One of the most
daunting challenges faced by missionaries is that of moving to another part
of the world, away from home and family. Carol Sagert and her daughter Tammy
Hettinga avoid the stress of maintaining a long distance relationship, as
they both live in the same neighbourhood in Cusco, Peru, while working on
SIL's South Peru Scripture Advance project.
The Sagert family, from Chilliwack, B.C., moved to Yarinacocha, SIL's jungle
centre in Peru, in 1983 when their children Tammy and Shawn were 12 and
14 years old. This was a family decision, as Carol and her husband Larry
wanted to do what was best for their kids. The Sagerts had requested an
assignment to "Yarina" because it had a high school—and
that meant their family could be together until the kids finished school.
Following high school graduation, Tammy studied at Canadian Bible College
(CBC), in Regina, Sask., graduating in 1992 with a bachelor's degree in
biblical studies. It was during her time at CBC that Tammy felt challenged
by a guest speaker to pursue missions. This is also where she met her husband,
Justin Hettinga, who also had a heart for missions and for Latin America,
having spent six months in Mexico on a missions trip.
In the spring of 1995, one year after they were married, Tammy and Justin
travelled to Peru—a wedding gift paid for by Tammy's parents.
"We'd always been pursuing missions up to that point, but didn't know
what we would do overseas," Tammy said. "We were very confused
about what location to pursue or what area." Connecting
in Cusco
While in Peru, Justin and Tammy attended an all-night prayer vigil in
a Quechua village. Many who were there did not understand the Spanish
Bible when it was read aloud during the service. It was then that they—especially
Justin—felt called to the work of Bible translation as the groundwork
of church planting.
"Up to this point," Tammy said, "Justin had always been
pursuing church planting. And he thought, 'How can you have a foundation
without the Scriptures in their language?'"
Tammy and Justin arrived in Cusco, Peru, in August 2000, to work with
SIL as literacy specialists. At that time, Carol and Larry were still
living at the jungle centre and none of them knew they were going to be
serving together in the same city.
Carol and Larry had considered—but weren't very excited about—the
possibility of moving to Lima to work in administration. Then a colleague
told them they should consider working as administrators of the South
Peru Scripture Advance in Cusco.
"Putting our kids aside, we were thinking more of the job description
at the time," said Carol. "I (could) see this as a great fit
for Larry, but I'm a nurse; what would I do up there?" SIL administrators
assured her that her skills would be needed.
Carol and Larry also wanted to be certain that God was leading them to
Cusco.
"The blessing of being with your children, that was exciting,"
says Carol. "But we wanted to be sure this was the right thing to
do, that this was where God wanted us."
When questioned by their former director and others about whether or not
they would be able to work with their kids, Carol said, "Tammy and
I have a great relationship, we're the best of friends. And Justin is
a great son-in-law and at this point, we can't foresee that there'd be
a problem.
"And so we entered it with total anticipation that things would go
well."
Sleepovers and Soccer Balls
Carol and Larry began their new assignment in Cusco in July 2002. Having
her parents nearby encourages Tammy.
"Obviously for the kids' benefit, it's a huge blessing to have at
least one set of grandparents close by that they can really get to know
well and have a close relationship with," say Tammy.
Caleb and Jesse (eight and six years old) have sleepovers almost every
week at their grandparents' home. Tammy also finds it helpful having her
parents close by for friendship, companionship and moral support.
"Sometimes it's very hard living overseas and being in a third culture,"
says Tammy. "To know that my parents are right here, they can relate
to everything I'm going through....
"And I think it's neat too having my dad as my boss. He understands
me."
Carol also finds it great to live so near her daughter, even though with
their busy schedules it takes effort to find time to sit down and talk.
Despite that challenge, she says, "To have my grandkids here, that's
number one."
In place of the anxiety of being far from all of her grandchildren, she
instead must face the challenges shared by other Canadian grandmas—such
as the endangering of her flowerbeds by her grandsons' soccer ball! |
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