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
