Wishing you a blessed and rich Christmas! After 10½ years in Egypt, we have returned to our house in Spokane, Washington. The reasons were a divine convergence of factors.
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| Maadi Community Church service |
Karan finished teaching at CAC (Cairo American College) this past June after nine years in Middle School as a Learning Support teacher. Our group health insurance came through Karan, however because of Steve’s aortic valve replacement in 2006 we could not find affordable individual insurance. Karan’s insurance extends to this coming June, which meant that we would need to return to the US by June 2019 to begin Medicare (yes we are that old!). All of this was God’s gracious tangible confirmation to what Steve had been beginning to sense for some months—it was time to return home. In further divine convergence, the budget at MCC continued to struggle in the aftermath of conditions in Egypt combined with the large rent MCC pays in spite of decreasing use of the property. So this past May, Steve approached the MCC Council governing board to suggest that the senior pastor position become a support-raised position (common in many international churches). Steve left the final decision and timing with the Council. Steve and the leaders feel strongly that these external factors are God’s way of shaping MCC to become an even further “grassroots” driven church. We received an energetic and heart-felt send off at the end of October.
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| Steve by Berlin Wall remanent |
Naturally people have asked: “What will you do now?” Our answer is that we will plan to rest for several months as we wait for God’s direction. We don’t want to retire, but know we need this time of “sabbatical.” This is not to say that this is or will be an easy transition. It has been hard to say goodbye to international ministry in Egypt after so many years. We are working on the physical and emotional adjustment back home where things have of course also transitioned.
For now we are hoping to find opportunities in Spokane to volunteer. We are also still searching for a local church that has an outreach and diversity focus. We met with World Relief branch office in Spokane about volunteering. World Relief helps immigrants and refugees settle in the US, from finding housing, cultural adjustment, job training, and citizenship assistance. We discovered there are even some Middle Easterners who have resettled in Spokane. A local missionary with a ministry to Middle Easterners (mostly Iraqis and Afghanis) has invited us to an international Christmas party this Thursday to meet these various folks. Steve is also exploring possibilities with Interim Pastor Ministries later in 2019. These would obviously be short-term situations that would allow us to return home intermittently and still earn some income.
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| Karan in Davos, Switzerland |
Our three sons are coming for Christmas. Travis (32) is still with Verizon, but left as general manager of a Seattle store to join a new branch of Verizon called “Connect” in San Diego that services corporate business accounts. He loves the beach, but misses the green of Seattle. Brett (29) left Seattle two years ago to move to New York City to look for another graphic design job. He has just left Condé Nast publishing conglomerate to join CNBC in January for six months. He then wants to take a few months to receive some training in coding so he can bring the web products he designs to completion. Alex has been working for Fullerton (CA) Evangelical Free Church as an assistant children’s director for the last 1½ years. None of them are married nor do they seem near that stage. We saw them all last summer, but this will be our first time in 10+ years back in our old house as a family.
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| Farewell to Egypt! |
In His Hand,
Steve and Karan Flora
