Finding Family

We arrived in Vancouver around this time last year. We had said most of our good byes before we left; we would only have a little time to see some family after our training ended before leaving for Europe. We were excited but full of questions. Would we make friends? Would we get homesick? What would Thanksgiving and Christmas be like away from family?

God was more gracious to us than we imagined. We became good friends with a couple of other people working with our company and with our next door neighbors. Our home was full at Thanksgiving and Christmas with people we had met. When it was time to leave, we were again saying good bye to good friends.

Then we went to Richmond. We thought we'd suffer through 2 months of training--missing friends in Vancouver while at  the same time longing for Lisbon. Yet we made great friends and got very close to a few people.

Now we're in Portugal. It has been much slower making friends with language barriers and more differences in culture. Again, I wonder what the approaching holiday season will be like. But God is faithful and gives us great reminders of how he meets our need for family. This past week was full of them. We had our first team meeting since we've arrived. Everyone got together for a time of fellowship and worship in English. It was great to see everyone. I had two great conversations with Portuguese friends. I met a Polish girl for English practice and we immediately connected and talked about getting together for our husbands to meet. We went to a family birthday dinner for our teammates' daughter, and we went to a party they threw to meet their friends. And the icing on the cake...our church, Vida Nova, threw Eliana and me a baby shower. Two hours speaking only in Portuguese without any Americans to help. I was excited but nervous going in. I left feeling completely comfortable, loved, and with the realization that we have family.

The women at our church told me they were my family now--to go to them when we need help. They reminded me that we are all brothers and sisters in Christ.

So while we might have said our good byes to our family in the U.S. and only see them via facetime and skype (which does make it easier), God has added to our family. And when things get tough, when I get frustrated with language or cultural differences or miss Thanksgiving with my big family or seeing my niece enter kindergarten, that's the important thing to remember...God provides. He gives and takes away. We aren't alone; we just have a new, different family too.