It was ten years ago this week when we said goodbye. On that cold winter morning, standing in Starbucks with fingers laced and tears running down my cheeks. He was headed west. I was driving south. & I knew on that day, without a shadow of a doubt, that I loved him. But I didn’t know if it would work. If we would work. I didn’t know if this was goodbye.
It’s crazy all that a decade can hold.
That was January 2010, when Scott left for his Discipleship Training School with Youth With A Mission in Colorado, and I moved down to the tiny town of Lindale, Texas to pursue writing at another YWAM campus. At 22 years old, I knew the biggest passion of my heart was to pursue ministry in missions. I also knew that as much as I loved Scott, if he didn’t have that same desire, our paths just wouldn’t line up. There was a heaviness as I drove away that day, knowing if God didn’t deeply shape and transform Scott’s faith, this could be the last time I’d see the man that I love. Little did I know then, it was just the beginning.
The start of a new year tends to lead people to reflection, but I think the start of a new decade does so on a profoundly grander scale. We look back on all of the good, the hard, and ultimately the growth, in hopes of learning about ourselves, setting some new goals, and shaping the decade ahead into something even greater than the one we left behind. In 2010 alone, I went from being a single YWAMer on a writing internship in India – to engaged, married, & then a stay-at-home mom in Lincoln, Nebraska. Talk about starting the decade with a bang! Scott came home from serving with YWAM in China and Thailand – proposed the next day – and we couldn’t wait to start our life of ministry and adventure together.
Now here we are – ten years later – packing our bags again. But this time, we’re going together. This month, our family will be moving overseas and stepping into our new roles in full-time ministry!
It feels like we have spent a decade in preparation for this – gaining new skills we didn’t have – growing community we desperately needed – & being with family in the best of times, but especially in the worst. When disease and divorce and brokenness hit our family like a tidal wave – we needed to be here. So many times I’ve laid down dreams to work overseas, to be present in the season God has right in front of us (often when it didn’t make any sense). But ten years of reflection offers some amazing perspective, like an aerial view where you can finally see how all the different puzzle pieces fit. The picture isn’t exactly what we thought it would be – but man, it sure is beautiful.
In my last Henn family blog post (just a few short months ago), we fully believed we were moving to Haiti. We’d prayed about it and traveled there and diligently keep taking that next right step as a family until it led us to work with Mission of Hope. This organization has worked in Haiti for over 20 years, and while that country had never been on our radar before, it was clear the need was great, and this was the team God was leading us to be a part of. So, you can imagine our surprise when we found out this fall we would not be moving to Haiti as planned. Our first full-time role in overseas ministry was not at all where we thought it would be. But we’re trusting that in this season, for our family, God has something even better in mind. & our newest news is – – –
+ + We’re moving to Guatemala + +
Guatemala is a brand new ministry for us. One we honestly didn’t see coming. One that didn’t even exist within Mission of Hope when we started in August. But I just laugh as I think back to our final executive interview in May, when Bob said to us, “We need you in Haiti. But the reality is, God could move your family to Haiti, or to the Dominican Republic, or even to a country we don’t know about yet. Are you okay with that?” & in saying yes to that one simple question, we said yes to Guatemala. Even when we didn’t know it yet.
It all came about three short months ago, when Mission of Hope received a call from another organization asking for help. They had been running a non-profit camp and ministry out of Guatemala for the past 16 years – started by a faith-filled & humble couple named Phil and Nikki. But then, Phil had a stroke. He was no longer able to take regular trips from their home in Chicago to Guatemala, and it was then they knew a succession plan needed to be in place. That’s when Phil reached out to Mission of Hope.
What was first a crazy, easily dismissed idea, began to grow. What started with MOH thinking, “We’ve never worked in Guatemala! We don’t know anything about this country – there’s no way!” Began to evolve, meeting by meeting, into, “Wow, their core values are completely aligned with ours. Their heart for ingenious people groups and church advancement is incredible. If God is leading our organizations together, is our faith too small to stand in the way of that?” It was a process full phone calls, meetings, flights and prayers from our executive staff, and now, as of January 1st, 2020 – Mission of Hope officially has its first ministry and fully-running, 42 acre campus in Guatemala!
That’s where we come in. Later this month, our family will be moving to our new campus near Punta de Palma on the eastern coastline of Guatemala. Our roles within the Project Management and Marketing teams will remain the same, although the day-to-day work will look very different than it had been working in Austin. We are acquiring over $3 million worth of buildings and assets that Scott will be in charge of fixing, running and maintaining, as well as a small fleet of boats – and will drive these to pick up teams from the port city and take medical teams up river to hard-to-reach parts of the country. My role will be to gather all new content for Mission of Hope in Guatemala – from photos to video and storytelling.
It’s all brand new! But we’re joining alongside local Guatemalan staff to learn about their culture (& Spanish!), how the ministry was previously ran, how we can best help, & what changes can be made to make it even better in the years to come. We’re truly amazed by what a great fit this will be for our family and how God can use us in this ministry.
The past decade has forever changed our lives. We’ve become parents and homeowners, while also navigating the very first years of marriage. There’s been emergency surgeries and the loss of a parent, all the while deepening our bonds of family. There’s been hard and heavy, yet also the most incredible joy and sweetest friendships we’ve ever experienced. & I trust it has shaped us to approach this next decade with more wisdom, and also more whimsy. More knowledge, yet also more compassion. More truth, and also more grace. We’re looking ahead to this next decade with an eager anticipation of all God’s going to do – and the fact that He invites us in to be a small part of it all just blows my mind.
Know that we can’t do this alone. We literally can’t move to Guatemala without a team of people around us, committed to support our family in finances and prayer. So here’s your invitation! To join in. To come along with us and be part of something world-changing. Something Kingdom-impacting. Something bigger than ourselves.
I can’t wait to look back ten years from now and see how God has knit this beautiful tapestry of lives and skills and purposes all together – by His power and for His glory. Our family is learning to be light on our feet, yet deeply rooted in love – abiding & trusting in who He is, knowing He’ll guide us wherever we need to be. Praying the same is true for you at the start of this New Year, & that we all seek to be more intentional with the time and resources we have.
A new decade is here – let’s do it on purpose.
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the henn adventures 