Twenty Twenty Two In Review

As a member care advisor for Wycliffe Canada, we spend a lot of time working with members who are taking time to look back, waiting for passports/documents/signatures or other things, or looking ahead and preparing for what is next. As we look towards advent, Christmas, 2023 many are already making preparations for this season. Let's take a moment and look back on 2022 together. There have been some work moments that we celebrated together, and some newsletters that covered interesting and relevant topics. There have also been some challenges. I'll also do a family recap and catch you up on how everyone is doing.

Quick Year in Review

We started the year with you reading about work that goes on behind the scenes in Wycliffe Canada to keep our missionaries on the field. Then we looked at TCKs' and the challenges they face because of the experiences they are raised in. In June, I sent out a letter that very clearly laid out my financial situation for you and the needs I have to meet to stay with Wycliffe. In August, I did a review of how the pandemic has impacted all our members - whether they stayed in Canada or stayed on the field during the previous two years. I actually have a newsletter for October but I haven't been able to send it out yet. That should be coming soon.

Work Joys & Sorrows

January seems long ago at this point. A lot has happened in the 12 months that my team has been able to celebrate. We were able to see a large number of people return to the field who had been unexpectedly stuck here during the pandemic. We were able to send several staff and their families, who had remained on the field during the difficult pandemic years, to week-long debrief programs. The member care team finished creating a large policy and procedure manual on Risk Management for Wycliffe Canada. This was the culmination of more than a year’s work and sets Wycliffe up for successfully handling crisis events.

There were also some difficult situations this past year. One of our teammates was significantly injured early in the year and has not been able to return to work. With the increased number of people coming and going, combined with the backlog that is affecting every country in several ways, some of our staff have seen their travel delayed by four or more months, leaving them in a period of unknown waiting.

Family Update

Eli, the tallest of all of us at about 6 ft. 3, is now in second year university studying at Ontario Tech (formerly UOIT) here in Oshawa. He is studying mechatronics and will be adding co-op in the summer. You can catch him playing the VR game Beat Saber for both the national team and his university. Eli is currently ranked 6th in Canada.

Anastasia, the shortest of us all, is in her last year of high school. She has been in the visual arts program at O'Neill CVI. This program required an audition and an interview, and only a certain number of students were selected. As Ana looks to next year, she is considering studying Social Work, or Policing, or possibly taking a gap year and working with my sisters up in Moosonee. For now, she works at Tim Horton’s and often brings home donuts, much to her siblings’ approval

Cadence (Sophia's middle name), may be the youngest but is taller than I am. Cadence is in grade 10 and so far has played a season of rugby, entered a writing contest, joined in the trivia club, and participated in some leadership activities at the school.

I would also like to share some difficult news: earlier this year Jeff and I separated. We spent a lot of time during the pandemic in conversation about various things in our marriage, and made this decision in June of this year. Fortunately, the Canadian government allows for a couple to be separated but still live in the same house. The result is that we are able to provide a stable situation for the kids in terms of school and life.

As 2022 winds down and you prepare for 2023, I hope that you also take time to look back and consider the events and people in your life to be thankful for. And if there are ways that I can be praying for you, please don't hesitate to write me: brandie.green@wycliffe.ca

Boomerang

If you have or had little kids in your house and watched cartoons, you might recognize these lyrics from the show Toot and Puddle. When I still lived in Asia I would often post this song to my Facebook page as there were times I felt like a boomerang travelling back and forth from Asia to Canada. 

These days, when Facebook shows me some of my old posts, those lyrics occasionally pop up and they remind me of all of our Wycliffe Canada members who serve on the field and travel between two homes. When you live abroad long term you make a home wherever it is you are going. You have a community: friends, people who become like family, favourite restaurants, favourite stores or markets or vendors. And of course there is the home left behind, where again you have friends, family, people who have become like family, favourites of all kinds. Whenever you return to one home, you leave the other behind. 

This summer, Wycliffe Canada has more than a dozen singles and families returned to Canada from various countries around the world. Most of these are people who were able to stay abroad during Covid and have that experience on top of the usual ups and downs that come with living abroad. 

Covid presented unique circumstances for our members who stayed overseas. Some people were able to remotely join in Sunday services from their home church here in Canada as so many moved their services online for the first time. Others enjoyed a slightly slower pace without the usual travel that is inherent in their work. While the limited travel made work difficult for some, it became an opportunity for others. Limited travel, and limited in-person meetings, makes the work of Bible translation a challenge but many of our colleagues were able to find creative solutions to these disruptions. Happily, such solutions not only enabled work to continue during Covid but can be used in the future whenever colleagues cannot all be together in one space. 

Conversely, a feeling of being stuck was a common experience. When there were very few airlines and airports operating, colleagues couldn't return to Canada even if they wanted to. Added to that, because of Covid restrictions they were deprived of the joy of being with their national and expat colleagues, many of whom are a second family. For some, the experience of feeling stuck included elements of isolation and loneliness, especially so for our Wycliffe staff who are single. And while many linguists and translators were able to find ways to work from a distance, for others Covid posed a significant challenge as their village locations don't have access, or only very limited access, to the internet. The sense of purpose and fulfilment that comes with this work seemed diminished.

As these singles and families have returned to Canada this summer, it has required the member care team to step up in a whole new way. The required debrief, a time of looking back to celebrate the positives and consider the difficulties and challenges and the impact of both on our spiritual, physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing, must now consider the impact of the Covid-experience in these areas of life as well. Additionally, they are coming back to a Canada that is uniquely different than when they were last here. There are new divisions that didn't exist before, or at least not to current levels, in several realms: church, politics, society, and even within families. This home may not feel like what was expected.

As our members boomerang between homes, pray for our member care team:

• for wisdom as we serve and care for Wycliffe Canada staff

• for the ability to listen well to the stories told, and to hear what isn't being said

• for the energy needed to serve and care well

• for additional member care advisors to join our team so that we can better serve Wycliffe Canada members

The Time Has Come...

 

Lewis Carrol wrote a poem called The Walrus and The Carpenter. Its quite a long poem and rather funny on the surface until you realize it's telling the story of how the title characters trick some young oysters into coming out of the sea so they can be eaten! :)  The stanza above marks a turning point in the poem. And that is why that quote came to mind for this update. It is a bit of a turning point from previous updates to talk about different things. 

To be honest I would rather talk about cabbages and pigs having wings than this topic. 

FINANCES

Just typing it feels loud and abrupt. I rather prefer the fate of the oysters 😊

Over the years that I have been with Wycliffe Canada my Ministry Budget a.k.a. "salary" has slowly gone upwards. There are a few reasons for this. Our move to Canada saw a large increase in expenses. Wycliffe Canada, in accordance with good practice, federal labour laws, and a clear scriptural foundation, is requiring that all of its staff are being paid at least minimum wage. Which, as it happens, I am not. And of course, everyone is aware of the sad fact that the cost of living has increased significantly.

Wycliffe Canada requires that all members raise their own funds; this is how we have always worked. During these 20 years with Wycliffe Canada some of my financial supporters have chosen to direct their charitable giving elsewhere, some have passed away, and some have had to pull back because of their own financial situation. While my Ministry Budget went up, my support went down.

I am asking for your help. Here are the very plain-spoken details. 

My budget is set at $4460 per month. Each Wycliffe Canada member's budget includes EI, both portions of CPP, and so on. Of this amount my salary is $3700/month. I currently receive support in the amount of $2600/month. Thankfully for the time being Wycliffe Canada is helping me out. However, it does mean I am short almost $2000/month. Unfortunately, as Walrus has said, "The time has come". 

How can you help? A few ideas come to mind: 

• Would you consider increasing the amount of your donation?
• Would you share my need with other's you know who believe everyone should have God's word in their own language?
• Would you think about inviting me to your church, your small group, your prayer group, or just to meet a group of friends to share with them directly?

 And above all, pray with me and for me, that I would trust that the Lord knows all my needs and have faith that He will move people to respond generously.

To give, follow the instructions below:

New Canadian donors: click on my profile on Wycliffe Canada's website. 

To increase a current recurring donation: call 1-800-463-1143 and ask for the Receipts Department (this is in Mountain Time Zone) or email receipts@wycliffe.ca. They will need some information from you such as:

• your name and address
• my name
• and the amount you wish to increase your donation

US donors: please go to the Wycliffe US website. Enter my name and ministry id number, Brandie Green #284271, and an amount. On the following page you will be able to choose recurring a donation if that is your plan.  

Wycliffe Canada's Annual Scripture Celebration

Together, we're celebrating milestones in the global Bible translation movement, and you're invited!

Join us in giving glory to God for the milestones you have helped us achieve, despite a global pandemic.

• Date: Saturday, April 9, 2022
• Time: 10 am MST
• Location: Online or in-person at First Alliance Church
• Register at: wycliffe.ca/celebrate
• Contact: lauren.smith@wycliffe.ca

Supporting our TCKs

 

A friend brought an article to my attention today written by Rebecca Hopkins for Christianity Today. It's about MKs - missionary kids, or more broadly TCKs - third culture kids. As a reminder, a third culture kid is one who did (or is now) grow up in a different culture than their passport or "home culture" but also don't quite belong in their present culture. You can see that this group is actually larger than just missionary kids. 

Please take a few minutes to read it. It's especially helpful for parents, family members, churches, church leaders, mission leaders, youth leaders, Sunday School teachers, teacher teachers but especially those who are Christians. 

If you've followed me and my family for the past 20 years you are aware of some of the challenges our children have faced both abroad and here in Canada. We often made choices with our children's well-being in mind. The impact of a move to here, a trip to there, another flight across the ocean were all considered in our plans and choices. And yet, if you recall, it took a full three years at least, on our return to Canada, before I felt our children had each found their footing. It doesn't mean everything was smooth sailing from there, just that some of the bigger bumps at the time had been dealt with. There were many tears along the way, and hard questions and conversations.

Many, though certainly not all, TCKs return to their passport country during or at the end of high school when a lot of choices and plans for the future are being made. And in the midst of all this they are like any other teenager examining their faith. The article I mentioned above says, 

"The faith piece for MKs makes them unique because God is the instigator of all the greatness and all the painful parts of growing up cross-culturally in ministry,” Phoenix said. “Everything in their life is faith-related."

For any person, the examining of their faith is best done in a gracious, warm, and understanding community. Understanding TCKs is no easy thing, and I've had three to practice on 😊 But it is not just on the parents of TCKs (in fact that might be the last place they are willing to look), it is also on the community of believers, or at least certain people within that community, to seek to learn and understand TCKs and go alongside them as they work out their own faith in a strange place.

So I encourage you today, to pray for the TCKs you know in your church, at your school, among your kid's friends and so on. To be open to their questions and wonderings and wanderings. In Wycliffe Canada we have many families, with kids of all ages. This year alone we have several TCKs returning to Canada. If you would be interested in a resource for praying for our TCKs please email me. We ask a lot of our young people in the missions community. 

I borrow the closing comments in the CT article to leave with you, part of a poem by Abigal de Vuyst:

“How are you doing?”
I sigh; I know I am safe with them.
“It’s been a hard day.”
They help me process,
Cry with me and pray with me.

~~~

Hopkins, R., 2022. The Missionary Kids Are Not Alright. [online] ChristianityToday.com. Available at: <https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2022/march-web-only/third-culture-missionary-kids-trauma-deconstruction-church.html> [Accessed 29 March 2022]. 

Behind the Scenes

Did you know that the average Hollywood movie has approximately 300 employees involved from beginning to end who work to bring a movie together? Yet I can probably only name four or five people (maybe 10 to 20 for a large cast) per movie: leading actors, the director and/or producer, maybe the composer. Some movies have started including outtakes, or suspenseful teasers for the next film in the franchise. I think this is to keep us in our seats and encourage us to see that it takes a small village to make a movie. 

Bible translation specifically, but missions in general, operates in a similar fashion. It may be easy for you to think of those missionaries who specifically work as translators. These people are the ones who are more often the face of a translation project. To get them to that point they had to work with someone in recruitment, applications, at least a few people in finance, HR, communications, and IT. Then there are those welcoming them to the field, helping with orientation, plus our counterparts on the field who work in finance, HR, communications, IT and so on. Of course that is just for one person. If we have a family, there is also someone who connects with them in regards to education, education resources, and of course we also have international schools and all those who work in that realm. 

How many people does it take, from the first phone call to the very end when a missionary retires or moves on to whatever God has next for them, to enable one missionary's journey to happen? Off the top of my head I can think of about 25 others who would need to be involved. That is before considering their needed education (such as a master's degree in linguistics), pre-field language and culture learning course, re-entry programs, financial and prayer supporters, and anything connected to children and children's education and children's re-entry programs. 

We don't have an end credits scene in missions but I do want to encourage you today to remember that we do have a large group of people behind the scenes. We don't tend to amaze, inspire, or inform you with how many budgets were approved, how great an audit went, how many attempted hackings were prevented, how many phone calls were answered, or how many hours we spent working with a missionary to help keep them healthy and able to continue in their ministry. Sharing the triumphs and challenges in these positions are not the stuff of newsletters. I encourage you to find out who some of these people are and offer to pray for them and consider financially supporting them (see below).

If your church has always supported only missionaries who are "on the field", I encourage you, or your missions pastor/committee, to remember that no missionary would be on the field without those who work behind the scenes from Canada. I challenge you to prayerfully and financially support some who work in the home office that send your missionaries. These staff often have the most challenging time raising support as they are not considered by many to be missionaries.

Hopefully you are asking yourself, "How do I find these people?" Fortunately, I do have the answer to this question:

• You can write the missionaries you support about the people who work with or for them behind the scenes. 
• You can check out https://www.wycliffe.ca/about/members/ and scroll through the member bios. 
• You can write to me at mca.brandie@wycliffe.ca. 

Take time to consider one of the options above, and support those who support others. Also, thank you for supporting me. I too am needing to increase both my prayer and financial support team. If you are interested in this, in supporting the ministry of member care, please email me personally at brandie.green@wycliffe.ca