‘West’ Part I
Over three years ago, during a prayer meeting at my old job, one of my friends and co-workers shared this word with me. If you have ever received prophecies, you will know that some of them have the ‘ring of truth’ and others are a bit, well, ‘meh’. This one fell squarely in the former category: I believed the Holy Spirit ultimately wanted me in Asia (East) but I also figured He might not lead me there in a straight line.
My first experience of this word coming to fruition was in February 2020, when events conspired to bring me to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for a whizz-stop, one-week tour. While I was there, I was introduced to the team that would help bring Authentic Lives online. How good that timing would turn out to be, with March 2020 around the corner…
‘East’ Part I
The flipside of what happened in the first quarter of 2020 was that ‘my big plan for what God wanted’ fell flat on its face. Some of you who have been reading this series (‘Letters from…’) since the beginning will know that I originally had a consultancy contract to work in Manila, Phillippines, starting in March 2020. Clearly, that never happened. Instead, I was left frustrated and locked down with my parents and brothers in Brockenhurst, Hampshire. After a few months, I chose to follow the desires of my heart back to Hong Kong, where I would serve at St Stephen’s for a few months, and then take a crazy, faith-fuelled Christmas/New Year trip to Thailand to establish a relationship with Mercy.
While I was in Thailand and praying about the future Mercy and I might have together (we declared our mutual love at sunset on the beach in Pattaya, and I later gave her a promise ring as a token of my commitment to her), I felt God was saying that we would be (1) married in the USA, (2) in October of that year, (3) with 100 people in attendance.
‘West’ Part II
Two-thirds of those things did not come to pass — not exactly, anyway. We were married in the US, but in November (gah, one month late!), with around 80 guests. Our follow-up blessing ceremonies/receptions in Thailand and the UK brought our combined guest total to around 200. Nevertheless, we had made it to America, and in America we stayed. The first six months of our marriage were a worthwhile, if at times testing, time of growing in love and working out how to live our lives together and with Jesus.
I was in the rather precarious position of living life on a tourist visa. I had hoped this journey of obedience might lead to something more long-term, but in the meantime I worked as a volunteer on a concept that would become The Hidden, a docu-series unveiling the lives and work of artists you might not otherwise see. Alas, six months ran out quickly without a concrete path for a working visa, and Mercy and I travelled back to the UK. On May 4, 2022, in the airport, we submitted the first part of the application for a Green Card based on our marriage.
‘East’? ‘West’? idk
I naively thought the application process would be over in a few months. We didn’t hear back about the first stage of the visa process (the ‘petition’) until May 2023 — one year later. And we didn’t actually get the full green light until the end of September 2023. There was a lot of paperwork.
During the year and five months we spent together in the UK, we did a fair bit amidst ‘the waiting’:
Mercy and I organised two prayer and missions conferences with South East Asia Prayer Center (SEAPC) (May ‘22 and ‘23);
We finally had our UK blessing ceremony (July ‘22);
I interviewed on another episode of The Hidden, this time in London (September ‘22);
Mercy got to know my family and friends in close quarters;
We led several ‘Attack Lambs’ training sessions (SEAPC’s method of prayer walking) throughout the UK ; and
I helped Amii, a family friend, write The Butterfly Effect (largely finished in June ‘23).
God also sprinkled in a three-week trip to Southeast Asia in November 2022 (an SEAPC ‘Friends Around the Table gathering in northeastern Thailand, followed by quality time with Mercy’s mum, Joanna, in Pattaya) and another of the same conference in August 2023, this time in Cambodia (again with a little trip to see Joanna in Thailand afterwards). These felt like tiny, prophetic markers on our shared journey.
‘West’ Part III
So here we are once more: back West. God made the way for us to move into a wonderful apartment, 10 minutes’ walk from Mercy’s office, within the first four days of landing in Pittsburgh, and a very timely and well-paid writing contract I started in August meant we could afford to purchase a new (used) car, which we called Matteo. Everything was groovy…
Until it wasn’t. Just over a week ago, Matteo broke down and we’ve now been told the transmission needs to be replaced entirely. On the day I went to pick up a temporary replacement/rental car from the dealership, I had my wallet taken (and my cards used rather joyfullly by the unknown man in whose possession they now rest). The wallet also contained several important ID documents from other countries that will be very difficult to replace if they are not returned. The writing contract ended suddenly at the end of October, and I was left wondering what to do next. At the same time, Mercy has been going through her own, private ‘warfare’, too, but that’s not my place to expand upon. Suffice to say, it’s been a hard few weeks.
BUT GOD is still good and, strangely, I think we’ve seen “Go West to go East” come through even more clearly in our situation. As we’ve talked and prayed through it, we’ve come to the conclusion that this word was always about establishing community that will know us, love us and send us. When we landed, said community helped us move in (and, I might add, many of those wonderful people helped store our things while we were gone). When our car had issues, they stepped in to offer rides and make sure we had everything we needed. On the day my wallet was taken, brothers and sisters who heard about our situation generously — and very unexpectedly — gave us a financial gift to show solidarity and compassion. Amidst our personal struggles, friends and family have cried and prayed with us, and offered lived wisdom that has spoken to our hearts.
Finally, as I’ve wondered about vocation (in the wake of that writing contract ending), friends have reached out to let me know they’ve been praying for me and asking if I’d be willling to work alongside them on writing projects and other roles besides. Interestingly, that includes the team I worked with in 2020 to get Authentic Lives online. All of this is humbling and encouraging. God has a plan, and it involves His people. We have felt His love through them, and maybe one day this same love will finally and definitively hurl us East, where we will share what we have received.
May His Word fulfil the purpose for which it was sent.