Faithfulness to Lisa's Mom Means a New Move For Us

We will miss gatherings like this with the Burmese refugees Rich has taught online for the
past few months; it was so good to meet them in person and hear their stories.

“Even though he struck the rock so that water gushed out and torrents overflowed,
​can he also give bread, or provide meat for his people?”    Psalm 78:20

Dear Friends,
I (Lisa) read this verse with a mixture of emotions today as I write to share difficult news. On one hand, the psalmist is revealing the truth that God is both able and glad to provide everything his people need, and that it makes sense to trust God for it all. Yet, I do empathize with the people in the moment in which they are asking the question. Their thirst has been quenched, but now hunger is gnawing at their stomachs, and they look around and don’t see a ready supply of food sources. I’m right there with them today. Psalm 78 calls us to “set our hope in God,” (v. 7), and we seek to do that as we face a new circumstance.
Recently we asked for prayer for our visa situation. When we came back into Malaysia, we were given 90-day visas and the system seems to have settled back to that, a real answer to prayer. We also asked for prayer for new tenants, and as of a week ago, a family moved in that definitely feels like an answer to our prayers. However, soon after our arrival back in Malaysia we were faced with very difficult choices.
We have come to the conclusion that our current family financial model is unsustainable. The costs of my mom’s care have risen dramatically just as her savings have run out. We have been supplementing her costs for the past few months at a level that comes near our monthly salary, and we simply cannot continue to do that. (If she loved her current facility, we might try harder to make it work financially, but she does not. At all.) As we have pondered our options, the most faithful one we can imagine is to move to Durham and move her in with us. We can provide the basic care she needs while still attending to our on-line teaching, prepping and grading. She will eat better food and enjoy a higher quality of life with us while her medical needs are manageable with occasional visits. We have given 30-days’ notice at her facility and will seek housing for the three of us beginning June 1. We will fly back to Durham a few days before that.
As you can imagine, we are sad and disappointed to reach this conclusion and to be executing it so quickly. We enjoy most aspects of our life here, the students we serve, and the dedicated folks with whom we serve. Rich will miss the proximity of Malaysia to India and Nepal, where he has had fruitful trips and had hopes of several more in the coming year. Lisa is sorry to cancel a speaking engagement in Indonesia in late June.  Kuala Lumpur is a bustling city, and our church is a vibrant community within it; we will hate to say goodbye to folks who have become dear to us here.
We write today to ask your prayers for many needs: housing, a car, and furniture being the main ones that come to mind. Regarding housing, we have some specific needs: at least one bedroom on the first floor, a shower rather than a tub, and proximity to our daughter Becca and her husband Avery. Please pray for the right housing and car to emerge, and if you are in the region and have any leads, we would be most eager to hear about them.
We want to be sure to communicate that this is not sudden and early retirement for us! At any time Rich and I are involved in preparing, teaching, and grading multiple courses and that schedule is set to continue, mostly teaching in the early morning hours (Eastern Time) instead of late into the evenings (Malaysia time). We fully intend to teach and in other ways contribute to the work of several schools in Asia for the next few years and are grateful for the technology that makes that possible. We believe that this is not a permanent move—we can foresee scenarios in which we could return either to live in Asia or to visit for extended mission trips, including in the coming year. But for now, we are convinced that the place we need to be is Durham, and we trust that God will lead us to one of our “100 homes,” the next stage on our journey. There is much to like about Durham, and we anticipate God has much good in store for us there.
Thank you for all your prayers as we make this transition. Please reply to us with any encouragements, ideas, questions or other promptings of the Holy Spirit.
Rich and Lisa
What great students! They have all been in Malaysia for about 12 or 13 years. Their English is very good and their writing level is just excellent. It was a joy to teach them this past term. (A few of their colleagues are scattered around Malaysia, Australia, and elsewhere and could not be in the picture.)