The Crossing of Paths
"I am the Lord thy God
which...leadeth thee
by the way that thou
shouldest go."
Isaiah 48:17
In
the summer of 1975, both the McGhees and the Christensens were asked by
their respective Mission's leaders to move to Durant, Mississippi, to
help with the refurbishing of a new training campus. It was there that
their paths crossed for the first time as families, living side by side
in little one-room cabins on the top of a hill. The McGhees and the
Christensens shared times of fellowship with one another over glasses of
Kool-Aid and bowls of popcorn.
Linda got to know her new neighbor, Lynn, who spent most of her days in
bed due to morning sickness from their first child, who was due the
following February.
John got to know Tom a little, while working on the refurbishing of the
main building. John's job was to help shore-up the foundation of the
old Civil War-era building, while Tom worked as an electrician in the
rooms above. Life was extremely difficult for each family at Durant
because of the long workdays and hot climate, not to mention the bugs or
bug bites!
After six weeks, both couples moved on to the Mission's Language School,
located a few miles from Camdenton, Missouri. Life became very busy as
each family settled into the routine of classes in the morning, work
detail all afternoon and then long hours of study each evening. John
and Lynn studied Indonesian and a variety of other subjects while Linda
and Tom studied Spanish and linguistics, as well as many other subjects.
Sarah was born in February, 1976. Linda and Tom visited the McGhees and
their new baby. That summer, the McGhees finished their formal NTM
training and left for Canada to begin their preparations to go to
Indonesia, the country where the Lord had challenged them to go.
The Christensens stayed on for another semester for more linguistic
study. They were challenged by the Lord to go first to Mexico, but at
the request of Mission leadership, this was changed to Venezuela.
Before leaving Language School, Lynn asked Linda if she would like to
keep in touch by letters. Linda readily agreed to this and, thus, they
were able to continue their friendship as families, as they both headed
to opposite sides of the world. Linda held 4-month-old Sarah in her
arms, as she and Lynn said goodbye to one another.
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