Robert & Cirena Smith, Ethnos 360
Philippines
Imagine living every fourth year of your life pretty much out of a suitcase. That may sound exciting to some, but during that year you need to find a roadworthy car, plunk your kids in a new school, find a place to rest your head when you’re not on the road… Missionaries call it ‘Home Assignment’ (in the past, ‘Furlough’) and it’s woven into their life cycle to allow them to rest (?), to reacquaint themselves with their churches, and to prepare for their next term on the field. Robert and Cirena, PCC members sent to the Philippines, are just wrapping up their recent HA, and share these thoughts…
Have you ever had to count Sunday’s. For us as missionaries, I’ll bet it’s not uncommon as our home-assignment times come to a close. As it is for us, we have just four Sunday’s left here in the US before we return to the Philippines on the first Sunday of January. Certainly it’s not been the kind of home-assignment we had hoped for but with the Lord there are no surprises. While we do look forward to our return to the Philippines, this time will be bitter sweet as our daughter Sheila stays behind to continue her studies at Grand Canyon University. Please keep her and us in prayer as we prepare for this transition.
Despite pandemic challenges, it’s been a blessing to see so many of you this past year and a half as the Lord has allowed. This has included most recently a trip back to Canada for a short but sweat time with family I’ve not seen in far too long. There I was also blessed with an opportunity to help with training for Ethnos Canada and then both my wife and I helped out with the same training for Ethnos360 in Missouri. October has been a busy month but we now look forward to focusing on finishing our home-assignment time well.
As for what our next Sunday’s will look like, most of it will be spent in Albuquerque with family and friends but we do look forward to a trip to California the weekend before Thanksgiving. We’ll swing by to pick up Sheila for her week long Thanksgiving break and then head to SOCAL to spend a few days with close friends there before returning to Albuquerque for Thanksgiving dinner with family. This will be the last chance to visit friends in California before returning to catch our flight back to Manila just after the New Year.
Whether it be in southern California, Arizona, or here in Albuquerque, let us know if you’d like to get together before we’re gone. I only wish we had opportunity to visit many others in different parts of the country but alas, it just wasn’t possible this time around. Blessings and prayers for each of you.