My in-laws have been on my mind and heart lately, and I (Ginger) wanted to share a bit about this wonderful couple. A bit of history first. Darryl and Becky Jordan became missionaries after their children were grown. They spent their first ten years of missionary life in a remote village in Papua New Guinea. After serving faithfully there, they moved to the Philippines where they spent the next ten years working in various roles, from guesthouse manager on two different islands, to mission representatives in the city. After serving at their second guesthouse for a couple years, they were considering retirement, and we asked them to join us in our village, mainly to help oversee the construction of the new church building. They graciously joined us, and it has been a joy to serve together with them for the past few years.
Throughout 2019, they worked hard overseeing the building project, helping with Kids’ Bible Club, baking for youth group, chauffeuring teens in the evening to get them home safely in the dark, hosting a team from the States, and always being a listening ear when anyone just needed to talk.
When it was time for the church dedication, they stepped up another notch when I got sick, and took over for all the holiday activities I had planned and was no longer able to do.
In January 2020, I was feeling much better. The church dedication and Christmas program were completed, and it was time for them to take a much-needed and well-deserved rest. They scheduled three separate cruises to line up and take them all over Asia while they rested. Upon boarding their first cruise, Covid hit, and all of their cruises were cancelled. They didn’t crash on a deserted island as the three-hour tour passengers did in the old television show, but they did end up in Singapore, choosing to wait there for the borders of the Philippines to reopen for them. And they have been their ever since!
But they have not been idle! God put them there, provided them with the rest they needed, but also opened their eyes and gave them willing hearts to meet needs around them. They have developed relationships with many people in the city, as well as the staff at the hotel – which if you know them at all, you knew they would! They have counseled a family, helped to make face masks for the hotel staff, and given continued input into our shared ministry in the Philippines. We miss them. It looks like they may be able to return to the Philippines soon, but it is also time for us to go back to the U.S., and we are not sure if we will see them before we go. We just ask that you take a bit of time to pray for them – that the Lord would lead and direct them and enable them to get back to the Philippines in His time; and also that the Lord would meet their needs.