More at home in churches & new ministries than in our house

So we've been back in our house for about 10 days now. Boxes clutter the dining room, and the walls remain bare. But perhaps the most odd aspect of the experience of moving back into our house is the neutral color scheme. We repainted and put down new carpet to make the colors more neutral for tenants who would be renting our home. The result? It doesn't look like our home, it doesn't feel like our home, and yet we're supposed to feel like we've finally come home. Hmmm....

On the work front, it's been a slow start for John & Ginny, but high school has been friendly to both Holly & Maggie thus far. Both John & Ginny are consulting for Prodigals Recovery Ministries, John has finally begun work for the ECHO Foundation, and Ginny is building a counseling caseload at Trinity Center. These activities feel like logical extensions of our ministry and, in that way, help with the transition.

In the coming weeks, we hope to revamp our website to reflect our ongoing ministry activities - in part to make a statement to those who have been our Partners in Ministry here in the US. One of the most important ways in which God prepared us for the return to life in the US was a sermon delivered by a traveler in the River Glen group in July. Lindsey, who had served in the Dominican Republic for 5 years, helped prepare us with these reminders:

• Mission trips build servants hearts while on the mission field, but we often forget the lessons learned when we go "home"
• Longer mission experiences help us make missions part of our psyche, our hearts, our way of life
• Missionary service is not "location dependent." Once missions become a part of who we are and how we live in the world, it doesn't matter where we live. We are missionaries wherever we go.
  

So, the Mills Family Mission website and this blog will continue but with a broader spectrum. We will include ongoing activities from Chiapas and Hebron USA, but we'll also include our new ministry activities.

We're also working hard to make our way along "the supporting churches road tour!" We've visited:

• 1st Presbyterian, Mt. Airy, NC
• 1st Presbyterian, Boone, NC
• Millbrook Baptist, Raleigh, NC
• Oak Ridge Presbyterian, Oak Ridge, NC
  

but have SO MANY MORE TO GO! Speaking of "road tours," Pablo is now on the PCUSA's Peacemaker's Tour and then will connect with many in NC on his own "supporting churches road tour." There's a Facebook group entitled, "Livin' on Pablo Time" that shows his travel schedule and host churches along the way, so you may want to check it out too.

For now, we still haven't found out telephone or our can opener, but we have found great comfort in the ministry opportunities available to us here in NC and know that God is continuing to minister to us through others who love us. For those who have been praying for us, thank you and please continue and know that you are loved!

Re-Entry Update

So here we are --- 2 weeks into re-entry. The good news is that the girls have gotten a great start to their school year and seem to be settling in amazingly well. There really is no bad news. We have enjoyed some visits with key people in our lives and are looking forward to many more, and we have started to get over our "sticker shock" related to the price of food and gasoline. On the other hand, it still just feels a little weird to be here and to know that we're not going back to Ocosingo in a few weeks.

The most exciting thing that's happened to me today was the receipt of the long-awaited shipment from Amazon. We received our copy of Jim Walker's book, The Dirty Word, and I can hardly wait to read it. Jim is one of the two pastors from the Hot Metal Bridge Faith Community in Pittsburgh. We have loved getting to know them in Mexico, and somehow reading Pastor Jim's words makes me feel close to him, close to our fellow brothers & sisters from Hot Metal Bridge, and close to Mexico where we have worshiped and worked together. More later on the experience, the book, and where God takes us next.