How?

Oftentimes Andrea and I look at each other and say, "How did we get here?" or "Wow. We live in Guatemala."  These expressions sometimes come at happy moments when we can't believe how God has blessed us.  Other times they're when things are hard and the U.S. seems like a nice comfy bed that you'd want to crawl into and never leave.

I am pondering this question now as I get ready to go to Nepal, a country I did not known much about until this trip came up.

Spoiler Alert: I'm going to talk about personal and emotional things.

Five years ago my Mother passed away from ovarian cancer after three years of believing for healing. 

Now, if you read our blog a lot you know I reference this event frequently. This is the post where I'll tell you why.

I believe her death was one of the most pivotal moments in my life.  Everything since then seems real. Everything before then seems like a dream.  The three middle years seem like a mix of dreams and nightmares.

When I was 32 my Mom passed away at the age of 63.  The lingering thought for me for the next several days was, 'If I live as long as my Mom, my life is half over.'  This led to other questions. 'What have I done with my life?'  'Is this all there is - an average life of working and going to church, which we have fallen nicely into?'  'Is there a God?' (Unfortunately with pain always comes this question) 'If my life is half over, have I done all I want to do?'

When you realize you don't have much time left, these questions make a big impact.  So, Andrea and I made a decision to make more of our lives. (Thankfully, I had an experience with Christ that took care of the God question.)

Nothing really changed much for a while.  In fact, things got worse for a while when depression and sickness sat on our family for a season. 

After much prayer and some tears, we left the church I had grown up in and Andrea had joined, not because of anything they did, but because after my experience with Christ, my mission and their mission no longer lined up.

I believe this one step - to follow God, even when it meant leaving what had been more than a church, but a family - showed the Lord our hearts were set to follow him, no matter the cost.  From this one step, we now find ourselves living in Guatemala.

The thing is, though, the more we follow the Lord, the more addicting it gets. At first, it was enough to find another church.  Then we started to pray for people at work and on the street. Then we started feeding the homeless.  Then we moved to Guatemala.  We keep pushing the line and deepening our desires to serve.  Life now feels empty when we are not putting Him in everything we are doing, and the passion only seems to be growing.

If I live as long as my Mom did, I have 26 years left, which is a blink of an eye. (Though I don't believe I'm going to die that young, it is always something in the back of my mind.) I will pursue the Kingdom of God as hard as I can until it is time to go home to be with my Mom again.

Some may think this blog posts sounds sad, but it is not.  This is my motivation. This is the thing that reminds me that time is short on this earth, but Heaven is eternal.  This is the thing that pushes me out of lukewarmness.  This is the thing that motivates me to get on a plane for a fifteen hour flight (I'm not a big fan of flying), to go to a country to help people I do not know, and to learn what I can to help people here in Guatemala.

And, when I get to Heaven, I know there will be two people to greet me - Jesus, who will say, "Well done good and faithful servant," and my Mom, who will say, "You did good".

P.S. My Mom may also say, "Go Hawks." Only time will tell.

A Caring Father

So, in sixteen days I will be leaving Guatemala and flying to Nepal, a one-way flight of 26 hours.  I am so amazed the Lord is blessing me with this opportunity, but He also personally blessed me in another way I didn't expect.

A friend from my church in Iowa is joining me on the trip, so I will fly up to Chicago on a Sunday, spend the night, and then fly out with him the next day.  Splitting up the trip like this saved almost  $800 in airfare and I get to fly with my friend, so it works out well.

When we started to discuss flight options and such, he thought we should stay an extra day after the mission trip for some sight seeing. (After all, when will we be in Nepal again?) Andrea and I prayed about it, and it just didn't feel right.  My friend tried to talk me into staying, but it just didn't seem to be the right thing.  We tried to come up with reasons: I should get home as early as possible, the trip would already cost a lot, it could be dangerous without the group, etc. In the end, though, none of those reasons were why I ended up deciding not to stay an extra day. All I can say is that it just didn't feel right. So, I went ahead and got online to buy my tickets.

Then came the problem.

There were no direct flights to Guatemala on the day I needed them. Everything had twelve plus hour layovers and would get me back to Guatemala City way too late to get home that same night.  The next day, though, had all direct flights. It looked like I could have stayed an extra day to sightsee, afterall! I bought the ticket for Sunday and decided that even though I hadn't wanted to be gone an extra day, spending that time in a hotel in Chicago would at least be restful.

One of the hardest things about being a missionary is decisions about family.  You have to decide up front what you will come back to the United States for. Death of a parent? Illness of a friend or famly members?  Class reunion? (My twentieth was last week, and it didn't make the "worth coming back for" list unfortunately).  These are really hard questions.

When my grandma got sick -  a woman I greatly admire and respect and who had been a true spiritual covering for our family - it was hard not to go back and be there to hold her hand to help escort her from this life into eternity.  She ended up passing away while we were driving through Mexico to the United States this summer. We came so close to getting to see her again!  Had we still lived in Iowa, we would have at least driven to St. Louis and said our good byes. Because of scheduling conflicts, the memorial service was set to be held in October. One more hard thing I'd be missing because of the choice to live in Guatemala...

Two days after buying my tickets for Nepal, we got a message from my Uncle. My Grandma's memorial service was moved to November 7th - the very same day I could not get a direct flight back to Guatemala!

So, this is how my final schedule worked out: fly into O'Hare airport at 1:30 in the afternoon, after a fifteen hour flight.  Rent a car and drive the five hours down to Kalona and spend the night.  Go to the 11:00 a.m. memorial service.  Drive five hours back to Chicago. Spend the night.  Fly out at 6:00 a.m. to Guatemala City. Be home with my family by evening.

Yes, it all sounds exhausting, but all I see in this schedule is a God who loves me so much that he set up everything perfectly so that I could be there for my grandmother's memorial service. Why was that weekend the one finally chosen for the service?  Why were there no direct flights to Guatemala City for the day I originally wanted?  Why was my flight landing so early Friday? And, of course, why did both Andrea and I feel that staying an extra day in Nepal would not be right?

The answer to all of those questions? It's because my Father loves me, and he knew how much getting to be there to honor my grandmother would bless me.

As you can see, this trip has God's hand all over it, and I can't wait to see what other amazing things He makes happen on it, and the ways that I will get to encourage and help others during my time in Nepal.

If you would like to help witht the cost of this trip, you can easily and safely give tax-deductible donations online here. Simply select 'Farrier - Mark and Andrea' from the pull-down menu and follow the instructions. Or, you can mail a check to WOM, PO Box B, Marietta, GA, 30061. Please be sure to write 'Farrier - 251' in the memo section.

Thanks for all of your faith, love, prayers, and support. It is appreciated more than you will know!