Investing for the future

As a colleague said this week during the introductory class of the ‘Multilingual Education’ module:

“As staff here in Gloucester we really like this course, partly because it’s a subject that we’re passionate about… but also because it comes at a time of year when the seasons are changing and summer feels just around the corner.”

She couldn’t have been more right. As we start the final taught class of this year's Masters programme here in Gloucester, it feels somehow fitting that the trees and flowers should be bursting into new life. In our small class of five students we have a wide range of backgrounds, work contexts, and expectations represented. What they all do have in common, however, is a hope that the seeds of time and effort that they are investing now will one day burst into flower, both in their lives and the lives of the communities they work with.

Although it is often a privilege to see students mature in their understanding around a topic, teaching can also sometimes feel like a major responsibility. The students we have with us are keen to learn and to find answers to their many questions. It can feel disappointing and inadequate to so frequently have to answer with: “well, it depends". Because, of course, the kinds of issues we are wrestling with are complex and vary so much depending on the context. They involve difficult issues such as how people actually learn to read/write multiple languages and what a multilingual curriculum should look like, and even more difficult issues like how people feel about the languages they use and what the government thinks education should actually be for!

Of course many of these issues, although we might be able to identify some of them, are well beyond our control. We can influence some things, but beyond that we must trust that bigger change is possible and will come about through hard work and prayer - at the right time. Indeed change is a funny thing, something that is often impossible to see in the moment but clearly identifiable when reflecting back on a period.

As we enter another big period of change as a family, looking ahead to becoming four, we give thanks for all the things we have learnt as a family of three. We give thanks for you and your support of us and the work we are involved in, and we look forward to seeing the new seeds in our and your lives burst into flower at the perfect time.

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Seasons of life

It feels like we are entering a new season here in Gloucester - thankfully one that is very exciting! In October, when I (Liz) began volunteering at a local school and Levi started playgroup life suddenly felt very different. For the first time in a while I was able to look up and out from my daily life of details and had space to think, dream and to help others (aside from fulfilling the needs of a toddler that is!).

Now, at the start of a new year (well, kind of!) we have learnt that 2015 will bring another big change - we are expecting a baby in the summer! We receive this news with both excitement and trepidation! For a while we have wanted to make our family a four, for Levi to have a sibling to care for and (hopefully!) play with one day. But at the same time we have both had to wrestle with the fear that we will feel like we are going back to the challenges we faced in 2012 when Levi was a newborn. Anxiety, illness, depression, loneliness, and exhaustion are not things which we are in a hurry to repeat!

Of course the challenge is for us to remember that things are different now to how they were three years ago. Now we are settled in Gloucester rather than moving to a new place, we have friends and support around us, we are getting established in a church, my health is better than it was then and we have learnt a lot in the last few years. It is still scary but we know God will carry us through as He did then and He gives us hope for the future. I choose to believe we are not going backwards; this is a new season and God is doing a new thing!

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Relationships and roots

Yes, I did say 7 students. One works in a sensitive context.

This week saw the end of the latest block of Wycliffe training. Since early September I have been teaching on the literacy and education Masters programme here in Gloucester and this year we have had 7 students to enjoy getting to know. Although I enjoy all of my teaching commitments for differing reasons, there is something quite special about this course. As this is one of the first courses students take on the Masters programme, most (although not all) of them are new to literacy and education, new to Wycliffe and new to overseas service. It is always a privilege therefore spending this formative time with these individuals and families, getting to know them, sharing my experience and knowledge with them, and encouraging them for the future.

They will all soon be heading off to different places around the world to put into practice what they have learnt (some returning to somewhere they've lived before but many going somewhere new). It is our hope and prayer that these people will be able to put into practice what they've learnt, both in terms of skills and character. I hope to stay in touch with them during this next phase of their life, supporting them as they need advice, and hopefully seeing them again in a couple of years time when they return to complete their Masters studies. Indeed, already my thoughts are beginning to turn to the new year and a new group of students. In January students will be returning to complete their studies, many of whom I will remember from a couple of years ago. Although I won't actually be teaching again until April it will be great to see them again around college, to hear their stories and to share life again.

Gloucester looking particularly pretty.

And so it goes on. Being involved in teaching of this type is certainly a real privilege, but also a challenge. New friendships start and end - or sometimes just pause - on a regular and frequent basis. It is hard sometimes to see people go, but at the same time I know these relationships have been good for a time and that these people are now going on to fulfil a real need elsewhere in the world. It is partly for this reason that we are so grateful for the roots we are putting down here in Gloucester. Although we've only been here 9 months we already feel more settled than we have done for a long while. The welcome we've received from our neighbours, at college, and at our church has made a completely new place feel completely like home. We have blogged many times in the past about the challenge of moving house and the time it takes to feel really settled somewhere. Whilst things are never going to be perfect, it is with much thankfulness that we can say that sometimes, just sometimes, things just work out.

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Telling a different story

There is something compelling about listening to someone else's story. Hearing the passion in their voice, seeing their eyes dart around as they recount the facts, watching them smile and step back with a deep breath as they come to the end. This week I have had the privilege of spending 3 days with colleagues from all over Europe (and beyond), hearing their stories as they share about the kinds of opportunities they are getting to communicate with people in their different contexts.

We've heard of a Kenyan colleague who has spent the last few weeks visiting schools in Slovakia with Wycliffe colleagues - sharing with children his story of organising fun runs in Nairobi that have raised $15,000 for Bible translation and literacy work. We've heard of Dutch colleagues who worked with another mission agency in the Netherlands, writing to each others supporters to endorse the great work the other is doing. And we've heard of Russian colleagues arranging events to celebrate the work it's members are doing around the world, inviting the members parents (many of whom are not Christians) to join in the celebration.

All these stories encourage me of the fantastic work I am a very small (and sometimes very disconnected) part of. Thankfully though, as again I've continued to be reminded this week, none of these stories are actually our stories. They are all small parts of the bigger story - God's story. We are privileged to be able to find 'our' stories in this bigger story - to find that we have a role to play and a story to share. The question is, are we looking out for opportunities to do so?

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