Chris and Lynne Strange Your missionary connection in the Philippines 
We just can't hold onto it!
Our stay here in America is fleeting and before long we’ll be winging our way towards the Philippines. The months were packed and now we must be too!
Home assignment is always too short to do everything we wanted to with everyone we hoped to see. But God (ever do a “but GOD” study?) allowed for us to see many of you, meet a whole group of new friends, share in many places and enjoy great visits with family – for which we are very grateful.
Our travels every week were complicated a bit by the unplanned surgery and therapy that wiggled into the calendar of planned events. Again, time is just TOO SHORT and we would most likely feel the same no matter how much time we have to visit. We are learning as we go and are evaluating our planning for our next home assignment – hopefully a year or at least 9 months – with planned crossing the entire USA.
Admittedly we struggle with mixed emotions. Thrilled to be heading back to where God has us, we look forward to ministry with friends and co-workers there. We so miss our friends and family in the village and are eager to catch up with them all that has happened there since we were away. We face setting up another house and that is a bit daunting. We happily anticipate working with our brothers and sisters in our church in town and look forward to opportunities of ministry in a local church setting.
Of course all that means being on the other side of the world from family. It is just so difficult and our hearts are pulled in two directions all the time. The ‘good-byes’ are more difficult each time we are forced to go through it. We are grateful beyond words for the technology that is available to us these days and will constantly search for better and better ways to stay on top of that game. Still nothing as as good as sharing the same space and time. It rips our hearts out even to think about those last hugs. Please pray for us.
