It’s that time again! We’re gearing up to pack our bags and head back to the US for our time of itineration. For those who may not be aware of this term, one way I can explain it is that it’s very similar to the word itinerary. You’ve gotten one of those before, right?
For example, when you plan a vacation or trip, you most likely have a list of places you’ll go to, flight and hotel arrangements, arrival and departure times, important telephone numbers, etc. This is all a part of your itinerary. Itineraries are great because they help keep us on track and get the most out of a trip. We all understand an itinerary, but it seems a bit more difficult to understand the idea of itineration. So, how is itinerary like what you do during itineration? Well, I’m glad you asked!
For us, we call our visit to the US “itineration” because we plan out a journey that takes us from one location to another and where we have the privilege of sharing about our ministry and how God is working in Finland. It can be a hectic time as we send emails, contact pastors, make phone calls, plan visits, meet up for coffee and probably gain a few pounds in the process! The whole idea of itineration is simply to connect with our friends and supporters while we are home and hopefully strengthen those relationships and build new ones.
Itineration is an exciting time but it can also be quite challenging too. You may wonder how is it most challenging for us. Well, with an itinerary you clearly know when your journey starts and ends, when you depart and when you come home again. However, on itineration, we know when we are departing. That’s the easy part. It’ll be on Tuesday, July 16, 2019. What’s hard is not knowing when we’ll arrive back in Finland. So that can be quite difficult.
Some may ask, why can’t you just pick a date? The reason we don’t have this date on our “itinerary” is because we need to be sure that we have sufficient funds in our budget to live and work in Finland for the next 4 years. When we visit churches and individuals, we share our story with them, how God is working here and how we can partner together in this next season of ministry. Many will commit to pray for us, others will smile and send us on our way, and others will make us a part of their ministry family and support us financially. We’re thankful for each one but only when we have our budget and support team in place can we pull out our itinerary and set our return date to Finland. Sounds like fun, right?
Well, that’s what awaits us in the months ahead. If you’d like to put us on your itinerary, hear more about Finland and our work here, or to simply connect, let us know. We’d be glad to have you a part of our itineration.
Happy trails!
Stephen
PS - If you’d like to do something about what you just read, you can use these pages to schedule a service or join our support team. And in the words of detective Adrian Monk…”You’ll thank me later!”