Our family's 3rd anniversary is coming up fast, but that will have to be another post because there is also something else that is coming up fast, our first official furlough. I have always been curious how missionaries leave their entire house behind and travel half-way around the globe to visit family and friends, and then just travel like nomads around the 50 states. Isn't that hard? So as we get ready and plan for our first furlough, I thought I would write a post to share some of our preparation process to help give insight and also show you more specific ways to pray for us.
FURLOUGH IS BETTER THAN SUPPORT RAISING
We quickly discovered that furlough is going to be so much better than support raising! A little secret, we are not very good at support raising! ha ha... perhaps that is why it took us sooo long to get to the field initially. There is an awkwardness to support raising that mimics that initial dating awkwardness, shyness and embarrassment. Part of support raising makes me feel like we are salesmen for ourselves, trying to convince others how wonderful we are. But this furlough the main focus will be visiting and updating all of those who have already been praying and supporting us. No more dating, instead it is like going to see a friend who already knows and loves you, and you are simply spending time with them and catching up.
OUR HOUSE & STUFF LEFT BEHIND
So I guess there is a few different options. Some missionaries get someone to sublet their house. This is a good set up because you if you can find someone to sublet your house you might be able to offer it to them fully furnished, so you don't have to pack everything up. Plus a sub-letter will often help share some of the rent and utilities costs which is great too. Another option is to sell a lot of your stuff and store the rest with friends or storage companies, and simply find a new place to live when you return. This option obviously is a lot of work but it cut costs dramatically while you are away. Still another option is to have someone house sit to care and watch over your stuff while you are away. For us, we are going to have some friends from church house sit while we are away. It is a blessing to them as well as us. Packing everything away to allow someone to sublet just sounded like an enormous amount of work to me. And I realize in some scenarios it might be our only option, but for now it looks like house sitting will work well for us. Having a house set up that I know we can return to, there is comfort in knowing where your home is when you are traveling like a nomad.
WHERE TO GO & WHO TO SEE
This is where is gets fun! So since this furlough is to visit those who have been praying and supporting us, we made a list and plotted many of them on a map. And do you know what we discovered? We have supporters from East to West and North to South. ha ha! Church supports makes up about half of our support, but the other half is made up from loving individuals. So I found this really cool app called "Roadtrippers" and I plotted like push pens some of those loving individuals on the US map to see where everyone was located. Then another missionary gave a wonderful tip of a company that leases minivans to missionary families for very cheap, so then we secured a vehicle. And now we are planning a 2 month road trip east of the rockies to visit many of you. It is fun how providentially the timing works out, because our boys will get to attend the VBS of our home church, and our family will get to attend the family camp with the church body of another supporting church, and I will get to go a women's conference with some ladies of yet another supporting church. I must confess, planning a roadtrip with three young boys sounded like a nightmare and a form of cruel and unusual punishment. Then I started talked with veteran missionaries and MKs. So many shared that furlough road trips were some of their family's best memories growing up. And others shared tips and safeguards in how to plan such a trip and also consider the rest your family will need along the way.
HOW DO THEY PAY FOR IT ALL
This was an honest curious question I had. Because if the missionary has a house back in their country, then how will they also afford all of the costs of furlough? One thing I overlooked was the furlough account, which is a fund of our monthly budget that we were require to raise support towards. So each month a portion of our support raised gets set aside, saved, and allocated to this furlough account. Then once we are on furlough we can use those funds to purchase plane tickets for our family to return to the US and also costs we might incur. Obviously this is not a limitless fund, and car rentals and hotel stays add up very very quickly, so we are also looking into ways to minimize costs both here on the field in our absence as well as when we are back at home for furlough.
HAVE SCHOOL WILL TRAVEL
Another aspect of furlough for us is school for my boys. Our oldest will be in 2nd grade when we return for our furlough, and our middle son will be starting Kindergarten. Part of the reason we choose to home school is the flexibility it would allow for us to travel back to the US and visit family and friends. Some missionaries plan their furloughs during the school break of their children. Our furlough will be 6 months long, so that is too long not to do any schooling. So it has indeed been a bit of some acrobatic work to figure out how to get schooling in properly when we are back for furlough. One way around it is we are homeschooling year-round, so we will school through the American summer months and then take breaks when it would be most helpful. For instance on the 2 month road trip it will be hard to do the math curriculum we are using. So for the subject of math, it will have its proper 2-month summer break during our big road trip in the fall, and then have a later start and go into the following summer. Then while on the road I will bring math games that correspond to my son's lessons, so he can still have exposure and review. Games are much more road trip friendly. But for reading, that subject is easier to take with us on the road and do a little reading each day at a slow pace. So for the subject of reading we will school year round without a large break. And for writing, science and history it will be the most fun because I will focus on those more intensively during our road trip. I actually see how the road trip and visiting so many people and places actually makes it easier and more fun to do those subjects. I am corresponding those subjects to the sights we will visit and the museums and field trips places we can see on the road. It will take the most pre-planning, to gather the appropriate audio books, books and dvds to correspond with the various points of our travel, but also lots of fun! And then I am striving to see how I can make our regular time in the car set up like school.
PREPPING PASALUBONG & SHOW-AND-TELL
Pasalubong is a Filipino tradition. Similar to a souvenir, it is a gift one brings back to friends and family from a rent trip. So we are also thinking through what type of pasalubong we want to bring back. We obviously don't want to forget anyone, but at the same time there is a limit to our budget and our suitcase space. So trying to think creatively of something fun and thoughtful but also practical. Also another missionary friend prepared a photo book to share while her family is on furlough. I liked that idea a lot! So that is something else on my list, creating a photo album to bring with us to show to our friends and family when we visit them.
So much plans. ha ha... And I do love to plan, it is fun and exciting for me. I enjoy the research and the puzzle part of figuring out how it would fit together. But at the same time that proverb keeps coming to mind, that man plans his way but God determines the steps. Please pray for our upcoming furlough trip. Looking forward to seeing many of you!
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