One Last Goodbye

One Last Goodbye
© A letter from Missionary/Teacher, David Love , South Texas

Dear One,

John & Mary Brown (name change) finalized the sale of their business in Iowa and after a grueling goodbye to friends, family, and grandchildren, somehow found time to pack the van. They even made room for their cherished family pet, an affectionate tropical parrot, and drove to sunny south Texas for nine months of language study.

God called John & Mary to Costa Rica to plant churches. It is hard to believe that they will take their final exams next week, pack-up once again, say a few more goodbyes, and journey further south.

The Browns are discovering that the "goodbyes" which go along with missionary life often grow harder along the way.

Graduation will be a special celebration, John says, because studying a foreign language is "the most difficult challenge of our entire lives," comparing it to a freak illness which once threatened John's life while on a trip to Mexico!

While cramming 12 to 16 hours a day in study -- month after month -- one would think the language would just flow. After all, we have seen the glossy magazine advertisement where the salesperson confidently asserts: "Speak like a national in only six weeks." That, mi amigo, is not reality!

Then as to add injury to insult, we slowly introduce the concept to the new missionaries that in comparison, "Culture Shock" makes coping with language a breeze. These hurdles take their toll and complicate a nearly impossible task. "But God..."

Down the hall from my office is a small classroom. Throughout the school year I would often notice a light shining under the door and without fail this couple sat diligently memorizing dialogues, practicing Spanish phonetics, and writing papers late into the night. Weekends were no exception nor occasional bouts of fatigue, doubt, and homesickness. A nagging fear often gripped their hearts, "David, will we EVER get this language?".

We often spoke together about God's loving-kindness in the darkest hour and that He not only knows our ways but as the psalmist writes, "orders" our every step.

One morning after a particularly heavy week when several missionaries battled discouragement, I quietly slipped back into my office and shut the door. I wound the little wooden music box sitting on my desk, set it down, and listened to "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" just one more time. The apostle Paul's words flooded my mind: (II Corinthians 4:16 - The Message)

"So we're not giving up. How could we!
Even though on the outside it often
looks like things are following apart on
us, on the inside where God is making
new life, not a day goes by without His
unfolding grace."


Today was the yearly garage sale and a good opportunity for the missionaries to sell their belongings before they move to the mission field. The people from town started to swarm our campus! According to the sign along the highway the sale officially started at 8am but many arrived much sooner. It appeared like a family slouching in their pick-up truck waited most of the night. We all hoped the event would soon begin just to avoid the rising Texas' temperatures.

While carrying a well-worn bookshelf over to the table, I noticed the Brown's van pull into a space across the parking lot. Mary unloaded a small tray-table and a cage. I moved back into the shade away from the crowd escaping the heat.

At a distance, I saw Mary carefully set the cage on the ground and drape a cloth over the top to protect her dear little feathered friend from the bright sun. She then opened the table and gently set the cage on top and attached a sign: $30. I thought, "Wow, what a bargain!"

Almost immediately an older Mexican women appeared gesturing eagerly toward the cage while chatting rapidly in Spanish. Mary slowly nodded her head patiently answering her questions. While reaching out she took some bills from the woman's extended hand. Then she turned bending over the cage and spoke a few words to her beloved pet. Without warning the buyer whisked the cage off the table and happily hurried toward her car.

Silently, Mary, a veteran grandma stood alone wiping tears while watching the cage as it swung alongside the new owner's side. Surely, no one would see and understand the cost of one last goodbye. For Mary, following God required just one more sacrifice. She left behind that which is of great personal value, even at garage sale prices.

Just pondering to myself, "I can't wait to watch in heaven -- as Jesus talks to John & Mary about parrots."

Because of Calvary,
David Love


"From prayer that asks that I may be
Sheltered from winds that beat on Thee,
From fearing when I should aspire,
From faltering when I should climb higher,
From silken self, O Captain, free
Thy soldier who would follow Thee.

From subtle love of softening things,
From easy choices, weakenings;
Not thus are spirits fortified,
Not this way went the Crucified,
From all that dims Thy Calvary,
O Lamb of God, deliver me.

Give me the love that leads the way,
The faith that nothing can dismay,
The hope no disappointments tire,
The passion that will burn like fire,
Let me not sink to be a clod:
Make me Thy fuel, flame of God."

--Amy Carmichael


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