Some updates can’t be sent in an email. Some updates have to happen in a long drawn out blog post so that all the things can be said. So here goes!

We found out two weeks ago that in order to leave New Zealand and join the team in Budapest, Hungary, we would have to study full time at a missions school for a minimum of 6 months, but preferably for a year.

Gosh, what a challenging couple of weeks that set off!

We were a week away from rehoming the dogs, and our understanding of what was going to happen next year had now been turned upside down and thrown out of the box. We were now to decide whether the Hungary dream was worth this new sacrifice. Up until this moment, we had been giving up things on our own terms and for our own reasons. But this was to be a different type of sacrifice. This was to be a sacrifice we made without necessarily understanding or agreeing, and with a great deal of trust being placed in the process, in God, and in those who were making the decision on our behalf.

Good Step Number One: We spoke to some good friends who knew a thing. After whining and complaining and listening and digesting, we made the decision that whatever the cost, we’re still called to go, so we’ll do whatever it takes to get there. And we were even convinced that the study might not be all bad. So that weekend, we set about firming up the decision and telling the right people. Decisions had to made about renting out the house, moving onto school grounds, changing Minna’s daycare, and firming up business plans.

Literally the very next day, no exaggeration, our decision was confirmed in a pretty miraculous way. And while we can’t get into too many details, it was made abundantly clear that regardless of the circumstances leading us into study, the decision to move out to EastWest and study was right.

So the following weekend, we packed our two much-loved dogs into the van, drove across the country and delivered them into the hands of the most amazing family (another whole story in itself) and spoke at Porirua Elim Church the very next day about our passion for the journey and where we’re going.

This weekend became our No Going Back Now moment.

Every journey has one of these. Even though you’ve decided to go through with a thing, there’s a moment where it goes from impersonal maybes, to a very emotional definite. And this was that moment for us.

Can I be honest here? Can I speak my mind?

I’m still not 100% confident in the reasoning. I’m not 100% sure that full-time study is the right thing to do with the remaining time we have here in New Zealand. But I’m 100% sure that God wants us in Hungary, and that study is one of the steps required to get there, so study we will! And knowing God, we’ll probably find the next 6-12 months beneficial and enlightening. How frustrating!

But how exciting to have released our adventure from our finite understanding and over to the infinite understanding of God.

Good Step Number Two: Don’t give that up for the world.