A Love Story Continues

On March 4, 2007 I wrote a post entitled "SNOW!".  It was a story about Joseph's love for his wife, Sai, and God's love for His children.  That story has been continuing since then and I want to share just a bit of it with you.  Sai has been on a path to U.S. Citizenship since she came to America in 2006.  It has been a long, expensive, arduous journey with many twists and turns.  When Joseph and Sai left for Thailand in 2012, there were many steps she had to complete in order to be able to be out of the country for a long period of time and maintain her status.  God worked everything out and when they came home last October, she was to the point that she could take the citizenship test and become a naturalized citizen of the U.S.

Joseph made many attempts to schedule a time for Sai to take the test and get sworn in while they were here for three months.  I had no idea that you had to schedule an appointment to talk with someone at the United States Customs and Immigration Service in order to speak with someone about scheduling an appointment.  The red tape is truly insane.  The bottom line, they were told they could not move Sai's application to the front and she would be notified when to appear to take the test.  Joseph tried to explain that they would be going back to Thailand at the end of December and how expensive it would be if she had to fly back on short notice.  It did not matter, there was nothing they could do to expedite her application.  We all prayed and eagerly checked the mailbox daily for that letter from Homeland Security with her appointment date.

Needless to say, it never came and Joseph, Sai, Makaila and Joshua returned to Thailand.  I believe it was two to three weeks later, and, you guessed it, the letter arrived.  Sai's appointment to take her test was Thursday, February 13, 2014.  If she did not appear she may have to start the process all over.  So, Joseph had to buy her ticket at an outrageous price so she could come back to America.  He and the children had to stay behind which was a first for him to be left with the kids for that long and for Sai to be away from the kids for that long.  As the time drew near for Sai to arrive in Atlanta, I became a
little antsy because all the weather reporters were predicting a major snow storm.  As I am prone to do, I began playing the 20 question game with Joseph.  What if the city is shut down and we can't get to the appointment?  What if I can't get out of my subdivision.  What if we have to re-schedule and can't get an appointment for weeks?  Joseph and Sai kept saying they weren't worried.  Sai was very confident in God's plan for her life and she was not going to stress over it.

Well, if you were in Atlanta that week in February, you know what happened.  We got snowed in.  Sai arrived Monday night and the snow came Tuesday night.  I kept telling Joseph it was bad, but he was in Thailand and had no idea how bad it was getting.  I am sure you remember what we woke up to.  This photo was taken Thursday morning, the day of  Sai's appointment with immigration.  I was really nervous, but this was Sai's Facebook post that morning: " Wake up with a beautiful snowing day! Thank you God. God's will be done, Amen!"

She was so excited that God had blessed her with the opportunity to get to see snow.  She had total faith that He would work things out and she refused to worry about whether or not we could make her appointment that day.  But that was OK because I was doing enough worrying for both of us.  We somehow had to get to Gwinnett County by 12:30 noon.  We could not get a straight answer as to whether the Immigration Office would be open or not.  One website said they were opening at 11:00 am, but we were told on the phone they were closed.  Joseph was calling from Thailand making arrangements for someone to pick us up in their 4 wheel drive vehicle to take us to Gwinnett.  Sai's dear friend Amy and her husband Anthony came to pick us up and off we went on an adventure to Gwinnett.

Well, we got there and you guessed it, they were closed.  We immediately got on the phone desperately trying to plead our case with someone in an anonymous phone bank located who knows where.  At the same time, Joseph is in Thailand clicking on the UCIS website repeatedly while praying that a cancellation will come open for the next day so we will have an appointment to go talk with someone about making an appointment.  Low and behold, he found a cancellation for the next day, Friday, 2-14-2014, Valentine's Day.  During the entire escapade, Sai was so positive and thankful that God was working everything out in His timing.  I have to admit, there were many things that came together that day that could only have occurred by His hand and timing.

The next day, Sai and I made the trek again praying that someone would listen to our story and help us to work things out before she had to return to Thailand.  Talk about praying without ceasing, every moment I wasn't speaking with Sai, I was whispering prayers and pleadings that everything would work out for her good.  And guess what?  He had it all worked out way before we even got there.  We told our story to the clerk and he immediately went to his supervisor.  We were told to sit and wait.  After about 10 minutes, we were told we would be going upstairs soon to get Sai's photo and to wait for her to be administered her test.  What?  We were just there to talk with someone about getting an appointment to talk with someone and here we were being ushered upstairs to be photographed and tested.  Talk about seeing miracles before your eyes.  And of course, Sai passed the test with flying colors and we were told to come back the following Wednesday for her swearing in.

I am am pleased to say that in spite of all the bureaucracy of our Federal Government and it's red tape, there are some people working there who actually care and treat people like people and not numbers.  Sai had her very own private swearing in ceremony and we were able to facetime with Joseph so he could watch.  If this had been a group ceremony with many others as it was originally scheduled, this could never have happened.



So, you might ask, where is there a love story in all this?  If you go back and read the original post from March 2007, you will read about the lengths Joseph went to in order for Sai to see snow.  Even though there was a near zero percent chance, they woke up on the final morning of their trip to snow on the ground and more falling.  You see, Sai loves the snow.  She didn't get to see any when they were home for three months and she was so very thankful that her Heavenly Father cared enough about her and her love for snow that he rearranged all our plans to fit His plan for her life.  He gave her an amazing gift of love on of all days, Valentine's Day.  The day she passed her test to become a citizen of the United States of America!  She was finally an American Girl!

Then there's the story of her loving husband who from the other side of the world was doing everything in his power to move heaven and earth to insure this would happen for his bride.  He would stay up practically all night attempting to reschedule her appointment and  stay up late in to the night in order to witness her swearing in.  He even fixed burnt hot dogs for the kids while she was gone!

Some may scoff at all this and say that God doesn't care about these little details in our lives.  He is too busy dealing with the world's problems to concern himself with whether or not I get to see snow, or my appointments get cancelled and rescheduled.  But that couldn't be further from the truth.

  Psalm 37: 3-5 says "Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness; delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.  Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass."  NKJ

These verses do not mean just because you desire something, God is going to grant your wish like a fairy godmother.  If we delight ourselves in the Lord and feed on His faithfulness, the desires of our heart will line up with God's desires for our lives.  His desires become ours.  When we commit our ways and trust in Him, He is faithful to bring good things to pass in our lives.  This is not a promise of a trouble free life, but a promise of His faithfulness to us no matter what the circumstance.

God gave Sai a dream to open a bakery in Thailand to help support their ministry there.  As only He can do, He is making the way for that to become a reality. I cannot wait to see the miracle He will bring about in this adventure.  If you would like to know more about Joseph, Sai and their ministry, Light for Asia, you can follow them on Facebook or their website, www.lightforasia.com.
   

I pray that if you have not experienced that trust in the Lord and His faithfulness, that you will commit your ways to Him.  Sai and her faithfulness is such an inspiration to me and I know that once you get to know her, she will inspire you also.  God bless you all.

In His Love,

Pam

Reflections of a Missionary's Mom

Where to begin.  As I sat here tonight reading all these old posts, I realized what an amazing journey God has brought me on.  So much has happened since my last post, I could not even begin to share it all.  This journey down memory lane was sparked by an email link Joseph sent to me several days ago to an article about the reflections of a missionary's mom.  He said, "You could write a better article than that" so I sat down and recorded my thoughts. You see, this article depressed me because the mother was sharing about all her negative feelings and even though she had prayed that God would use her children, she felt almost resentful because she would not be able to be around her grandchildren as they grew up.  It really made me think and examine my own feelings and emotions over the past couple of years and I can honestly say that even though there have been some sad days, I have never felt resentful, angry or depressed.

For those of you who may not know, Joseph informed us in December 2011 that he and Sai were following God's call on their lives to move to Thailand to serve as independent missionaries and they would be moving in June 2012.  Needless to say, that was a shock to my system and took a while to "wrap my head around it" as they say.  But, I want to share with you how it all began.

When I was expecting Joseph, I felt impressed to write a letter to him.  In the letter, I expressed my hopes and dreams for this, my first born child.  I did not know if he was a Joseph or a Jacqueline, but I did know this baby was a gift from God.  I also wrote that I believed that I was going to have the privilege of raising and loving this child, but at some point I was going to have to let go and give him/her back to God.  I truly had no idea that thirty years later this is exactly what was going to happen.  After a very difficult delivery, God blessed me with a beautiful baby boy whom we named Joseph David York.  Even though God blessed me with two more sons, I never felt the calling on them as I did Joseph.  I truly believe that each of my children are wonderful gifts from God, but I believe from the beginning, God was preparing me for what He would call Joseph to do.

I have always believed that my job as a mother was to raise my boys to love God and follow their dreams.  I always encouraged them to spread their wings and fly, and told them "The great thing about dreams is that they are yours and you get to fulfill them.  My dream for you is to honor God and be happy in whatever you choose to do."  It hasn't always been easy to let them go, but I know in my heart of hearts it is the right thing to do.  This brings me to Joseph's story from my perspective.

After several short term mission trips, in 2005, Joseph told me he was being called to Thailand to work with some missionaries he had met there.  I was of course apprehensive, and asked all the questions a mother would normally ask in this situation.  "How will you pay for the trip?"  "How will you support yourself?"  "Where will you live?"  "What about finishing school?" And, of course, he had an answer for each of my questions.  He raised support and went on faith.  In November of that year, he called to tell me he was getting married to Sai who was from Thailand and worked for the missionary organization there.  She had come to visit the U.S. once and we had met her, but I had no idea God was working out His plan to bring them together.  I truly did not see this one coming.  Again, I was apprehensive, but tried to be supportive.  I was finally getting a daughter, but didn't know how, if ever I would get to know her.  Through a set of circumstances that only God could orchestrate, he brought Joseph and Sai home to us a few months later.  They lived with us for several months as Joseph found a job and worked to support his new family.  I must say that I fell head over heels in love with my new daughter and couldn't be more pleased and thankful that God brought us all together.

As time went on, Joseph fulfilled one of his boyhood dreams by becoming a police officer. He went to work for the Atlanta Police Department and then we found out God was blessing us with our first grandchild.  Even though I loved my boys with all my heart, I experienced a love for my new granddaughter that I cannot explain.  She was and always will be my sweet little China doll, Makaila Li York.  Through the years, Joseph and Sai would mention and talk about going back to Thailand as missionaries, but I chose not to think about it.  I am very good at playing Scarlett O'Hara and thinking about things tomorrow.  Three years after Makaila was born, Joshua David York came into our lives.  And that little boy also stole my heart.  Still, there was talk of going to Thailand, but I chose not to dwell on it, instead I was enjoying every minute God was blessing me with to spend with my babies.

Christmas of 2011 changed everything.  Joseph and Sai told us they were going to put their house up for rent, he was quitting his job and they were moving to Pattaya, Thailand to serve as missionaries.  Not only that, they were not going with the International Mission Board or any other agency, but were going on faith, believing that God would provide all their needs.  Now, I must admit this did not sit well with me at first.  It was one thing for Joseph to go to Thailand as a young, single man who was able to fend for himself, but now he had a wife, two kids, a house and a job.  As I was questioning these decisions he was making, God reminded me of the "the letter."  I didn't want to be reminded of that, but in a quiet moment, I found Joseph's baby book and pulled out the letter that no one had ever read but me.  God spoke to my heart and reminded me that Joseph was His and that He had plans for Joseph's life.  I knew at that moment that it was time to give Joseph back to God, and not only him, but Sai, Makaila and Joshua as well.

God worked everything out for them. Joseph quit his job, they rented their house, sold their cars and raised support.  God supplied their every need at just the right time.  When it came time for them to leave, they packed all they possibly could into eight suitcases and I drove them to the airport.  I kept a smile on my face as my mother's heart was breaking.  My spiritual heart was beaming and overflowing with joy.  That's a hard concept to grasp but our choir sings a song titled "Where Joy and Sorrow Meet."  That's where I was.  I smiled, waved goodbye and took their picture as they walked away to a plane that would fly them half way around the world.  I got to my car and let the tears flow, but in the midst of my pain and sorrow, I felt God's peace wrap around me and hold me.  I can honestly say that I praised God at that moment for His faithfulness.  I had no bitterness or anger, but felt a sense of awe when I looked back and realized how God had woven His plan into place.

I am humbled beyond belief that God has allowed me to be a part of His plan in spreading His word across Asia.  As I work here in the States behind the scenes to support Joseph, Sai, the kids and Light for Asia, I get a front row seat to see all that God is doing and I am constantly amazed.  I am excited that I will get to make the journey to Thailand this December to experience first hand what God is doing there.  Pray for Wanda York and I as we begin to make preparations for our journey and I will try to keep you all updated.

In His Love,

Pam