Raatz family newsletter

Yesterday was not a good day.

It started from the dreaded phone call that Nancy's mom had suddenly
passed away. All of sudden, Nancy was no longer packing for a visit
to see her mom and dad to packing for a funeral. A million decisions
crashed into me yesterday.

* Do I bring the girls or should we stay in Moldova?
* The girls don't want to go back, but want to stay in Moldova. How
do I resolve that?
* How can I comfort the tearful questions from the girls at losing
their Grandma?
* How can I comfort their fear of not being able to come HOME to
Moldova?
* Do we jeopardize our return if we leave?
* Can I even find tickets for us all, or afford it if we do?
* Where did I put my car keys? (yes, stressful question also)

All this is complicated by the fact of our continued living permit
situation. As Nancy left, she was given grief for her lack of a
living permit, told not to return until we have resolved that. So
if I leave with the girls, is this permanent? Semi-permanent? Two
weeks? Three months?

Then I got the second call that I had to stop our interns that are en
route to Moldova. They are missing one document, and NOW I am told
they need it BEFORE they arrive here. Last night I frantically tried
to track them down, locate a contact number, and have them halt
before they flew into Moldova.

To paraphrase a once-read quote, I was facing a fork in the road. One
path led to utter despair. The other led to total annihilation. I
was praying for the wisdom to choose wisely. My high blood pressure
was NOT being controlled by medication yesterday.

But the sun comes up, even in this snowy, cloudy, gray country. The
girls and I have resolved to fly back tomorrow morning. We have
found some good tickets. At 1 am, the living permit situation turned
to the better, with a message giving some semblance of hope that we
can resolve it. And I finally reached the interns and put their
arrival on hold.

I love The Message's take on the Beatitudes, with the words of
Jesus. "Blessed are you when you are at the end of your rope. When
there is less of you, there is more of God." I don't have a lot of
theological answers about death, life, and living permits. I don't
pretend to grasp God's sovereignty, or our place in building the
Kingdom of God. Simple spiritual platitudes don't sink too deep into
my soul, usually causing more questions than resolving them.

But I know I can still hang on to God.

I may be stressed. I may have peace. I may have answers. I may be
filled with doubts and questions. Life may be going great or going
terrible.

But I will still hold on to the rope of Jesus Christ.

Thanks for praying,

Your missionaries to Moldova,
Andy Raatz