December 2022
“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need”
Dear Friends,
It is hard to believe that our family is almost halfway through our furlough. Furlough life is quite different than life on the field. I will try to give you an overview. After leaving Togo, we had an extended layover in Paris for a few days. We arrived in New York at the end of June, and continued our travels by train to the midwest. The first 7 weeks of furlough were chaotic as we essentially lived on the road, seeing family in Illinois and Indiana be
fore making a trip to Harrisburg to spend time with our church family there. After all that travel we were able to settle into a home in northern Indiana. It has been a blessing to set down some temporary roots and try to establish a bit of a routine.
That is not to say that our family has been staying put. Furlough is both a time of rest and a time of ministry. During these months one of our privileges has been to update several churches and many of our individual supporters on the work in Togo. As we have been based in Indiana, during the fall we have mostly focused on visiting
our midwest churches. We have been encouraged by the interest that many people have shown during our church visits. It is a great blessing to reconnect with the brothers and sisters who have been praying for us during our time a way. It has also been exciting to see how many of our churches have grown. The last few years have not been easy for churches, but we have been impressed by how many new people we have met at our supporting churches.
So what exactly do missionaries do on furlough? The setting, climate, and pace of life are definitely different. Yet some of our activities are the same. The children still need to be educated. Without access to the MK school, and with our frequent travels, we have elected to homeschool the children this year. For the first time, all five of our children are school-aged, so Bethany and the kids are very busy with history, language, math, science, and Bible. I have been able to teach the older two a class on the principles of biblical interpretation. It is something that I wanted to begin in Togo, but could never find the time.
Our whole family participated in the creation and delivery of our missionary updates. This involved setting up meetings, making new prayer cards, and sorting through years of photographs. We have put together what we hope has been an informative presentation of the ministry in Togo. The children, too, created a presentation to give our churches an idea of what life is like for kids in Togo. I also have had the privilege to preach on several occasions and have enjoyed digging deep into the Word.
There has been a lot of time spent on logistics. Many financial and personal matters had to be
put on hold during our years away. It has been necessary to catch up on these during this time. We have also kept in touch with the team in Togo as they make decisions for the future. I have personally had numerous conversations regarding my role and what the second term could look like as we try to strike a balance between preaching grace and practicing mercy.
After Christmas and the New Year, our plans are to relocate from northern Indiana to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. We have several churches in that area and look forward to worshiping with them and updating each body on the work in Togo.
As we approach the end of 2022, we remain thankful for the Lord’s provision to our family. Four and a half years after leaving, we have continued to see the needed support come in. Each December we have been encouraged to see that our missionary budget has been met. As we look to 2023, our monthly support requirements will increase by $350. We are thankful for all of you as you have faithfully prayed for and supported our family. We have been blessed to see so many of you and hope to see many more of you during the spring. May the love, joy, hope, and peace of Christ be with you all this Christmas season.
Love in Christ,
The Chmils
