Well we’ve been back in the states for 3 months now and are still in the process of transition.  In many ways I think it’s taken us longer than we anticipated.  Jeff’s job search has been slow, but we’ve seen God’s hand in it all along.  Jeff has just today received a job offer for a contract position that will get us at least through the end of the year.  He starts Monday.  We praise God for His perfect timing.

We’ve been living with amazing friends throughout the summer in two different households.  The Lonas Family graciously and generously put us up for seven weeks followed by the Hale Family who blessed us with their blessings for nearly four weeks.  These were both amazing blessings to us and saved us a huge amount of money and provided extra security as we landed back on American soil and became a little more stable.  We are now house-sitting for a retired couple from our church for the next two months as they travel the US in their RV.  This has been a refreshing refuge for us and has provided still more transition time for Jeff to get started at his job and for us to begin looking for a place of our own without any pressure to move in right away. 

I think some people we’ve talked with over the last three months have felt sorry for us and have wondered whether we regret giving up our house and all of our belongings three years ago…only to have to start over again now.  No one has come out and said this, but I’ve sort of “felt” it cross people’s minds.  To be honest, in moments of doubt it has crossed my mind.  But I’ve been so encouraged by John Piper through this process.  His book Don’t Waste Your Life has given me morsels of truth and encouragement at just the right moments and has spoken perfectly to our situation.  God has reminded me through Piper that risk is part of the Christian life….and whether we realize it or not, risk is woven into the fabric of our lives.    Here’s a great quote:

“Risk is right.  And the reason is not because God promises success to all our ventures in his cause.  There is no promise that every effort for the cause of God will succeed, at least not in the short run.”

He goes on to talk about the greatness of risk for the cause of God…

“On the far side of every risk…the love of God triumphs.  This is the faith that frees us to risk for the cause of God. … It is childlike faith in the triumph of God’s love – that on the other side of all our risks, for the sake of righteousness, God will still be holding us.  We will be eternally satisfied in Him.  Nothing will have been wasted.”

And so in the midst of a culture where the “myth of safety” prevails, I am happy to be living out a very obvious reality where there are many unknowns waiting around the corner and numerous things beyond my control.   The great thing about Jeff and I’s current situation is that there is no mistaking WHO is in control.  We feel completely out of control and that is such a great place to be (even as uncomfortable as it may be at times)!  Had we held onto our house or put all our stuff in storage three years ago…we wouldn’t be nearly as dependent upon God at this moment.   We would be tempted to be much more self-reliant.

And so, I can say with certainty in this moment that I do not regret following God’s leading to the Middle East three years ago and all of the sacrifice that came with it.  For God has taken us (and continues to take us) through a process of becoming more satisfied in HIM alone and not in belongings, circumstance, status, purpose or anything else.  And this makes it all worth it.

Hi all,

When we returned from Bahrain in the middle of June, I had a strong desire to return to the Gulf and find expat work. I miss our friends there and generally enjoy living overseas. I can’t say that I love Bahrain the country but the friendships we have make it worth it to return. I remained open to the option of staying in Arizona for a season but I wanted to see a door closed for Bahrain.

I started sending my resume to various employment agencies in that region but got no responses. I did some online hunting of my own and began to see that my particular software development skills are not used at all in the Middle East, even in Dubai.

At the same time, we were meeting up with people here for debriefing sessions and one of the folks said this might be a time to look back at the past three years and identify issues that limited our growth and effectiveness. She went on to say that God may have us in the US so we can build up these areas in preparation for a future time of life and work outside the US.

It seems that the door to Bahrain is closing indeed so I have started looking for work here in Arizona. I have a phone interview with a company on Tuesday and am waiting to hear on another opportunity locally as well.

The bad news is that housing prices jumped up significantly while we were away (they are on their way back down thankfully); the good news is that IT salaries also took a nice upward jump so when you factor it all together, it will feel about the same as when we left.

Debra and I desire to live and work with purpose so join us as we pray for the right job and housing situation. I fully trust that God will put us where He wants us, we want to be obedient and faithful with what He provides. I am already seeing Him work in the timing of looking for and buying a car as well as in my employment search.

Thank you all for your continued prayer on our behalf,

Jeff

Hi all,

Just a quick note to let you-all know we are back in Phoenix. The flight went fairly well, we got bumped up to business class (plus on the bulkhead, lots of room) for the London to Phoenix flight. A nice little blessing from God.

In case you haven’t read Cody’s log yet, on the last day we were in Bahrain, still waiting for a last-minute word that our visas were granted, we got a letter from the US Treasury. We had sent them a letter in May 2006 asking for a ruling on our plans to live and operate a business in Iran and this was a response to that letter.

The response letter outlined their ruling that our plan to live and work in Iran would be illegal and we should cease and desist immediately. How’s that for closure from God!

Naturally we are disappointed that we won’t be able to live and work there but we are also immensely thankful that God closed the door in a way that will allow us to move on and plan for the future without wondering if we gave up too soon.

So we are back in Arizona enjoying friends, family, and the low humidity. Debra and I are in the process of deciding the next thing to do, please join us as we pray for God to reveal the best plan.

We will be sending out a paper letter to you in the next few days with the latest information.

Jeff

When we left Iran we were told we could have news about our new 30 day visas in 7-10 days.   Despite the fact that we’ve been down this road numerous times before and we know to take these time estimates very loosely, I still find myself counting the days.   Our time in Bahrain really has been a blessing though.  The day after we arrived our church held a share and prayer session for us, our friends are incredibly encouraging and uplifting, our pastor is leading us in a day of prayer and fasting and inviting others in the church to join us this coming Tues, and it just really feels that God is pouring out His love on us through the community here.   In addition we continue to receive so much support and prayer from our friends at home.  The emails that have been coming in over the last week have been of great encouragement and have helped me to process all that is going on.

On Friday at church the sermon involved a look at what hope is and what hope is not.  After we arrived in Bahrain I told Jeff that I just wasn’t sure what to hope for.  And over the last few weeks God has been challenging me to put my hope in Him (His character, His love for me, His saving grace, His plan for my life, etc.) instead of hoping to get visas, hoping to go to Iran, or hoping to return to America.  So this sermon was right on target with all that God had already been working out in me.  And the message was the same.  Hope is based on what Jesus did in the past and what God is going to do in the future. 

We are staying in a beautiful home with wonderful hosts/friends/mentors.  Yesterday they sat Jeff and I down to encourage us and help us process all that we’re going through and what the future may hold.   They asked excellent questions and offerred encouragement from scripture.   Another example of God pouring out his love.   What a blessing. This morning I looked up one of the passages they referred to about Gideon laying out fleece as He was trying to receive confirmation from God about what was coming.  Judges 6 holds the details if you’re interested.  I found myself really encouraged to see the efforts God went through to communicate with Gideon and God’s patience when Gideon needed extra assurance, clarity and confirmation.  These are things we are definitely looking for in our current situation so I’m encouraged to have a clearer picture of God’s character and His love and patience with us as we seek direction from Him. 

We failed to send a blog about one of our last experiences in Iran that is now a warm memory.   So I’ll include it here.  It’s similar to other stories we’ve shared but it kept amazing us.   We went to a nearby park that had a beautiful rose garden.  

Tad loves flowers, and Iran has a lot of them, so we frequently had to literally stop and smell the roses.  

We then proceeded to the playground.  We began pushing him in this group swing all by himself

 and within minutes he had company. 

Three young women joined him trying to get him to smile and giggle.  We then sat him down on a bench for a snack and gradually the Iranians started congregating.

At one point I counted 10 of them standing around Tad, just watching him eat and drink, videotaping him on their cell phones and occassionally reaching out to touch his blond hair. 

How I have come to love the Iranian culture.  In America people just do not have the love for children that Iranians do.  I can’t imagine a group of 20 year old American guys gooing and gahing over a child in the way that the guys in these pictures did.   Now you could definitley say his blond hair and white skin contributes to this attention, but we did see them interact with Iranian children in a similar fashion (well minus the crowds…but still much more attentive than in America).  They simply love children and love family and it’s beautiful.  

With sad but hopeful hearts we are getting ready to leave Iran and fly to Bahrain to wait for new visas. The good part is that we will get to see our Bahraini friends and catch up with their lives.

Last night Debra noted that each time we have come to Iran, the duration has doubled. I guess this means our next stay should be 90 days.

Looking back to when we were still in Arizona planning for all of this and even more recently in Bahrain, I remember some of the assumptions I had about how life and faith would have to look in Iran. I thought we would have to huddle around a candle and whisper “Amazing Grace”, then listen to teaching with headphones as our worship time. I’m not sure why a candle was involved….actually, as it turns out, a candle is probably the only part that might actually be reality since there are at-least-weekly power outages in Tehran.

Last night the Steeles came over for dinner and a time of worship. We sang along to several worship songs, listened to some teaching from our home church pastor, and prayed together. Our street-side window was open most of the time and nobody came crashing through the door to haul us in. I was actually hoping that maybe someone walking down the street would hear us singing and ask about what we were doing. No one asked so maybe I need to sing louder next time.

I have enjoyed our worship times together and am thankful that we don’t have to huddle or whisper. It makes me look forward to our Bahrain visit for another reason, the ability to fellowship in community with a hall full of other believers every week. Let’s not take for granted the opportunities we have to worship freely together.

This morning I went with Ali to resend all of our air-freighted suitcases that he helped me retrieve mere weeks ago. He was probably thinking “What’s the point?”. I am starting to think that too. The clothes and computer stuff is nice to have but it’s a royal pain to keep shipping it around the gulf. I want to spend more time with Ali when we return, he is a neat guy and fun to hang out with. He is anxious to find work also and we have some ideas that might include him.

Tad is sitting across from me enjoying a bit of ice cream after dinner. He has finished up the part that can be easily eaten with a utensil and has started rubbing his hand in the bowl and then licking his hand. I guess he likes ice cream….

We are getting ready to meet up with the Alijani family and most of the staff from the office for one last dinner before we fly. We are going to a place called Bagh-e Gilas, the Cherry Garden. It sounds like a nicer traditional kebab restaurant on the northern edge of the city.

I’ll stop here for now, I hope you are all doing well. Keep lifting up our visa situation in prayer, I look forward to what God has in store for us in the next few weeks.

Jeff