End of an Era

Friday our oldest, Jacob, graduated from Amazon Valley Academy in Belem, Brazil.

One of the trials that missionary parents face is sending their children off to another continent, to the strange land called America when they graduate from High School. It is a land and culture they do not know well. Since they are so far away they won't be home for the weekend-- or Thanksgiving, Christmas or school breaks – or maybe even for years.

Like my son they may have never driven a car or held a job because of visa restrictions, they may not know the latest teen talk or styles. Like Jacob they may look American, but they won't really seem American as they will do things like stand to close or use gestures or words in ways that are not understood there, but are part of life here. I know he wil have his struggles as he adjusts to life there. Jacob's cousin who also graduated this year said we ruined him by taking him away to a foreign country.

But, like my son, they have a different view of the world, they have experienced so much more of some areas of life and seen God work in ways that are so much different than if they stayed in the states. The three years we spent getting here and the first year here were tumultuous and the time since then not always easy. We moved from the states when he was half way done with 9^th grade, a hard time to move a child to another land. Some missions won't even send families out with children over 12, because of the problems they often have.

Yet, in his graduation speech Jacob said he was glad he came here and he would not have choose another way that the time here was special to him.

A few weeks ago it really hit home as I watch the seniors, one by one, play their last play in basket ball and leave the floor during the last few minutes of their last game. But the proudest moment came when at aan after graduation party one of the other seniors told Wayne and I that he really looks up to Jacob spiritually and admires his strength and maturity.

And so Jacob goes with us to the states to start a new life. He will be living with my parents in Ohio for a year and going to a community college nearby, partly in order to become an Ohio resident so next year tuition will be cheaper. We don't know when he will be home again. But our tears and prayers and love go with him.