Two weeks notice

 There is a song that was popular when I was in high school called “Closing Time.”

  

There is a line in that song that has been running through my head lately.  The line says, “Every new beginning comes from some other beginnings end.”  This sums up well where we are right now.  In two weeks times we will no longer be missionaries.  One week from today we will be leaving the temporary (read two month stretched into a year) home in Tullahoma, TN, and starting a new adventure in Loudonville, Ohio.  

There are so many emotions wrapped up in those three transitions.  There is a Daniel Tiger episode with a song that we have sang often in these days “Sometimes you feel two feelings (or 100) at the same time and that’s ok.”  Joy, Worry, Happiness, Sadness, Greif Grief because of the dreams for the future that will not happen, Hope for the new things God is going to do in and through us, Excitement to invest deeply into a local church community and the surrounding community, Sadness for the communities we are leaving behind.   Excitement due to the fact that for the first time in years our home address, residential address, mailing address, permanent address, shipping address, billing address, and the address on our drivers will all be the SAME (well once we go to the Ohio DMV and do all the necessary paperwork which is less exciting.) J   

This week we will spend the week packing up again.  We will be packing the things we have acquired over the last year as well as the things we brought back with us from South Africa.  Our shipment is still in South Africa waiting for other partial shipments to join it so it can make a full shipment and journey across the ocean.  We have enjoyed finding awesome deals on things on Facebook marketplace.  Joe and Peter have been working on several pallet projects (a Lego Shelf, a planter box and a shoe rack).  Peter calls Saturdays Pancake and Yard Sale day, as most Saturday mornings we are out checking out what the yard/garage sales have to offer.  We have scored several good finds (like snow pants for Peter) and of course Peter has found all sorts of things he can’t live without.  J Thankfully we are able to walk away with nothing if we don’t see anything we don’t really need (some of us do a better job of it than others.)  

This past year has looked nothing like we had planned/envisioned/dreamed/thought it would.  And we have no idea what the next year will look like.  And that’s ok, most of the time.  When it is not ok, we are able to remind ourselves of all the ways God has provided for us and how He has walked with us the entire journey and be grateful for that.  

These next two weeks we also celebrate Joe and Peter’s birthdays.  Joe’s birthday will be the our last Sunday at the Church that has loved us and cared for us during our time here.  And Peter’s birthday will be our first Sunday at our new church.  Since both of the days are going to be full of things other than celebrating Peter and Joe, we are going to celebrate them on different days. J

If you think of it/us in the next few weeks say a prayer for us.  

Pray that we would say our goodbyes well.  That we would be present in the moment we are in and enjoy the time we have with the people where we are.  

Pray that we would begin well in our new place and for the new friendships we will build.  

Pray specifically for Peter, that he would quickly find a friend or two to make this transition easier for him.  (We already know how far of a drive it is from our house to the community pool and community library.  Peter will be asking to go to both before we unload the truck probably.)  

Pray for safe and easy travels and safe and easy moves.  

Pray for peace, grace, patience and strength for Joe and I as we embark on a new journey and shift roles a bit in our ministry and home life.  

 

Home

Tonight is the last night in our home in South Africa.  This fact is something I am still struggling to wrap my head around.  Tomorrow we leave to return to the country Joe and I called home 7 years ago.  Currently when we say home still in our minds we are referring to this house that I sit in now.  I know the country we are returning to will become home again but this home we made in South Africa will always be home as well. 

 

This is the place where we have had our most joyous moments as a couple and our deepest sorrows as a family.  This is the place where we learned more about doing ministry as a team and where we learned to be parents.  This is the place where we invited people into, not just into our home but into our lives.  This is the place where we comforted each other when life’s struggles were overwhelming. 

 

On this last night that we will sleep here I am scrolling through my to do list as well as so many memories of the last 7 years.  The first time we walked through the doors exhausted from a long journey but excited to be in our new home.  I remember the first time we hosted someone in our home.  I remember finding out we were pregnant.  I remember the first day we brought Peter home.  I remember comforting each other when we found out that we had lost a baby (twice).  I remember celebrating Peter’s first words, steps, other milestones.  So many memories are packed into this place that is now in closing stages of being packed up and ready for whomever will next call this place home.  

 

When I look around this place I can recall countless memories, some good, some bad, some silly, some frustrating, some ordinary, and some extraordinary.  I am still having trouble wrapping my mind around the fact that I won’t see Peter running up the stairs again or sitting in his little rocking chair, I won’t make brownies for anyone in the kitchen, or read Peter a bedtime story in his room upstairs.  After tomorrow this place will no longer be our home, these rooms will no longer be our rooms.  Even as the sorrow of this fact washes over me, the reassurance that the same God that was with us when we moved here, has been with us every day for the last seven years and will be with us wherever the journey leads us. 

 

Tomorrow we step away from what we know and we continue to take steps of faith towards what we do not know.  Even as we are going, I know who is walking with us, leading and guiding us.  I also know that someday in the not too distant future (hopefully) I will be sitting and writing another blog from the new place we will come to consider home.  From the new place that will hold our memories, laughter, tears, and our stuff.  This new place will have whispers of our South African home throughout as will our lives.  South Africa and the ministry we had the privilege to be a part of and the people we had the privilege to work alongside of, to come know and love will forever be a part of us and of who we are.  The last 7 years of our lives will continue to shape the next 7 years.  And this home and the memories will help us form our next home and the memories for the next 7 years.  

 

So tomorrow when our family boards the plane we will leave a piece of us here and we will take a piece of here, there.   If you think of it say a prayer for us and especially for Peter as we say our goodbyes and leave this place that is home. 

Heath Family Update - Transition ahead.

There is a saying that “things never turn out quite the way you plan them in your head.”  Well 2020 turned out nothing like we planned it in our head.  When we boarded the plane in South Africa to fly to the USA at the end of February we fully expected to be returning to our home and ministries at the beginning of June.  Little did we know how the COVID-19 virus would change our world and our lives.  The USA started shutting down and then South Africa closed its borders and our wait began.  Passports and Visas, which can already be quite the task to obtain suddenly became impossible to even apply for.  As weeks turned into months and the months are a month shy of turning into a year, we waited, we watched, we prayed, and we have continued to fulfill our roles as much as we could from a distance.   Throughout the time of waiting God has been faithful, He has provided a place to stay, food on the table, a vehicle to drive, time with our immediate family, extended family, adopted family and our church families.  We have made amazing memories during these days.  

 

God has also been working and moving in our lives.  Recently we began to feel more and more unsettled.  Whenever we have been asked how long we would stay in South Africa our answer has always been until God leads us somewhere else.  There has never been a time limit.  However we began to sense that God was leading us to stay and to find ministries and community here in the United States.  We talked about it, prayed about it, talked and prayed some more and then agreed we would apply for an Associate Pastor positions that I saw that I felt might be a good fit and see how God lead.  That position did not end up working out but we were overwhelmed with a peace that only God could give about transitioning away from South Africa to the US.  After more prayer and conversation we decided to start the process of transitioning back to the states and notifying our ministry leaders and colleagues in South Africa and in the Global Church.  

 

We are sadden to be stepping away from our home and ministry since 2014.  We do not have any clear answers of where or when we will be transitioning and we still have more questions than answers but we continue to feel an overwhelming sense of peace that could only come from God in continuing on this new path.  At some point we will travel back to South Africa to pack up and sell our things as well as to be able to greet our friends and ministry partners.  We continue to apply for Associate Pastor positions in the areas of Discipleship, Connections, Community/Small Groups, Mentoring, or Outreach.  We do not know where God will lead but we know that He is walking with us and preparing the way for us.  

 

Please pray with us as we make this transition and seek to follow where God is leading us.  Pray that we have wisdom, discernment and patience.  For those in the Nazarene Church, let us know if your church is looking for an Associate Pastor in Discipleship, Connections, Community/Small Groups, Mentoring, or Outreach.  Pray for Peter as he makes this transition and has lots of questions that we have no answers to.  We know that God will lead us and provide for us, as He has already done in so many ways. 

We wanted to take a moment to thank you for your love and support over our time as missionaries.  We have been blessed to cross paths with so many wonderful people.  Thank you for being a part of our lives and ministries.