When I retired from Cayman International School, we thought that we might come to England for a couple of years to reconnect with my extended family and tour the countryside. We had no intention of taking on another ministry. So we were a little surprised to find ourselves serving again with an international Christian organization when we arrived. At first our responsibilities were light. But as others got to know us and see what we were capable of, the demands on our talents grew.

This reached something of a turning point a couple of months ago when we were asked by the Regional Director of Asia and the President of the organization if we would step in as Associate Regional Directors for West Asia. We checked with our oldest son and his wife to get an outside perspective on the request, and with their blessing accepted the responsibility.

Our first task, which took the entire month of March, was to hire a National Director for Bangladesh. This took hours of writing job descriptions and screening perspective candidates, but with help from those we still knew from our time there, and some understanding of what this would entail from our previous service in that country, we hired who we believed would be the best candidate.

Our next task was to get to know the people and the projects of our region. Our new boss insisted that our first trip be to Turkey and Kyrgyzstan and booked our flights according. This past week has been a whirlwind of flights and meals, meetings and site tours. We are dizzy with the prospect of getting to know all these fine workers for Christ and their places of service.

Our hotel in Istanbul was much like anything you would find in any European city, but the little guest house in Bishkek was an absolute delight with its charming little sitting room and its garden overflowing with pink peonies in lush profusion. The school itself was well situated with decent facilities and a most notable yurt in the playground. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much time to look around either city. But we did earmark Istanbul for further exploration.

Despite our years and the distance we have come, it looks as if the Lord is not finished with us yet. We are not sure how long this present service might last, but for now we are happy to find that the Lord still has something useful for us to do and we will do what we can serve those He has called us to help.

May 2022