A time for everything...

All good things must come to an end. That saying has been on my mind for a few weeks and it seems ever so appropriate for this blog post.

The saying has been linked to Ecclesiastes 3: “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,  a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,  a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.”

This is an interesting and difficult time for Lisa and me. Some of the applicable words in the above Biblical verses describes our situation, including “uproot, weep and mourn.” With sadness, we report that the time has come for us to refrain from embracing our lives in Santa Rosa de Copan, Honduras. The time came much sooner than we had planned; when we arrived a year ago our intention was to work with Mission UpReach for at least five years.

Sadly, real life events have made us reconsider that commitment and we will return to the United States in mid-December.

There are many reasons for our decision, but the main thing driving our return is the health of Lisa’s mother. Many of you know, or know of, Lisa’s mom, Vi.  While she just turned 80, she is in very good physical health. But her suffering from Alzheimer’s disease is getting worse and worse.

She lives in the Upper Peninsula (UP) of Michigan in the small town of Escanaba. We have known about her condition for a few years, but when we moved to Honduras we hoped that when the time came we could move her to live with us in Santa Rosa de Copan. She visited a few months back, with Lisa’s sister, Sally, but after that two-week experience and a subsequent one-week visit with her in Michigan it became abundantly clear moving her to Honduras wasn’t a good idea.

Alzheimer's is a type of dementia that causes problems with memory, thinking and behavior. Symptoms usually develop slowly and get worse over time, becoming severe enough to interfere with daily tasks. Lisa’s mom’s present memory has faded fast. While she still has some fond past memories, she experiences daily difficulties with things such as remembering the days of the week and what activities she has on those days. Alzheimer’s is a terrible disease. My mother was in advanced stages of the disease when she passed away.

Thank God for sisters. My sister, Reba, who now has pancreatic and liver cancer, took care of our mother in the final months. Lisa’s sister, Sally, has been the primary caregiver for Lisa’s mom over the past year with help from a myriad of other relatives.

Both sisters did fantastic jobs. But now it is our turn to step up and be with Mom Vi and provide added help, support, comfort and assistance as we can. (If you know Vi, please do not say anything about our return yet. With her confusion over dates/times, she will be frustrated and looking out her window every day – we’ll instead leave this discussion for Sally when she feels the time is appropriate to tell Mom.)

When we return to the United States we will split time between our cabin home in Georgia and living with Lisa’s mom in Michigan.

As mentioned, there are contributing factors to our decision to leave Honduras. None of which alone would be enough for us to return. The living here is, honestly, very different and difficult (see past blogs), including the language barrier (although Lisa has had less trouble than I did). There is so much poverty and disadvantage here it can be very depressing. And I haven’t had the best health over the past year including a minor stroke. I also recently had a health scare when I was visiting my sister in North Carolina. After spending one night in a hospital, everything checked out OK however, and the doctors believe it was just an incredibly bad case of heartburn – not a heart problem. Praise God.

            My other sister, Sue, is also now in ailing health.

For a variety of reasons, I have often felt I have had little or no control over my life here, and no dedicated responsibility or focus. Yet I would not trade the past year for any other experience. Lisa, on the other hand, has loved much of her work with the Mission, but she has also had some frustrations. Nor would she trade the past year for any other experience, and for the time being she will continue to work part time for the Mission from the United States, with occasional Honduras visits. We can attest that the Mission does great work and serves many people with its various projects, despite the financial grind faced by many non-profits.

Such is life. Our “mission” work, however, does not end here. We are committed to working for the Lord with the brothers and sisters at the churches of Christ in Ellijay, Georgia and Escanaba, Michigan.

There certainly is a time for everything – and it is time for us to return to the United States. Still, we have learned much in Honduras and have fallen in love with many of the people here, as well as those we came in contact with at Spanish School in Guatemala. We hope we have the opportunity to return one day. In the interim, we will pray for the good people of Central America, many of whom struggle daily but stay strong in seeking better lives not only for themselves but for others.

A final thought: Don’t believe the negative stereotypes that are often easily spread by those that might or might not know any better. We have come to know many individuals in Central America – and each should be viewed with their own characteristics. “They,” like us all, are all neither perfect, nor are all bad. Love one another and let God sort it all out.

               

            2 Corinthians 13:11 – “Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.”

Matthew 7:1-5 – “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye, when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”