What's Going On and Why Are We Taking Young Children To Honduras

Time is flying by-- and we are just one week away from finishing our jobs as academic physicians at the Hershey Medical Center. We're grateful that our departments will keep us on a volunteer faculty which allows us access to the electronic medical journals in our library.

At the end of May, Jay and I spent a day in orientation at the CURE headquarters in Lemoyne, PA-- just about 20 minutes from our house. It was great to meet the support team who will be helping us with everything from technology issues to prayer support. We learned about the spiritual emphasis of the work as well as the administrative structure and the financial layout. It was really encouraging to us-- and confirmed that CURE is a good match for our passion and skills. They even have a staff member whose title is "Anchoress." Eileen's job is rooted in early church history when a room was built into churches for an anchor/anchoress whose full-time job it was to pray. The room had a window out to the world as well as into the church; the window to the world could be closed so that the anchor could do his work.




As the boxes of our own belongings start to pile up around the house, we are also accumulating bags of surgical supplies in the garage and in Jay's car. Since many of the staff know of our plans, any attempts to throw out "disposable" surgical items are countered with "Save that for Dr. Bridgeman for Honduras." So we have a lot of bags and boxes labelled, "For Jay."



And this week we went to the CURE offices as a family to have a photo taken for a postcard to remind everyone about our plans and our need for your support.

We have not yet found renters for our home despite some moderate interest. It's a bit stressful to have that question yet unsettled. But we are learning to trust God for all our provisions-- even someone to help us keep our house in Hershey.

We are saying lots of almost-goodbyes. Friends are making "packing dates" with us to help with our practical needs while spending time with each other and us. We are also making sure to take advantage of every opportunity to make happy memories here in Hershey. We're excited to go-- sad to leave-- and a little anxious about the unknowns. We do finally have our plane tickets to Honduras for August 1st; we leave at 6:45am and arrive in San Pedro Sula a little before lunchtime. This coming Saturday June 25th, we will leave for three weeks of cross-cultural training in Palmer Lake, CO.

So why are we uprooting our young children from their idyllic life in PA to serve the poor in Honduras? Most of you know that we have felt called for many years to use our particular gifts to serve overseas. Both of us entered medical school with that exact purpose in mind. The timing of our departure after our education and principal board exams were complete simply coincided with a time in our lives when our children are young. Waiting a few more years would have made it more difficult to extract our girls from their school and friends. At this time, we feel that they will have the greatest success in integrating into a new culture and learning a new language. Jay and I love our children-- and we earnestly desire to give them the best start in this world. My life experiences inform me that the "best start" includes much more than a comfortable house and Hershey Park season passes, a stay-at-home mom, and all the other lovely luxuries we enjoy. A firm and good foundation for life includes an understanding that the ultimate goal is not our comfort and ease but the fulfilling of a purpose, which will often require sacrifice of some sort. One of our family's particular callings is to serve the poor children of Honduras. Yours may be to serve here in the States in your community. Our call requires picking up and moving to another country-- something tangible that our kids can feel. We pray that, over the years, the girls will see the rich blessings that come from following God's call, even when it's difficult. We hope that they will grow up knowing that they are a part of a larger world community, that as Americans they are very blessed financially and otherwise, that they have a responsibility for caring for others, and that it will all have been worth it in the end. We want to model to our children a faith that is alive and active.

Signing off for now,

pauline