Journeying

The Mann-Sunberg friendship started many years ago. My path crossed with Jay and Teanna when I was a kid and my parents were hosting the Sunbergs for some home assignment…unfortunately, they remember that interaction more than I do!! Then, many years later I happened to start dating their colleague and close friend. Doug and the Sunbergs had been neighbours for years. Doug served in the Ukraine whilst the Sunbergs were in Russia and then Doug in Romania whilst J&T worked in Bulgaria. Jay Sunberg married Doug and me in 2003, with sweet 7-year-old Lexi as our flower girl. The past 8 years have been filled with sweet Mann-Sunberg get-togethers. As our families have grown (in size and age!) and as our paths have increasingly intertwined, we have become family.

When as our bosses and our friends they came to us in April and asked in light of their potential move to Hungry for us to consider a move from Kosovo to Bulgaria, it was painful for us all. Jay & Teanna have grown their family, built a mission home and ministered for 13 years here in Bulgaria. After 3 different country assignments over 6 years we decided that enough was enough and Kosovo was home. Our roots had grown deep into the Kosovar soil. Yet, here we all were presented with change. We thought, we prayed, we discussed, we prayed and we thought some more!

Well, many of you know the rest of the story…  Within a few weeks of each other, the Sunberg Six moved to Hungry and The Mann Clan moved into their house here in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Our families just spent a wonderful weekend together here in “OUR” house. J, T, Doug and I had time to talk, reflect and enjoy each other’s company whilst the kids… well they just had ball! Along with the fun, food, meeting with friends and fellowship something significant happened this weekend.

Teanna and I had been able to spend time together chatting about our moves. We both carry heartbreak over leaving our homes and ministries and we both have a deep desire to sense God’s continued calling to the places that we have now found ourselves setting up home, ministry and life. I guess we both needed God to say “You did good, now continue.”  We both have felt guilty, confused and maybe even scared that the we “heard God wrong” during the spring when we sensed God leading our families to move. We talked, we reasoned, we shared our opinions, we committed to pray for each other. Then, last night I overheard Teanna quoting Proverbs 3:5-6 to some of her friends. My ears pricked. As I listened to her sharing that God had given her these verses during the time that they were seeking God’s will over their move my heart started to jump! Anyone who heard our home assignment presentation this year will remember me quoting these verses and sharing how during praying over whether we should stay in Kosovo or move to Bulgaria God spoke to me through this section of Proverbs. A quick summary for those who didn’t have the “pleasure” of hosting the Mann Clan this year. In the eyes of the world, logic, even to our families and church supporter,s moving again made no sense.  Yet however crooked our path looked, this was God’s straight path for our family…how my understanding always stinks in light of God’s. Only when trusting in Him can we begin to understand our lives! And here I am hearing Teanna express that God gave her the same verses at the same time. Wow! I had been praying for Teanna on and off all day that God would give her something… a sign, a word, something that would give her a renewed confirmation that The Sunberg Six are in the right place doing the right thing. And God did it again…he spoke to me, and The Mann Clan. He so often does that. As I erupted from the other side of the room with “No way T! Those are the same verses that God gave me too!” I was confronted again with how grand and awesome our God is. He has this whole thing planned out, but more than that. We have come away from this weekend with a picture of how God works and how interconnected the body of Christ is. We have a sense of being a part of the big picture…the picture that we cannot see or understand but that God is totally Lord over. God is teaching us to trust and submit to His will, leave our own logic and understanding to the side and follow him. Some of the confirmation or clarification that we were looking for and praying for came in those moments of God showing us our joint journey. These moves are His will and plan not simply our desires or based only on organizational strategies, finances or logistics. He is taking us and our families on a faith and character building journey… a joint journey… a journey that has so much history yet one that we are just beginning

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