Re-entry: Moving Back to Your Passport Country

One question we have heard a lot recently is: "How is the transition going?" So here are my thoughts on how it is going. Not really a good answer, but my thoughts on transition and re-entry anyway.

We wrote about here how we have decided that for this season the Lord has us back in the USA leading the church planting efforts in the US with New Life Network. This means us re-entering the culture in which we lived for so many years and yet so much has changed over the last 11 years since we have been in Guatemala.

I (Ben) have been taking a lot of time to ponder, reflect and work through this re-entry process. I am using a transition coach to help me work through some of the challenges related to this. It is a hard process to talk about or express especially to those who have never lived abroad and "re-entered". It is even different for each member of our family and probably has been most challenging for me. 

There are feelings of grief, confusion and excitement all at the same time sometimes. It is a weird feeling for the country you grew up to not feel like home. Indeed, there has not really been a "home" since we moved to Guatemala and not sure there ever will be again, but maybe that is the way we are all to feel as followers of Jesus since we are citizens of heaven. 

One book I was recently reviewing was comparing re-entry of  spacecrafts to that of missionaries re-entering there countries of birth. It is more dangerous for spacecrafts to re-enter then it is "to be orbiting 135 miles above earth at 118,00 miles per hour." This is often the case for missionaries. The entering into mission field and re-entering into passport country is most difficult. This might be a little overstated, but it definetly is challenging.

I write all this so you can be praying as we continue to "re-enter". There are lots of uncertains, decisions to be made, funds to be raised etc. In one sense, we are moving from one field to another as we will continue to minister in a culture that is not our own while living in a culture that is at least somewhat our own. That does not even seem correct as I write it because so much has changed in the last 11 years.

Thanks for praying and supporting us in this time of transition!

Transition Update for the Kunkel Family

 

It seems as if our family is always in some sort of transitions, such is life huh? But these days are bringing some pretty big changes to us as a family. My goal is to share major changes we are in the midst of or going to be entering soon so that you can pray for us more specifically. Thanks for partnering with us in prayer in this season!

Here are some of the big changes happening for us:

• New Baby - Yes we are having another baby girl. Jennifer is due September 23rd. Please pray for safe rest of pregnancy, healthy baby, safe delivery. Pray for strength and wisdom as we guide our older kids and take care of 3 younger ones at the same time.

• Transition from Love Guatemala to New Life Network - I hope you have already seen one of our communications here or a video here about this. But if not we announced about a month ago that we are transitioning out of Love Guatemala to focus more on developing a network of churches here in Guatemala. We are not leaving Guatemala just switching focus. We will still support Katy as she takes over the leadership but from the background to give way for her to lead. Please pray for all the details in this transition. Pray for Ben, Carlos and Katy. We are very excited about this but there are still a lot of details to be worked out for this transition.

• Transition to a new home - Another transition that we will be making later this year or early next year is to move out of the Love Guatemala facilities where we have been living for almost 7 years. Please pray that we can find just the right place for our family at the right price. Also pray for additional funds that need to be raised for this move.

• Transition of New Life Church to Carlos - We have come to an exciting place in our first church plant to transition our church to be led by Carlos Lopez. On September 5th we are installing and commissioning Carlos as Pastor who along with his wife Thelma and the leadership team we have formed will be leading our first church in the New Life Network, Guatemala. Pray for Carlos, Telma and the team in this transition.

Thanks for your continued prayers and support for our family!