{"id":10279,"date":"2025-06-16T14:54:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-16T19:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/tom-carlton\/?p=10279"},"modified":"2025-06-16T14:54:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T19:54:12","slug":"looking-back-with-gratitude","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/tom-carlton\/2025\/06\/16\/looking-back-with-gratitude\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking Back with Gratitude"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Well, here we are, just a month away from our return to Mexico after our one-year ministry home assignment in the States! Wow! We cannot believe the time has come to pack up and head back. We left Mexico in July, and we plan to return in July.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Nearly a year ago, we wrote that, \u201cThe primary purpose of this time is to take a long rest from the demands of cross-cultural ministry, reconnect with supporters and supporting churches, and trust the Lord for new ministry partners. It will also allow us to spend quality time in our sending church, Grace Point, and give our children a chance to experience life in the American culture before leaving home one day.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this blog, I want to recap this year for you, sharing briefly about how each of these goals were met and give testimony to the Lord\u2019s lovingkindness to our family during this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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O taste and see that the Lord is good;
How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him! <\/p>\u2013 Psalm 34:8<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to rest and renewal, we came off the field exhausted, which we have shared here<\/a> before. As a recap, rest during this year has included care from our church, an early visit to a friend\u2019s lake house, and a special trip to Switzerland (Traction<\/a>) for me and Spain (Ava<\/a>) for Beth specifically designed for the renewal of global workers. It included key, wise counselors, from our pastor to friends in our church, to a brother from the field with whom I have remained in contact with over the year, and a leadership coach from Barnabas International.<\/p>\n\n\n

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We spent a lot of quality time in our sending church, Grace Point, by being a part of two small groups, attending Sunday School, Youth Group, and various men\u2019s and women\u2019s events when we were able. We were also able to visit most of our supporters spread throughout the country, and by the time we get back to Mexico, we will have visited all our supporting churches. To do so, we travelled through 30 states! We visited several new churches throughout the year and saw an increase in our support level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[By the way, if you would like to set up regular giving towards our ministry or would like to make a special gift to help cover some of our return expenses, you can do so here<\/a>.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Our time in Oregon specifically was very special as we got to spend quality time with my (Tom’s) dad, mom, brother and his family, sister and her family, and my uncle. Our time with our different nieces and nephews was so great, too, because of how much they have grown and changed over the years. We have never lived close to my family, so we cherished this time together.<\/p>\n\n\n

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As for the kids experiencing the United States, God has been good to them and helped them adjust to an extremely different world than what they are used to. They have each been blessed with local friendships which was an huge answer to prayer. Our kids also got to enjoy the year-round seasonal changes for the first time in their lives! In addition, they enjoyed the local zoo, local parades, plays, and other community events. Jude was involved in three musical productions while here and had his first official job at a local grocery store. Iris served the church in Awana and in the nursery. Through our travels, we also got to visit some national parks and monuments, like the Badlands, Mt. Rushmore, Yellowstone, and the Grand Canyon. We spent time in Washington D.C. and Philadelphia.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Themes of This Year:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  • The Lovingkindness of the Lord. <\/strong>We needed this year. We needed to rest, we needed connection with our family, our church and supporters, and we needed the kids to have time in the United States. As I look back, I am so thankful that the Lord made it plain to us, through discernment and wise counsel, that we needed to take this Home Assignment when we did. It was two years in the making and at times was hard to imagine how we could pull it off. I will admit that there was some trepidation when it came to preparing to leave. Even our last two weeks in Mexico were unbelievably overwhelming, it is hard to believe we made it through. But for all the anxiety and the unknowns that plagued our hearts before we left, He reminded us that He is good, faithful, and worthy of our confidence.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
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    • The Provision of the Lord.<\/strong> Before our Home Assignment, we were unsure of how we were going to accomplish our goals financially. We knew we needed a place to live, and we knew we needed to do a lot of travel. By faith, we stepped into this year. He provided a place to stay through our sending church, and He provided for our travel expenses. On top of that, we have had enormous vehicle repair expenses, and He provided for that, as well. I could go on about the many ways big and small He made this year and all we accomplished possible, but suffice to say, we are blown away by His provision.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      What can I say? There is so much more I could share. We are grateful for this year and are energized to return to Mexico. Just as we left Mexico for this home assignment by faith, we will now return to Mexico in the same way-by faith. Thank you to everyone who has made this year doable and life giving to our family!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Well, here we are, just a month away from our return to Mexico after our one-year ministry home assignment in the States! Wow! We cannot believe the time has come to pack up and head back. We left Mexico in July, and we plan to return in July. Nearly a year ago, we wrote that, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1124,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[55173],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-10279","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-mex","7":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/tom-carlton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/tom-carlton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/tom-carlton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/tom-carlton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1124"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/tom-carlton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/tom-carlton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10279\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/tom-carlton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/tom-carlton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/tom-carlton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}