Daily Archives: January 25, 2025

Spiritual Warfare, Suffering

House Fire

On Monday morning, January 20, I woke up early as usual. Around 5:30am I went from the little house (an ADU in the backyard), to the living room in the main house to spend time reading my Bible. We were supposed to have returned to home in Belize, where we are missionaries, the Wednesday before, but had Influenza A and an airport fiasco that prevented us from leaving–which you can read about here. So we decided to extend our home ministry assignment in southern California until we could reschedule our trip home to Belize.

A little after 7am, I returned to the little house so that Ray and I could pray together. Not long after, our twenty-three year old daughter ran in our room saying there was a fire in the main house. We ran in and saw smoke billowing down the stove vent from the attic. The kids were already out and AnnaGrace was putting the harness and leash on my sister’s dog. My parents, who are in the back part of the house, gathered their medicines and car keys. Our kids, who had been sleeping in the main house right under where the fire began, were outside barefoot and without sweaters with weather in the 40s fahrenheit. So I went in our little house, which was completely unaffected, to get my socks, shoes and sweaters to share. By the time I got outside, the firefighters were already on the property and setting up. They later said they arrived just 4 minutes after Ray made the 911 call.

It was sad and surreal to see flames jumping out of the attic of the house my parents have owned since 1979. Several neighbors came out to help–one entered the smoky house to make sure everyone was out. He later said there was already smoke up to his neck. Others brought chairs for my parents to sit in, blankets against the cold, snacks for our kids, and warm coffee and tea. It didn’t take long before the fire was out and we were giving statements to the fire chief, debriefing with the Red Cross, figuring out where to stay for the night, and cleaning up the huge collection of our belongings that the firemen rescued from the house.

Continue reading House Fire →
Home Ministry Assignment

Influenza A and our Airport Fiasco

We were supposed to return to our home in Belize on Wednesday (January 15). We have been on a 6 month home ministry assignment where we visited over 2 dozen churches in 15 states. We have loved our time visiting churches and friends, sharing about what God has been doing in our ministry, and hopefully casting a vision for world missions. But we were ready to go home again, and our kids were looking forward to going back to their schools there. Sadly, our 11 year old son came down with Influenza A right before traveling. His fever was up to 104.3, and even moving a little bit would make him vomit. On Tuesday night, we made the decision that he would stay back at our California home (my parents house) and that I would stay with him. It was a tough decision. My parents and my sister all have health situations that would make Influenza complicated…but we saw no other solution. We didn’t really like splitting up the family, but it was hard to see any other option.

When Ray and the other kids arrived at the airport, the airline personnel asked for our letter that would permit Ray (the father) to travel with his kids without me (the mother). This is a requirement many countries have, in order to stop a parent in a custody dispute from taking their children out of the country. The night before, the airline official on the phone made it clear no letter would be needed. But we brought two letters anyway–one that was notarized but had a date from 2023 and the other that we made up and signed right before leaving with the current date. So Ray presented his letters. The woman said she didn’t think they would work, but that she would ask her manager. Ray texted me to pray that they would accept it, if God wanted them to go to Belize that day. We both prayed. She returned, saying that they would accept our letter.

Ray and the kids went on to their gate. They decided to stop at Starbucks for a little coffee. While there, our 14 year old daughter became so weak and shaky that she could barely move. The flu hit her suddenly and hard. Ray texted me and we prayed for wisdom. We decided it would be equally as hard for her to continue as to return back to my parents house by this time, so they decided to proceed. However, not long before boarding, the airline notified them that the letter would not be accepted. This left no time for me to drive to the airport and give permission, and besides with our daughter so sick, it just made sense to return home and let the flu run it’s course through the family. We were disappointed and a little frustrated, but praying for God’s sovereign will to be done.