Going Home

Going home is exciting and sad at the same time. Such mixed feelings.  We want to see friends and family, to tell them of our stories of how we saw God working up here. But we want to stay, as we have fallen in love with Alaska, with Echo Ranch, and with the people up here. We loathe getting on the plane, but we are excited to go back. Spending 5 months up here and seeing God work in many ways, having God work in us and through us has been so amazing. Echo Ranch is a part of our lives and it will continue to be a part of our life as we head home. Knowing we will be back up here in April makes it easier to get on the plane.

But we have a question: how do we transition back into “normal” life? How do we go back to a way of living that we haven’t been a part of for over 5 months? From the community living aspect to the unusual and hectic schedules to the walking everywhere to the being surrounded by God’s beautiful artistry in the mountains and the oceans. So I ask myself another question, why is it hard to transition? Why does it have to be hard? I think it is easy for me to look at Alaska as the mission field and coming back to Hillsboro is a daily grind, back to work, type of place.  So why can’t we take what God has taught us in Alaska, our experiences and our stories, and use them to minister to those that will be around us in 4 days?

Someone told me recently that “You can’t rub shoulders with God and not come away unchanged.”  We have rub shoulders with God these past 5 months, we have been changed. I have been changed.  I am a different Christian than when I left.  I am a different husband.  I am a different father. So I am reaching out to you as friends and family, please pray for us as we transition back to our other Mission Field in Kansas.  Help us to have that view of everywhere we are is a mission field.  Help me as a husband and father to lead my family in a way that portrays that in all aspects of my life. Pray that we don’t limit the where and when God uses us as missionaries. Also pray for us as we look to the future.  God has confirmed our call to Alaska and we will be joining Avant Ministries in January and start our support raising efforts.

Thank you for your support through financial gifts and most of all through prayer as we rubbed shoulders with God in Alaska. We couldn’t have gotten this confirmation without your support. We are looking forward to seeing you all in the coming months. In the words of the Apostle Paul as he wrote to the saints in Philippi, “I thank my God every time I remember you.”

The Regiers