No one can say the Davis family gets stuck in ruts. We seem to like change. In just under two months, we will be making our ELEVENTH move in SIXTEEN years of marriage. We are staying in Guatemala!! But we ARE moving out of Magdalena. Everyone in the family (well the four of us that are older than two years old) could write completely different blogs about this upcoming move, but here is my perspective.
When we came to Guatemala, a little over four years ago, we came as teams directors in charge of the short term teams, semester students, and summer staff that come alongside our full time staff throughout the year. We spent the first six months learning Spanish, adapting to culture, and Blake worked with the director doing many different things as he learned the ins and outs of the ministry. Then for the next year we got to really do our job as teams directors. I was in charge of cooking for teams (when they weren’t eating with their host families), and I also really enjoyed working with the semester students and summer staff. Twenty-one months into our time here, Blake became the director soon after Logan was born. For those first several months, Blake was neck deep into that transition, while I was equally as deep in baby land. When Logan was 11 months old, we found out about Grayson, and 3 weeks later he joined our family. The next several months I was drowning in babies. Happily drowning most of the time, but still completely consumed.
Last August (nine months ago), I had a whole day home alone with just Grayson. He still napped twice a day, so I had plenty of time to spend with the Lord. Towards the end of the day, while I was praying, I felt Him speak to my heart and show me that I was entering into a season that would be more restful, and that I needed to soak it in because it would be temporary. I felt Him impress upon my heart that a change was coming in the future, and it would mean a big change for me, personally. As I wrote out the thoughts I was sensing in my journal, I felt no dread. I felt excitement, and a sense of wonder that the Lord was willing to walk with me so intimately. I spent the next several months praying and searching for what God had next for me. It hasn’t been an easy season, even though it has been more restful. Waiting for God, feeling the stirring but not having specifics, thinking I knew and then having doors shut….it was frustrating on occasion, confusing often, and constantly humbling. I have felt at times like Jacob who was struggling with the angel of the Lord and finally clung to him and said, “I won’t let go until you bless me!” The blessing I wanted was direction. I have been desperate for His leading.
As a reminder, Camden and Hope started at an English speaking, Christian school in January. It has been everything we hoped for and more. They went from begging us to move back to the States, to, a few weeks ago, asking us to promise them that we wouldn’t leave Guatemala until they graduated from high school. My gratitude overflows. We have a missionary discount at the school, and in return, I have to volunteer a certain amount of hours each semester. Besides the long drive to get there and back, I have thoroughly enjoyed doing my volunteer hours. In fact, I have put in several more than what is required.
There was one day that I spent volunteering that will be forever imprinted in my memory. I was substituting for the 4 year old preschool class. It was chapel day, and I was sitting on the front row with all my little students for the day, and all of the other elementary classes were filing in with their teachers. All of a sudden I got this feeling. A specific sense from the Holy Spirit that I have only felt three other times in my life. I just KNEW that I was exactly where I was supposed to be. I felt a peace and a purpose that I can’t put into words. I realized that I loved the school not just for what it was doing for MY kids, but for what it was doing for every kid on the campus. I felt a passion for missionary kids well up inside of me that I knew could have only come from the Lord.
There are dozens of details between then and now, but God has been opening doors and leading our hearts, and confirming Himself to us in some amazing ways. In July, we will be moving to a neighborhood very close to the school. Then, in August, I will begin teaching one Bible class a day at the school in either the middle school or high school (this part of the plan is still in the works so we will have to keep you posted). Besides the opportunity to teach a class, I will also be working to finish my Bachelor’s degree online through Luther Rice College and Seminary.
The big kids are thrilled that they will live close to the school, and have the opportunity to participate in after school activities like sports and drama. Right now they spend 2 - 3 hours a day commuting to school and back depending on traffic. In addition, the neighborhood, where we will live, has several other families with kids from their school, so they are very excited about that as well. For Blake, this move will cause him to have to carry the burden of the 2-3 hour a day commute. He won’t be able to come home and grab lunch, or ask me to run something up to him, or have me be a consistent part of the work and ministry here in Magdalena. He feels confident that God is moving us in this way, but he is also aware of the personal sacrifice. The big kids and I are aware of that too, and are so thankful for his willingness to do this for his family.
For me, I am excited and scared. In our 16.5 years of marriage, I have leaned on Blake more than I like to admit. In our years in Dallas/Fort Worth, Brownsville, and Guatemala when I started feeling overwhelmed with all going on in ministry, I withdrew, I buried myself into my home and my children, and I let Blake carry the load of our calling. I depended on his ability to persevere, to continue to hear God’s command to stay, and to find joy and passion even when it was hard. But this…. this new season of me teaching AND being a student… these are MY callings. I’m going to have to “grow up” and learn and practice, for myself, what I have watched Blake walk out for the past decade and a half. I will have to practice perseverance, staying, and finding joy and passion even when it’s hard. Blake told me last week, in a tone that didn’t make me feel belittled, “You’re going to have be willing to have your character stretched.” One thing I keep replaying in my mind is something our friend Gabe said a few weeks ago, “If you have an opportunity and it scares you, then it’s probably God.”
So that’s where we are at… Blake will continue to direct the ministry of Students International Guatemala, and the kids and I will be pouring our time into school… for me that is two schools - online school as a student and at CAG as a teacher.
We humbly and earnestly ask for your prayers. We have learned by experience that they make a difference. Pray that God binds our hearts together even as our paths are a little more distanced from each other. Pray that we will fulfill God’s calling on our lives and bring Him glory in this season, and that we keep Him first always.
