Furlough—It’s not Just for Prisoners any More

       When I was a kid, I visited my dad in prison on a regular basis. Once he was temporarily released to come to my brother’s funeral, so I learned the meaning of the word furlough before most of my peers saw it on a spelling test. I grew up and out of that kind of living and became a Christian, determined to raise my kids differently. You can imagine my surprise then when, during mission training, John and I were told that furloughs would be a part of our work. I wasn’t really sure what that meant and, unless you’re familiar with the prison scene or have done much long-term mission work, you may not know either. 

We just took a three-month furlough, so it seems right that I would tell you what that means. Let me start by saying what it’s not—a vacation. While we had some times of refreshing and were happy to visit friends and family, we only took a few days of vacation. The rest of it was work. We were blessed by so many hospitable and benevolent people that we had a comfortable place to stay, a nice car to drive, good food to eat, and money to spend wherever we went. I would be remiss to not mention by name some of the people who lavished us with ridiculous amounts of generosity—and probably a little crazy to do so. (What if I forget someone?) Let’s go with remiss and leave it at that. You know who you are and we are eternally grateful for your love and attention and donations. We truly are. You made our work over these past three months a pleasure.

For the most part, our furlough consisted of travel and visits. We got up early and met with families and churches for breakfast, lunch, or dinner—and sometimes all three in one day. We reported on what God has been doing with us in Malawi over this past year. We thanked some people who have been supporting us and asked for more support from others. We had annual medical checkups and some necessary medical procedures, and we did a lot of shopping for basic items we cannot get where we live. We had our phones and computer repaired, bought clothes for the next year, and ran an inordinate amount of errands to take care of so many small details that it would bore you to mention them all. Imagine having to gather everything you would need for the next year, barring food (although I did pack some spices and nonperishables). That’s kind of what we did.

Overall, we took three months off this work to do another kind of work—reporting, fundraising, and preparation. We count it a success in that we did raise some money to get started on building a school house on the property we purchased in October. While we were on furlough, we also researched and bought curriculum for preschool and kindergarten children and hope to have classes up and running by the fall. We received lots and lots of donated books and plan to stock a library for the village as soon as they arrive. It’s all very exciting and we’re happy to be back home and back at work. 

We’ve been here for about a week now and are just catching up on sleep. Travel time between Lilongwe and Dallas is about thirty-six hours. Suffice it to say the trip is difficult and then it takes time to adjust to the fact that you’re trading days for nights. Thanks to some trustworthy friends on this end, we came home to nothing more than general maintenance on our house and cars after being gone for three months. One of our biggest adjustment challenges is the fact that Jonah stayed behind with John’s family in Colorado to finish high school. This past year has surely been a great experience for him, but unfortunately, he has no good options for high school here. We miss him but feel this is best for now. 

Thank you for your support and prayers and for the many ways you’ve been involved in this work. We look forward to the creative things God is going to do to show Himself this year in the mission and in our relationships with you.   

Please send financial gifts to Westworth Church of Christ, 5728 White Settlement Road, Fort Worth, Texas 76114, c/o Malawi Mission Work, or you can give with a click at http://www.westworthcoc.org/malawi-mission/ Thank you, and God bless.