to get her number and I haven't seen her since.
I know that these aren't big challenges and we do get through them. Soon, we will have a community, a dorm, a new routine -- another transition, but one we are looking forward to. The bright side to these challenges is time to slow down and pace ourselves especially as a family of five. Honestly, after having our baby Josie, I only had 4 days off until I was at work again. We have spent a lot of time together just as a family and it has been really good for us. I believe that we are all ready to go back to having a bigger family again though with our new dorm kids in a new place. That's where our hearts are. Our kids love that they have big sisters; now, they will have big dorm brothers and sisters.
The Unexpected of Home Assignment-
Even though it's not on an everyday thing like it was in Senegal, God has given us community in unexpected ways - our neighbors! In my childhood, we did not know our neighbors. I can't remember times where we invited our neighbors in or vice versa. Here in NH on our street, people wave when they are walking or driving by.
The neighbors across the street from us come over and chat with us while our kids get to play with their dog; take us to the farm or let our kids pick some vegetables in their yard; we talk to each other in the driveway often, or take the dog on a walk to the farm so the kids can see the horse and wild deer and turkey down the road. This Greek family has been so sweet to us - they have a son (around Jeremy's age) who got pretty sick when he was a teenager and is now in a wheelchair and blind in his right eye (like our Reecey boy!). He has been really good with our kids and is the best at cheesy jokes; he even gives them rides in their driveway and the boys just love him and his family. We love that they live right across from us.
Our next door neighbor is taking care of his elderly parents. He pops in now and then to chat with Jeremy. He is not a believer, yet is always bringing up God in conversations with Jeremy. Jeremy just taking the time to be with him has allowed for deep conversation. When the neighbor's father passed away, he came straight to our house looking for Jeremy for comfort. Even though it was sad, our neighbor is relieved that his dad isn't fighting the pain anymore, but he has to constantly remind his mother what happened. Please be in prayer for our neighbor as he is curious and seeks for truth and purpose in his life.
Lastly, church connections/partnerships. This has been at times discouraging because we don't have a lot of connections and we are new here. But over time, we have been able to have breakfast with a few pastors/churches that are interested in learning about our ministry in Papua. Whether or not they decide to partner with us, it has been really encouraging to us.
Moving Forward-
Home assignment has been mixed emotions. We felt them, processed them, and are ready to move forward. We are excited, a little nervous, but feel ready to go and grow our family to 14-18 dorm kids on top of their families and community. We love where God has us -- through it all. Even with all the uncertainties and waiting, we wouldn't trade it for the world.
Thank you for taking the time to read our journey of home assignment. I hope it was an encouragement to you. Take care,
Tam
*If you are interested in learning more about our ministry, please feel free to reach out to thejenkinsoverseas@gmail.com
*If you feel led to give a one-time donation or partner with us in this ministry, here is the link & our account #59901
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