SPLICE: Paradox

(From Alyssa)
Given everyone's different timing considerations during this transition year, we're taking the SPLICE (Spiritual, Personal, Lifestyles, Interpersonal, Cultural, Endurance, Enjoyment) missionary training course at separate sessions offered throughout the year. We look forward to reuniting in France for language school in August and discussing our observations, reflections, & experiences with our shared SPLICE language. I blogged about the language acquisition portion of the training here and I'm sure you'll hear more about that as other teammates complete that course and we all put our phonics and language acquisition techniques to practice in France and Burundi.

During this first week of SPLICE, the message highlighted for most of my fellow missionaries here this session has been "Paradox." "It was the best of times! It was the worst of times!" Or, as they explain this to the missionary kids: a "pair of ducks" ("yuck duck and yeah duck"). This is the tension we live in as we look to our unknown future.  We look forward to the anticipated joys of our work in Burundi and yet we mourn aspects of distance from family, cross cultural adjustments, etc. Lots of yeah ducks and lots of yuck ducks.

"Allowing the seemingly contradictory statements to lie side by side without weakening one statement is a goal of SPLICE."

So yesterday morning, we participated in this exercise (illustrated above) with both adult and kid SPLICE participants. The tension on the strings included reality vs. expectations, joys vs. sorrows (yeah and yuck ducks), others' expectations, & intensity. The other interesting addition was a jacket to insulate the person from the sorrows (unfortunately also insulating against feeling some of the joys).

Following this discussion, the children all went on a field trip to Garden of the gods.

Garden of the gods (pics taken on my recent visit there)

They enjoyed their morning hiking there on a beautiful day and then stopped for a picnic lunch. As they finished eating and the kids began running and playing in the area again, suddenly a gust of wind blew a large dead tree down on the children.

One child was pinned under the tree. Another sustained whiplash and head/neck lacerations as the tree brushed his head when it fell. Quite a few kids were scraped by branches.

A trauma nurse who "happened" to be walking by was on the scene within seconds. The teenagers and childcare staff quickly moved the tree off the 11 year old boy. Ambulances, park rangers, police began to arrive. The two boys mentioned above were taken to the hospital in an ambulance and their parents met them there. The other children were brought back to MTI and underwent an extended debriefing time with their parents and SPLICE teachers drawing pictures about their experiences and discussing their fears.

After CT scans, x rays, and evaluations in the emergency department, both boys were determined to be ok with only minor injuries and were released home.

We praised the Lord for His protection of all the children and spent significant time in worship today as a community.

Amazingly when the family of the 6 year old boy arrived at the hospital and found their son lying on a stretcher in a neck brace, he told them immediately, "Mom and Dad, I had three yeah ducks today and one yuck duck. But the yuck duck was a really big one!" His "yeah ducks" were hiking at Garden of the gods, that his team won the game they played, and that he got to ride in an ambulance. :) He didn't like the neck brace, and his mom explained that it was necessary for his protection until they knew if his neck was ok. His response, "Yeah, it's a paradox!" Pretty impressive understanding and application for a 6 year old! Hopefully this experience will continue to encourage his faith as his family heads to a difficult mission field.

One funny moment of the traumatic events of yesterday was when the police started asking the kids their addresses. They didn't know what they were. No, it wasn't concussion, just a bunch of homeless missionary kids in transition between worlds. Another paradox we were able to laugh about as a community!

We're thankful for this training beneficial for kids and adults and we appreciate your continued prayers for our McCropder team as we live with paradox.

Another McCropder!

By Jessica Cropsey

Two and a half months ago we heard about a teacher who was looking for a long-term placement with a team.  She initially heard about the McCropders through Jason Fader's mom and another Post-Resident physician at Kijabe Hospital in Kenya.  She got in touch with our team and after several phone conversations, a skype meeting, face-to-face meetings with various McCropder team members, and a site visit to Burundi, she has decided to join us!  It is my privilege to introduce you to our newest team member...

Sarah Crockett grew up in the Chicago area and graduated from Bethel College in Indiana with a degree in elementary education.  She completed her student teaching at Rift Valley Academy (RVA) in Kenya and stayed on for three more years after that.  We are super excited about having Sarah join us to take the lead in educating our children (7 under the age of 8...for now).

Here's a portion of her reflections after her site visit to Burundi in April:
One of my prayers as I visited Burundi and in particular Kibuye, was that God would give me a passion and vision for the medical training & care that the McCropder team will be delivering. Being non-medical it was important to me to gain a greater sense of how I fit into the vision of the McCropder team. Through the tour of Kibuye Hope Hospital and conversations with medical students and on site missionaries I saw the great need for the McCropders giftings as a team and the desire of Burundians to openly welcome the McCropder team. I found my heart excited to better understand the medical world and support the McCropder doctors. I am always amazed at the gift God gives in relationships and this was abundantly true as I visited with a few HAU students. Hearing their stories and dreams for future ministry as doctors offering healing and hope to people in great need gripped my heart.

We are so thankful for the way that God orchestrated this addition to our team.  Before we had much interaction with Sarah, she wrote in her application that she loved ultimate frisbee and Settlers of Catan.  Little did she know that would seal the deal!

Sarah is committing to our team on a long-term basis, so she will be joining us in Albertville, France for language school.  Everything has happened incredibly quickly, so please keep Sarah in your prayers as she plans and prepares for things that the rest of us have been thinking about and planning for a long time (French visa, packing the container, school supplies, curriculum choices, etc.).    

 

In case you haven't noticed, her last name fits perfectly.  We, the Cropseys, are happy to share our "CRO" with her!  Of course, we would have warmly welcomed her anyways, but for now the McCropder name lives on.  

P.S.  Due to the number of children on our team, we are still hoping to recruit another teacher, so keep your ears peeled and spread the word!  Someone who could commit for 1-2 years would still be most welcome.  

May Book Review - Lit

In his triple-entendre named "Lit! A Christian Guide to Reading Books," Tony Reinke (Crossway, 2011) outlines a comprehensive and intensive method for extracting more gold from the books we read. Reinke's informal style (who puts an exclamation mark in the title of a book?) belies his time-intensive technique (prepare questions for each chapter before reading, outline each chapter after reading) but serves well to balance the core thesis which is that reading for insight requires disciplined mental effort but yields a better product than what most of us do (not read) and what a select few already do (read with a pencil in hand).

Lit! is a quick read with an argument that does not require any substantive paradigm shift for a Christian already committed to literacy and education - God is the Author of all truth, the Bible is the most concentrated truth in literature, and that other books can serve to enlighten readers on certain aspects of truth even if not completely accurate on all counts. What I found most helpful from Reinke's work was his admonition to consider your purpose in reading your selected book and to have on hand books of various purposes. Classic fiction may make good bus stop or doctor's office reading. Weighty theological tomes are best read during your freshest mental hours (usually dedicated study or devotional times). Solid non-fiction may service best after dinner or before bedtime. And when picking up a non-fiction volume, identify what you wish to learn from it prior to bending its spine back. Pastors, theologians, and writers will find Reinke's specific strategy of chapter outlining and question asking/answering in the margins inspiring if not ambitious.

The single most interesting concept is actually a quote from Socrates who decried the loss of oral tradition in education. He anticipated that teaching students to read and write would soften their recall, dull their intellect, and destroy the strength of rhetoric and argument. Reinke and others have noted that more and more of our information comes via visual rather than literary media - fragments of content, context-less particles of data streaming from innumerable sources somehow stitched together in our psyche to create a picture of truth and the world. Ironically (for Socrates, not so much for Reinke), this made me thankful for the teachers, friends, and parents I've had who imparted to me a love for words.

So if you're done with your last non-fiction book and looking for a moderately motivational, definitely encouraging, relatively relaxed read, spend a couple days with Tony Reinke - he just might ignite a new passion and perspective on 'pencil-in-hand' reading.

-Carlan

The African Man

(from Eric McLaughlin)

The following video was discovered via our friend Jeff Liou, and strikes a chord regarding African culture and stereotypes.  Our hope is that, if you have been reading our stories and thoughts for a while, you have come away with a more well-rounded picture of life in Africa and African people.

I don't know anything about "Mama Hope", the organization that put this video out there, but the set of young men could easily be Kenyan, and interestingly, they are mostly students in medical professions.  Thus, they could easily be a group that we worked with or will continue to work with in Burundi.

(note: if watching with kids, there are a lot of guns in this video)

Some thoughts:

• I think it's funny that they provided English subtitles, though I'm sure some people were grateful.
• I have seen most of the movies referenced.  Some are terrible, but some (most notably Blood Diamond) are quite good and even recommended, though it's true that the portrayal of African men is quite one-sided.
• It's worth thinking about what it would be like as an African man to grow up with the powerful Western world thinking that your only career option or character type is some variation of the "Rebel warlord/child-soldier/purely-physical aggressor.
• I think we could easily substitute each of the guys in this video for people that we know, and have been a blessing to know.

SPLICE: Grieving

So, another lesson I (Rachel) learned at SPLICE had to do with goodbyes and grieving.  I thought that this was a lesson that I had already learned about enough...I personally have lived in at least 15 places in my life, and nowhere for longer than 4 years since turning 10.  I have said my goodbyes.  I have had my share of grief and loss.  Haven't we all?  Why did I need 2-3 days of training on this?

Kenyans are good at goodbyes, as are most cultures.  Americans, not so much.  When we left Kenya, we were celebrated with almost a month of goodbye speeches, meals, and visits in our honor.  When you leave a Kenyan's house, they don't just say goodbye at the door...they walk you down the walk, maybe even as far as your home.  That signifies that you are an honored guest.  There are special meals, where they bring out the best food they have to offer.  There are special gifts exchanged, like the calabash, a gourd dried and hollowed out and signifying hospitality and friendship.  You know you are loved when a Kenyan says goodbye to you.

On the flip side, I have said so many goodbyes that I breeze over them now.  See you soon.  Thanks for everything...hug...out the door.  Or even, sometimes there "isn't enough time" to say goodbye, and a quick phone call or an email has to suffice.  What does that say about how I value a relationship?  I do value my friends and family, very much.  When I breeze over a goodbye, it is a protective mechanism, because goodbyes hurt.  But I need to recognize that this can be perceived as callous, insensitive, or devaluing the relationship.

On one of the last days of SPLICE, every family got a stone to write on.  Then we made a pile in the middle of the floor, like the Israelites making a memorial alter after crossing the Jordan River, to commemorate God's faithfulness.  We each chose something to write on our stone to remember from SPLICE, something God taught us, something that represents His faithfulness.  This is what I drew:

I realized during my time at SPLICE that I did not always engage well during my time in Kenya.  I don't always engage well in the lives of friends and family.  Why?  Because (among many other reasons) it hurts.  It opens me up to be hurt, and to hurt others, and to get involved in a messy life.  It brings grief.  But that is exactly what God has called us to do--to engage in each others' lives.  To celebrate joys and share sorrows.  To live life abundantly.  The more we engage in the world around us, the more we potentially get hurt.  And grief is hard, but also good--it helps process the hurts, to work through them, to emerge on the other side.  In short, it brings healing to the hurts.  And as we are healed, we can engage more and more in the world and people around us.  Every part of me resists this process, and that is why I drew a cross in the middle of the circle.  It is only through the power of Jesus Christ that I can open up.  To engage deeper, to grieve deeper, to be truly healed.  To love others more than I love myself.  With His help, I step forward into our time in Burundi, ready to engage.

COTW: Appendectomy

By Jason

This is not a typical "Case of the Week" (COTW).  It is also not a case that occurred in Kenya.  I have been working here in Michigan for the last few months at a local hospital and this "case" has happened over and over again, which is one reason it is so remarkable. I will contrast it to an analogous situation in the developing world to give a sense for why it is so amazing.

It usually starts with a page from the ER - a patient has early appendicitis based on the CT findings.  Antibiotics are given.  The ER then transfers the call to the nurse in charge who calls in the Operating Room team - An anesthesiologist, a scrub nurse, a circulating nurse and a recovery room nurse.  While the patient is being transferred upstairs by a transporter person, I log in to the hospital computer system from my couch at home and look at the CT scan (which has usually already been read and reported on by a radiologist) and review the patient's medical record.  As I drive into the hospital, my preference card is pulled by a nurse in the operating room, which lists the sutures, staplers, scalpels, drapes, laparoscopes, needles, medication, ports, and even steristrips that I prefer.  These items are all obtained from the supply room and the room is set up.  I see the patient and dictate a note into the phone, which is typed up and can be reviewed within 30 minutes.  After the anesthesiologist and nurse do their assessments of the patient, we go back to the clean, well-lit, 68-degree operating room.  The patient is put to sleep flawlessly, and I make my incisions.  All of this - from the initial page to incision - routinely takes about 1 hour.  The operation goes well and all the equipment functions perfectly.  The patient goes to the recovery room and will usually be discharged home about 90 minutes after the operation ends. 

How would this go in Burundi, if the same patient showed up to Kibuye Hospital?  The patient probably wouldn't even come to the hospital until a few days later, so the appendix will likely be ruptured.  No CT scan for diagnosis...there is not even an x-ray machine at this point.  Hopefully the phone lines are working, otherwise someone is sent to our house with a note to request me to come.  The single room ER is staffed by a medical student and a nursing student, who are seeing a couple other patients concurrently.  Through them translating, I would get the patient's story and decide how to proceed.  I might try to do an ultrasound, but I am certainly  no radiologist.  We would transport the patient to the Operating Room ourselves and prepare the patient.  I would try and find some suitable suture among some expired donated supplies or low-cost substitutes from India and find a sub-optimal set of instruments which have been sterilized in a pressure cooker over an open fire.  A nurse with no formal anesthesia training would give the patient Ketamine - an anesthesia drug which is primarily relegated to veterinary use in the US.  The patient might be given oxygen through the only machine that can provide it in the whole hospital.  The electricity may or may not be on.  It went out 12 times one recent afternoon.  If it goes out, we will operate by flashlight until someone can power up the 40-year-old generator.  He will be transferred to the ward, where 1 nurse is taking care of 15 or more patients.  The patient will probably do OK, but will remain in the hospital for about 5 days for further antibiotics. 

The differences are astonishing.  No doubt the mortality of such a procedure is 10 or 100 fold different between the two settings...that is, if the Burundian patient manages to get to see one of the 9 surgeons in the country.  May God continue to allow us to play a small role in rectifying this situation through training quality doctors and nurses.

Sutures at hospital in Michigan

Sutures at Kibuye

Transition Bridge

We McLaughlins just finished our three week "missionary boot camp," a session called SPLICE at the Missions Training Institute.  We're currently hanging out in Colorado Springs, CO, just south of where our classes were held.  World Harvest recommended this three week intensive class to all the McCropders, despite our previous overseas experience, and the Faders attended in December.  I wholeheartedly agree with them that it was extremely worthwhile for us.  Eric and I had a chance to debrief our past two years in Kenya and use our own experiences to enhance the teaching provided.  Hopefully in the next few weeks I'll be able to blog a bit about the lessons we learned.

One important one that I wanted to write about today (mainly because I have pictures to illustrate the point) is called the transition bridge.  We talked extensively at MTI about exiting our home culture and entering into another culture.  It is a good thing for us to do, necessary even if we are to effectively minister, but it has its challenges as well, and we were encouraged to recognize our real feelings and emotions during this process.  Basically, it will not always be easy, it will not feel natural, it may even feel like...chaos.

To illustrate the point, one day we talked about the transition bridge.  This can be useful for anyone facing a change in their lives, not just moving to another culture but things such as starting a new job or school, moving, retiring, etc.  You start on one bank of the river: settled.  From there you move to unsettled, chaos, resettling, and settled (new).  We talked about a variety of thoughts and emotions during this time (excited, nervous, anxious, lost, uncertain, etc).  Then we received our practical lesson.  A team assembled of two singles and one "family" (mom, dad (Eric volunteered for this), and two kids) were attached together with rock climbing harnesses, ropes, and a telephone cord.  They then crossed a "transition bridge."  The first stage, settled, was several chairs.  Unsettled was two wobbly chairs.  Chaos was represented by three exercise balls saran-wrapped together.  And then finally, resettling was two wobbly chairs and the new settled was stable chairs.  The team all had to cross together.

 The "family" in transition.  Note that mom and dad's "connection" is quite short/tight comparatively.

The team begins the transition.  The two singles are attached to the family by a long telephone cord, meaning the connection is not quite as "rigid" as family ties.

The team as CHAOS begins!  There were a number of spotters (supporters) on either side of the bridge to provide a helping hand.

It was fun and all the kids enjoyed this immensely (they had a chance to go over the bridge by themselves at the end).  Some lessons learned from the bridge that can be applied to transition in the real world:
1.  People on the bridge usually needed help from others during the unsteady "chaos" stage.  We will likely need help from supporters, friends and family back home, other missionaries, and nationals so we don't lose our footing during this difficult period.  It's tempting to "do it ourselves" but many times we need assistance.
2.  The kids tended to hang on to the connection rope between their parents instead of others' hands.  Families will likely grow closer during these times of transition if there is a stable relationship between mom and dad.  This might result in extra stress/strain/responsibility on the parents as they not only transition themselves, but assist their kids' transitions.
3.  Kids can increase the chaos.  The little guy in the pictures above, Bryant, started bouncing immediately as he hit the chaos balls.  This caused Eric to trip and fall into someone's waiting arms.  I guess they sometimes find chaos fun. :)
4.  The team might go through transition together, but not everyone will be on the same place of the bridge at the same time.  The first teammate made it to resettled as the last teammate was just about to enter chaos...so we need to have patience with our teammates who might not be in the same place as us.
5.  Everyone started cheering once the first person was out of chaos...but the resettling stage is still wobbly and can be difficult.  We need to remember that transition is a process and might be a long one.

Don't Forget the Hot Wheels!

By Jessica Cropsey

It was 1987.  John's parents were busy preparing to go back to the United States after their first term of service in Togo, West Africa as medical missionaries.  With all the packing and boxes it was obvious to 8-year-old John that things were about to change with his family.  This was very concerning to him, so he did what most children would do.  He protected his most precious possession -- his cars.  Looking around at the chaos, he found what he thought to be the safest place for these hot rods.  John's mom was surprised when she opened the refrigerator later that day.  Puzzled, she asked John why his cars were in the refrigerator.  Logically, he had concluded that everyone needs a refrigerator, so he thought it was a good bet that his cars wouldn't get left behind if they were in there!

For the last few weeks, our family has been sorting through all our things that have been in storage for the last two years we were in Kenya.  Unlike the Faders and McLaughlins, we did not do a slash and burn yard sale before our departure in 2009.  Now there is a massive pile of boxes and things in my parents' garage (God bless them for their patience with all our junk!) that is being sorted into piles:

• yard sale pile
• go to Burundi pile
• maybe go to Burundi pile (if there's enough space)
• store here in the U.S.

At first, the kids were quite intrigued with these piles.  Toys they haven't seen in a while.  Future Christmas and birthday presents for Burundi that they weren't supposed to see.  One day in the midst of our packing and sorting, Micah came running into the garage with his tub of Hot Wheels.  "Mommy, I want these to go to Ba-rundi!"  He was very concerned.  The apple doesn't fall far from the tree!  Later that day when I went to leave for an errand, he cried, "I want to go to Ba-rundi too!"  The poor little guy.  I realized that I hadn't done a good job of explaining things to the kids, so we sat down with a map and talked about all the places we've been and are going.  I showed them a picture of a ship with containers and explained how our things will go to Burundi by boat and then truck.  Hopefully this will ease his mind, at least for the moment.    

Hospitality: The Other Side of Homelessness

(by Eric McLaughlin)

This post has been a while in coming.  Some of you may remember the earlier thoughts on homelessness, as experienced by our family this year in the US.  No doubt, this continues to be a challenge, and we are currently thankful for several weeks of staying still here in Colorado.  However, there is another side to that struggle.

Over the past seven months, we have been hosted by no less than 30 families, maybe more.  Friends and family alike have welcomed us into their homes.  When I was a young single guy, even half of a married couple, I didn't think of myself as much of an imposition.  When Ben cries at 1am, and Maggie is up at 5:30, I no longer feel I can safely say that.  And yet, people give up rooms to us, they prepare us meals, and (perhaps the most gracious of all) they amazingly make us feel like they are glad to do it.  I have said it many times, and I could not mean it more:  Our nomadic family is sustained along the long journey by just such hospitality as this.

We have slept in bedrooms, while our hosts' kids take a sleeping bag, or even while the hosts themselves take the couch.  Multiple times, we have come to stay at a house, when our friends weren't even there.  People have rearranged schedules for us, and introduced us to their friends.  One family even scheduled Rachel and I for a complimentary professional massage!

A special mention goes to our four long-term hosts (thus far): Tim and Sharon McLaughlin, Jean Selle, and the Fader family have all taken us in for extended periods of time.  It is no small thing to bring a family into your home for a couple days, sometimes stopping everything else in its tracks.  However, after a while, if you continue as the host, life must go on, and that means that the guests become a part of your daily life.  This is another whole step in sacrifice and hospitality, and we are very grateful for it.

The fourth family is Dan and Suzanne Hayward (pictured here - I figure if they choose a photo for a facebook profile, it's fair game to share it) and their four boys.  They are going to get special mention, because no one has amazed me more with their hospitality this year.

Dan and Suzanne are a doctor-doctor couple, who had lived at Tenwek for a year, prior to our arrival in Kenya.  We had met briefly, during their visit back while we were there.  When they heard that I was going to be working in St. Joseph, MI, for a few months, they contacted me and said that they would be happy for me and my family to come and stay at their home.  For several months.  With their family.  And eat their food.  They even delayed dinner sometimes when I was working late, so that I could eat with their family.  And then there is the extra car that they let me drive.  And the dollhouse they found and brought so that Maggie would have some girly toys.  And the time they arranged a babysitter for us to attend a missions event.  And on it goes...  They barely knew us.  I'm so very glad for the friendship that resulted for this time.  And in the end, they send us on our way with a feeling that they were blessed by our presence, and that they are looking forward to us coming by again.

Really, it's overwhelming blessing.  It strengthens and sustains.

One of the universal features of missionary life is that, while living in foreign countries, you very often will play the host.  When I see the love that has been shown to us by so many, I begin to see that this is a gift of an opportunity.  An opportunity to love.  An opportunity to glorify God.

"Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaint. As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks, let him speak, as it were, the utterances of God; whoever serves, let him do so as by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen."  (1 Peter 4:8-11)

"Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints." (Philemon 7)

Go Team!

Last fall I was putting together some advice to give people about living and surviving in a team.  After living for two years as a team, I figured that we as the McCropders had probably learned a few lessons to share with people.  The talk never materialized but I found myself thinking back to the notes I jotted down as our team met with a potential teacher/new teammate (more on this later as things develop).  She was asking good questions about who we are as a team, what we value, lessons learned, conflict management, etc.  We have been blessed, so blessed, to have minimal team conflict.  I can't say it's all because of us or our conflict management (avoidance) skills, but I can say a big part of it is knowing that God has brought us into this community together.  It was not of our own making.  Aside from that, here are a few ideas about how to live (mostly) peacefully in community.

1.  Sharing a Garden (small things):  Let the small things go
We have blogged before about the McCropder shamba.  There were 5 garden plots behind our apartment, and the McCropders took over four of them.  We jointly hired a gardener, Robert, who planted whatever fancy struck him and we sometimes ended up with a small forest of basil.  But seriously, most of the time we had some nice produce growing:  pumpkins, carrots, sweet potatos, broccoli, lettuce.  Sometimes Robert would harvest things and bring them to Jess.  Sometimes he would bring them to all of us.  Sometimes we would go up and take what we needed.  Rarely did we take the harvest and split it into three equal portions.  Rarely did anyone complain because someone else had gotten more broccoli than they did.  Heck, most of the time we were harvesting it to bring to a McCropder potluck. :)  The point is, we didn't make a big deal out of it.  I'm sure that some people got more veggies than others relative to what we contributed financially.  But it wasn't a big deal.  And it shouldn't have been a big deal.

2.  Sharing a Vehicle (medium things): Be flexible/be organized
Oh, Jolly Green Giant, you were a great van.  All three families purchased an equal share of our faithful van. Jess then put together a Google calendar with "van reservations."  Once in awhile, all the families would go somewhere together in the van, but usually one family at a time was taking it.  Almost every weekend, the van was out with one of us, in Nairobi, the Mara, etc. We signed up with a first come-first served policy, and once in awhile there were two families that needed the van the same weekend.  We always worked it out though--someone would try to find a ride with another family, or we occasionally hired a vehicle.  Sometimes trips could be rescheduled for a different weekend or weekday.  Usually, we talked over scheduling conflicts and came to an easy decision, instead of falling back on a "well, I signed up first so too bad for you."  I never counted up the weekends we all took the van, but I would guess it worked out pretty evenly in the end.

3.  Sharing a Calling (big things):  Unity
The hardest decision we ever made as a group (so far) was, where to next?  As you may remember from following our blog, we had three main options:  Burundi, Madagascar, and Liberia.  All had their plusses and minuses.  And in the beginning, people had some pretty strong feelings about which country should be our new home.  We were not all on the same page.  But it was very, very important to us not to just put this to a vote.  If, for example, the vote ended up being 4-2 in favor of Burundi, what about the two no votes?  Had God called THEM to Burundi?  In the tough times would they look back and say, "Well, I didn't vote to come here..."  Did it take longer?  Sure.  It required a lot of patience and a lot of communication.  But ultimately, we all reached the same conclusion.  Whatever our individual desires, it seemed clear that God had called us into this community.  And God was calling the team to Burundi.  We were willing to lay down our individual wants for the team.

Do we have all the answers?  No.  Will there be team conflict among the McCropders?  Probably.  But has it all been worth it?  Absolutely.  I would highly recommend going as a team to any missionaries out there.